(upbeat music) (students chattering) - Why are we teaching the way that we always taught?

Because it's the way we always taught (chuckles).

(school bell rings) Historically, teachers have always been upfront, telling the students what they're supposed to know.

We're in rows, you're asking me questions, I respond, rather than students working in groups, trying to figure out something that's meaningful to them.

I actually wanna know what new questions you came up with.

It's a very different way of learning.

Rather than me telling you what you're supposed to know, you're working with other students in your class, trying to figure out what's going on here.

This change isn't gonna happen overnight.

But when we get students in schools, experiencing this kind of learning and then they see it, not only K-12, but they also see it in college and they go out and be teachers themselves, this is where we're gonna get classrooms to change.

If we stick with it, we can actually change what the nature of education is, where kids are actually working together, trying to make sense of problems, of phenomena that they're really curious about, that they really wanna understand.

So, what we're gonna be doing today, is continuing our work on how to support high school students in writing scientific explanations.

I teach secondary science methods, which is a course that prepares students who are interested in teaching science, at the middle school level or the high school level.

What really motivates me about working with young people, if it's K-12 students, if it's undergraduates, if it's graduate students.

Well, part of it is that they're young people, all right?

They bring new ideas to you as well, and they also question you.

- Do you want us to write claim, evidence, reasoning or do you want it to be one thing?

- It's up to you.

And to me, that's really exciting, because that's the kind of learners I really wanna help develop.

Understanding the world we live in, is really important if we wanna get all kids really involved in understanding science.

You know, I never sought being a distinguished professor.

It wasn't something that motivated me.

I was always motivated and trying to support kids in really learning And so, it's just something I never thought of, alright?

It was always that other guy over there.

And so for me, the value in it, I think it really recognizes the importance of the work that I'm trying to do to change education.

But it does show to me, a recognition, that this work is valuable and important.

And to me, because of that, it's quite an honor to get this distinction from MSU.

(uplifting music)