Using the available technology and reversing the order of things

I think getting around the resistance to talk about the details in science could be surmounted by buying into some things that are a integral part of the student culture. I mean, if they spend half their lives on facebook - then make it a requirement for the class and get a dialogue going. All of these things always make you worry because you are afraid that someone will get on there and say or do something really inappropriate and create more work for you. You feel like you need to control every little detail and that really stifles creativity. I'd like to get my friends to try it, though. I wonder what we happened if we tried to make the science class flow into the lives they live outside of our classes.

Another idea which is really being pushed at many of the conferences is the inquiry-based science classroom. My only issue is that we still assess in a traditional manner and most post-secondary education is very traditional. I know I would do an awesome job of creating an inquiry-based class and could probably spend an entire year at lab benches and never do a single lecture - but it would not serve the students well. They do not have the desire to do any of the reading that would be required outside of class to make the experience meaningful.

So my idea in the past was to utilize a program that really takes full advantage of the kids level of comfort with the computer and internet. Which was mostly guided by me - very structured with activities and worksheets that had to be completed as we went along. That actually went pretty well, but they still thought it was dull because they were still reading, thinking about topics they thought were irrelevant and disconnected from life, and being forced to talk about it.

I have experienced success before - but it was because I kept the students active. And they did not get much out of the activities - they were just happy to be active and working at the lab benches. So I was really only successful in peaking their interest about something. What would be incredible is somehow creating a culture of discussion from the activities. So that seems to be driven by competition and rewards. I've done that too, and it works really well. My mistake in the past was that it was not structured enough. Each part of an activity has to be timed and you have to keep students moving along or they just never get motivated to finish anything.

Tangible rewards - food, games. Competition, lots of activity, you have to teach about discussion and note-taking. We have to teach the students how to engage in scientific discourse and what is important to take note of and recall. I think the problem is that we are thinking that they already know how to do this. Why would a person who is not that into science know how to talk and think and write like a scientist? I'll bet our lives would improve if we took the approach of being enthusiastic about teaching students how to communicate. If we really pre-thought classroom comunication and set some ground rules.