Hawthorne Math and Science Academy is a Title 1 charter school with 540 students, 80% of whom are on free and reduced lunch. Despite our challenges, Hawthorne is ranked the No. 6 charter school in Los Angeles County and No. 17 in California. This, in part, is due to our creative and student-centered approaches to teaching and learning.
My contribution to that success is changing the way students approach science. Math and science don’t have to be intimidating and shouldn’t be limited to memorization. They’re like sports: if you practice, you’ll get better. As a former athlete from a family of athletes and coaches, I’ve engaged a diverse student population by teaching science like a sport.
How is science like a sport?
Students who are intimidated by science and math see them as just rote memorization. Memorize this formula, memorize this biological process, memorize this chemical symbol and its atomic number, and then be ready to recall them on the test.
In sports, you don’t see players sitting at desks memorizing rules and plays. They practice! They act out tangible, practical scenarios to build specific skills — and most importantly, they have a coach who supports them when they try a new skill. When athletes know they can fail safely, they try again and again, and they improve over time.
This is the approach I take in my science classroom. Students should be practicing science, not memorizing it. That’s why I give practical, tangible assignments and work for students to do in class every day, giving them a chance to learn and understand new skills by actively practicing them in a supportive environment. I also use the phenomena-based curriculum from Kognity to support small-group work, which allows students to interact in their own way and develop their own solutions to phenomena — just like a team does in a game setting.
I don’t assign homework to help students focus on the work we do in class. I do, however, insist that all in-class assignments be completed — so if a student is unable to finish something during class time, that will then become homework that’s due by the next class period. My mantra for students who start to feel overwhelmed by the volume of work is this: “You have to keep practicing a little bit. It doesn’t have to be a lot.” This is how they gradually build up their “science muscles.”
More practice, less anxiety
In sports and the classroom, there are moments of particularly high pressure and anxiety: a big game, an important test. These are moments when all of your skills are put to the test. But can you imagine a world where a football team takes the field in a championship game… but they’re not allowed to have their playbooks, and their coach isn’t allowed to talk to them? In a moment where their need to perform is highest, they’re stripped of their most precious resources and support. That isolation from your preparation is rare in sports or the corporate world, but it’s the standard in school testing.
To reinforce the idea that learning is doing, not memorization, I allow my students to create a “field manual” of notes during the semester. I encourage them to use their field manuals during tests so that I’m assessing the quality of their practice and preparation for those big moments, not purely their memorization skills. This approach has decreased my students’ anxiety and given them more incentive to “practice harder,” knowing their practice will yield better results in their “big game.”
I’m not a pedagogical expert by any means, but I am an expert in what I see kids handling daily. As an academic coach for my students, I adapt to help them be successful.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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