Science Show

Year 9 students demonstrate the effect of surface tension
to some Year 3 students: VIDEO

Having been appointed the Year 9 Dean for next year, I knew the end to my term was going to be manic. Additionally, having finished exams, I wanted to offer a genuine learning opportunity for my current Year 9 class. What to do...?

Something I have been wanting to do for a while is to get a class to put on a Magic Show or a Science Lesson for a Primary School class. When I visited Camberwell High School in Melbourne earlier this year, a teacher there was doing exactly this. He told me about how successful and fun this was for all. So, I decided this was a great thing for my Year 9 Science class to do.

Having done it now, I have been reflecting upon the success and value of it. In a nutshell, here is what I have identified as some of the key "wins":

• Students understand what it is like to teach others
• Fosters a link with the Prep School
• Exposes younger students to Science
• Students get enthusiastic about Science
• Students learn about forward planning
• Students learn about laboratory safety
• Students learn (a little) about the Science behind their chosen experiment

While this was done late in the year, it would actually be a great thing to do very early in the year instead (or as well…). Chaos did reign a little in the laboratory with so many students but there was a real “buzz” of excitement and interest the whole time.

Fun with Dry Ice - only one has remembered the
discussion we had about safety glasses, though.

Interestingly, two groups had disasters on the day. One group did small-scale trials for making slushies. When they tried to do it large-scale, their timing for the freezing process was completely wrong. We talked about this afterwards and it was a lesson well-learned. Another group was doing a baking soda and vinegar volcano. They ran out of vinegar during the dress rehearsal, so brought a different brand the next day. For some reason, its reaction rate was totally different leading to a "fizzer", sadly.

What was the planning/preparation process?

1. CONNECT WITH A JUNIOR CLASS

One of the most important parts was to establish a relationship with a junior class and its teachers. We are lucky to have a Preparatory School, so I was able to email the two Year 3 teachers and they were wonderful in organising a meeting with me to discuss the timing for them to visit. I was also able to send "previews" to them to make sure the experiments would actually be things their students would enjoy seeing. From the previews, they could also check that the explanations were not too technical for Year 3 students.

2. PLANNING AND VETTING

Baking soda and Vinegar Volcano. Sadly this was a
"fizzer". Luckily, we have a VIDEO of it working.

My students were given time to find experiments on YouTube etc. that they may want to try. They were told to create a list of required resources/equipment and to be aware of the safety considerations. I warned them that some experiments may not be feasible, so it would be wise to plan for more than one experiment.

Each group had to show me a video of what they planned to do, give me a list of resources and explain to me the safety considerations. If I was happy that the experiment was legal for them to carry out, we then went over their resources/equipment list and I told them which resources/equipment the school would provide and which ones they needed to bring to school themselves.

3. TRIALS AND PREVIEWS

If, after all of this, they still wanted to do their original experiment (some did change their experiment), they had two lessons to trial it, culminating in a preview in front of another group. The other group was encouraged to ask questions, which would help the demonstrating group prepare answers for what the Year 3 students may ask.

If the trials went well, we filmed a "dress rehearsal" and this was made available on the Class Blog. I sent the link to these previews to the Year 3 teachers and asked for feedback from their expert perspective. If the trials didn't go well, these groups used the rest of their time to get it right, rather than making a preview video etc.

Start with the Pedagogy

In October this year, I was allowed to go to Melbourne with my Head of Department and the 2014 Head of Mathematics. We went to four very inspiring schools: Camberwell High School, John Monash Science School, Dandenong High School, and St Leonard's College. What an inspiring trip!

We are initiating a BYOD/One-to-One Computing programme with our Year 9 in 2014, phasing it in for the entire Secondary School over the next five years; this trip to Melbourne (along with a recent Twitter discussion via #edchatz) has reinforced something about incorporating IT more and more into the classroom: Start with the Pedagogy!

At all four schools, there was a real range of IT in use, from one-to-one devices to media studios. What struck me, though, was that the IT was not "in your face"; it was just part of how the students learned and created.

At St Leonard's and John Monash, students seemed to work almost exclusively on their devices for keeping records of their lessons and for research. This is not to say the lessons seemed to be computer-centred; this could not be further from the truth; these schools seem to to have embraced the idea of blended learning very well. Their approaches were quite different but both worth exploring.

John Monash did not seem to prescribe a device, nor did they prescribe apps/programmes. The students were given tasks/inquiries and they networked with each other to discover/share ways to achieve the task. This is the kind of freedom I try to give my students, but with so few bringing their own device to class, it has had limited success - bring on next year so I can see if it works for me or not!

St Leonard's have a much more prescribed approach; the departments decide on the apps and online resources they want for their students. As the teachers know exactly which apps and resources the students have, they can plan their tasks and lessons around these. Of course they can add free apps to these. I do like this idea for introducing one-to-one computing or BYOD, and would (personally) expect students to go beyond the prescribed apps and resources as they got into the senior schooling years.

Regardless of the approach towards BYOD or one-to-one computing, it was crystal-clear that all of the schools had started by looking at the learning and social outcomes for their students, then looked for suitable apps, resources, programmes, devices, learning spaces etc. to cater for these educational needs. This is probably why their classes looked like Biology lessons or English classes etc. and did not look like Computing classes. I think you have failed if you cannot quickly tell which subject (or task) the students are working on because the technology is dominating, rather than the learning dominating.

This pedagogy-focus (along with digital citizenship) was made explicitly clear in a recent #edchatnz discussion on Twitter as well. Rather than asking which apps etc. are best, start by asking, "What are my desired outcomes?" Then look for the apps etc. that make those outcomes more meaningful, more real, or more accessible. The other key thing that I think is important is to consider, "What can't I do with a pen and paper?" followed by, "Will the students' devices be able to do that?"

Along with my Science-based outcomes/themes, I want my 2014 Year 9 class to have a few other key overarching themes:

• connect and collaborate
• learning also happens outside the classroom
• contribute positively to all of your communities
• digital footprints are permanent
• high trust, high consequence

Do Traditional Subjects Need a Shake-Up?

In October this year, I was allowed to go to Melbourne with my Head of Department and the 2014 Head of Mathematics. We went to four very inspiring schools, including Camberwell High School, John Monash Science School and Dandenong High School. We all agreed that we learned a lot from this visit. There were things we wished we could do, but our architecture will not allow that in the same way as the schools we visited. There were also a lot of things we thought we could adapt and/or adopt without needing to change much at our school.

One of the things that got my mind racing was that Camberwell HS have combined their Science and Mathematics Departments into one faculty. Another was that John Monash SS teaches most subjects via scientific contexts. Then, there was the team teaching at John Monash SS and Dandenong HS. This made me think about the current format of our subjects, primarily at the junior level but also our NCEA subjects.

In New Zealand, we actually have a very useful Curriculum document which allows for a lot of individuality, both for teachers and for schools. It has allowed me to explore things with my classes in more abstract ways and to focus on the things they care about more than what the old NZC prescribed I had to cover. I have always thought that NCEA was overly prescriptive, so contradictory to the new(ish) NZC. However, in talking to others on Twitter (thank you #edchatnz!!), talking to my colleagues while in Melbourne, and looking at the things being done at those schools in Melbourne, I have realised that it is my own myopia that was making me see NCEA as a barrier.

My Year 11 students are delighted (sometimes they are just relieved!) that they get Level 1 Numeracy credits from an Internal Assessment we do in Science (Physics 1.1). I am delighted that the skills my students learn in Mathematics help them analyse their experiments. I appreciate the English and Social Sciences Departments for the work they do with students so it is easy for me to get them to do research in a scientific context. These were the catalysts that got me thinking...

In the junior school, there are so many areas we see cross-over. In Science, we often use the film Gattaca within one of our biology topics to spark debate about the ethics of DNA Fingerprinting. English and Social Sciences often do the same thing. So why not look at some cross-curricular inquiry? Each subject could have their own marking criteria/rubric for the actual assessment, bu the students could be working on their inquiry up to three lessons per day. This is just one example, but there are many more, such as: Sustainability; Conspiracy Theories; and Catastrophes.

In the NCEA years, I can see this being more challenging. However, combining Mathematics and Science could be a feasible possibility. A lot of the Science Achievement Standards involve mathematical skills; a lot of Mathematics Achievement Standards could be taught and/or assessed using experiments. The learning could be a lot deeper and the links between subjects made a lot more explicit. The students could have up to two lessons per day learning and applying the same skills, ones they often find challenging when taught exclusively in Science or in Mathematics.

Is it time to look at other ways to guide our students on their educational journey? Is it time to say goodbye to some of our traditional subjects? Timetables and architecture may prove barriers to this in secondary schools, though. There are a lot of considerations, of course.

I am not sure what it would look like, but I see it as being worth the time to explore. It was interesting that at Dandenong HS, the junior classes were the only ones with more integrated courses and their teachers did not also teach the senior subjects. Would teachers here be happy with this? They also had very regular meetings between teachers to agree on how they would team teach the students. Do schools have enough time to allow for this? I don't have any answers; I'm just bouncing ideas around to get them out of my head!

Team Teaching

In October this year, I was allowed to go to Melbourne with my Head of Department and the 2014 Head of Mathematics. We went to four very inspiring schools, including John Monash Science School and Dandenong High School. We all agreed that we learned a lot from this visit. There were things we wished we could do, but our architecture will not allow that in the same way as the schools we visited. There were also a lot of things we thought we could adapt and/or adopt without needing to change much at our school.

At John Monash SS and Dandenong HS, we saw a lot of team teaching. They approached it in different ways and both were real food for thought for how we might adapt the teaching and learning at our school.

At John Monash SS the levels are where each House is based. The learning spaces are primarily open-plan, except for the laboratories. We usually saw one teacher leading the instruction while the other moving around providing support to the students. The supporting teacher was also able to add extra details to the instruction. They had built a culture where the teachers were collaborating, not correcting or undermining each other.

A view of a few of the Houses at Dandenong. I can imagine
NZ schools doing this, calling them whanau.

At Dandenong HS, there are seven Houses, each with its own Administration team. These Houses are wonderfully-designed, allowing for team teaching, collaboration, and for student choice. Senior classes are still taught "traditionally", with one teacher per class. The junior classes, on the other hand, are very large but have three teachers working together with these classes. In some cases, this meant teaching the students at different paces, to better cater for their level of language and knowledge. In other cases, this meant allowing students to chose how they worked and having different teachers available to guide them.

At both schools, it was made explicitly clear to us that team teaching requires giving the teachers the time to plan and collaborate together. It is finding/making this time available that is critical if team teaching is to be explored.

I can see this working at my school, despite the "traditional" architecture we currently have. Within my department, there are clear areas of strength that some teachers have that I would love my own students to have access to. It may cause a nightmare for the timetabler, but having more than one class working on the same content and/or inquiries at the same time (and maybe across more than one subject) could allow for this sharing of experitise. But, as already said, this would need to be carefully and deliberately planned.

Follow their Lead

The entrance to the Camberwell HS
Enterprise Centre

In October this year, I was allowed to go to Melbourne with my Head of Department and the 2014 Head of Mathematics. We went to four very inspiring schools, including Camberwell High School. We all agreed that we learned a lot from this visit. There were things we wished we could do, but our architecture will not allow that in the same way as the schools we visited. There were also a lot of things we thought we could adapt and/or adopt without needing to change much at our school.

Camberwell HS have created a wonderful "Enterprise Centre" with a variety of types of learning spaces, including a lecture theatre and a film studio. They also have the opportunity for indoor-outdoor flow (it is balmy Australia after all!) and have deliberately accommodated for this with appropriate outdoor furniture under verandahs. What I learned here was that students will often surprise you with where they choose to work.

We were shown two areas which were not designed as learning spaces, but where the students often elect to work. The first was an entrance-way which was a dark alcove; it is often employed as a "cave" for quiet collaboration and work by small groups. Another was a multilevel concrete area outside, at the end of a corridor. This appeared to be a social area for lunchtime etc., but is also commonly used as a learning space.

One unintended learning
space - a "cave"

Another unintended learning
space. I love the levels in this!!

By opening the sliding doors to my right, there is excellent
indoor-outdoor flow and even more learning spaces.

The fact that students will often search out places they want to work in is something I have seen at my own school. Students often ask to work outside the classroom, whether this is on the picnic tables outside, sitting on the grass on the fields, or leaning against the walls in the corridor outside my laboratory. At first, I was extremely skeptical and expected them to use these opportunities to socialise and be slack. Yes, this is true of some students, but to my (pleasant) surprise, I usually see really good collaboration going on, and (when given enough time), the creation of some wonderful work.

Looking around my own block, I can see that the inclusion of some extra furniture could turn a few areas into unique learning spaces: we have alcoves that can become "caves"; we have wide entrance-ways which can have beanbags and/or tables added to convert them into learning spaces; and we could get some outdoor furniture to make the area outside my widows a good learning space too. This is just the beginning - I am sure the students will come up with ideas I haven't even thought of!

My Brain wants to Explode!

It is a while since I sat down and wrote, and in the meantime I have visited four very different schools in Melbourne and been involved in some wonderful #edchatnz discussions via Twitter, so I am going to publish a few short posts inspired by what I have learned recently.

BACKGROUND

My current school is K-13. We are initiating a BYOD/One-to-One Computing programme with our Year 9 in 2014, phasing it in for the entire Secondary School over the next five years.

The Preparatory School (Years 1-8) was only recently rebuilt, and there are some wonderful learning spaces in there, as well as "traditional" classrooms. In saying that, the classrooms have large glass sliding doors which allow the rooms to be opened up to incorporate the corridor and other shared spaces. I really like the flexibility of this idea, and our Preparatory School teachers seem to use their learning spaces very well.

Since the earthquakes, our Secondary School buildings have been strengthened, but not redesigned. This is not a surprise, as there was a level of urgency for us to be able to get back to the business of teaching and learning as soon as possible after the shakes. With this strengthening, we are very restricted in what we can do in our largest (four-storey) building and there is no way our Science/Mathematics block will be redesigned in the near future either. Therefore, in the Secondary School, we are a little restricted with what we can do with our learning spaces by the buildings themselves.

However, we have a Senior Leadership Team made up of people who are well-informed when it comes to both traditional and more contemporary theories on education, who listen to us teachers who want to pursue Professional Development opportunities, and who listen to us teachers who want to "shake things up" a little. We do things well, but want to do things even better...

In October this year, I was allowed to go to Melbourne with my Head of Department and the 2014 Head of Mathematics. We went to four very inspiring schools: Camberwell High School, John Monash Science School, Dandenong High School, and St Leonard's College. We all agreed that we learned a lot from this visit. There were things we wished we could do, but our architecture will not allow that in the same way as the schools we visited. There were also a lot of things we thought we could adapt and/or adopt without needing to change much at our school.

Here are some images from our visit:

CAMBERWELL HIGH SCHOOL

   

DANDENONG HIGH SCHOOL