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