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

Science vs science education

Previously, I was writing about knowledge vs the nature of science... sounds like a terrible B movie title! I want to carry on with a bit of a recollection from the other week when I was working in a school. 
We were talking about how to fit science in when the curriculum is so crowded. I talked about simply ensuring there are opportunities for children to develop the capabilities. For example, the school's topic this term is food so the social sciences have stolen the limelight which is a great marriage between culture and identity. It also gets kids sharing their own family recipes, reflecting on the food and the culture it represents, and the biggest kick: eating! Yay!

Food from my culture: England! (BBC website (of course!))

Whilst kids are munching, could we slip in some science? Can children think about what they're tasting and then describe it objectively as well as subjectively? Can we identify ingredients and different tastes that we experience -and critique these, discuss these, write about these? The students are still doing social sciences, but we can use some of the science verbs (notice, observe, describe) as well as infer...
We also talked about reading time and this is what today is about. I ended up describing two different things that could happen in a lesson (and the above is an example). One is "science". Kids are exposed to 'science' as they watch a video or read a Connected article. They probably know some stuff about 'science' -from TVshows or books. They know some facts and interesting ideas that they'll happily share. Part of our work when we're taking science lessons is also exposing students to 'science' -the apple has five chambers in the core because it's a member of the rose family, the candle goes out when you put a jar over it because of the amount of carbon dioxide, not lack of oxygen, and usually heavier things sink faster in water.

 A great way to get children drawing horizontal and vertical cross sections...
I wonder if pears would look similar... (pinterest.com)

I also introduced this idea: "science education". In our discussion, this is the science capabilities or the nature of science. It's the bit where children are learning about science, how scientists work, how to investigate, interpret, build explanations, critique and communicate their findings.

A really great article... Although Level 2, it challenged Year 7 and 8 students...

We talked about that in a reading session, children could read a delightful story about the weather and connections to local stories in a Connected journal. I might discuss the language, look at the pictures, talk about the content of a diagram, how well children have understood the story and their fluency. The students are being exposed to 'science', as it is a science article about the weather. But could I do a bit of 'science education' too? I might get children interpreting the diagrams -what do we think of them, how well do they share the information, and why has the artist or author chosen to use this style of diagram. I might also do a bit of critiquing, a bit of science vocabulary, or even analyse the style of the article... is this really a science article? How can we tell?

So here's the rub... Continue to choose 'science' articles for students. We know they love them! Kids enjoy learning 'stuff' and being fascinated and science is a favourite for a lot of them. But add some 'science education' too. Be deliberate about students developing the science capabilities. It could be just a couple of questions or a part of the discussion!

Have a go!
Paul

Science knowledge and science capabilities... sort of like brothers, I guess...

I've been thinking a wee bit this week about capabilities and knowledge... How do we balance the need to develop student ability in the nature of science objectives (or the science capabilities) as well as develop their science knowledge?
Both are important, and the recent NMSSA resource highlights that students with high achievement in the science capabilities will usually have a good science knowledge as well. If we're doing 'science', then it would be natural to assume we're learning about science concepts, for example, floating and sinking, or exploring sound. 
The curriculum is quite careful in the way it describes what students should be doing and this can be an interesting activity for your staff or team or syndicate to do... highlight all the verbs in the context strands and then discuss these: how do we plan, teach and assess these? For example, Physical World has the verbs explore, describe and represent... In my thinking, explore isn't the same as 'define', it simply means that I will provide activities for students to encounter and experience an idea. If I'm playing with chemical reactions and thinking about how some produce heat (an exothermic reaction), I'm not going to start with a Learning Intention "We are learning how some chemical reactions produce heat". I'll start with introducing the idea through an experiment... what have we found out?, what are we thinking... Hopefully this might lead to questions the students can investigate further, or I might do a couple more activities with similar results. The result of this is students describing the reactions when certain chemicals are mixed. 
That might be far enough -after all the curriculum simply says describe at Level 3 and 4 and then identify and describe patterns at Level 5. I'm not sure that 'describe' would be the same as 'define'. And that's a good point (if I may say so myself!) -have a look at the levels either side of the levels you're aiming for, to get some idea of science knowledge.

The Gather and Interpret Data capability and the Use Evidence capability both have the idea of children observing patterns... what have we noticed that's similar in these activities? What might be happening? Yeah, I might have older children doing a bit of google spotting to grow their ideas but I do want to stay away from transmitting answers and information! I want them, through activities, promoting and developing the science capabilities, to get there on their own with me as the teacher scaffolding, prompting and supporting.
It really is a fine line! With how much there is in the curriculum (again, just look at the Physical World context strand!), I'm not sure our goal should ever be children learning stuff, otherwise, which bits do we take? At Year 3/4, I count almost 30 topics for just those two years! However I do think we need to have units that enable children to get deeper into a concept, eg sound, light, reactions, the solar system... I'm okay, if children haven't quite worked out the difference between exothermic and endothermic, or that water boils at a certain degree. If my unit is all about reactions, then I might provide some more learning opportunities for children to think about the topic more. I'll make sure the scientific vocabulary is around the place for them to see, and I'll use it too. I'll make sure I ask lots of questions too (although not so much so we call this... ex... exo... come on, we talked about this yesterday...). 
But, importantly, I'm not stressed about them 'getting' the concept. I have had arguments as to whether all children should understand magnetism because it's really important... I've just headed back to the curriculum to show it's simply one concept amongst many. I don't think the curriculum writers ever had in their heads, it's critical to learn this concept or this concept, but that here's a pile of different ideas you can use to support students as they learn about science, investigate in science, communicate in science and participate and contribute (the nature of science strands).
The curriculum doesn't have the verb "recall" in the context strands. It has explore, describe, appreciate (imagine trying to assess that one!), group, relate, identify, represent, etc... All these verbs are within the 'learn' verb. Children investigating to learn. And it's this way that we bring in that science knowledge. I really like the way the NZC puts it on p. 28:

It's not worksheets! It's children testing their ideas... so can I get the reaction hotter by adding more damp rid? How do I measure if it is? Do all liquids expand like water does when it's frozen? What's happening in water to make it expand? It's also not teachers wrapping up lessons with so what happened is this and this, because of that and that... and now you all know! I've been in classes with this happening and leant over to ask a student whether they know what the teacher meant (I was actually a bit confused!) with the response that they didn't know either. In fact, ask the children the next day about the transmission and there will be those who can recall it word for word and understand, those who can recall but not really understand and those who were busy looking at a bird out the window so got confused (and yes, it was me, and it was a chaffinch).

A male chaffinch. Like the human species,
the male is the more attractive and louder one. www.ebird.org

Yeah, I'm an internet man... if I start wondering, I generally look online -and yes, I start with primary school science then move my way up as I grow in understanding. But then, I'll also go off and check for myself. I was talking to someone about the candle in the jar experiment (how the candle flame extinguishes when a jar is put over it) this week, the misconceptions and also the ideas behind what's going on. When I read about it online after someone pointed out I was wrong and it had nothing to do with oxygen levels, I also tried out a few experiments: so if it isn't that, and it's that idea instead, this should happen when I do this... This is that investigating and testing ideas of the curriculum.

And for me, that's the happy marriage between the capabilities and knowledge. I've been careful not to get into how much knowledge should juniors have as opposed to the middle and senior classes, that's for another time (although it is interesting that the common verbs at Level 1 and 2 are investigate and explore, not so much define and represent...). I want the children asking questions and I would like to see experiments that challenge students to think deeper and gain a better understanding of the world around them. I don't have a list of compulsory topics eg magnets, electricity and the Moon, as all can help me in growing student ability in the nature of science (which is our compulsory strand, our overarching strand and our unifying strand). I'm okay with children being experts in magnets as long as it's not just knowledge but knowledge gained through "generating and testing ideas, gathering evidence – including by making observations, carrying out investigations and modelling, and communicating and debating with others".

Phew!

Have a great week, everyone!

Science teaching hidden in clear sight...

Just a wee note from my musing this week... and I'm sure that's a quote from some movie I've seen but for the life of me, I can't remember! Mind you, after having a senior student this week talk about the bird's mouth and my asking her for clarification (to which she said 'beak'), I've been thinking about what a bird's head would look like without a beak and whether it does look like a mouth!

http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/birdsobservation/2016/04/09/for-each-food-a-birds-beak/

I was in a Digital Technologies workshop on Monday and was struck by a comment the facilitator said -that, as DT is meant to be integrated, even simply using the vocabulary is developing some of the thinking behind this new curriculum. It got me thinking about science and our, what seems to be, over-crowded curriculum... could we do the same in science?

If students are reading a book that has a science theme, could we ask some questions about what they 'notice', what they might be 'wondering'? Besides comprehension and fluency questions, could we ask questions about the scientists' observations to develop that capability, eg, how do you think the scientist got to that thinking? Can you see any inferences in what the scientist is talking about? What might they have observed that led them to that particular inference? 

Sometimes, I've even got students to be a bit more critical... should scientists say 'a few'? Should there be numbers and percentages, etc? We might read through the article and highlight scientific vocabulary, highlight inferences and observations or even parts that we want to ask more questions about and research further.

One of my favourite water cycle diagrams... there's a lot happening in this one -even for seniors, what do they think is happening and is this a good representation?

The capability, Interpreting Representations, can come into play as well -what do children notice about the diagram / chart / graph? What information might have been missed out (and why might that be)? Could this information be shown in other ways?

And of course there's always those opportunities to go for a wander around the school, engaging in the capabilities, growing student wonder and curiosity and simply enjoying the world around us. I used to love taking my class for a ramble around the school grounds (and sometimes a wee bit off!) and I noticed a real change in their attitude and behaviour, a respect grew, an interest in nature, as well as engaging with the families, coming back to tell me what their koro said about kawakawa trees or the tui nesting at the top... 

I do understand there's a lot that the curriculum shows we should be doing in classes... I wonder if there are some clever ways that we can ensure that this is happening?

Have a fantastic week everyone.