Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty

The students I encounter each day in the science classroom tend to fall into three groups: being comfortable with uncertainty, being uncomfortable with uncertainty, and being bothered by uncertainty. One of my goals as an educator is to move them towards being comfortable with uncertainty by helping them make guesses, hypothesize, test theories, and ask questions. This can feel vulnerable and risky for students.

A highlight of my recent unit on climate science was watching students use Concord Consortium’s High-Adventure Science (HAS) activities, a set of modules that incorporates data and models from real-world environmental science topics. Many of the models allow a student to change various parameters and see what the impact is to the data. They can also select certain aspects of a computational model in order to track specific attributes. Students then use the data they collected and observations they made during the model runs to make claims. Taking it a step further, students must then rate their confidence in their claim and explain the factors that led them to this level. The HAS module gives the student an immediate critique of their explanation, and as the teacher I can also check in with students to help them strengthen their argument. This feedback encourages them to try an additional experiment with the model, take a closer look at their data, or add more evidence to their explanations.

Our students today are encountering data and media at a fast pace. They often feel compelled to take a quick glance at a graph or article and have a conclusion in mind already. It is my hope that I can encourage them to slow down, determine what claims they can make, and think about the evidence they have to support their claims. I want my students to feel comfortable with uncertainty but move out of this feeling through asking questions and seeking more proof. By evaluating what they know and what they do not know helps students make crucial decisions about how to move forward. This process extends beyond the science classroom; I am currently living it with my twelfth graders as they try to determine their next steps after Dana Hall. We need to recognize that being uncertain is a good thing, and I hope I can encourage students to feel confident in the face of uncertainty.