Contouring the Classroom

I have started to assign value to what has been dubbed creative & cultural education. In science teaching, it is really hard to incorporate creativity and culture into activities, labs, and lecture. This IS NOT because science teachers do not want to, or because science educators cannot. IT IS because of the system expectations. 

Administrators and parents alike have all found themselves in classrooms, and therefore have a pre-conceived notion of what it should look like. So much so, when a science teacher tries to practice scientific literacy by incorporating a novel, or scientific history by developing a timeline for the discovery of DNA, they are met with rebuffs. Activities that would be considered creative or increase a students' cultural awareness are often looked at as fluff items because they do not deal with a prescribed set of facts, but instead a dynamic system of thought. This is scary to individuals who do not understand the process of science as dynamic interactions between people. 

"Contouring the Classroom" is what I will use to describe the set of practices that are used to add creativity and culture within the existing framework of national, state, and local standards. Much like farmers have to work around and over topographic features, teachers will tweak lessons to match the needs of students in the 21st century. These practices can include, but are not limited to strategies that focus on differentiated instruction, tiered lessons, layered lessons, and cooperative learning tasks. 

Science is perpetual, and it will require human creativity and cooperation to continue. Teachers that understand that 'raising standards' does not mean 'standardization' need to stand up for the cultural and creative revolution that is upon us, and work to incorporate legitimate opportunities for both into the classroom.