Roy

Moffitt

MoffittRoy@gmail.com 603-729-6269 www.RoyMoffittScience.com

Philosophy of Science Education

Science allows students today to be the caretakers of the world tomorrow. Science can
show students that they are directly connected to the world around them and that they can play
an integral part in contributing towards their future. My philosophy as a science educator rests
deeply on three values that I hold. First, I believe strongly in engaging students in an
experiential way in order to evoke self-curiosity in science topics so that they can make meaning
about their learning. Second, I engage students by being a facilitator of their learning process,
rather than a director. Third, I engage in my own self-curiosity and continuing education as a
professional.
Experiential learning is a key ingredient in students comprehension of the sciences.
Students must develop their own deeper understanding through hands on experiences of science
topics. For example, a child can be told that a flame is hot but until the child touches fire does
she really understand the magnitude of the heat? I follow an inquiry-based approach to support
the students in problem solving and experiencing science first hand. I support the students in
developing the what-how-why of the topic to gain a deeper level of observation. I help students
gather information and then skillfully analyze, conceptualize, apply, and evaluate. For example,
when students were reviewing a text on tree cores for determining weather and climate
variations, I brought in pieces of firewood and had my students look at tree rings. The purpose of
this was to have them find climate variations of the last 150 years themselves, finding the what
(varying tree ring widths), and then asking the how and why. When possible I want them to do it
and experience it, not just read about it.
As a facilitator, I do not present material through a purely lecture format. I give students
enough contextual information to engage them in their own learning experience. I challenge
students to find the answers and to solve real-world problems that they can relate to. Then, I add
to this by bringing individual and group learning experiences back to the class as a whole. I give
the students guidance as needed but do not give scripts or recipes to be followed so an expected
answer can be obtained by all in the same didactic way. Learning by experiencing can be fun and
therefore engaging. This approach supports active engagement in the subject at hand, rather than
a pure lecture on the science topic.
While I am an educator of science, I am also an ongoing student of science and other
disciplines. Since scientific theory and discovery is always evolving, it is my responsibility to
remain current in the latest research and discoveries in order to relay these to my students and
share in the excitement that comes with it. Science is a subject that is cross-disciplinary. For
example, science can give mathematics a purpose, a deeper understanding of the social sciences,
a way to convey with the use of language arts, mastery to ones body and skills in physical
education and athletics. As an educator, I value the continual learning and use of all disciplines
of education to make science relatable to everyday life.
My primary philosophical approach is one that supports facilitating science education
from an inquiry-based experiential learning method allowing for self-discovery of how the
surrounding world works and how its environment should be cared for. In following this
philosophy of science education, I encourage and give growth to the ability for the future adults
of our society to have critical thinking skills. By approaching education through this approach,
my intention is to support students in creating the skills needed to become sustainable caretakers
of the world