Keystone Magazine Learning the Keystone Way 2015-2016 EN | Page 28

Learning is Fun
Making Sense
of Science:
Experimenting and Exploring
V
ictoria Wei, grade
10 student, tilts her
face to the right
almost against the
table in the science
lab, as she peers
closely through a thick, small
triangular piece of glass. Her
brows scowl a little, as her sci-
ence partner moves from one
side of the table to the next
pointing a red laser through the
glass. At every table in the lab,
pairs of students were similarly
poring over their piece of glass,
trying to catch that refracting
26
red ray of light. But you soon
notice that though they all have
the same equipment, the same
problem to solve, and the same
theoretical lessons to support-
them up, yet each pair is not
approaching the experiment
the same way.
“It is not just knowledge and
understanding that are essen-
tial to learning Science,” remarks
middle and high school Math
and Science teacher, Ian Miller,
adding, “Inquiring, designing,
processing, evaluating, and
reflecting on the impacts of
Science are equally important.”
Design experiments are an
essential part of the learning
process in Science. At this stage,
students design their own
experiment, once the teacher
presents them with a problem.
“Once Mr. Miller gave us the
question, we came up with the
idea of using the laser and a
protractor. However, it took us a
bit longer to plan out the exact
steps. In fact, we even changed
the original plan, as we were
doing the experiment,” explains