Science for citizenship... citizen science...

Kia Ora
Just a quick note today... off to lovely Rotorua to share some science, work in classrooms and generally wreak havoc!
I've been thinking a little bit about the role of science within our lives. The NZC states that science plays a significant role (p. 17) so with this in mind, it should be a bit of a priority in classrooms. Of course we already have plenty of other priorities including growing vege gardens, teaching the children to swim and possibly squeezing in literacy and mathematics too!
If science is to play, or is indeed playing a 'significant role', how do we citizens respond? The other night I watched a news article about an upcoming 1080 drop with people from both sides arguing the case. It seems, as a nation (in fact, as a planet), we're losing the ability to discuss. We simply shout louder a particular view with absolutely no interest in any other point of view. Could we be supporting our students to develop communication skills? Again, the NZC on p.28 discusses the need for communication right through all components of the Nature of Science! Can children share their views, listen to other points of views and possibly change their mind? When I watch videos, particularly of the US and their political protests, I do wonder whether this could happen!
My job does tune me in, but I do wonder about this "significant role" science plays. It seems some areas are seeing a drop in science being taken at higher NCEA levels and universities are finding the same. One scientific research centre I spoke to told me they had to hire from overseas as we just didn't have the uni courses to grow the needed skills and there were few graduates anyway. So how do we start 'making' science important again?
Science definitely makes the news: 1080 drops, medical breakthroughs, new solar systems discovered were just over the weekend that I saw. Last week, I was reading about the Canterbury river system with its braided rivers which are quite unique and the issues with farmers needing water and the system possibly degrading. I come across science articles and comments through Facebook, although  not sure that reflects "science"! I wonder how people respond. Do they read through or glance through or ignore? Do they accept whatever they read, hear or watch, whether it be NZ Herald, television news, a documentary, National Radio, etc? Do people critique? Do they know how? And more importantly, do we need to know how?

From Fake Science, Facebook

So winding up my quick post... With all this science around us, do we need to start exposing our students to it? Do we need to teach them how to critique? Could we be using science as an authentic context for literacy and numeracy? Let's read this article and then discuss it. What do you think? Is it important that you have an opinion on the 1080 drops? Are DoC right? What about the protesters saying millions of birds are killed with each new drop -are they right? Have they counted?
I would hope as children become more tuned to science playing a significant role, they will start to think that they too have a significant role in society!

And to finish... saw a duck eating an acorn the other day so shared my findings with a colleague like this "Did you know ducks eat acorns?... Well one duck did... Well I saw her eat one acorn, I don't know if she eats lots... I'll start again. I saw a duck eating an acorn!" The joys of scientific observation!

Have a great sciency day
Paul

Sea Week Feb 25 - Mar 5

Coming up very soon is Sea Week and, particularly if you are near the beach, a great reason to hit the surf! As always there are a lot of resources already out there. The best place to start is http://seaweek.org.nz/, the 'home site' for the week. They have resources, events, videos and more on the site and it is certainly a great place to start.
One of the pages has a citizen science idea around brown seaweed. NIWA are collecting information about the seaweed to see whether it si an indicator of pollution. the website (http://naturewatch.org.nz/projects/large-brown-seaweed-distributions) has a sign in option using google (which most schools have) or you can register, perhaps as a class. These opportunities for students to work 'with' and 'as' scientists are really valuable in terms of students understanding about science. The NZC statement says that students explore how science works and these kinds of activities enable this... Why do we need to record accurately? What if I just change the data a little? What would happen if everyone exaggerated their observations? The seaweed observations also show the importance of knowledge. Although, as teachers, we're growing our students in terms of their processes, skills, capabilities, etc, we still need the contexts! I'm not going to asses how many types of seaweed the students can identify but they do need to know the different names so as to be able to communicate their observations.

wikipedia image

Scientists don't call Neptune's Necklace "that green bobbly one" because there might be another green bobbly seaweed out there... If I told you about the little yellow flowers growing in my lawn, it could be a daisy or a buttercup (or possibly some other yellow flower!). We use names to communicate what we're noticing so we can be specific and if we use the same name, then others can use our observations, record data, compare results, etc. It would be interesting for the children to discuss why do we need to know the names of the seaweed -what would happen if we all used different names?

Marine Metre Squared, from the University of Otago is another citizen science project. If you go to their website, you'll find resources and ideas as well as information on joining their efforts in monitoring local seashores.

For more ideas, check out NIWA or the science learning hub (https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/events/39-seaweek-2017) for more teacher resources and support. An interesting question -could you do Sea Week without being near a beach? Those of you who have been subjected (!) to my workshops will know that I like seashells. They're great for observations and building curiosity... Get children to draw their shell -can they find their particular shell (or even better, can someone else identify their shell?), what are some of the wonderings they might have... how come the shells are different sizes?, different colours?, why do some shells have rings like on a tree stump?, how strong are the shells?, are shells the same from different beaches or different countries? What senses can they use in observing the shells? You could create a wordbank under the different senses that children could then use for other observations. Could the define what a shell is? Is it different to a rock? Are there some things that are the same between a rock and a shell? Perhaps children could use a Venn diagram to describe the similarities and differences. Could students set up a flow chart for identifying common seashells? Finally, could students chat to a marine biologist either face to face or online (or even better, at the beach!) and learn about their work as a scientist?

I haven't even started on how I could integrate maths, reading and writing into this science but there are lots of opportunities to take science from after lunch and use it as authentic contexts in the morning! And then there's all that lovely technology we can use too!

So, have a go!
Paul





https://seashellsbymillhill.com/

Science playing a significant role in society...

Well, a brand new year and lots more opportunities for science in the classroom! One thing I've been thinking a bit about is 'how much science is happening in  my life?'... The essence statement in the NZC (p. 17) talks about science playing a significant role in society -so does this actually happen?
Just thinking about this over the last week for me included a few ponderings...

• we have a plum tree absolutely laden with fruit which is causing some branches to break and be hanging on by the proverbial fingernail. I've been quite fascinated as the leaves and fruit haven't withered, they still look healthy. And this causes me to wonder about the structure of the branch -which bits are essential for the fruit and leaves? I'm guessing the outer  bits as that's what is still connected to the tree. We're also getting a lot of birds around the tree eating the plums -thankfully just the ones on the ground but I do wonder if it's a way for them to get moisture... or they might just like plums! Do they taste like we do? 
• I've had a bit of a sore back from an accident and the doctor prescribed some pills which caused me to become quite drowsy and 'muddy'... reading online they all have a few side effects -but then how do I know which website is legitimate? Could it be the site that says x medicine is bad, is producing y medicine that they would like people to use? And how common are the side effects? And why do doctors prescribe these if they're bad? 
• Admittedly I was reading a science book at the time, but the author was writing about magnets and it suddenly occurred to me that the N on magnets is not because it's the North but because it points to the North! If it was the North then it would be repelled by the magnetic north (just like when you put two magnets against each if both ends were 'N')... I tried to explain it to a group of teachers but I think I lost them!
• I've also been reading a few bits on our extinct birds -the huia (one of my faves), the piopio (I was driving through the town and started wondering) and the laughing owl...
• and finally on my to do list is to look a bit deeper into the ads on TV with a petrol company setting up a game with certificates and medallions for children around science and the environment...

What about you? I love it that science has the potential to be in our everyday lives... with cooking, fixing something, gardening, medicine, almost anything. I once had a chat with someone who thought that electricity is science and therefore turning a light on must be science. I argued that the ability to simply turn on the light isn't really science, although the stuff going on to make the light turn on is. I might simply zap my lunch in the microwave and be done with it -that's not really science, or I could wonder why the middle gets really hot, much hotter than the outside... could I design something that prevents this from happening (getting into technology too!)? When I was watching The Chase, they said that phones are on microwave something or others too -so why doesn't that cook stuff as these phone signals bounce around the world and in my pocket? I might want to read a bit more, growing my own wonder and curiosity... I know there are many who think that phones and microwave ovens are a cause for cancer... I wonder why they think that?

And now onto some ideas for the classroom (although I'd be interested whether children have been doing 'science things' in the holidays... books, TV programmes, museums, wonderings...).

If you follow this blog, you know I have a soft spot for the octopus and the bee. I saw this article on the stuff app and thought it was an interesting video to show the students: http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/88993604/angry-octopus-tries-to-intimidate-diver-interrupting-its-morning-walk. When they watch it, let them talk amongst themselves (there's no sound really anyway) and perhaps play it a couple of times... The octopus spends most of the video blowing itself up -which I never knew they could do! At the end it swims away and that's quite neat too. Start with observing before inferring: what do they notice about the octopus, about its head, eyes, tentacles, etc" What colours can they see? What else is in the water? And then we can infer from our observations... Why do the children think the octopus was doing that? If we decided it was because it was scared, why didn't it squirt ink like I've seen other octopus do? Are there examples of other animals that do that? Pattern seeking is an important part of science, making connections to prior experiences and knowledge. And my other question is, how did it blow itself up? Was it air? Fluids? If the children enjoy the octopus video, there are a few more that I posted last year. Oh, one more thing... what do the children think of the diver? Was she being responsible? Was it the right way to treat the creature? And what about the headline for the article: do octopus really go for morning walks?

The other bit I want to share are a series of photos that a friend of mine took and posted on facebook. I already have a very soft spot for bees -you'll often find me feeding sugar water to any bees I find resting on the ground and rescuing them out of pools and rooms in the house! Science is about building curiosity, awe and wonder but I think it's also about action... After I read about the piopio bird (I had just travelled through the town and started wondering about this bird), it started me thinking about the birdlife of New Zealand and how I can be a part of the solution to help save our amazing flora and fauna. Show the first photo to the students and ask them what do they notice...

If they say 'the bees are going for a swim' or 'the bees are having a drink of water', these are inferences! It's only a photo and we can assume but it's not what we can notice. Don't get me wrong, we do want children to infer (it's the interpret of the Gather and Interpret Data capability) but we want them to observe first... What do you notice? How many bees are there? Which way are their bodies? Are there any other insects there or just bees? What type of bees are these?

This is a little bit closer. There's one poor bee that flew a bit too close... I notice little ripples surrounding the bee on the surface so I'm thinking that it's still struggling (and there the gather and the interpret... the observing and the inferring or thinking about the observation. I've never seen bees group like this before other than swarming or in the hive and I have loads of questions about what I can see. If I zoom right in, most have their heads towards the water. There aren't any bees at the top, all seem as close to the water as they can get. I'm also wondering if there's a hive nearby as I don't normally see this big a group of bees in one place. I've never actually thought about insects needing water -spiders (which I know aren't an insect!) set up shop in a corner of a room -do they need water too? If so, how do they get it? The day was a very hot one so maybe the bees weren't getting enough sustenance from the nectar? Did they take the water back to the hive? I might end up needing to talk to an apiarist (a beekeeper!) and asking a few questions about bees! The internet is a great tool although I do like to get the children having conversations first and possible solutions before rushing to Google for "the answer". I did find this article which was quite interesting: http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=14566. It's a blog about insects so seems reputable but I might need to a bit more looking and checking facts.

One last bit about the bees... One of the books I read over the Christmas break had a bit about the way society talk and the different way science 'talks' and one of the examples was 'animal'. If, before you show these photos, you asked the children to define 'animal', I'm imagining they would give the society answer... probably four legged, probably mammals or reptiles, possibly birds but definitely not an insect as that is an... insect! However, from a science point of view, the bee is most definitely an animal! As is a worm or mosquito or spider. Another interesting one is the term "plant" -usually it's the veges or flowers, and some children will say a tree is not a plant, since it's a tree, and weeds are definitely not plants! It's important for children to understand how science is communicated and that terms we use normally might mean something different from a scientist's point of view.

Oh and now we have curiosity about the bees drinking water (or are they?!?), an action point... would it be worthwhile having little drink stations for all animals during the hottest part of summer? The swimming pool always seems to fill with bugs which I've always noticed but not really thought about other than to rescue ladybirds (another 'favourite insect!) and bees -maybe they were all attracted to the water because they were thirsty?

Well have a great week, and do post a comment if you have a go at these ideas :-)

Paul