Thursday, January 24th, 2008...8:14 pm
Controversies Make the Best Student Blog Posts
Will Richardson caught my attention with his post, “Looking for Student Bloggers.” He laments that there are few student blogs that contain writing with a “synthesis that incorporates a deeper understanding” that avoids being “too report-ish.” I agree readily with Richardson and he’s received quite a few interesting comments to his post that I recommend you read.
I’ve tried really hard to get my students to think critically on the blog and avoid a standard report style of writing. However, it’s a science class so I’m never going to be greatly enthusiastic about the type of creative writing you’d find in an English class. Science writing requires a more technical approach. But, technical doesn’t have to equal dry and boring.
Richardson’s post made me think about the kind of writing on the student blog that has been the most successful at engaging readers and sparking great conversations. It becomes immediately obvious after a brief perusal that posts that dealt with controversial issues have had the greatest impact and it certainly makes sense why. However, I’ve shied away from putting too many controversial issues on the blog for fear of upsetting people. But, I’ve decided to include more starting with my most recent posts on racism and evolution. Although I authored these posts, I’m hoping my students will feel more inspired to submit their own posts that deal with controversial topics. I just published a student post today on morality and next week I’ll publish one on human evolution. Either I’m being brave or incredibly stupid.
I didn’t realize how many controversial topics there are in biology until I began teaching it. Here are just a few of the hot button issues biology teachers delve into each year:
- Evolution
- Sexual reproduction
- Animal behavior (including things like altruistic behavior)
- Ecological issues (global warming, habitat destruction, pollution, animal rights)
- Bioengineering
- Medical research
I’m sure I forgot a few. I’d love to hear from other teachers with blogs and find out what their experience has been like in dealing with controversial topics. Any tips or suggestions are greatly welcomed.
4 Comments
January 27th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Stacy, I think you’re right, the controversial topics do make for the best blogging. I have just started using student blogs and focused my initial efforts on fairly abstract essential questions. I then posted an assignment which asked students to investigate global warming. We have had a great discussion! The remarkable things is that students feel comfortable “arguing” with me over the blog posts/comments. It has been a lot of fun but truly rewarding for the students to investigate and digest different points of view!
January 28th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Do you feel comfortable providing a link to your post? I’d love to see it.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:02 am
I am just beginning my career in education and recently we were discussing ethics. My take on controversial issues in biology goes something like this: I ask that if students, or their families, are uncomfortable with certain content taught in my class that they consider two things. First, that many people disagree with content or emphasis in other core subjects, such as English and history, and secondly that they respect that the student needs to be able to understand and work within the framework of certain concepts in the modern workplace and society, even if it is something they do not personally ascribe to. I feel that this is the best way to teach contentious topics in science while both respecting student’s rights and ensuring that they receive a thorough education that will prepare them to make their way in the modern world.
I am very glad that I found this blog as I am very interested in integrating technology into my teaching, Keep up the good work!
February 11th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Sorry it took so long to check back. My student blogs are hosted at
http://psstudenttalk.wordpress.com
My students’ blogs are linked on the right column. The best controversy is here:
http://islandgirl-katie.blogspot.com/2008/01/affects-of-teachers-on-global-warming.html
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