Tis the end of the year -huzzah!

Just a wee note thanking you all for your contributions this year. I have enjoyed writing these blog posts and I do hope that the result is more science and perhaps better science happening in schools! I know the life of a teacher is absolutely full up and see my work as supporting what teachers are doing rather than adding to the workload!
As science drops off the priorities mid-next year, I was a wee bit worried about science becoming a wee bit of a smaller focus for schools. It's a subject that, like Social Sciences and Technology, does happen in most schools but assessment and expectations are left to the side whilst Literacy and Mathematics take the big portion of the cake! My dream would be to see Science up there alongside Maths, Reading, and Writing with rich assessment data and students seen to be improving in their science abilities.
However in the meantime, knowing that there are schools teaching science and using the capabilities at the front is fantastic! I'm excited when I walk into junior classrooms where "I notice, I think, I wonder" is in full swing and middle and senior classes are busy observing, inferring, predicting and then creating their own science investigations. I'm seeing children enthusiastic about science, using the literacy and maths skills to support gathering and inferring the data. Hopefully this will pay off with more science happening at secondary schools and perhaps even into university.
Ultimately, the science essence statement says it all: students exploring how both the natural physical world and science itself so that they can participate as critical, informed, and responsible citizens in a society in which science plays a significant role. As you finish the year, spend a moment reflecting on this: how have the students been developing this? Are they participating? What does science playing a significant role in science look like? Especially if I'm thinking about a NE class... I quite like that I might develop some of these skills in some stand alone science units (like helping students to learn how to critique) but I also want some of those bigger opportunities too -and I get really excited when I see examples of this happening! I've seen Year 2 classes trapping pests and understanding why, Year 4-6 children catching catfish, designing, building and setting pest control traps, and teachers heading out into forest areas working with local hapu... lovely jubbly!

Working out the science and maths of Santa! From tes.com.

So here's to more science next year! Have an absolutely fantastic break and enjoy the sun, good food and family and friends (possibly in that order!).
I'm going to finish a wee bit earlier than my colleagues as I'm moving to a new home after 24 years in our lovely big home in Te Aroha. I'm not sure how it's all going to fit in our new home but a lot has been removed through the year (I can be a bit merciless when it comes to chucking out other people's stuff, just not mine!). My wife and I both have a lovely hobbies room which I can fill up with Lego and models! I'll be back mid January and happy to answer questions and give ideas for the new year then!

Paul

Whiz bang experiments and the power o the science capabilities

I can sometimes seem a bit dismissive of the good ol' whiz bang experiments like gobstoppers or the paper flower petals experiments as on paper (or on the internet!), they are 'do this, do this, you'll see this and this is why' type experiments.

However tweaking them can turn them into great opportunities for science capabilities development, asking rich questions, and getting students really thinking! I use them a lot for modelling as they are good for a one-off activity as well as having the scope to turn into a three or four day experiment if the teacher is willing -which sometimes they are, yay!

For example I got this email from science sparks (https://www.science-sparks.com/candy-chromatography/), which is very much a 'do this and see this' experiment website, however they have some great ideas to extend student thinking and this one is similar. Anyway, I had left the experiment for a freer day but was keen to see if it worked as I do the gobstoppers/M&M experiments quite regularly.

I set up the experiment as is written... And then put a couple of drops of water on each M&M. Lots to observe -you could see the outer coating had disappeared ("I notice") and I assumed that those colours were now in the drop of water on the op of the lolly ("I think", the inference).

I already had some filter paper which I cut up but I did wonder about the size of the pieces to cut so guesstimated. For our students, these are valid questions to ask: if it's a science experiment, should it be precise? I then sucked up the drops and encountered two problems! One, there wasn't enough water to suck and then put on the filter paper and secondly, I hadn't read the experiment this far and just assumed a drop was sufficient, as well as guessing the filter paper size! This is all great critiquing for children. I had already decided there wasn't enough water so added more to the M&Ms, left it a while and sucked up that coloured water. Because I wanted to see if there was a difference, I put these drops on the other end of a couple of the filter papers.

You can see some colour separation on this one.

 One worked! The brown lolly shows 2 maybe three colours. However, the others didn't work... or didn't seem to...
And here's the chance for a bit more science. Often, if things don't work out, we might give up! I always encourage teachers to try the experiment at home first just to make sure something is going to happen and as I write this, I'm thinking, why not let it not work? Why not get the kids doing what I was thinking to do?
You see, science is about the processes, the questions, the wonderings and those 'aha' moments, much more than about 'answers'. Although actually reading the whole page would have let me realise I needed more water, it was one of my own wonderings. I thought about setting up each lolly in its own cup and then using more water, but then I worried about how much, which could be an experiment in itself -how much water will give us the most concentrated dye? I also realised (when I actually read the blimmin' experiment!) that they hung their filter papers up -I didn't! I am wondering whether this was my issue, so now I might try some lying down and some hanging on paperclips on a pencil or something. Finally I noticed they used peanut M&Ms (my favourite just in case you're thinking about my Christmas pressie!) whilst I used chocolate ones -does that make a difference? Oh, and if I didn't have filter paper, I might try tissue or thin paper.
Yes, if I gave out this experiment to a class, I'm certain there would be some groups who would do it correctly as well as others who may be just like me! But all of the results are data! What have we found out with all our different experiments? We've also learnt the need to carry out the experiment as is writ -a great literacy lesson! I must admit I quite like the idea of just handing out only a written version vaguely worded and then using the results to think about where to next, how well the experiment was written, and whether children can identify the features of what a good science experiment might look like. I know I talk a bit about literacy but giving children the opportunities to read well planned out experiments as well as poorly written ones is ideal, as is letting children read science articles, looking for how the experiment was carried out in a scientific way and applying this to their own experiments.
Critiquing evidence is a capability more suited towards our older students. It can focus on the evidence gathered and how the evidence was gathered. I've had lots of fun using this capability with Year 7-8 children and I always encourage students to critique one another only with questions rather than statements or accusations! The first few times, they may need scaffolding and I'm happy to ask questions:

• Did you measure carefully?
• You used the word 'about' and also said 'some'... what do you mean?
• How many times did you do the experiment?
• How did you make sure there was the right amount of liquid on each lolly?
• Are you sure that's why your data looks like that?

Usually students get this very quickly. I use it as an interuption very early on in the investigations. I get all the students back in and 'pick on' 1 or 2 groups that I've observed. Others get wriggly when they realise theirs is no different and when I ask, who needs to get back, they all rush off!

So how would I put this into Digital Technology? Obviously photos or videos could be used and shared but I like the idea of children asking questions of other groups' results. I might use google docs instead so there's space for others' comments. I also use docs when children plan their experiment. I'll ask them to have a look at what others are doing -although maybe one group doing the same would be good, think about a different question you could investigate ("I wonder"). We also put data and photos here. I like the idea of brainstorming so might use padlets for children to post why they think the experiment didn't work or pose questions to investigate (this last one is good because it can stimulate others with their questions). They could also write up their experiment on Book Creator with more expected from older students and this is a good point: do students know how to write up an experiment, or write a mini report? I love it when it's the children wanting to share their findings rather than me endorsing the fact that the number one reason students don't like science is because of the writing!

Might we still want the explanation bit? Yes! Sometimes I might leave it on the experiment and then ask children to prove the explanation is right (if we're able to). Other times we might discuss it as part of the wrap up. Unless the experiment's part of a series where we're developing our understanding of a particular context strand, I might get the discussing the 'why' aspect and then share. Personally, I hate doing this but I also understand children want to know, just like I do! Sometimes I'd like to give the children more of a chance for them to figure out why with more experiments but other times, I know this is it!
Anyway, give it a try with your class!
Keep sciencing on... almost the end of the year! Those of you who applied for DT or science PLD (thanky thank you thank you!), these details should be out soon -and I did hear that more hours were available for schools than what we were originally told -good news! If you do want PLD, apply in June as Term 2 applications have been cancelled.

thanks for reading, and your comments are always welcome!

Questioning... Who? What? Why? When?

Kia ora koutou! Halfway or so through the term and I imagine many of you are busy with school reports, camps and production practice! I've come across a few schools that are already swimming, and some of these are in outdoors pools! There are some tough kids out there!

I get asked to model science in many classes to support teachers with seeing what science lessons could look like. It's really difficult walking into a random class with not much idea of what science has been happening or where the children are in terms of their science thinking and understanding and then expected to run a quality 45 minute lesson! Students get really excited when I do turn up in a classroom and I'm always a bit intrigued with this. In fact, when we used to record student voice as part of the PLD (seems to be less wanted these days), most children would say the two lessons with me were the highlight -even if it was looking at shells or rocks or investigating sugar cubes. It used to embarrass me a little when sharing the data back to staff and leaders but it seems to be expected -apparently, I'm a mad man with a box (to quote one of my favourite TV shows, Doctor Who) that gets the class engaged and enthusiastic!

This isn't a 'Isn't Paul an amazing person' blog -I'll leave that for you all to write! Rather, after the lesson and during the teacher discussions, the topic of how I question comes up. I've had teachers recording this component of my lessons and I'm sometimes at a loss to explain what I do. I really don't think I do anything in particular. I just listen to the student and then challenge with a question based on what they've said. I try hard to let them say all that they want to say (which can sometimes be really hard!) and then ask them a question or two from what they've said. I try not to have preconceived questions set up and I also try really hard to not ask a question that I can guess what the student will say. Sometimes I will if I'm leading somewhere with the conversation but I really want the student to own the conversation too!

Here's the PDF link (although the new version is a
little more boring! And the reader is here!

A few places that I've gone to over the years has also been of benefit. Google "nine talk moves" and you'll come across a PDF with the questions on as well as a PDF called Talk Science Primer. Both have been invaluable! The talk moves move through a progression and the Primer unpacks these. As I write this, I'm thinking that it would be worth a read again for me! It's a good read and not too technical. My dream is working in a classroom where the fourth goal is happening: students thinking with others. If this floats your boat, there are videos and PLD on the TERC website to support the talk moves. As I'm reading through the talk moves right now, I'm aware that they have really impacted my questioning skills! 

I know I go on a bit about the TKI website but my first stop was recording the questions the website suggests asking with each capability. My colleague, Anne Barker, wrote these all up onto one side of an A4 piece of paper and I always suggest teachers laminate them. I worked on turning them into questions that would be suitable for juniors. Of course, you are very welcome to a copy, just ask!

From the TKI website... and yes, that's my own colouring in!

One of the other big keys is I don't ask every child. I don't even try. Part of it is that I want to model good questioning so try to focus on a couple of children so that teachers can observe me without chasing me around the room. When I've had more freedom (for example, the teacher isn't watching me or has headed out the door to do something else which does happen!), I tend to ask a group of 3 or 4 students the questions and pose to individuals to attempt to get them working together and learning off of one another. I'll also grab individuals too but again, I don't try to work with every child -it'd be crazy! I think I've talked about this before... Pick one group per science lesson (or two if you're extra keen) and ensure that everyone knows that whilst you're working with those two groups, try to not disturb the teacher! In between you could wander around and talk to other children.

If I think back to when I was a shiny new facilitator, Ally Bull, who did work with the NZCER and helped write the science capabilities, was someone I looked up to in terms of her own questioning techniques, usually during hui and usually directed at me! Well, that's what it felt like! She now works for a different crowd and wrote a blogpost about the capabilities that's a great read. She challenges the reader that the questions you ask show what's valued. Is it about recall? Is it about deeper thinking? Is it about behaviour (I'm asking a question to prove you weren't listening...)? 

I've pinched a whole paragraph to talk about the other side... the answers:

It’s also important to be aware of what behaviours you are noticing and providing feedback on. Is your feedback to students focused on when they get an answer correct or is it when they generate new questions, question other students’ ideas, or change their minds when new evidence comes to light? Do you use, and encourage students to use, tentative language such as might, could be, perhaps, likely? Openness, suspending judgment and accepting science’s provisional nature are all at the heart of scientific inquiry and if you are using this sort of language you are modelling an aspect of what it means to engage with science.

I know that a tentative question generates a lot more guesses, informed guesses and an effort to contribute... except for the NE/Y1 classes where I find direct questions work best.It also works best when I'm talking with teachers too, which is the point -we all feel better when it's not a recall question!

Oh, almost forgot... well actually I did and had to go back! My ultimate goal is that children are doing all this stuff! Not me! I use question dice with students to support them to ask both themselves and each other good questions. And sometimes I just write the words up in two columns and challenge them to come up with questions! One has the typical 'who', 'what', 'why', etc and the other has some verbs. My version is a bit tacky but does the trick!

Anyway, have a read through those resources, ask if you'd like a copy of the capabilities questions and get out there! I reckon that practising and improving questioning will pay off in every curriculum area. 

Keep sciencing,
Paul

A bit on assessment...

Last week, I was working in a couple of classrooms with some crazy science lessons... who says children shouldn't eat sugar!?! As I chatted with the teacher after the lesson, we talked about expectations of student work.

Although there's not a lot out there in terms of supporting teachers to assess from an official point of view -after all, the curriculum has basically one set of objectives for four years (Levels 1 and 2, Levels 3 and 4), there are places you can go for support. I've shared before about the NMSSA resource that seem popular -you can find it on the TKI science capabilities page. There are a few commercial products out there too. At one stage, I was using the Real Science resources as one of those has some good examples that teachers could use (as well as experiments). And of course, I have my capabilities indicators that I share with schools that I work with. Lately, I've been working on some ideas for leveling the indicators based on the capabilities which the Coherent Pathways also have. Their PDF is an interesting read, although I do struggle with how we would put this into the curriculum alongside Key Competencies, Values, ELAs, etc! I like them but...!

If I was putting on my stern voice, I would point out that every essential learning area needs to have some form of assessment or evaluation. If we're teaching so that students can learn, how do we know they have? Our education system has some great resources regarding literacy and mathematics support. We have the progressions as well as reading and writing assessment tools. Teachers are very aware of where children are at, what they are capable of doing, as well as where to next. What if we thought about some of our topic areas in the same way? I don't think I would ever go as far as the depth of maths, reading and writing, but should we have some assessment system in place?

If we don't assess in science, why are we teaching it? I know we could say that the children enjoy it, but is that enough? They also enjoy lunchtime and playing outside (well some of them!)! If I'm doing an experiment with the students, why? Is it just an activity trap -children are doing activities but there's no real learning sought? If we're looking at shadows with the five year olds, why? What do we want them to learn or understand? What do they know already and what do I want to develop further? And if I'm only going to explore shadows for a couple of days, will they have learnt anything?

As I'm writing this, I'm feeling this is all a bit loud-sounding and perhaps judgemental. It's not meant to be, more, wanting to encourage teachers to start to think a little deeper about science. Yeah, we could continue to have fun experiments, or grab a House of Science kit, but are we certain that these sessions are valuable? Have students developed further their understanding of the Nature of Science or the science capabilities? Have they a greater understanding of a context strand?

As the end of the year draws near, and report writing is upon us, I sometimes wonder how science progress is shared with parents. Is it part of the 'topic' paragraph or does it have its own place? Are comments based on knowledge: Paul knows the names of the planets or is it based on the capabilities or nature of science: Paul asks questions that he can investigate. He is learning to plan an experiment and carry it out carefully, sharing the results with others? It's an interesting point to muse, and I am aware how busy teachers are already -but surely there are clever ways of working on this! For example, yesterday I was doing some Digital Technology scratch coding with a class of year 5 and 6 students. They wrote up a three levelled rubric with me and then wrote their names where they thought they might be. And on top of that, had a lovely discussion about which level 'making a game' should be -lovely jubbly! At the end of the lesson, they all shared what they had done in the lesson and what they learnt -without needing to write it was fun!

As always, I'm interested in your ideas too! By the way, I have written on this topic before in the blog -if you'd like to read a bit more, have a look or ask me!
Keep sciencing, 
Paul

Science unit lengths and developing thinking...

First a big thank you to those who answered my survey. I really appreciate your comments and sharing your views as well as all the encouragement! Mostly, everyone was pleased with the blog posts as they are, although fortnightly would be preferred. The length was fine as were the different purposes of the posts –support for planning, teaching, and assessment in science. One new component will be Digital Technology. And some of you wanted to see some references to the new DT+HM curriculum and in particular with a science focus. This will also be good for me too; now that I’m an accredited DT facilitator, I better start doing stuff!

This blog is a bit of a bitsa… just a few ideas I’ve had bubbling for a wee while. Last term, I talked about different science topics. With the increase in schools designing their own local curricula, there’s more of a focus on local area science (or place-based learning) and hopefully students participating in longer term projects, for example, looking after the local stream or river, introducing native species, reducing plastic, etc. This could end up with students working on projects through their time at a particular school (which ends up with wondering how we do this so all students continue to be engaged from NE to Year 8).

However, we also have other context strands that may need a focus as well. I love seeing science topics that can draw on more than one context strand, for example, Living World and Planet Earth and Beyond, and the Cross Cutting Concepts resources from the States are a good example of this. I do realise that the curriculum is quite clear about there not being a need to teach all context strands every year, as long as they have opportunities up until Year 10. Yeah, this could mean that we leave Material World and Physical World to the secondary schools, but there’s lots of fun to be had here! I feel primary teachers do have an obligation to at least introduce these topics, vocabulary and concepts at least at an initial level.

These particular areas fit in well to the shorter units that may only be a couple of weeks long. Students may explore light or sound, build electrical kits, discover chemical and physical reactions or simply play with different materials (for juniors, this could be simply playing with plastic, metal, glass, etc. and seeking patterns, noticing differences and developing vocabulary). It might even be a 2 or 3 day mini-unit modelled on the three day sessions of play --> explore scientifically --> inquire and communicate findings.

BUT! Are we still thinking about what we expect the students to show vis à vis the science capabilities? Do we have expectations that we can share with the students? Do we know how to support the students in developing these science capabilities? It’s all good deciding that by the end of the sessions, I want children to be noticing change over a period of time, but how can I support the children to do this? What questions will I ask? How will I share my own observations as I scaffold this thinking?

The game the whole family can play... Aah yes I understand now... you have some bits missing from your brain...
Oh the jokes! Buy here!

 And then there’s the other side! I sometimes worry that little units end up being like a pile of jig saw pieces. There might be the odd piece that you can clearly see joins to another but, for plenty of children, they’re all just random pieces! As I’m writing this paragraph, I find I’m asking myself Do you mean capabilities-wise or context strand-wise? I mean both! I think one three-day session on the Material World area of grouping materials in different ways, based on observations and measurements (L3 and L4) is a good start but I want to develop their thinking! I might need to jot a few notes of class behaviour, their thinking, any misconceptions and wonderings so that I might pick this up again at a later time.

The Physical World strand is far too big to cover in a year but I might pick two or three parts to use as contexts for developing the science capabilities, and also their thinking about this context strand. I might choose forces, magnetism or light, and revisit the topics two or three times. By having some notes, I can pick up quickly what we were talking about last time. I know I don’t talk a lot about the context strands as I’m far more focused on the capabilities and the Nature of Science strands but there are contexts we should be working in! And these change! There’s an expectation that children have visited Planet Earth and Beyond in the junior rooms where they shared ideas and observations about the Sun and Moon (Level 1 and Level 2) so that at Level 3 or Level 4, students can then investigate the solar system, because they already have some idea about space, been introduced to some vocabulary and have generated some curiosity! As an aside, it does make me smile when primary schools want to do stars for Matariki but the curriculum says that’s for Year 9 and 10 students –doesn’t stop me though! Whilst I’m in the junior room looking at the Sun and Moon, I might bring it up a few times through the year, choosing readers with this topic, perhaps commenting on how bright the Moon was last night, etc… And the seniors starting the unit might just spent a bit of time linking back to what the juniors did before embarking for Uranus.

Not a planet... our Aloe Vera is going mad flowering and I'm thinking lots about how much energy this must take besides admiring the symmetry and how lovely the flowers look! Maybe there should be an 'A' in STEAM!

And the same goes for the capabilities! If you’re into assessment (which I guess we all should really be!), the NMSSA resources are a great place to start with. Unfortunately, they start with Level 2 but it’s not too hard to put in some ideas for Level 1 (although I have a totally different way of thinking about Level 1 science!). We do want to see the capabilities not as a jigsaw puzzle with bits here and there, but all creating one picture through the year: Do you remember when we were doing that experiment and we were collecting data over 30 minutes? Today, we’ll be doing something similar. Some of you gave me some feedback that it had been quite hard to measure temperature carefully so today we’ll be using digital thermometers and stopwatch apps. Or it might be we had some real issues with deciding the difference between a chemical and a physical change so I thought we could have another go at the experiment from last term, just for today, and see if we can make sure we understand the difference. I found these two definitions online and I thought we could start with them and then you could try and prove which definition suits your experiment.

Oh, and I know the Physical and Material World strands are big –the idea isn’t that you cover all of them! These are just some ideas for you! I was having a look through that big old green Science curriculum, the one I got when I graduated (actually, I have no idea where my curriculum went, much to my chagrin!) and I love that for every Level, there are sample learning contexts, possible learning experiences and assessment examples that I reckon could still work with some capabilities icing on the top!

So dig out those Steve Spangler experiments, Nanogirl’s cook book (a great resource and kiwi!) or the 500 Science Experiments resource folder and get going! Still have fun! Still amaze the kids! But, see if we can create a wonderful jigsaw puzzle picture that not only the teacher can see, but students too!

Keep sciencing!

The Hundredth Post!

Wow! A hundred posts! Happy birthday me! Sorry, I don't have any big prizes for you, especially those of you who have been here from the beginning!
The first post was 6 September 2016 and since then I've been writing usually fortnightly, sometimes weekly and sometimes monthly! The topics have been varied and are usually motivated by school visits -seeing science in action and thinking what I've seen or discussed might be helpful to others. I really do see this blog as a support for New Zealand teachers and I hope it does achieve that. Mind you, there are 1200 views of the post from Russia, so you never know! I'm waiting for an invitation to attend some science education conference in Moscow!
The blog started because I was told to (no, really!). We were all told to start twitter accounts too but I just don't like twitter... I've tried but it's just not my cup of tea! I hoped that I had something to say that could support teachers and principals in places that I may never visit and that has continued to be my singular vision. I did make a decision at the beginning that this wasn't about scoring schools for PLD and in today's marketplace atmosphere, that's getting harder and harder. I actually enjoy writing the posts and the sort of randomness of the topics, although I've had the odd little series. Topics grow from school visits and start as a seed before being written up. The odd time I've had two or three on the go at once (usually the series posts) but all get written, saved and reread and then published very carefully with mistakes in -which continues to wind me up... after all I read the things several times!

I want to simply thank all of you who take time out to read my posts. I realise how busy a teacher's day is, how much you all try to squeeze in and reading my post takes you away from all the other items on the to do list! I know I can tend to ramble and that my sense of humour isn't for everyone but readership continues to grow... slowly, but it is growing!

I want to send a bigger thank you to those of you who take the time to comment. A few of you regularly share a thought (here's looking at you Debbie, Alison, Tim and Di!) and I can't say enough how grateful I am for those responses. It can be a lonely job at times and I really have no idea whether the posts are useful or helpful and a quick comment is fantastic. My fervent dream is that there would be space here for discussions -it was one of the reasons I started the Facebook page. It's yet to happen, but it doesn't really seem to happen on other blogs either!

I've set up a form for people to share their thoughts regarding the blog here. It's relatively short and your input would be valued.

So once again thank you all you wonderful people!

Science: as easy as 1-2-3!

I have a couple of ideas about teaching science. One is that there needs to be those bigger units that enable children to have the chance to pick up some of those richer and deeper concepts, eg, sustainability, kaitiaki, pollution, etc. These are those opportunities for students to take action and develop the capabilities in a great context. The second idea is about those ‘whiz-bang’ experiments. They may not fit into a context (although often with a bit of digging, they can!) but may be about a particular context strand idea, eg density or sinking and floating or even building skills in a capability, eg developing how to ask questions, observe from different angles or critiquing someone’s explanation. With this second idea, I like to plan out a three to four lesson structure or progression. If you were chasing after a particular theme, you could use this idea all term. For example, I might be investigating ‘light’ or ‘magnets’, I could be using the cross-cutting concepts like ‘structure and function’ that map across different context strands. In these cases, each week might be a different experiment for students to be exposed to science concepts and use their science capabilities.

Just recently, I worked with a school to plan out Term Four’s science. Since this was about teacher PLD, we grabbed a few science experiments and mapped them out over three days… We wrote up a bit of an introduction and I thought this could be good to share with others!

These lessons might all be different lengths. The first lesson might only be 20-30 minutes long. You may decide to add a fourth lesson and really focus on students learning how to communicate in science, to share their ideas with others. The deeper you go, the more engaged children will be, and the longer the lesson will be! You may break a lesson up into two parts if there’s a logical break, for example, if I was working with copters, I might do all the practical bits in one block and then write it up and add diagrams in a second block. Usually I try to keep the lessons altogether though. The final big idea is that these lessons don’t have to happen after lunch! Use them for maths (measurement lessons), reading (children reading the experiment themselves) or writing (recounts, explanations, diagrams). For me, this is critical! If I was in a junior room I might do the science experiment on the Monday, write a recount the next day, an explanation the day after (with recaps of course!) and then finish with “I wonders” and children exploring the ideas themselves. Most children struggle with measurement and estimation –I’ve seen a lot of children pour me 3cm of water! It does mean we need resources for children to use (which is why we were using cms) but I think science makes a great context to practice measuring capacity!

One of my favourite shots from the Cassini probe. That little dot under the rings is Earth!

Lesson One: This is the lesson as an introduction. Give children the chance to play, to explore and to experience the activity. Don’t worry too much about the actual science bits. The lesson could be a bit shorter and only take some of the activity (for example, you might not worry about diagrams or writing for this lesson). Here’s where we can play with the topic, grow some language, and introduce science... You might begin to jot some terms the children are using, any misconceptions that are popping up or even behaviours that you would like to highlight for the next lesson. Children may even start coming up with questions and wonderings –get them down!

Lesson Two: This is the science lesson! How can we do the activity from yesterday as scientists? We might measure carefully, predict using evidence, explain using data from the experiment, observe closely, infer using prior knowledge, using science vocabulary, etc. I would tell children that we are doing the experiment from yesterday again but with our scientist thinking. Ask them how they might act today, how I will see them acting like scientists? Although many teachers don’t like the idea of doing the experiment again, I have and children are fine with this! Often the first lesson has got all the excitement out of the way and children can work far more scientifically with the second opportunity. After all, I still really enjoy the Avengers movie and have watched it… ummm… more than once!

This is the lesson where children can write down their observations, thinking, and wonderings. You might want to introduce the lesson with a big idea or question (which may have come out of the lesson beforehand -it would be great for students to see you being curious: Yesterday, I was really interested in what was going on in the cup. I know some of you went through the experiment quite quickly but slow it down today and see if you can notice what I’m talking about).

For senior students, I will sometimes add another dimension to this activity to prevent perceived boredom. I know that students won’t be but just in case! For example, you might make one slime the first day, and then two the next day. We might make a different shaped copter to compare to the first one from yesterday.

Sometimes I will spend longer on lesson one and this one is just a recap of the experiment but a much bigger focus on the wrap up -how we share what we found out and wonderings for the third lesson. This is the lesson that will set up the third one so I need to spend some time getting it right. I need enough information to prep for the next lesson!  

I might need to scaffold question asking… Sometimes I’ll put a table up on the board with variables and then children can pose some ideas that I want them to turn into questions (this is really important: science is about questions, not doing stuff!)... An example of this could be the soda water and raisins activity. I’ll put “container”, “liquid”, “objects” as headings (and you could do others, like temperature) and then children will add bowls, vases, tall glass, different liquids, stones, peanuts, cranberries, etc. At the senior level, we choose one variable to change, at juniors, we’re not so worried! These then need to be changed into questions to investigate which we need for the next lesson.

I’ve also used the lesson to develop the diagrams or observational drawings. In fact, sometimes I’ve done the experiment from yesterday first with the class watching and discussing what they notice. I’m reasonably good at questions (which I think is the key to engagement) so am posing questions, pondering aloud, etc. From this, I might get children straight into a wondering, recording some ideas or noticing the details in their experiment, perhaps drawing or writing… I’d still carry on with a questions wrap up for Lesson Three.

I've shared this before... after zooming in on the image, I noticed the Fibbonaci spiral...
you can also see the spiral on pinecones!

Lesson Three: Students investigate in this lesson. This is where we are really engaging students and developing their science thinking, for example, fair testing, measuring carefully, gathering data, interpreting or inferring data, communicating their findings with their classmates, etc. Hopefully, this will result in more questions being asked! This session could be a bit longer with children investigating their own ideas… or it could be shorter if questions asked find an answer quickly. In this case, do children have some more questions they could ask? Could they critique their questions to develop their questioning better?

This is also the lesson where students communicate their findings with the class. This could be through something written or drawn, or recorded on video... For me, this is also really important! How do children share what they have found out? How do they do this, being scientifically literate? Have they learnt something in their exploring? Are they reflecting and critiquing their work? How do they share? Is it with tentative language?

Here, my science capabilities indicators come into play. Grab a couple and assess/evaluate the students’ efforts. This third session, I believe is where the science is really happening. Students are gathering and interpreting data, asking questions, investigating, evaluating the data, writing explanations, thinking about where to next, as well as sharing with others.

Assessment: just briefly, what would I do to assess students? I firmly believe that we do need to be doing some sort of assessment… Where are the children before you start doing science and where do you want them to be at the end? This is particularly important if you’ve noticed a weakness and so are doing a little three-lesson sequence to help students develop further. If this is the case, how will you know if students have achieved your aims? And just as importantly, how will the children know? I suggest to teachers having a focus group each science session. The class know that this is the group that you will be spending more time with but that you will still roam! This is the group that you may make some OTJs with, jotting down some notes, etc. With the next lesson, you move onto a different group!

Anyway, I hope this gives you some ideas for science. I do like the whiz-bang experiments but worry that could be the whole science programme –we do need both! It’s nice to grab a week and just play in science!

Have a fantastic break everyone. 

From Flickr... I just really like squirrels!

Thanks for reading,

Keep sciencing on,

Paul.

PS Do remember to check my Facebook page. Search for “science happening NZ" and like the page to get notifications. Last week I posted images and videos for students and some science ideas for the classroom.

Some notes about warm ups and questions...

This week I had my last meeting with a school -the poor things have had me for almost four years! We were chatting about a couple of topics and I thought that maybe other teachers might like to see what was written. Now these weren't written by me, I've just tweaked them a wee bit... thanks Robyn and Susan!

Warm Up Activities

Warm up activities could be either the context or the thinking that will be in the lesson, for example, if the lesson is about change, the warm up could reflect this. The warm up should only be 5 to 10 minutes or so. Warm ups should involve all the talking- don’t stop the chat! I like to start warm ups with a question for the children to hang their thinking on... I wonder if M&Ms' coatings have a flavour, I wonder why all the blossoms are coming out now?

Can be an object, pictures, a rock, a shell, lichen on a sign, or a branch You could read to the students a science-themed reading like a Stuff article, a letter to the editor or article from the local newspaper, a video (play at least twice, possibly without sound) eg peacock spider, purple orb video, etc. After watching the video ask the students about what questions they asked, what they noticed and inferred...

You could use Microsoft Word - paste an image, create a table over the top and fill in the cells. Students choose a cell to be 'unfilled' and we discuss what we notice, infer and possibly predict. When students choose a cell, ask them to justify why they want that cell revealed. I have seen teachers using a very busy image and zooming right in. As the children talk about the picture, it zooms out step by step.

I use Microsoft Word although Publisher is much easier -my laptop hates the program though!

Sometimes I might use one of my activities but as an 'up front' activity. All children are a part of the discussion, but only one or two actually do the activity. Remember to have lots of opportunities for children to talk to their partner, or record an idea online, etc.

Another idea is to introduce the learning intention and challenge the students to come up with the success criteria. Some of their ideas may be wrong but leave them! Let the children critique them at the end of the lesson! For example, "What are we doing when we are acting like scientists?"

Wrap up should take as long as the warm up -and this is the hardest part... time always escapes on me!

Prompt for information rather than an answer for example, lists of species etc. Can you ask a question that doesn’t have a yes or no answer?

If you are doing a science inquiry, teachers (or the students) could read an article, watch a video, give children the opportunity to find out information before they pose questions for inquiry. Make the “finding out” your reading/writing time. Note-taking constitutes ‘writing’. You could do an experiment on the Monday and then use Tuesday and Wednesday to write a procedure, or an explanation, or even a recount.

  

Effective Questioning

Questioning dice: 5 ‘w’ and ‘h’. Other dice has could, should, would, might on. Get kids critiquing questions: put up a few good ones and and a few not so good ones. What makes them good or not? Collect good examples (and poor ones!) from texts used in reading time. Analyse questions to see if they are good... What kind of answers are we wanting?

What student voice is there? Why do they want to know? What relevance does this inquiry question have for you? Model curiosity.

The purpose of questions is to get more questions, not to find an answer. Sometimes you might get an answer but that should lead to further questions.These are not specifically science questions -good questioning is needed in every area!

Try to encourage students to ask a question they don’t already know the answer to.

Well there we are... I'd be curious as to whether this is helpful to others... and my thanks to the school who hosted me for the meeting.

The Neverending Story...

Once scientists thought migrating birds flew to the moon for winter. Others thought birds buried themselves in the sand and then a different bird hatched out (to explain different species at different times of the year). Some scientists thought there were canals on Mars.

newspapers.com

And even this humble science facilitator has got it wrong... sometimes even spectacularly wrong! But isn't that what science is about? I've noticed this and this happen when I do this, so I think the cause might be this... There might be something completely different going on but just looks like the cause and effect are related! Children think that sugar disappears in water -well you can't see it anymore so it must have! I tend to not correct them but simply challenge them to keep investigating... Has the sugar really disappeared? Does the water taste the same? Can we just keep adding more sugar? 

Because that's science! It's about developing some ideas, investigating further, perhaps modifying/changing/creating new ideas, communicating them with others and then modifying/changing/creating ideas and slowly building to an explanation. This all happened to me the other day when I challenged a teacher to draw a diagram after a lesson which they struggled to do (the diagram, not the lesson -it was a great session!), so I had a go and struggled too!  
And this got me thinking about models... I often do a diagram at the end of the lesson and try hard to make sure that I have a chance to have a child talk to their diagram. This way, I can ask questions, share thoughts, critique the diagram and think about where to next time. But are there other ways children could show their thinking?
For me, I was watching teachers do the experiment with the plastic bottle with a balloon over the neck put in hot water. The balloon usually 'inflates' or 'expands' and the explanation is that the air inside the bottle expands. When I tried to draw this, as mentioned above, I found it really hard -does air really expand? Is it individual molecules getting bigger or smaller... and more importantly, does this mean the Antman movie is legit?!?

Antman little (Marvel Antman movie)

and Antman big! (Marvel Antman and the Wasp movie) Yeah, I do like both movies!

So I spent the day sorting this in my head. I can't show movement well in diagrams (and that's interesting in itself: how can students show movement in a diagram? Do you draw the end product or what's happening along the way?). Maybe a model would be better. I chatted with the science leader and suggested those little $2 packets of beads that expand in water -maybe they could be the air particles getting bigger (I was still stuck on that idea)? He didn't think so, so it was back to the drawing board.
In the final session, one of the boys googled the experiment and then explained what happened. So now we have diagrams (which didn't really work for me) and a written explanation (which worked far better for me) -but it confused the child reading it... he knew he had found 'the' answer but... The teacher had taped out a large bottle on the carpet so I grabbed a few children to be my air molecules and had them stand still. The teacher and I talked about this being a state of matter: solid. As you heat matter, the molecules start moving and as they get hotter, they move faster, and become liquid and then even faster to become gas. I had the children now moving around and then 'heated' the bottle so the children moved faster and lo and behold, they needed more space as well as it all getting a bit rough. And this is what the student had read out -the balloon expanded because the hot air molecules are zipping around more and more and getting a bit rougher and this roughness causes the balloon to expand. Am I still okay with children saying  the air in the bottle expands making the balloon inflate? Yes of course! Particle theory is for Level 4 kids! I might not worry so much about diagrams and models as this is heady stuff...
So this is where I am now! Is it 100% right? I don't know but I can read a bit more, investigate a bit more, and perhaps come up with an explanation that 1) I understand (!) and 2) demonstrates my thinking to others and 3) is a bit further on...

Besides wanting to share how my science thinking had moved along -and being more keen than ever to do this with students (so not going, "Hey kids, here's how that happened," but more, "So what do you think is happening?") and not being focused so much on right and wrong answers, I want to work in different ways with students to show their thinking. Can I do it in dance (as I did with the students here)? Could I show it by making a model? The model may need to be moving, so I might video this.

Look! It's lego and it's molecules! Granted, best for older children (found a great Y9 resource) but good to get thinking going. As I look, I'm wondering about the bricks' sizes -are Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules different sizes? Is it okay to show water molecules this way but discuss further? From https://edgerton.mit.edu/sites/default/files/media/LEGOChemteachersguide_9-7-12.pdf. 

And finally, really importantly, can children discuss these ideas with one another. Let's not assume this is 'the answer', or even the 'right answer'. Does the model/dance/diagram/video clearly state their understanding? Does it show what you saw happening with the experiment? Do you agree? Why or why not? It might be that you disagree with the model or the explanation and both of these are important to critique. One is under interpreting representations (exploring models/diagrams/videos and thinking about how well they do the job -what information is shared or missing, why did the author use this method...) and the other is under using evidence (explanation building, and challenging investigative procedures). 
Rather than being stuck on students doing a diagram, give the children some options... and it's okay if their thinking isn't quite right! Again, that's what science is about... Okay you showed the four children dancing around the bottle, but how does that make the balloon expand and why does the balloon get bigger with more or hotter water? Could you show this with your theory? 

So get your dance shoes on!
Keep dancing sciencing on.

From Mantia Sisters' Dance Academy video... Now I want to do interpretive dance with Rutherford's discoveries!

PLD: party like it's 2020...

I don't tend to use my blog as a place to advertise for PLD -I want it to be about education and supporting teachers! However as we get closer to the dates for applications for Term One, 2020, I thought I'd write just one blog to sell me!

If you've been reading my blog, you'll know that I am fortunate to work all over the place! And I really mean all over the place! I have worked in sole charge schools up in the hills of Wairoa and Taranaki, slightly bigger schools in Taumarunui and Opotiki as well as the big city schools in Tauranga, Hamilton and Rotorua. Oh, and some work in New Plymouth, Taupo and finally my home town of Te Aroha this year -at last!

I've worked with individual schools, kāhui ako, and small clusters of schools either with the  kāhui ako or just want to work together. Some schools have me working with all teachers whilst others want me to just work with a smaller group of teachers supporting them to work with their teams disseminating the science PLD. I really like this idea -in fact for a couple of years, I had three schools from various parts of the Waikato all working together by sending their science team leaders to regular workshops. 

Although my focus is science, I'm passionate to see science being explored as a context for literacy and mathematics. Sometimes we've organised the PLD so that we can have a literacy or maths facilitator come along as well. This has worked really well in the past -after all they're the real experts! For some schools, writing is a real focus... can science be used to help lift achievement?

In schools, I model science lessons, co-teach with the staff, host workshops, support the school with parent evenings, as well as all the stuff in the background like planning and assessment, graduate profiles, local curriculum design... phew! Oh, and I can also support the school with Digital Technology too! In fact today I've been busy with Scratch, Book Creator and Google Slides making resources for school visits next week! And then there's assessment, local curriculum writing, etc...

Finally, the whole art of applying... I'm more than happy to support the school in writing up an application either face to face or online. I've had PLD applications accepted from all over the place, so don't feel that distance is an issue. In fact, you may be able to prompt other local schools to apply and then I could pop down for the week each time. The application is not hard to do and I've only ever had a couple refused -and that wasn't even our fault... the Ministry had run out of hours! Most of the schools I work with reapply the next year for more and for me, that's the highest compliment. I've also had principals ring me because someone else has recommended me and that's very pleasing too!

So if you're interested, give me a ring or an email. I will do my very best to answer all your questions and get you all fired up for science! If you have invited me to work with your school, feel free to stick something in the comments! Applications for PLD to begin Term One will be due mid October and a number of schools have asked me to help them in the term break to apply. 

And that's my advert over! As I have said, I do hate the whole idea of saying "Hey, hire me!" but I also know there are schools out there who don't know they can apply for science PLD and for PLD they choose how it happens...

Keep sciencing on!
Paul