Inspiring Emotional Connections to Science and Nature 

• In Event: Teacher Research Into Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Science Teaching: Not Going Back to How Things Were Before

Abstract

Objectives

My priorities as a teacher and ideas about teaching have evolved over time. Studying CRSE has supported my move toward helping students make connections to science from an emotional place. My inquiry focuses on this shift: What strategies have I used to support students’ connections with science, and what have I learned about them through these strategies?

Perspectives or Theoretical Framing

My connections with science began young; family trips to parks and museums were a large part of my youth. This is something that has continued to be an important part of my life. To help introduce science topics, I often use photographs I have taken to convey a “feeling” as well as represent a natural phenomenon (Bowers, 2019; Jones, 2010; Krauss et al., 2010). Because I have taken the photographs, I can authentically use them to represent my connections with science. My students have had experiences different from mine, and because of this, I have made finding out what students’ experiences are a regular part of my teaching in order to use these experiences as resources for science teaching (López, 2017; Windschitl & Barton, 2016). I use strategies such as asking students to “find a rock that you like,” and bring it to class. More recently students have begun taking their own photos, and sharing favorite places with me and with the class through their own images. This was an activity that we continued during remote teaching.

Methods and Data

I use images and informal classroom assignments to help my students make emotional connections with science. Through these, I am learning about my students’ experiences with the world - both natural and built. I have kept track of the photos that I use, and the photos and objects shared by students. From these, I use my reflections on students’ interactions around these photos and objects to learn more about my students’ interests and emotional relationships with their environments.

Results

I have found that my goal to develop a relaxed science classroom learning community is supported by my sharing of my interests and emotional attachments to nature through photography. Additionally, by encouraging students to share their own images, objects, and photographs, I have learned more about their relationships with their environments. During the pandemic, students shared photographs of sunsets and clouds in their city. Students have shared landscape photos (unprompted) from travels to visit family (for example, Puerto Rico) and brought in rocks (also unprompted) from other places and countries. In this presentation, I will share photos and other examples of things students shared in order to elaborate on this approach and what I have learned from my students to help me be a better science teacher.

Significance

Many science teachers became science teachers because they feel emotionally connected to the natural world and to the science that explains it. We can use our connections to intrigue our students - but better, we can welcome their perspectives, illustrated by their chosen images, whether objects, photographs, or other ways of representing their worlds.

Author

• Sean Krepski, The New York City Department of Education