Jimmy Sweeney
Biology teacher
Standard 1: Subject Matter
A teacher must understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines taught and be able to create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
My interpretation and reflection: Teachers that greatly understand their subject matter tend to be most effective. However, a teacher must also know how to make the content relevant and meaningful for his students.
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I designed a unit on organismal development in my science methods course. One way of designing a unit is to think of the unit as a story. In an organism's development, there are many chapters to the story as well as prequels and sequels. In order to greater understand the story of how organisms develop, students may have to delve into other science areas such as chemistry and physics. Finally, to make it meaningful and relevant, the class will have to understand why the story matters. This means, in the case of organismal development, the class may explore how it relates to cancer, bioethics, biotechnology, and evolution.
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