The Science Parking Lot Manifesto

During my teacher education program at the University of Iowa, I had a professor who was a veritable guru in the area of classroom management.  In other words, she was able to perform the black magic that kept students interested, well-behaved, and in a unique way, having fun. 

This professor was aware that the educational nirvana that she was able to establish in the classroom came with some small challenges.  It turns out, when students are having fun, enjoying a subject, and feeling comfortable, they ask questions—tons of questions.

These questions come from interest, personal experience, and a curiosity for science.  As a science teacher, I have the instinct to dive into this avalanche of inquiry and allow it to carry me down the mountain—an inclination to answer every question as best I can, to provide those students with an instant, satisfactory answer to their thoughtful (or completely off-the-wall) questions. 

But everyone knows how productive it would be to dive into an avalanche.  Without a steady pace and clear purpose, a science class quickly devolves into a Q & A session.  Fun, but eventually you realize that you’re buried in 7 ft of snow and there is no one coming to rescue you.

To address this “issue,” if it’s possible to even attempt to paint this phenomenon as a problem, our supernatural professor suggested an idea called the “parking lot.”  It was a very simple name for a simple answer to the question avalanche.

While it would be physically impossible to answer every question from every student during class time, why not create a place where those types of questions could be stored, and revisited later? While the professor suggested a portion of the whiteboard, I thought that such a place could be more unique and more valuable if it lived in a place where everyone could access it. 

As a result, this blog!  The Science Parking Lot, a place of explanation and curiosity that extends beyond the biology textbook and beyond the normal constraints of class time to bring stories of the interesting, the bizarre, and the previously unanswered questions in science—questions from studentsà answers for everyone.