“There are two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.” – Hippocrates. “ Thomas Edison

In 2024, on December 16th, the BGJHS science teachers are preparing their students for their semester finals.

In middle school science, students have many experiences. 8th grader Aiden Ellis Griffeth said, “I enjoyed the unit. It was interesting to learn about how families work and how genetic genes are passed down throughout your family, but overall, I say it was pretty good.” Aiden’s favorite unit is “Genetics because, as I said, warning about your family can make all whole set differences over what you know, learning how do I look like this or how do you know my cousin, my brother, why they look like this, why they do not look like me or someone else?” 

Many teachers have different lessons that are important to them. 8th grade teacher Mrs. Hartlage mentioned, “The most important lesson I teach is at the beginning of the year, and I end up reteaching it as we go. It’s a lesson on how to ask questions. The comment I get from kids a lot is “But what if I don’t have any questions?” and I have to hammer in the idea that you have to draw from what you don’t know because there will always be something you don’t know if you look at it for long enough.” A variety of teachers face many challenges in teaching science. Mrs. Hartlage also stated, “My biggest challenge is when students get frustrated with not hearing the answers right away. In science, part of what students are learning is to investigate it for themselves, and that takes a lot of patience from both the teacher and the students.”

Many students have a variety of challenges they face in science. 6th grader Z’mauri mentioned, “Learning about the chemicals and I enjoyed hands-on experiences, but math is where I started to slow down.” 8th grader Anthony Davis stated, “How my body works is by figuring out how our bodies work, how natural phenomena work, and stuff like that You just tend to know a lot more about your body than things around you and how they work.”

Science is a great way for students and teachers to embrace their unique differences and ideas among each other