My daughter, who is becoming as mad on science as I am brought home some photos that she thought children might like to try and figure out what made the footprints. And yes she even told me how the lesson should proceed (just like her dad!). I think this is a cool one to have a play with besides the fact it was my daughter's idea (!), because children will need the internet to help figure out what the animal was as well as starting with prior knowledge and science knowledge (the Gather and Interpret Data)... As a teacher, I'm curious as to what the children notice before opening a laptop -do they know it's a bird?, can they discount certain birds because of the footprint eg a duck because it's not webbed... Do they need some more information? If we're thinking like scientists (a squirrel moment: give the photo to the children with a story -that someone has found these 'marks' and think they could be a moa! Can they research to find out if the photographer is right), what other information would a scientist need? Would it be important to know where the photo was taken?, when? -why would this be important? When they go online, children will need to think about the websites -are they a 'reputable' site? Finally, children will need to make an explanation -so which animal made the mark? What are they basing their theory on? Can children disagree? Even better, how will they communicate their disagreements? This could become a longer session than I thought! Have a go, and see what the children think! By the way, I don't know which bird it is, but I do have an idea :-)

Hi everyone... As those of you who meet me, I love the chance to take photos and videos of... stuff! At the moment my passion is mushrooms and toadstools to the point of leaping in to people's backyards to take photos! This weekend found s new variety that I haven't seen before as well as an old friend -I zoomed in on a hole as you could see the gills structure too... I wonder why whatever nibbled this delicacy didn't want the gills too? I also put in one from our choko plant in the staff room -I'm fascinated with the 'spring' -why does it produce these? What purpose do they have? All this, to me, is part of the "library of experiences" -growing in curiosity and wonder, exploring and asking questions about the world around us! A great activity for children of all ages... and with the garden bird survey around the corner -get kids snapping!!!

This is a shorter version of my google plus post...
Got this article on my iPad today (the nzherald app) and although it needs a couple of reads for someone not up on all that science guff, I think it's a great example to share with the children albeit a watered down version! What do I like about this article? Firstly, it's scientists wondering about what we might wonder about! This one is about the 'tapping on the can stops the fizz' and their investigations into this. Secondly, I like the diagrams! One of the capabilities is around "Interpret representations" and how we show what's happening. This one is about what's happening inside a can and I'd like to get children to have a look at these and tell me what they think -these diagrams are interesting because scientists can't actually see inside the cans (or can they?!?) and I'm sure the bubbles are too big but if they were smaller would the diagram make sense -a chance to talk about displays showing scientists' thinking rather than reality... Thirdly, this is a neat one for the children to have a play with. In fact, I've tapped the top of those tiny cheap fizzy bottles and it seems to have stopped the fountain of foam! It could be an interesting one for children to design their investigation on, predict, have a try and perhaps change their predictions as they get more evidence. The fun would be, could they try to explain what's happening? I quite like the clear cheaper fizz bottles because they might see 'stuff' happening when they shake and when they tap the bottles! Have a play! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11656878

Star Wars meets the Science Capability Interpret Representations

Okay, okay... first confession is I am a starwars fan! Yes it fits right in with my geeky, nerdy persona that I have been reminded of regularly!
Anyway one of the capabilities talks about Interpreting  Representations (http://scienceonline.tki.org.nz/Science-capabilities-for-citizenship/Introducing-five-science-capabilities/Interpret-representations)... Have a look at the weblink as there are lots of ideas here to help you develop this capability with the children. I love the idea of students drawing their thinking -how do you show movement, how do you label, which way does electricity go, how do I show sugar crystals getting smaller and smaller as they dissolve?
I came across this which is the whole starwars film as an illustration (or a representation). It really appealed to me although I must admit I did get lost with which dot was which as it has been a long time since I watched the movie! Anyway I did wonder about whether this could be used for other narrative writing or even an experiment... not sure how but...

Anyway here's the link: http://swanh.net/

What do children think? What if they made one for a part of a movie they like?

PS: Yes, I only consider the classics Star Wars movies... the rest are all awful!

This popped up during our science hui as something a couple of the other facilitators have used in classes... It's a youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am3iGHDnJHc about a class of Japanese students hatching a chicken without the eggshell.
Besides being an absolutely fascinating video on the development of the chick, I think it's a great video to talk about ethics... Before starting the video, ask the children could you 'grow' a chick in an egg without an eggshell? What issues might there be? Why would a scientist like this?
After children have watched the video, what do they think? What questions do they have? What comments would they like to make? It would be an interesting discussion to let loose! An integral part of science is communication and children learning how to communicate is important... If we're talking as scientists, what could we say -could we say it's gross and you can't do that? Is that a scientific point of view? Can we disagree? How?
When you think about the NZC essence statement about "participating as critical, informed and responsible citizens", how does this fit in? What would it mean to be a responsible scientist?

Have fun!

(picture from http://www.dsm.com/markets/anh/en_US/species/species-poultry/species-poultry-chickquality.html)

First post into the world of science! A bit about myself -I work as a science facilitator at the University of Waikato supporting primary schools in teaching the Nature of Science. I've been in the job for three years and have run a google plus community page for that time. This is a page for teachers that have survived my workshops and I have decided to start a blog that will encapsulate aspects of my google plus page -a bit of double dipping, you might say!