In this TEDtalk, high school science teacher Tyler DeWitt discusses the importance of making science fun for students. He highlights the need for teachers to help students connect to science through storytelling and the use of accessible language, pointing to the use of precise language and jargon in science textbooks as sources of disconnection. He explains that if young students grasp science concepts somewhat imprecisely, they are more likely to be successful than if they become frustrated with the opaque language of some textbooks:
“If a young learner thinks that all viruses have DNA [they don’t], that’s not going to ruin their chances of success in science. But if a young learner can’t understand anything in science and learns to hate it, [then] that will.”
[ted id=1655]