Wednesday, 1 February 2017

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

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