An Inspirational Teacher

Tony Wagner’s CreatingInnovators:  The Making of Young PeopleWho Will Change the World features a section on Amanda Alonzo, a truly inspirational high school biology teacher, who is a compelling advocate of inquiry science.  Tony argues that innovation, rather than knowledge, is the new engine of economic growth. Our traditional schools stifle innovation by focusing on rote, unconnected, unintegrated factual knowledge.  The skills necessary for innovation, such as questioning, observing, experimenting, networking, and integrative thinking, can be taught.  They can only be learned in an environment that focuses on how to think, rather than what to think.

Tony discovered that Amanda had been the teacher of two of the top forty finalists at the 2010 Intel Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).  How did Amanda get started in coaching students who, under her guidance, consistently place highly in science fairs?  “Every other teacher at the school who had been asked had declined, but I felt I couldn’t say no as a first-year teacher.” Amanda’s previous experience with science fairs was discouraging.  “What I’d seen wasn’t really science, wasn’t powerful learning, and parents were doing most of the work.” 

Drawing on her experience with inquiry learning, Amanda created an authentic encounter with science for her students.  She focused on the process of doing science, rather than simply passing on science content.  Ironically, her best teaching was in her science fair seminars during lunchtime or after school when she was free to teach questioning, creative thinking, and problem solving in the context of science projects of genuine interest to her students.  “In my classes, I have state standards that I have to teach, which are all about content knowledge.”  Amanda believes that many science teachers think that in order to cover the standards they must give the students all the answers, instead of allowing the time for students to figure out the answers for themselves.  This type of inquiry requires more effort from both the students and the teachers and it needs the time for questioning, experimenting, failing, and trying again.  However, Amanda’s experience, which is solidly backed by educational research, shows student actually learn more and retain more content this way (HowPeople Learn, National Research Council).