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jrlewis's picture

Why Get a Masters Degree?

In terms of education reform and teaching science according to the philosophy developed here, on Serendip, it is relevant to discuss teacher qualifications and training. Science is a combination of curiousity, imagination, and skepticism that should be taught as a process of open-ended transactional inquiry. According to Eleanor Duckworth "the critical experiments themselves cannot impose their own meanings. One has to have done a major part of the work already, one has to have developed a network of ideas in which to imbed the experiments."

Teaching is the creation of an environment amenable to student learning. The teacher is responsible for facilitating learning through students' discovery, experience, and observation. They use their own experience, knowledge, and understanding to aid their students.

The teacher may rely on academic, industrial, or other advanced forms of scientific activity. Despite the fact that most institutions do not share our philosophy of science, participating in the scientific community and advanced scientific activity provides a depth of understanding that is impossible to achieve elsewhere. As a teacher's depth of knowledge increases, their judgment becomes better and better. The more mature judgement the teacher possess, the better they are able to assist their students.

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