Literate Compassionate Students

I believe that one of the keys to creating scientifically-literate students is to have them to understand how to read data.  It is extremely important that students are able to locate, identify relevant data and be able to efficiently analyzing it while connecting it to the larger context it belongs in.  Humans too easily generalize concepts and make assumptions based on experiences and the knowledge they have at the moment.  However, misconceptions and biases can cloud this analytical judgment and prevent students from understanding something with evidence.  Many people make assumptions about climate change and blame extremes in the weather on this but when placed in context of over a century, patterns emerge that show that what we believe to be freak weather is actually common in the past, our collective memory just does not connect that far into the past.  By looking at the past students become more compassionate citizens because they don’t immediately react to the something and prescribe solutions that may not work.  Looking at past data will provide insights into how something works.  This can be applied to all parts of society to great results if implemented properly. 

In creating compassionate students that care about their global environment and the effects natural disasters have on people, students can learn to read the data that is presented to gauge how extreme the disaster has been for the local population.  If students are literate and hear about a magnitude 9 earthquake in Haiti, they will understand what this has done to the local environment and the people that reside there.  Our school’s PTA connected us with local community drives that helped during Hurricane Sandy and have also participated in food drives for those affected by the Haitian earthquake.  These opportunities allow students to explore different science concepts and connect to with a human face.