never mind the optics

On Saturday, I had the privilege to share a share a platform with Nick Hood at the Scottish Science Education Conference at the Dunblane Hydro.  Our session went by the name “Using New Media in Science Education – Not Just for Twits”.  The aim was to share some of the online practice taking place both inside and outside the country’s science classrooms.

We spoke about blogging and walked the participants through the process of setting up a free blog.  Nick explained RSS and demonstrated why every teacher should use a RSS reader.  We also covered podcasting and use of a wiki.  For anyone interested in the links we used on the day, find a summary on my wiki.

During the session, we mentioned the lack of blogging Chemistry teachers. Word has reached us that Dr. Taylor has met our challenge head-on and started his own blog.  Great job, Dr. T.!

We ran into some problems today during a piece of practical work.  The aim was to use our new energy meters to verify the equation

Unfortunately, the values on the screen were changing too quickly for us to see them clearly.

 

 Podcast Video [0:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (97)

Luckily, someone suggested using the camera on their phone to take a photo of the screen.  It worked brilliantly.

Very quickly, everyone was able to record their own set of results on a phone and we quickly established that our equation worked.  Much better than guessing numbers on a flickering screen.

A great new project kicked off at EDUtalk this week.  John Johnston and David Noble have set the ambitious target of posting a piece of audio every day throughout 2010 as part of their EDUtalk365 project.  I think that their idea of educators sharing ideas on the changes sweeping through education is brilliant and the nature of the contributions makes it possible for busy people to dip in and out of the published audio as and when they have the time.  I have posted previously on the ease with which audio resources can be accessed while driving, walking the dog, washing the dishes, etc. and I think that David and John are on to a winner here.

To help them on their way towards 365 days of audio, I recorded a short piece on how I have been using Wordle in the classroom as an aid to literacy across learning.  You can listen to my contribution here. Better still, subscribe to their Posterous blog or add it to your iTunes podcasts so you’ll never miss an episode during 2010!

 

 Standard Podcast [4:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (83)

Tags: EDUtalk365

I had a tweet from Drew Burrett asking if I had experienced any difficulties with Glow Meet since the most recent Java update from Apple.

I hadn’t but then it’s been a while since I used Glow Meet.  So I logged in to Glow and, sure enough, it gave an error about halfway through the start-up process.  I did some digging and found Glow was not the only site experiencing problems with the Java update.

Unfortunately, Snow Leopard would not allow me to install java 1.5 for Leopard and I was to be left without a working Glow Meet until I found this site with instructions on how to reinstall the older version of Java that works with Glow Meet.

You need to run these commands from the terminal but I have tested the process and it does indeed fix the problem and allow Glow Meet to run once more.

Tags: glow meet, java

I’ve been thinking recently about numeracy, literacy and where they fit within my subject area.  While these thoughts have been bouncing about in my head for a wee while now, it’s only after reading Bill Boyd’s excellent post on literacy for all that I thought I would try to write something down.

Numeracy in physics is unavoidable.  At all levels, pupils are expected to analyse information and solve a problem by performing one or more calculations. This is the familiar face of physics, the side that often results in people telling me that they can’t/couldn’t/didn’t take physics at school because they couldn’t do maths.

After discussions with my maths colleagues, I had to look at my classroom practice and adjust my methods so that pupils see a familiar approach to problem solving.  The examples provided in our new whole school numeracy policy booklet have been very helpful here.

I’m also starting to discover where the literacy demands in physics are greatest. The closer I look, the more obvious it seems that literacy was an issue in Physics long before the Curriculum for Excellence ring binder appeared. Students who are confident in calculation-based tasks often find descriptions or explanations very challenging.

In my opinion there are two topics that stand out.  The electronics unit of Standard Grade and the Gas Laws in the Higher course are both particularly challenging in terms of the literacy demand placed on learners.  In each of these topics, pupils are often asked to explain behaviour of a system.  The skills needed to succeed in these tasks are outlined in the new literacy outcomes.

Learners require a command of the appropriate vocabulary

I can use a range of strategies and resources independently and ensure that my spelling, including specialist vocabulary, is accurate.  LIT 4-21a

and must be able to sequence the information (pupils often call this “cause and effect”)

I can convey information and describe events, explain processes or concepts, providing substantiating evidence, and synthesise ideas or opinions in different ways.  LIT 4-28a

So here are the strategies I have introduced so far with a view to enhancing literacy in physics.

• Create Wordle wall posters showing key vocabulary for the current unit. I’ve made these by copying text from the SQA documents and then blowing them up on the excellent Blockposters site.  I’ve mentioned this step before.

• Think-pair-share activities to encourage pupils to identify for themselves what is required.

• Pupils use the results of think-pair-share to gather together their agreed ideas of what makes a good description and generate a mind map

• Use the mind map as a starting point for additional descriptive work. These tasks can incorporate peer assessment to ensure all learners receive prompt feedback.  Use of peer feedback in pairs or trios ensures that pupils can compare their work and get a feel for quality.

I’ve trialled these approaches in S3-S5 and most pupils report that they find them to be helpful activities. Is it enough though?

Update: the above example relates to the electronics unit of Standard Grade Physics. I have posted a modified version for the Higher Physics gas laws topic on my classroom blog.

Tags: literacy, numeracy

I was in Edinburgh on Wednesday for an event called Science and the Parliament at Dynamic Earth.  This is an annual meeting of Scottish scientists and politicians, designed to bring policy makers and innovators together for a day of seminars and networking.

The theme of this years gathering was the science of health and so it was quite appropriate that the day began with a keynote by Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health & Well-being.  In what was a more interesting speech that I had expected, Ms Sturgeon spoke of the historic and current high regard in which the work of Scottish scientists is held and looked at the opportunities for Scotland to shape our future Health and Well-being, juxtaposing our internationally recognised scientific success with our reputation as the “sick man of Europe”.

Following her address, Ms Sturgeon presented awards for the highest placed candidates in the 2009 SQA Higher & Advanced Higher exams fro Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  This was the reason I attended the event.  One of my pupils scored 100% in the 2009 Higher Physics exam and was invited to attend to receive an award to mark his success.

After the awards ceremony, a more in-depth insight into the current work of Scottish scientists was presented by Prof. Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.  I was delighted that she named several life sciences companies from Dundee that I had bumped into during my previous career in a biotechnology spin-out company.

I was unable to stay for the full programme but there was time for one fun photo before we left.

On my way down to Dynamic Earth, I recorded my thoughts using the sound recorder on my phone and posted them to EDUtalk.  I’ve included the audio at the end of this post.

 

 Standard Podcast [1:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (109)

Tags: science and the parliament

Education staff in the Highlands have just participated in a mammoth CPD event called the Highland Learning Festival.  Hosted by Dingwall Academy, the event was billed as a Highland Curriculum for Excellence Showcase.

Sessions on the first day were booked up well in advance, with 1000 teachers and auxiliaries spending Tuesday at the festival.  I had planned to go along on the second day as the programme had more ICT and secondary sessions of interest to me.  However, that changed when I became a late addition to Wednesday’s schedule with a double slot to speak about the work I have been doing with blogging and iTunes in my classroom.

The numbers for my sessions were low on paper but two or three times as many people turned up each time.  I spoke briefly about running a blog before explaining how SMART Notebook software can be used to produce a videos that can be downloaded as podcasts with iTunes.  Then we looked at the ways in which everyday handheld devices such as mobile phones and iPods can be used for mobile learning.  I was genuinely surprised by the level of  interest shown and the number of questions I was asked during and after each session.

I was delighted when I managed to squeeze into Ollie Bray & Derek Robertson’s games-based learning session at 12.30 in between my own slots.  I’d met Derek before, he was one of the tutors from my PGCE course, but I had never met Ollie despite having exchanged tweets and interviewed him on Skype for a podcast.

The single disappointment for me was the way that the event finished so quickly in the afternoon.  My last slot was over by 2.30 and by then many of the exhibitors were packing up.  If the rumours are true and the event is run again next year, then I think I would try to spend more than just one day there to ensure I could take something from the event for my professional development.

As always, I was economic with slides but I have embedded them anyway. There’s also an audio recording of the morning session attached to this post.

 

 Standard Podcast [44:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (107)

Tags: Highland Learning Festival

As I mentioned in my previous post, I took the telescope out last night for the first time.  I was specifically interested in finding out whether or not one of my Advanced Higher Physics pupils would be able to the the telescope for her proposed investigation on Jupiter’s 4 largest moons and Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion.

I found a good spot, well away from lights.  If you have Google Earth download this file for the exact location.  I was amazed at just how many stars were visible once I was out of the glare of the town lights.

My finder scope alignment was not as good as I had thought and some small adjustments were necessary to find Jupiter in the eyepiece of the main scope.  I could not believe how bright Jupiter appeared though the scope and was even more impressed when I realised that the four Galilean moons were also present in my field of view.

Adjusting the telescope to track Jupiter gave me some problems due to the vibrations at each adjustment.  The vibrations also gave issues when I tried to capture video using my mobile phone.  I’m going to take the telescope to the local moonwatch events (pdf) at the end of the month to get some advice on how to set up the telescope to minimise vibration.

I tweeted about the experience this morning and mentioned seeing a meteor.  Drew Thomson reminded me that the annual Orionid shower had started a couple of nights ago, with peak activity next Wednesday (21st October), so it’s possible I also caught an early Orionid while I was out.  The cool thing about the Orionids is that they are caused by the Earth passing through the debris left by Halley’s Comet, so you are actually watching little fragments of the comet each time you observe a meteor – much easier than waiting for another 52 years!

Although they are nothing like the photos posted earlier today by Catherine Baker, I thought I would share my attempt at capturing my telescope view of Jupiter with a mobile phone.  I’m afraid it only picked up the planet itself, no moons.

 

 Podcast Video [0:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (120)

Tags: jupiter

At the start of this year, my school was lucky to be awarded one of 1000 free telescopes by the Society for Popular Astonomy.  The telescopes for schools competition was designed to mark the International Year of Astronomy 2009, which celebrates Galileo first lifting a telescope upwards to view the night sky.

The telescope did not arrive at my school until April, by which time the night sky was becoming quite light.  So, although the telescope was assembled, it has sat in a corner of my classroom for the past 6 months.  Now that the dark evenings have returned, I felt it was time to try out the telescope.

I took it home for the October holidays and have been waiting for a rain-free day to set it up outside.  Today was the first day with suitable weather and I set the telescope up in my front garden to align the finder scope as best as I could.  If the sky remains clear, I am planning to go out with the telescope tonight to have a look at Jupiter and the other few objects whose name I know.

I used my mobile phone to record the setting up process.  The video below isn’t great quality but I think it manages conveys some of the steps involved in aligning the telescope.

 

 Podcast Video [2:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (145)

It’s not often that I am able to take part in the fantastic CPD opportunities that “the powers that be” in the deep south organise for teachers. Fortunately, it’s the October holidays up here so I was able to spend Tuesday afternoon in a flashmeeting listening to Greg Whitby speak with a group of teachers at LTS.

So who is Greg Whitby?

• He is the Executive Director of Schools and leads a system of approximately 80 Catholic schools serving the Catholic community of greater Western Sydney.
• In 2007, he was named the most innovative educator in Australia by the Bulletin Magazine in its annual SMART 100 awards.
• He was awarded an ACEL Presidential Citation for his contribution to Australian education.

Billed as Gregmeet, the event was a chance for the Scottish education community to hear his thoughts on where learning & teaching has to be in the 21st century.

His main points were;

• lack of relevance has resulted in most young people disengaging from education
• realising that the idea of personalised learning represents learners having a deeper & continuous learning rather than an individual education programme
• de-privatising of teacher practice: teachers can’t (and shouldn’t) work in isolation
• the power of technology to release us from the education timetable that is essentially set in stone at the time of our conception

Greg got his final point across with an equation

who learns what with who where & when

= anywhere, anytime, anything, any device  - time table

and suggested that the Scottish education establishment is moving in this direction with the rolling out of Glow across the 32 local authorities.

His point is valid.  Why is it that we still create a situation where learning can only take place in a classroom, with a teacher, during the day? In moving to an informal, anytime learning environment, pupils can learn when they are ready to do so.  Greg calls this “just in time” learning.

I found myself agreeing with his view that the laptop has lost its original impact in the classroom.  So often, technology in the home is far ahead of the facilities we can provide in schools.  Greg advocates switching to more flexible technology in the form of mobile phones, pointing out their accessibility, flexibility and cost advantages.  While this is a move that is actively resisted in many schools, Greg’s message is that we must learn from research and this shows that handheld devices bring enormous educational benefits.

Greg didn’t use slides but there is a video of the event’s flashmeeting here. Alternatively, I have attached the audio to this post so you can listen using the flash player below.

image of Greg by torres21

 

 Standard Podcast [1:34:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (93)