Gather and Interpret Data Part Two!!!

This is the second part of my 'trilogy' on the first capability and using it, particularly in Term One. I really appreciate the comments and support to this little series and I believe there's a lot in this capability that makes it the perfect capability for the first term when we have lots of interruptions, swimming every day, parent interviews, new students etc. It's a great term for those one-off lessons!

Although I've spoken about it before, as teachers, we do need to continue to be thinking about how the capability is being exhibited by students and our 'where to next' steps. We need to be thinking about How do I continue to develop the students' competencies in gathering and interpreting data? How do the students know what this capability looks like, when they know they're 'doing it'? What should I be expecting for children at this level? The best way to do this is through discussion! Get some student work together and share with your team or syndicate. Is this what we would expect at this year level? Where could we go after, looking at what students are doing. Are there some elements that some children are doing that we would like them all to do?

I wanted to share some more ideas around the science thinking and then perhaps next week look at tikanga Maaori, and integrating with literacy and mathematics, etc.

The classic gobstoppers experiment -not mine but it is fun... Well this one is mine but...

"Where do I find resources and activities?" seems to be a constant cry! Unfortunately there are few places that support capabilities development, even in New Zealand, but there are plenty of places for activities. When I first started this work, a constant stop was Steve Spangler's site. Yes, he is about the money, but he does have some great activities: https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/. One thing I do like is that there are videos (try just playing the video alone and get the children to write up the experiment before they do it!) and I do like the explanations. I am all about the process and developing capabilities but I also like to know what's going on as it might guide me as I talk to children. I certainly don't play the I bet you can't guess how this works or Guess what's in my head... I'll give you three clues... but I do like to draw students' attention to aspects of the experiment that may help them in thinking deeper. Sometimes I like the children to read the 'how it happened' at the end and then see if they agree -can we prove that this is what happened?

There are plenty of other websites out there but really the first stop should be the TKI site that started it all: http://scienceonline.tki.org.nz/. There are lots of activities here with support on what teachers should be looking for, integrated lessons with science and literacy, as well as explanations about each capability and the nature of science. It's a great site that can be a little difficult to navigate but well worth the trouble!
Once you've googled and found your websites or a book (the Nanogirl's Kitchen Science Cookbook is a good one for this too), you need to add the capabilities. It's frustrating to me that the nature of science or the capabilities are still not appearing in a lot of science resources for teachers but... oh well! Oh, and you could put into this the Building Science Concepts books that may be gathering dust on the science resources shelves! So once you have the activity, you simply lay the capabilities (or one) over the top... Our goal isn't to 'do gobstoppers' or even 'students will learn about dissolving' but what do you want the children to develop in terms of the science capabilities. This is the big picture. Yes, children will talk about dissolving and colours moving in the gobstoppers experiment but that's not my number one objective! I would like children to be observing closely, or using all their senses, or learning to use tentative language, or observing change. I might simply want children to stay focused with a longer experiment! I could get students measuring the area of the different colour dyes, calculating the flow, predicting what might happen next, or generate effective questions for what they would like to investigate from this experiment (eg using different liquids, different lollies, or different containers). You could use my science capability indicators to help with this:

It may seem difficult but it's simply changing the focus from Children will learn about 'stuff' (content knowledge) to Children will learn about how scientists observe closely (as an example).

Some more activities to do... Last post, I shared a video of a whistling walrus and besides wanting to share how we can use videos, I also think there's a second important reason for using this video. We can be really good at encouraging children to look closely, as well as use their touch sense, but not the other three! It can be really hard to describe what we smell or hear but critical that we do. I'm more happy with juniors doing this than seniors, although I do think everyone will do it until they are more confident and have a wider vocabulary, but let them make links to other tastes or smells... It tastes like orange and lemon mixed together... It tastes really sweet like... For me, these tend more towards inferences as children are using prior experiences so I ask more questions: Why do you think that? What made you notice that? With older children, I go a bit deeper: That's actually an inference! Your brain has made sense of what it was noticing and decided that it tastes like a lemon. What do you think it directly noticed to think that? I'm hoping they'll talk about the tartness, or how sour it is, what they smelt as they tasted...
Film canisters are reasonably extinct so I use the half size multi-vitamin drinks instead (I shouldn't be sharing this as now you'll know why I'm so energetic when I'm teaching!). Put some cotton wool inside and add some different scents: vanilla essence, mustard, vinegar, etc... Can children find the other canister that has the same scent? Could they group or rank the smells? Can they describe the smell in such a way that others could read their description (whether it's a list or paragraph)? Could they work out how far a smell 'travels'? Could they map this?
I like to use taste too, and have seen some great activities using colour-free juice packets. Can children work out which is which? Sometimes I put food colouring in to really get them confused -blackberry juice coloured orange, orange juice coloured purple, etc. Students can get quite certain that the colour means it must be that flavour. Get the children to taste objects with their nose blocked... does it change the flavour? One time we were doing gobstoppers and someone talked about how it was the flavour coming off, not just the colour. Because of this idea, we tasted gobstoppers with our eyes closed to see what flavours we thought they were and whether there was any difference between colours, and then tasted gobstoppers with no colour on to see whether there was any flavour left... By the way, I never get all the children to taste if I'm doing this on the mat as a warm up... In science, scientists never test the whole population but a selection. I might start with just boys tasting, hoping for the girls to pipe up and say that they may taste differently! And yes, I often reply that I've never tasted boys or girls so can't really say! Oh, and then there's different cultures -I know they taste differently -Japanese cuisine or Dutch salty licorice proves it!
The key idea is the being specific in our observations, moving from it sounds like... to being able to describe clearly, succinctly and accurately. We want to develop inferences (it's half of the capability after all: gather and interpret data) so I want to keep asking the children so if that's what you're smelling, what do you think it is? As I wrote that, I thought about putting two scents in a container -could the children separate them out? Could they replicate the smell? Fun!

I really, really like exuvia (or cicda shells to you commoners!)

To wrap up, I wanted to encourage you to get the children outside! At first, they won't notice much at all, but as you talk, as you get excited, as you share your observations, they'll catch the bug... Oh, look at that bird! Can you hear that sound? I wonder which bird makes that call? Do you notice the leaves turning gold? Are they all turning gold? How high do the cicada shells go? I wonder why they're all clumped on this stick... I'd also get them taking photos of what they see and then using thee photos to practice observational drawing and diagrams (they are different!). They might video an insect or bird doing 'something'... can we work it out? Why are the ants in a line? Today they're going mad! What about videoing bumblebees gathering nectar? Yes, all these are online on YouTube, but I want children engaging and they engage best when they're doing it! Can they set up google slides with what they've notice and embedding pictures, videos and sound recordings. There are free audio programs and apps so children could record sounds and then pull the sounds apart, slow them down etc...

Our first pear! And it just looks really weird -no stalk (the tree's the stalk!).
More photos on my Facebook page...

And finally, just go for a walk. The Education Gazette over the last few months has been discussing well-being and it has been proven scientifically (yes, really) that every day walks are vitally important to our well-being. Spending an hour a week through the week is enough! I like to call them rambles (I am English after all -I suppose you can all tell from my accent when you're reading this!) and they should be a part of every week. They can initiate discussions, grow the class closer together, enable a more positive feeling, and encourage writers and researchers, the list is endless!

Have a go, have fun, and enjoy this term's science! If you're interested in a copy of my gobstoppers experiment, just email me: paul.ashman@waikato.ac.nz. Keep an eye on my Facebook page too for more bits! And watch out for part three, the stunning conclusion next week!

Keep on sciencing.