along albany road
The Question Master Ben Bakker: S. Truman Olin Jr. ’50 Science Chair
Gabriel Amadeus Cooney
by Rob Morgan Deerfield is changing, and Ben Bakker has something to do with it. Several years ago, Ben, a physics teacher, and his colleagues in Deerfield’s Science Department were talking about teaching and learning. “It was informal,” says Ben. “We simply wanted to rank those things that were most important for students to learn, and then we wanted to see if we were delivering.” To find the answers, they did what scientists naturally do: they asked questions. “We asked ourselves what it was that we were doing when we fell in love with science,” Ben recalls. It wasn’t a lecture, a book, or a particular assignment that got them hooked. “It was solving a problem; it was the satisfaction that came from grappling with something, and we wondered if we were creating opportunities for our students to do the same.” This was an important “moment of self-reflection,” and it led to a rethinking of the way a classroom, and a department, could work. At the time, Ben was chair of the Science Department, a position he held for five years. “Under Ben’s thoughtful leadership,” says David Howell, who retired this past spring after 43 years, “the department embraced an inquiry-based approach to learning as the central component of its core curriculum.” The shift was from a content-based approach in which teachers lecture and students, hoping to capture the correct info, scribble copious notes. In the new model, “questions are handed over to students,” Ben explains, and they become responsible for finding answers, by working together, by revisiting their original questions and assumptions. In a world increasingly relying on collaboration, synthesis, and critical thinking skills as keys to problem solving, this change made a lot of sense. Teachers act as guides in the new classroom model, encouraging and inspiring students. A role suited for Ben, whom Howell calls “a master of asking his students good questions, reveling in their delight as they unlock the mysteries of physics for themselves.” At first, students were unsure of this new environment. “But then they got it,” Ben says. “What they’re learning is that asking their own questions, being curious and persistent, will be more important in their lives than collecting facts.” What works for students, can work for teachers. “There is no arriving at being a good teacher,” Ben points out, noting that improvement is an ongoing process of exploration, similar to the process of inquiry his students have tackled. What matters is the search, the “grappling” with questions.
There is no arriving at being a good teacher. Improvement is an ongoing process of exploration, similar to the process of inquiry his students have tackled. As a way to become better at their craft, Ben and his colleagues have cultivated a “community of openness” in their department. “The most important thing that can happen to a teacher is to open your door”—literally. According to Ben, science teachers are free to walk into another’s class at any time. This can be relieving, he says. “If the door is closed, we risk isolation and doubts can grow. We have a lot to learn from each other, and so when we can share ideas, when we know that it’s okay to be flawed, we can take risks and then try something new. Creating a community like this is important. When it happens—and we did it in the Science Department—you say ‘I love to go to work.’” In addition to teaching physics and computer science, Ben has advised the Academy’s Christian Fellowship and Community Service programs, leading students to post-Katrina Mississippi to help rebuild, and traveling to South Africa where he brought laptop computers to a rural school. He also co-founded Elements, a co-curricular that introduces students to outdoors skills, and he has led students to first-place finishes in electric vehicle and robotics competitions. Ben is “extraordinarily modest and unassuming, always putting the needs of others ahead of his own,” says David Howell, who preceded Ben as the holder of the S. Truman Olin Jr. ’50 Science Chair. “All of us—students, faculty, and staff—benefit each day from his wisdom, his kindness, and his constant and loyal support as colleague, teacher, and friend.” On this, there is no question.
deerfield.edu
11