Our Zoology course was a disaster. We had a huge mass of facts to learn and regurgitate. Instead of a celebration of life it was a boring memory test. Instead of piercing the awe and wonder of living specimens it was a tedious analysis of dead bodies. We had to learn diagnostic features and categorise everything.
It ran counter to our love of the living world.
Pete summed it up with this cartoon.
Science should we about wonder, awe and mystery. It should be fun and fulfilling. It is the most exciting subject ever.
It’s tricky. Don’t they say that art is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration? I’ve just read a biography of Mendel who spent years on the tedious minutiae of experiments with peas – years of categorisation and diagnosis! Presumably a passion for his subject sustained him. It is the truly gifted teacher who can combine the disciplines of rigorous science with the inspiration and beauty. In my case I suffered more I think from poor art teaching that failed in the opposite way to your zoology – all about inspiration which was fine for the naturally gifted, and not enough technique.
I can identify with that. There’s a truth there. For me there has to be the passion behind it; the joy and creativity. My art is writing and there is so much technique and rules to doing it, but behind it is the passion. It’s a marrying of the two isn’t it?
Science does require a diligent approach. There is a lot of boring stuff. But it has to have a foundation of wonder and investigation. There is that same creativity and passion.
I think it is about getting the balance right. Science, to me, should be fun and exploration as well as the more tedious parts.
Reblogged this on Aleisha Wagstaff and commented:
My thoughts exactly. This is why understanding how technology can transform learning to engage all students in the love of Science is important to me.