Inviting Scientists or Specialists in the Classroom Can Be very Beneficial

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Inviting scientists or specialists in the classroom as guest speakers can be a very useful tool if used properly. To have a successful experience there are many factors to keep in mind. There are many different roles that both the educator and the scientist can play. One way scientists can be successfully used in the classroom is coming in and working with the class. There are a variety of ways and involvements scientists can be used in the classroom. They can have different involvements that will accommodate their talents, time, and interests. There have been meteorologists or other specialists that come and present what they do to students. These are examples of great presentation opportunities, but scientists can be used in even more aspects (Laursen, Liston, Thiry, & Graf, 2007). There are authors and researchers who say scientists can be involved in even more approaches in learning science concepts. Scientists and specialists can be involved as advocates, resources, or join as partners in different learning situations in a district. An advocate is the best choice if the scientist does not want to volunteer time or require commitment like a full resource. If scientists choose to be an advocate, they will work with the teacher and support the teacher. An example of a scientists acting as an advocate would be one that does not teach the material directly to the students, but rather supports the teacher in presenting the material. This could also be the scientist getting different resources for the teacher to use to teach and guide the students through the learning process. A resource is someone like a science fair judge to review science content of script for science exhibits, shows, or environmental programs (Bybee & Morrow, 19... ... middle of paper ... ... did not consider the scientists as role models, because they didn’t think enough time was spent with them (Laursen, 2006). A well thought out and organized science-educator partnership can be beneficial in many ways. It can benefit the students in the classroom to be more confident and excited about science. At the same time, it can help the educator. The educator will become more confident and knowledgeable in the concepts. This will lead to possibly a stronger curriculum in the end. This will be beneficial to the school’s district. The partnership will help the scientist as well. Scientists should know that they furthered the understandings for the students and also the educator. They are getting the students excited and engaged in the sciences. Although the science-educator partnership is very time consuming, there is research that says it is very successful.

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