Coming in to this fellowship experience, my initial goals were very superficial. I thought that this experience would simply allow me to have a chance to actually do science to go back and share with my students by writing correlating curriculum. After only four days in the internship, I now see that my goals must be way deeper than that.

Jennifer, Courtney and I working on writing curriculum that correlates with our internship experiences

As a result of this internship, I would like to be able to see a change in the way that I teach my students science. Not only do I want my students to be more thoughtful and inquire about things related to soil which is directly aligned with my specific internship, but I would like for my students to use inquiry skills and thinking throughout the entire year. Having my students approach everything they do with an open mind and not having to depend on me to take them step by step will open doors to a new way of thinking for most of my students.

Now the question is, how can this be done? I have to step back and think about how I am going through my own process at the museum, as a learner, and figure out how to mimic that process in all of my students. If I can reach this goal, I will have a room full of scientists who view the world around them in a completely different way. I will be able to learn so much from my kids as they are coming up with their own questions and their own processes as we go through required content next year.

I believe this should be a goal for any educator. I can’t wait to see how this unfolds throughout the next school year.