Planning for this term...

As Term Three planning for science topics is upon us (and yes, I wrote Term Two and had to think, "Are we that far into the year?"!), I'm doing some planning with some schools whilst I'm also writing up some interviews around culturally responsive practice so all this is bubbling around together! I thought I'd share some notes that I hope can help you in your planning.
Why?
I want to start with this -we tend to say "We're doing 'energy' or 'the river'" but what does that mean? If science is about developing students' science capabilities, shouldn't this be at least part of the focus? And if we are about improving student achievement, we really need to know what students are able to do so we can plan for the 'where to next' bits!
Assessment is critical and I've been on a bit of a journey this year with another one of our Te Whai Toi Tangata (IPL) facilitators who's a whiz with formative assessment... We can't simply go on just doing science units without knowing where the students are at and what I'm aiming for! Imagine doing that in reading or maths... should we do it in science?
What capability would you like to focus on? What elements of that capability? Are there literacy or maths bits that could be a part of the unit? Can children help construct the success criteria?
In terms of resources out there, the NMSSA have put out some levelled capabilities resources that can help as can the Assessment Resource Bank activities. I also have levelled indicators for the science capabilities that I'm trialling which are a bit more complex.

NMSSA levelled Capabilities resource

The school!
The more I read about schools that seem to be doing amazing things for their students (and getting a reciprocal response from them), the more I see the need to connect to the culture of students as well as the culture of the school. What does the school value and how can this be shown in planning? Most schools have clever anagrams which show eg manaakitanga, respect, attitudes, etc -can these be developed in a science unit? Could there be group work where we can encourage school values? I wrote the word "developed" above because I don't believe that school values can just be told at children, we need deliberate acts of teaching.
What cultures are reflected in the classroom? We do need to ensure that there is a bicultural element so, for me, that's straight in there, but what about the other ethnicities in the class? I was looking at the food topic yesterday, and thought about using the Building Science Concepts resources "Making Bread" and "Preserving Food". I know one school I work with is predominantly Māori, so I thought about using rawena paraoa. I could then ask if there are whānau folk who could come in and help too. I might head off and look at what other cultures in the room use as bread and perhaps we could make those, or better still, ask families to make this food. Yes, it might mean providing some money for this to happen but we're now involving families in school, honouring cultures and engaging students!

The science capability Gather and Interpret Data comes into play now with the students observing, tasting, smelling and older students exploring the recipes: what's going on here? Some use yeast and others don't, why? How do the different ingredients 'work' together? 
If I'm looking at preserving food, I could explore ways that Māori preserved food, and we could explore other cultures' ways to do this. We could experiment ourselves as well as look at current methods and compare -a good chance to experiment! Do all foods preserve? 
The curriculum
Those of you who work with me know I'm mad on the front half of the NZC... Can you develop a Key Competency or Value with this science unit. Again, I'm talking about deliberate actions, not just Oh yeah, the kids are doing lots of thinking so I can tick off that KC! It's about working with the children to better develop that competency..
The NZC is all about the nature of science and we can know we're covering those AOs through focusing on the capabilities. The context strands, eg Living World, are just that -a context... they're just a vehicle for growing student understanding of science. That's not to say there isn't a place for science knowledge development too, there is! As long as it's alongside rather than instead of. 
Sometimes what we think is a science unit is instead a literacy unit researching a science theme. I try to differentiate the two by calling one 'science' and one 'science education'. It doesn't mean the first can't happen, for example, children reading about the moon landings and doing a small project, but unless there's clear capabilities work, it's not really science education. I know that children love reading about science and learning facts, so don't chuck those activities out! In fact, you might even want to think about how you could do something within the activities, perhaps explore how scientists work, how the information was gathered, critique diagrams, etc.   
The resources
I know I talk a bit about the Science Learning Hub, but it is a good place to start! If you're having trouble finding something, email them -they'd love to help. TKI also are a good place to start for capabilities teaching. I still think those arbs are a good resource too -quite a few times I've adapted an assessment task into a learning one! The Building Science Concepts resource, and Making Better Sense books are also good... just remember that those resources were all about knowledge and may need a bit of tweaking to match up with a student agency-type thinking, where the teacher doesn't need to be the font of all knowledge!

I think the community is also vital -they probably know better than Google or I about favourite dishes or how to grow plants in a particular way, what karakia to say, etc.

Anyway, I think that's enough! Have fun planning and do share your ideas with me, I'd love to hear what you're doing. 

Paul

The dreaded science fair... or is that really fair to say (see what I did there?!?!)

I was in a school yesterday and saw the beginnings of planning for science fair projects. We talked briefly about them –how it’s so much work, the ones that get parental help do better, and some children would rather do anything else!

Science is always messy! If it isn't, I'm not sure you're actually doing science!

It made me think about my own science lessons with students… why are they keen to investigate further? Why are they happy to share predictions, record data and posit explanations? I can’t help wondering if the issue is how prepared are children for science fairs? When I was chatting to a Year 9 science teacher (and this is a while ago now!), we talked about how ill-prepared some Year 8 students are coming into college science. I assumed they were referring to science knowledge but they weren’t! It was about the skills and concepts, about children knowing how to measure carefully, gather accurate data, understand variables and share findings in a form of writing that reflects scientific thinking. They felt that children may be doing science, for example, volcanoes or native birds but they don’t know about science. Studying native birds by looking up a bird on the internet or reading a book may not really develop the science capabilities.

The art of catching bubbles so they don't pop!

I was given the opportunity to work with a small country school supporting the children with their own science fair projects. We were already doing some capabilities PLD work so teachers knew what I was talking about but the students had lost interest in their own efforts. I spent a very nice couple of days talking to students, getting them to share their ideas and what they had done. I was struck by the thought that the children weren’t really sure what they were doing! By the end of our chats all were enthused and keen to continue. We had discussed how to investigate, what they were wanting to find out and how they would know if their hypothesis was right.

bubble snakes in action!

Doing a lot of one-off lessons may support students developing the capabilities. However, I know that doing a 2 to 3 lesson sequence, giving children the chance to investigate, hypothesize, collate data and generate explanations may be more motivational and effective. Today I was modelling in one school and I talked to one teacher about a good science lesson… could having a question to frame the lesson/ investigation engage students more? For example, “I wonder if a larger bubble blower will always create the best bubbles” … or challenging students (and we all know how boys enjoy competition!), for example, “who could create the best bubble blower and prove it?” This second one is a neat question because it’s ambiguous! Is “best” biggest? Or 3-dimensional? Or longest lasting? Do small bubbles last longer so are best?

This kind of science (and longer topics that engage students by them leading the inquiry and not being given a lesson to complete!) may prepare students for science fairs. Although a lot of us seem to be allergic to science fairs, I think that they can be a great assessment tool… my science capability indicators could be used for children to self-assess, teachers to conference assess or even for judgement criteria! If children know about science and understand how science itself works (NZC Science essence statement) then they could be more excited about carrying out investigations in science… like a scientist.

Oh, and by the way, juniors can do science fairs too! They're a great whole class activity!

Keep sciencing on! And have a fantastic, refreshing break!