Is it real? Does it matter? CGI and the world of the Nature of Science!

Yesterday Anne Barker, another crazy science facilitator working here at the IPL, Te Whai Toi Tangata, University of Waikato, sent me this lovely picture of a wee dragon hatching on the hills of Wales. It was an interesting coincidence as I had been busy saving some CGI images the day before!
I've been thinking for a while that these would be interesting to use with students and in different ways. With all this miserable weather and the end of the term drawing nigh, I thought these might make for some interesting science activities. If you do use them, do remind children that this is science time -how we observe, think and communicate might be a little different to other subjects and we want to develop that science lens as well as an awareness of what 'science' is, how it works.

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 Before I even start getting children to do the 'thinking', I would grab these photos as a chance to develop those observation skills. Yes, we do want to hone inferencing and 'interpreting data' but for now, ask the children about what they can see. These observations or noticings need to be what we can directly see... I can't say, of my new favourite picture above, I can see very sharp teeth -because firstly, I can't feel these teeth (and would rather not!) and secondly, they might just look sharp but be rather blunt! I could say I can see x amount of teeth. They are all pointed at the tips and look like little isosceles triangles. Then I could add an inference of I think the teeth might be sharp. Another example is looking at the wet fur. Again, I can't be sure it's wet just from looking at it. It may be that the aaaah alli-bear (bear-igator?) is two-tone with its colouring. I notice that the legs and back half of the creature is a lot darker than the shoulders and head. I notice that it's running through water and there's a lot of splashes... I think that fur might be wet. I might do a bit of inferring -do you think the creature is running slow or fast? What do you notice that might help with your inferences? I think that it's running fast because when I run fast through water, the splashes are larger (prior knowledge) than when I walk. It's also on a bit of an angle which leads me to think it's running very quick. Again, we can't be sure of any of these facts, they're all inferences!

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After some observations I might ask the children whether they think it is real or not. Critiquing is an important skill, as is developing that 'sceptical disposition'. There are lots of rather interesting sites out there with some not really being very clear as to whether they are 'true' or not. I'm always surprised how quickly some people will believe a Facebook claim or an internet photo -recently a couple returned home to find a meteorite had landed in their backyard. It was a NZ story and ran for a couple of days until it was realised that there was a prankster involved!

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If we think the picture isn't real, how come? What leads you to believe that? What clues are there? Yes, we can just run to google, but let's spend some time talking about it, thinking about it, critiquing, communicating, agreeing and disagreeing! How do we do this without using phrases like you're an idiot of course they're not real! We want to grow these communication skills so you might need to scaffold the way we could argue with one another. As I was chatting about this blogpost with Anne, she commented again on the Welsh dragons at the top -how could I know if they're real? I wonder if you had some general knowledge, that may help with thinking... We talk about the science capabilities and the Nature of Science and the importance of having contexts -this is the science knowledge bit and something that causes lots of arguments... what knowledge is important for children to have? Is it the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly? How to draw an electrical circuit? To understand how the phases of the moon happen? I have some of my own ideas that I think are important but I really like the way a teacher commented at a recent workshop (and sorry if I misquote you Robyn!) about the idea that simply having some knowledge might give you the confidence and want to know more stuff.
 I'm also particularly interested in clever CGI pictures that have hands in them -it sort of causes me to think twice about whether they are real or not!

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My second idea for these photos is thinking about explanations... What might these new creatures do? What kind of habitats (using scientific vocabulary!) would they have? What would they eat? Would there be predators? How would they interact with humans? Might we kill them all because they'll kill us? Might we keep them as pets? I'm also thinking about what aspects of each animal are retained in the mutation...

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With my little monkey-rabbit... would this new creature retain all the intelligence within the brain of the monkey? Would its teeth be right for what kind of food the rabbit body wants? I'm imagining that the monkey's teeth will be more omnivorous and perhaps not so suited to a total herbivorous lifestyle. With a straight head swap, if there was trouble, the animal would have trouble climbing a tree to get away! A pony's teeth on the beaver head may struggle to eat fish, or gnaw a log for the dam so this creature might need to choose a different lifestyle.
If we decided that the animal has in fact evolved this way rather than a head swap so all the parts work together in harmony, what might it eat? How might it live?

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Because we're wanting to motivate our children to want to write and read, could these activities be used as a motivation? As an observer, you see one of these animals in its natural habitat... What do you see? Hear? How does it move? How does it catch food? The children might need to know how the original animals live first (a bit of reading or YouTube videos!) and then decide which parts they want to use for their description. Could they draw a diagram of the creature highlighting features and their purposes eg "monkey brain for intelligence"... If the children decide that this creature has been deliberately mutated, why? By who? And for what purpose? What are the benefits of this mutated animal over a normal one?

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Perhaps the students would like to create their own creatures? Was just thinking it could be interesting if you had a pile of cards and whatever is drawn out is used! What if we wanted the perfect animal for eg climbing or swimming?

Finally, where did I get all these pictures from? The dreaded Google and Facebook! oh, and if the photos have 'boredpanda' attributed, they're real!

Keep on sciencing
Paul