I could not agree more Terry. As ecologist - and I assume this is true for many of the sciences - we live in such a alternate reality. We often assume that others experience the world the very same way. I am a first generation academic, most of my family is uneducated. My mother never finished high school. I experience this particular divide on the regular. The director of a previous affiliation once asked the department members what would be the next game changer in ecology. My answer was 'if you can make my mother care' - an answer that was met with laughter followed by awkward silence... I wasn't joking when I said this, though. I tried to point out exactly what you describe - that this divide exists, and that it is important to try and think differently, for the sake of a better future. As experts, we look at world problems through a different lens, and are often completely oblivious to it. Being aware of the bubble is a sort of superpower - particularly when you can use it for positive change!
I do understand why they value the book at La Selva by the way. I think it also played an important role in putting a spotlight on the country. But it's good to be aware that even the most educated guesses can be wrong!
Completely agree. We don't realise how much we have blinders on. I really value cross-disciplinary research for this reason. I ran a workshop last week with a very diverse team of people and it was so fun. It's super challenging, but if you're open to different ideas, the rewards can be huge. I wrote a post on transdisciplinarity here if you're interested (hopefully not hijacking -- feel free to call me out on this if so): https://predirections.substack.com/p/to-address-grand-challenges-we-need
When I started teaching chemistry 6 years ago, I was new to teaching HS, and newish to chem in that I was a biologist by training, did a lot of chemistry in the course of decades of research, but was not a chem scholar. I was lucky to get paired with an experienced ESOL co-teacher who is very smart but hadn't studied chemistry since his long-ago HS years.
Between the two of us we were able to work the crowd in the classroom, alternately playing up our ignorance to try to stimulate the students to discovery. It was fun, and we made lots of mistakes and played with different approaches in a way that was completely transparent to the students. There was a lot of, "huh, I never thought about it that way," that (I think) made the students feel like we were all in this together.
After 5 years of teaching the same course, I fear that I'm ossifying, forgetting what it was like to learn these things (or re-learn them) for the first time. I've caught myself saying, "I can't believe they don't get this by now, what is wrong with these kids?" more often than I'd care to admit.
I'd like to try to recapture that beginner feeling again, and incorporate it into my planning and teaching, but I'm not sure how. This essay helped to remind me of that, and I will bring it up during this week's preservice activities. Thanks!
I could not agree more Terry. As ecologist - and I assume this is true for many of the sciences - we live in such a alternate reality. We often assume that others experience the world the very same way. I am a first generation academic, most of my family is uneducated. My mother never finished high school. I experience this particular divide on the regular. The director of a previous affiliation once asked the department members what would be the next game changer in ecology. My answer was 'if you can make my mother care' - an answer that was met with laughter followed by awkward silence... I wasn't joking when I said this, though. I tried to point out exactly what you describe - that this divide exists, and that it is important to try and think differently, for the sake of a better future. As experts, we look at world problems through a different lens, and are often completely oblivious to it. Being aware of the bubble is a sort of superpower - particularly when you can use it for positive change!
I do understand why they value the book at La Selva by the way. I think it also played an important role in putting a spotlight on the country. But it's good to be aware that even the most educated guesses can be wrong!
Completely agree. We don't realise how much we have blinders on. I really value cross-disciplinary research for this reason. I ran a workshop last week with a very diverse team of people and it was so fun. It's super challenging, but if you're open to different ideas, the rewards can be huge. I wrote a post on transdisciplinarity here if you're interested (hopefully not hijacking -- feel free to call me out on this if so): https://predirections.substack.com/p/to-address-grand-challenges-we-need
When I started teaching chemistry 6 years ago, I was new to teaching HS, and newish to chem in that I was a biologist by training, did a lot of chemistry in the course of decades of research, but was not a chem scholar. I was lucky to get paired with an experienced ESOL co-teacher who is very smart but hadn't studied chemistry since his long-ago HS years.
Between the two of us we were able to work the crowd in the classroom, alternately playing up our ignorance to try to stimulate the students to discovery. It was fun, and we made lots of mistakes and played with different approaches in a way that was completely transparent to the students. There was a lot of, "huh, I never thought about it that way," that (I think) made the students feel like we were all in this together.
After 5 years of teaching the same course, I fear that I'm ossifying, forgetting what it was like to learn these things (or re-learn them) for the first time. I've caught myself saying, "I can't believe they don't get this by now, what is wrong with these kids?" more often than I'd care to admit.
I'd like to try to recapture that beginner feeling again, and incorporate it into my planning and teaching, but I'm not sure how. This essay helped to remind me of that, and I will bring it up during this week's preservice activities. Thanks!