Science and statistics cultivate two different aspects of critical thinking. While science provides the rigorous, analytical and logical thinking tools, statistics offers the ability to read and interpret data, use data as evidence. Employing both scientific literacy and statistics literacy to discuss controversial social-scientific issues allows students to exercise the full spectrum of critical thinking.
This significance of the collaboration between the two learning areas has become the main reason for the recent trend of increasing popularity of Flexible Learning Spaces (FLS). FLSs are spaces where exploration, collaboration, and discussion are encouraged (http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Technologies/Flexible-learning-spaces). Because cross-curricular teaching and learning are not as plausible in more traditional classrooms, as more and more people recognize the need of collaboration for critical thinking development, FLSs will be the mainstream in the future.
In addition to the realization of the importance of cross-curricular teaching and learning, through designing the current collaboration example, I also found the weakness of my pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) related to nuclear physics teaching. Without considering statistical literacy, my old way of delivering nuclear physics gave a narrow mindset of the topics to the students. In my future teaching practices, I would emphasize the statistical aspects of the topic and of any other experimental sciences.
Finally, I would foresee my tendency towards the old transmissive ways of teaching in an FLS, especially when introducing the topics at the beginning of an activity. However, I can also anticipate my collaborative partner to act as my critical friend and provide me with constructive feedback (Wright, 2018, p. 64). This will not happen in a traditional classroom.