Life is full of new wonders for kids, and teachers (aside from parents) have the wonderful role of fostering curiosity and encouraging the pursuit of understanding.
This is potentially no more important than in the realm of science, where an understanding of the phenomenon that creates and dictates the course of life as we know it is cultivated in the minds of future engineers, chemists, biologists, and more.
If you’ve got at least a Graduate Certificate in Education and are wondering what area you may like to teach, then let us give you six simple, but inspiring reasons to become a science teacher!
1 – Science Is In Everything
We are stardust that has attained consciousness and self-awareness through billions of years of evolution. The Earth’s core is made of molten iron, which generates a magnetic field that protects it from the sun’s solar winds. Deja Vu is caused by dysfunctional connections between the left and right hemispheres of your brain.
Aside from being massively interesting, can you pick out the common element between those three facts? They all come from different branches of science, but they all relate to elements of life that are common to everyone in the world. Everyone is descended from a line of life that came from the raw materials that formed in the nuclear synthesis of the dying stars that created our planet. Without the iron core’s magnetic field, we would have all been burned away by solar storms. Deja Vu is not a glitch in the Matrix, it’s a common neurological symptom.
When you study the sciences, you study the building blocks of reality. When you teach the sciences you pass that understanding on to the people that will go on to study them further and make the discoveries that will shift our understanding of life itself.
2 – Science Is A Buffet
You know how you go to those all-you-can-eat establishments where you pay $30 and can just eat whatever you want, however much you want, for as long as you want? Science can be like that. For just about every branch of life, there’s a scientific study behind it.
Do you like animals? You could consider specialising in Zoology. Interested in life and how it grows and thrives? Then Biology might be for you. Are you weirdly interested in Mushrooms? There’s Mycology. Is space your thing? Cosmology. Want to know how things work? Engineering. Interested in cultures past, present, and future? Anthropology.
For just about every interest or passion, there is a branch of the scientific realm that accommodates it. And although as a teacher, you’re probably going to be dealing with a broad, umbrella-esque approach to science aimed at introducing people to their potential future careers. You just need to get them through the door, collect their investment and let them gorge themselves on whatever they like.
3 – Avenues For Interactivity
Perhaps the coolest thing about scientific study is that it provides boundless opportunities for interactivity and physical, practical experiments. Many of us don’t have a large amount of scientific knowledge, but we all remember the super interesting and fun moments that the truly special teachers gave us at school.
It can be difficult to come up with interesting practical exercises for things like English and Mathematics. But Science has boundless room for passionate teachers to create truly marvellous classroom experiences. Much like this classroom scene from Breaking Bad, the sciences provide endless opportunities for incredible experiments.
4 – Encourages Critical Thinking
A scientist applies the scientific method in order to unravel the mysteries of our world. The scientific method is based on the most detailed form of critical thinking, which is needed now more than ever. Critical thinking allows people to do thorough research, apply contextual knowledge, and examine facts free of confirmation bias; the conscious (or unconscious) search or belief in information that proves a pre-existing opinion/point of view. These are not only important skills, but necessary for rational adults able to apply self-learning, and constantly grow and develop.
5 – Science Fosters Creativity
We have a tendency to think of science as cold and logical. It is the “is” and “is not” of the world. However, things are rarely that simple, and rather than “is” and “is not”, it may be worth looking at science as “what could be.”
In fact, it seems many people, particularly creatives, take this interpretation of scientific knowledge to heart. Science is shown to foster creative endeavours. Science demands risk-taking, analytical thinking, and exposure to new knowledge. These factors are also inherent traits in artists, writers, musicians, designers, and more. The impressionist art style is directly concerned with a scientific analysis of light and how it interacts with the world.
6 – Life Is A Quest For Knowledge
Perhaps the most important reason, there is so much in the world to search for and know. It is shallow and reductive when Hollywood portrays “base human instincts” as viciousness and depravity. Since the earliest days of humanity, we have strived to learn. We desire knowledge in everything we do. We learn about our earth, we learn about each other, we learn about ourselves. Life is a never-ending quest for knowledge. As a scientific teacher, you’ll be singularly placed to answer that quest for many budding adventurers.
