When I was seven years old, I asked my dad why seasons happen.  He started to tell me that the earth is tilted, and before I knew it, three hours later, we were still sitting in my living room with an orange that served as our model of the earth, a whole lot of diagrams on napkins, and a whole lot more questions than answers. 
       To me, education has always been about that process of interrogation, the relentless pursuit of answers to one’s deepest questions.  I see science education as a vehicle to unlocking the power of questioning, exploration, and skilled interrogation.       

        The ability to ask questions of one’s self, one’s society, and the natural world is a form of freedom that has been denied to far too many people throughout history and is denied to many people Americans today who are not given a voice in reshaping the world.  As Paulo Freire writes, "For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other."  I believe that equity of educational opportunities and a pedagogy grounded in preparing young people to achieve a world of equity have the power to unlock this human potential. 

       I knew that I wanted to teach when I saw the power people can have when they know.  As a college student teaching adult ESOL classes, I saw that language gave people power and access to full participation in a community.  As a student studying abroad in South Africa, I saw the devastation that people and communities face when they succumb to an overwhelming sense of the inevitability of our struggles.  When we know the root causes of our struggles or exactly how and why destruction can occur, our struggles are no longer inevitable. When we know exactly how AIDS destroys the body or can predict how long it will take for global climate change to melt the ice caps, not only is the distruction no longer inevitable, but we are also called to action. 

       Therefore, I believe that schools and learning communities must be communities of both thought and action.  As a science teacher, I will strive to build a pedagogy built on uncovering the unknown, rather than memorizing the known.  I will allow students appropriate freedom within safe limits to explore what is meaningful to them.  However, I firmly believe that the knowing and the construction of knowledge are not enough in and of themselves.  I hope to provide students with additional opportunities to build, invent, and act on their ideas through class field trips, interactions with community members, extracurricular opportunities, and projects tied to real-world audiences. 

       I aim to connect skills and knowledge learned in class to ethical issues they will face as future leaders in deciding how to use that knowledge. In particular, I feel that students' abilities to analyze the benefits, costs, and risks of any given technological advance will be immensely important to their lives and futures.  Young people today have grown up in a world already surrounded by cell phones, e-mail, and abundant technology.  Their ability to use technology wisely and for the betterment of society will no doubt be a defining issue of their generation and for the future world we will build together. 

       Ultimately, I hope to instill in students that it is how we use our knowledge that ultimately defines us as individuals and human beings.  John legend tells us, "The future started yesterday and we're already late."  As educators, it is our role to empower young people to embrace that future with inquiring minds, compassion toward others, and the critical, hopeful drive that will allow them to succeed against the odds.