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Teaching Science in High School

William Wallace
Georgetown Day High School

A

cell biologist has the special opportunity to

present science as a living discipline to a high

school biology or chemistry class. The experi-

ences of designing experiments, interpreting results,

writing papers, and applying for grants are unique

qualifications that will enrich the understanding and

appreciation of science for a biology or chemistry stu-

dent. Students will benefit from a teacher who can

teach science as a process instead of a simple collection

of facts.

Why Would a Scientist Want to Teach?

Abstractly, the intellectual challenge is to present

biology as a unified view of the world, and as an ongo-

ing process of inquiry. This view includes presenting

“big pictures” of such diverse concepts as ecology, evo-

lution, physiology and molecular biology. However,

even more important is to guide the students toward

an understanding of the connections between each of

these disciplines. The students are more likely to

remember these connections than the specific facts of

any one topic. In addition, there is the challenge of

teaching students to think skeptically, like a scientist,

through the scientific method.

On a personal level, teaching can be tremendously

satisfying for the academic and personal effects that a

teacher can have on the development of a student. The

simple fact that they have done science gives any sci-

entist-teacher a number of unique advantages. First,

being a participant of the discipline of biology, a scien-

CHAPTER 2 • TEACHING & LEARNING 19

Students will benefit from a teacher

who can teach science as a process

instead of a simple collection of facts.