science online...

Kia ora koutou
I'm sitting in my office and enjoying the quiet and a beautiful view of the Kaimai ranges shrouded in cloud. Generally in Te Aroha it's either windy or wet or both... or going to be soon! I do love our wee town and it is very quiet at the moment. I hope you all are well and coping with the online schooling situation which for some families and teachers must be quite difficult. I'm a bit gadget mad so we have plenty of devices floating around but not all families can do that.
I realise the school holidays have been moved forward and I'm expecting lots of teachers will spend them preparing for a term two continuing on with this situation. I realise that science isn't probably at the top of your list but I've been thinking, why not? We're wanting lots of activities that involve students not only being educated but also entertained. I did see a funny meme the other day that said, with all the children at home, parents will realise, it wasn't the teachers!

For online work, I'm certain you've had lots of helpful advice. Our own Digital Technologies team at IPL have stuck some google docs up with ideas and apps to use and I think Core Ed are doing the same. I've recently been quite into the Google Keep app/website as a post-it note place and could see it being used quite successfully for students too as they can share particular notes with particular people. Padlets can be great for students brainstorming too -it's free for educators and you can make it public so students simply head to the site without logging in. As I have said, there are lots of organisations stepping up to support teachers, take advantage!

Onto science! With students not having access to the box of readers, the Connected Journals are available online with google slides. I tend to use bit.ly to give them a catchier name for students but a hyperlink works too! There are many themes represented both from a nature of science point of view and contextually, for example, the weather. You could set up some comprehension questions from an article, children could carry out the experiment at home (and take a photo to prove it!), or they could set up their own investigation...  I wonder if all fish do that... I'd like to investigate whether an octopus does...
For any level (and knowing that parents are home as 'willing' readers and writers!), could children do some I notice, I think, I wonder activities? I know that sometimes the problem can be parents taking over the experiment or the activity so you could have a few pointers as to how parents can be facilitators and not doers! Some activities, like copters could work if they have access to a printer and scissors. You could also weave in the maths, reading and writing -simply reading the experiment is a reading task, gathering data could be measurement, and then writing it up for others covers some writing!

• Head outside and lie on the grass for one minute (or stand if that's too hard). Put on a blindfold and describe what information your other senses are giving to you? Alternatively, get your parents to put an object in your hand... what do your other senses tell you about the object before you look at it? Children could compare their environments through padlet... can they all hear traffic? What about birds (and I wonder what kinds of birds they are hearing)? Could we set this up in stats with graphing the class results? With older students perhaps they could look at locations -what are students noticing in different places? Could we predict what someone would hear at a particular place from our data (and could we then find out if we knew someone living at that spot, eg the principal!?). How many words can you use to describe your object? Who can come up with the most?
• Apparently Autumn is on the way... prove it! Can students prove this mathematically? Can they prove it with what they notice outside? We've got a hebe that's leaves are dying but I don't know if it's because of Autumn or just dying because of my lowly skills as a gardener! Each few days, head out to a particular plant and take some observations of it -can they find one deciduous and one evergreen? Are their differences and similarities?
• What if...? I do enjoy these and students would need to find out more information to be able to predict... What would happen if all the animals were in lockdown too? What would happen if bees were shut up in their hives? Or Canadian geese had to stay in one place (I watch them flying over our place every morning and evening!) Do we need these animals anyway? I can't imagine the point of wasps and I think I'd be quite happy for them to disappear... but what if they do play a vital role somewhere in the world? I've seen some people set out the 1 week, 1 month, 1 year type thing, and it's quite interesting to predict the future! There's also some neat youtube "What if" videos too.
• Kitchen science can be fun as well! And something the whole family can participate in! There are numerous experiments you could share with students but what I'd be more interested in is the where to next. What's another experiment they could try based on an "I wonder" from this one? Can they write it (or video) to share with other students? Could other students critique their experiment? It might be the way the data was gathered or the way the experiment was carried out. It might even be the conclusion. And it's always fun making hokey pokey. Except for me. I just cannot make the stuff! One year I tried several times until my wife pulled me away from the kitchen!!!
• I wonder... Start the morning with a wondering -and you can make them hard! Sometimes our questions are difficult. Sometimes even scientists don't know the answer -we're still not sure about gravity and how it's here! Hopefully down the track you can get the children to ask the question in the morning too. One per day, everyone sends their ideas to that person and at the end of the day, the questioner shares what they've found out, which may be the answer! 
• Watch a movie and spot the science... Plenty of movies have some pretty good science hiding in the back... Bug's Life is all about saving food for winter: is this true? Do some animals really do this? Why don't all? Are there some animals that work together (and parasitic wasps don't count in this category!)? Another good one is Moana and the navigation techniques... What about Up... If kids had enough balloons, could you lift up your house? As an aside, I used to use movies for reading and get children to read the subtitles and answer questions -they loved it!
• Thinking of outside, get the children to set up some experiments... if they had left over bread that's gone stale, what colour bread would birds go to first. Cut it into quarters, stick some food dye on it and observe! You could do it with ants too -a little bit of sugar and food dye but on a nest far from the house!
• Finally, simply carrying out an experiment with stuff around the house. I've got plenty of these that just use straws or balloons but there are also plenty of websites that can help. Remember we're interested in more than just learning the 'why' but using the experiment to explore the way we think, how science works and developing science skills. Having kids in small groups would help: they all carry out the experiment and then share their results and develop a conclusion. I think it would really help with their understanding about science -they'd all need to carry out the experiment the same, gather data the same, etc, to be able to share!  

I really feel for you all at this time. It's hard enough simply being stuck in your own homes, but to be caring for a class full of children who have become part of your family and are now all separated must be very hard, . I'm thinking of you all and very available for a conversation, a support, or simply a couple of activities to help you out with your class.

Be well, stay safe

Mauriora

Paul

I know what I said but this is good!!!

I know, I know... I did say that I wouldn't write as many posts but I think this is a good one. The thought occurred as I was chatting to a teacher about topics for science. The school are doing a range of smaller activities as well as ones the students have come up with (big yay for that!). We were chatting and I talked about 'doing' a topic -I can't remember what it was but it stopped me for a moment...

mentalfloss.com

Should we attempt to ensure our science programmes are driven by questions? I know that was a big hit with the good ol' problem solving days, where a term's unit had some 'big question', usually engineered by the teacher to be an effective one, followed by questions that the children wanted to find answers for. If I wanted to do something about insects. what if we had a conversation as a class just to talk about what we might like to find out and what we already know. You could write up the questions on post-it notes or better still, use padlet and save a tree! It could be that you hear a really good question that could sit at the top or fiddle with one or come up with one yourself.

The kiwi Praying Mantis... not that South African import one!
And yes, I'm that English import! From wikipedia.

One thing I love about teaching is the enthusiasm and buy-in from students. I know that we all like to get the kids starting the questions but, during lessons I've taught, I've thrown out a question and then watched groups rushing off to find possible answers. I might chuck out some ideas myself, not removing the onus of research from the children but expanding and enriching it! By having post-it notes (or padlet), we can still go over all our other questions. It might be through a reading task or watching a video and then answering the question (a great writing activity or record voices for an oral language activity!).

A Katipo Spider -something, I've never actually seen.
It might not be an insect, but it could be a bug? From tripsavvy.com

If  I was doing insects, perhaps I could ask them all "What's the difference between a beetle and a bug?"... "Is there a difference?"... What do we think?, our parents think?, others around the school?, and the science field?! The cool part is, as the students seek answers, they'll learn about communicating in science ("bugs are yucky and I don't like them" is a perfectly fine communication and one I might be caught saying (!), but it's not a science statement!); investigating in science as they observe various insects to see if they meet the specific criteria; understanding about science as students think about this field is investigated and shared with other scientists and the general public; and finally they may even explore some of those pest insects like the Pea Weevil that I heard on the radio this week had been wiped out -and we're the first country to do that! And now I'm wondering if it should have capital letters...

The Pea Weevil -devdiscourse.com

I just ticked off all the nature of science strands with one question! I'd revisit our big question often and even pop out a few of the smaller post-it notes ones too, especially if I know some students might have uncovered some answers! One thing I do like to do is let the children answer the question even if it is not quite right or even wrong! "Metal objects sink", "Sugar disappears in water", "shadows move as the sun moves through the sky" are all incorrect but scientists have got it all wrong too (I wrote a post about this a wee while ago). The danger would be only having that answer. Chat with the class -Do we still agree with this answer? No? You found out that your uncle's boat is metal and it floats (thank goodness!)... So how could we write our new answer? Some metal objects sink? Let's do some more investigation into this -what kind of objects?, is it the type of metal?, etc... 

The good ol' Slater found in many terrariums -poor thing! From Massey University.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now! Why not take a look at your "Monarch Butterfly" unit, and wonder about starting with a question?

Thanks for reading. As always, I welcome questions and comments!
Paul

PS: And yes, I went back through and added capital letters to the insect names!
PPS: Yes, there is a difference between bugs and beetles! Here's an interesting short link...

The Final Blogpost... well, for now anyway!

Hello and welcome to the first blog of 2020! This blog has always been about being responsive to what I'm seeing in classes and assuming (or presuming?!?) that if it's happening here it might be happening elsewhere too! However, I'm moving up the hill to take up the "Professional Experience Coordinator" position, placing students into high schools to learn about the marvellous profession of teaching. It will certainly be a whole new world (and yes, I've had that song stuck in my head all morning!) with a lot of new vocabulary too. However, I will still be doing a small amount of science and digital technology PLD so do sing out -and if I can't do it, I can suggest one of our other science PLD facilitators! That was the hardest part of accepting the new position, having to give up some exciting PLD plans for the year with schools I've worked with and loved, and schools I've never worked with but was very excited to!

I do hope that there may be the odd post after working in schools but not as often as previous years. And I can't imagine stopping thinking about science so that will pop up too, probably through Facebook (you can search "science happening NZ").

Right! So what have I been thinking about, science-wise? I've been thinking about PATs and assessment as well as the function of the first term: getting to know the children academically, emotionally and spiritually. Some schools do carry out the Science Thinking with Evidence assessment tool. There are two, one for Years 4 to 6 and one for Years 7 to 10 and both are online. I think they are a great tool to measure student progress in using the science capabilities.

If you don't use the STwEs, then how do you know what students are able to do when you focus on the science capabilities? Are they aware of them? Are children observing closely, inferring from data gathered? What does 'close observation' look like? Although I have my own list of what the capabilities look like at different levels, it's so much more valuable for teachers/teams/schools to sort this out for themselves: how do we think observation might be different for a Year 1 student and a Year 6?

Besides all this, teachers may just want to make some general comments about their classes as a whole -if we did a couple of the world famous Paul's science activities, it would show me how children are generally observing, writing descriptions, giving reasons, etc. It might be enough to show me that I need to do a bit more on using data to make sentences and not just 'it's out of my head' (although that is an important bit too!). And this is what I'm coming to for this term! Why not grab a few of the shorter activities for the term? Term 1 can be difficult with swimming, camps, athletics, etc but there's often little spots around the place. I remember my own bunch could be quite disillusioned with writing and reading, especially in the summer heat, but when it was a practical science activity, they were motivated. They might have to read (and sometimes order the steps correctly, which in itself could end up with interesting consequences!), or write up their reasoning as to what was happening, and then they were keen for literacy. I've had them outside with different height children measuring sprints and pacing to figure out how fast this dinosaur might have run if it was this tall...

As students do these activities you will notice the variety of observations, processes and how they draw their evidence and build explanations. Even spotting the range of these will give you ideas for the next activities...

• I notice that the observations are very basic, 
• I can see children aren't using maths measuring skills
• Their inferences aren't often connected to their observations
• The explanations show a good structure but seem to not have much data or proof in them

I like the thought of seeing the range of abilities and using this to decide next steps. It can also be good to think about what the next level might be for the children who are showing up at the top of the range -chat to the next level's class teacher! 

And that's what I've been thinking of. If you don't have my activities, you can use any you find on the internet -they'll be a lot shorter than my plans as I tend to use mine as PLD lessons to support teachers in thinking science capabilities-wise. I have loved sharing my thoughts with you all and I'm hoping that once the new job settles down a bit, I'll have more time to come back here! As always, read, use, share and comment! Oh, and ask questions -that could be the next blogpost!

have a fantastic term!

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