The classroom: Where science and poetry can meet

Students in science classrooms should be encouraged to do creative writing, trainee teachers were told at a recent seminar.

The message, delivered by a Canadian lecturer, was a provocative one for the world of science, in which writing is done mainly to give information or convey instructions, and dry, technical reports are the norm. Creative writing is associated more with the arts and languages.

However, Dr Anna Rumin, from Bishop's University in Canada, explained how creative writing would make assignments more fun and help pupils understand the topic better.

She was speaking at the annual Science Education Seminar held earlier this month at Villa Bighi in Kalkara. The seminar was organised by Dr Deborah Chetcuti, of the university's Department of Maths, Science and Technical Education, and hosted by Wilfred Kenely, chief executive of the Malta Council for Science and Technology.

The main aim of the seminar, now in its fourth year, is to allow student teachers in the Faculty of Education, specialising in science subjects, to come together and discuss current research developments in science education on both national and international levels.

The main presentation of the evening was Dr Rumin's interactive writing workshop. In talking about the importance of writing, she quoted various authors:

¤ We do not write in order to be understood, we write in order to understand (Day Lewis).

¤ I write to find out what I'm thinking about (Edward Albee).

¤ I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say (Flannery O'Connor).

¤ I write to clear my own mind, to find out what I think and feel (V.S. Pritchett).

In science, one carries out observations, does experiments and then writes reports about them, Dr Rumin said. So why should science pupils be asked to write an imaginative story or poem, especially when scientists themselves do not write creatively?

Through creative writing, she explained, science can be better understood: the process would help students relate theory to everyday life; ask questions rather than simply look for answers; explore concepts in different contexts leading to deeper understanding.

She suggested that pupils be asked to keep journals or learning logs which they could use to explain the concepts they are learning to other people. She gave examples:

"Explain to a 10-year-old what friction is and why it is sometimes both a nuisance and helpful."

"Describe the concept of momentum to your young brother."

"Explain to your grandmother why water stays in a pail when swung in a vertical circle around your head."

Students could also be given a list of topics, such as wind for energy, antibiotics, chemicals and the quality of life, gene therapy, and asked to write a story book or dramatic script, produce a video or software, make a model, create a game, or write a series of poems on the topic.

This would make the assignment more fun and encourage better understanding. "The use of academic discourse often masks a genuine lack of understanding," Dr Rumin quoted from Peter Elbow (1991).

Speaking after the seminar, Dr Chetcuti said Dr Rumin provided student teachers with an exciting alternative to the usual writing that takes place in the science classroom. While still communicating the scientific information, her approach would make science learning more interesting and more connected to the everyday life of students. It would also provide more depth to learning, in that the concepts are understood rather than simply learnt for a test or examination.

The students were welcomed to the seminar by Prof. Mark Borg, Dean of the Faculty of Education.

Jesmond Xuereb from MCST spoke about the research projects in science education which the council is currently involved in, and the opportunities for research which are available to students.

The second presentation was by Doreen Mizzi, the co-ordinator of the Co-ordinated Science Focus Group who discussed the introduction of co-ordinated science in schools, in line with the National Minimum Curriculum.

Why not write an imaginative story or poem from one's scientific observations?

Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down -
who is grazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?