Recently, I left for Argentina in order to participate (participar) in a series of workshops in the southern, central and northern parts of the country. The invitation to join (juntar) in this seemingly disconnected series of events (los eventos) came at the request of Fulbright Argentina and the Ministry of Education in Argentina, who are engaged in the 2008 Year of Science in the country. The program (el programa) was put together mainly through ProFOR (Programa de Formación y Capitación para el Sector Educativo), who established the agendas and made the final arrangements on locations (las locaciones). I worked directly with their offices to set up my materials and to establish the agenda for the workshops that would be held in Villa Angostura (near Bariloche in Patagonia), Buenos Aires, the capital city, and Concepción del Uruguay, in the providence (la provincia) of Entre Rios 4 hours north of the capital.
Sarah and I arrived in Villa Angostura in the afternoon (por la tarde) after a flight to Buenos Aires, a transport to another airport, for domestic flights and the final flight to Bariloche, and then via bus (un micro) to Villa Angostura. In this remote and beautiful setting, a group of Science education professors from the University of Buenos Aires had set up a weeklong workshop for students who were in programs to become (para ser) science teachers, in the areas of biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics. The group also had a series (una seria) of master teachers involves, and had participants from many locations, including Ushuaia, Mendocino and Buenos Aires.
That evening, I did a demonstration (una demostración) for the group and my demo was done on the physics of action science (ciencia de acción) and included concepts in forces (las fuerzas), motion (el movimiento), Newton’s Laws of Motion and simple machines (maquinas simples). I performed for the group of approximately 50 students, and did the lecture and demonstration completely in Spanish (completamente en Castellano). There was a lot of interest in the class as well as a large crowd (un muchedumbre grande) that gathered that included both faculty and other students on the campus. The idea was to engage (enfocar) the students in a constructivist activity that would motivate them to work in physics and the concepts associated with their curriculum (plan de estudios).
The next day, I gave a workshop (un taller) on the concept of the center of gravity and used a constructivist method (el método constructivista) that centered on the aspects of engagement, exploration and explanation. The workshop was for 90 minutes and the students interacted with me in a brainstorm session (una lluvia de ideas) and then viewed a small video clip of the use of the center of gravity (el centro de gravedad) in action sports. After this, I put students into groups of 3-4 members and had them do a hands-on activity (una actividad) on this concept using materials that are readily available in schools, such as cardboard (el carton), string (el hilo), paper clips and pencils (los lápices). After the activity, we had a discussion on the methods and the content (el contenidoo) and I finished with a short presentation on the constructivist method of teaching and learning.
For this type of approach, I use the term “action science” which can be defined as the use of familiar objects (los objetos familiares), circumstances and situations within the lives of students in order to explain (explicar) specific concepts in science built around student interests, including action sports like skateboarding and bicycle motocross (BMX). Transformative education (educación trasformativa) is a process in which the student moves from beyond acquiring factual knowledge and becomes changed in some meaningful way by what he or she learns. Students learn to consider (considerar) multiple points of view, to question (preguntar) assumptions and values and beliefs, while always seeking to verify (verificar) reasoning. The goal (la meta) of this approach is to make middle school science transformative through action science.
For me, the chance to have (tener) to think (pensar) on my feet in another language and to gauge whether my ideas and approach to education would translate to a place that I had never been (nunca he estado). As I interacted with the entire group (el grupo entero), I had to acknowledge that this was a good idea and that this had translated to a successful experience. I believe I am now on my way to a new place (un lugar nuevo), somewhere I have never been, and I am looking forward to discovering where this new road (este camino nuevo) will lead me.
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