never mind the optics

In my previous post, I spoke about the topical science opportunities that my S2 class had explored since completing their course.  Today, we were really pleased to receive an email from the Head of Volcanology at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh:

To: Thurso High
Subject: fao Sinclair McKenzie Grimsvotn ash

Dear Mr McKenzie and students,

Thank you very much indeed for collecting and sending tape samples to BGS and Edinburgh University. We really appreciate the effort you all went to and in fact we’ve been delighted by the response across the UK.

I attach a preliminary report of our findings which I hope you find interesting. If you’d like to discuss any aspects of it or ask questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

A full analysis of all samples will take several more weeks so we’ll be in touch again then with the overall results.

Thank you very much for your time and I hope you’ll help us again next time!

Sue Loughlin

Dr S. C. Loughlin

Head of Volcanology

British Geological Survey

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It’s great when you are freed from the curriculum straitjacket and allowed to explore issues that have captured the interest of pupils outwith the classroom.  At my school, we’ve traditionally had a window to do just that with S2 classes from March until June, when they move on to S3 and a new, externally assessed treadmill.

This year has been a little different.  We’re using the time to trial some new Curriculum for Excellence topics ahead of the new S2 starting them in June. Based around surfing, my class have investigated waves, board design and properties of surfboard materials.

Having some knowledge about waves, they were keen to find out more about the Japanese tsunami in the days after it struck.  Then, with news of problems at the Fukushima reactor complex, we had a few lessons on nuclear physics and performed some background radiation measurements for Drew Burrett’s crowd sourced map of background radiation following the detection of Iodine-131 in Scotland.

We’ve finished looking at the physics of surfing and, just as we were about to discuss possible topics to take us to the end of S2, there was a new volcanic eruption in Iceland and a request from the British Geological Survey to help with a survey of ash distribution.

There is no doubt that ash has fallen on Thurso, just look at the bonnet of my car.

We set up the ash collectors following the BGS instructions.  Three books were positioned around the school; one in each of the quads and another by the roof of the old science greenhouse.

The ash collectors are lengths of upside-down sticky tape.  We used weights from my classroom to ensure the ring binders did not flip over during the collection period.  At the end of each monitoring period, the tape is taken back to the classroom and sent away to the BGS for analysis.  S2 are adding their new Glow Mail addresses to each sample so the BGS can return a copy of the results.

The BGS site also contains a short questionnaire to gauge the current distribution of ash around the UK.  As the map shows, there seems to have been a more noticeable fall of ash over Scotland and Northern England.

I think it’s so important for pupils to have these opportunities to explore scientific stories that appear in the news.  Not only is it highly motivational for pupils to have this say in what they learn, it also promotes the usefulness of scientific literacy in everyday life.  Recent stories in the media, such as the call to ban wireless networks and mobile phones in schools, are typical of the challenges we face when promoting an evidence based approach to doing and using science in society.

By coincidence, the Association for Science Education recently produced a book called Science Newswise 2 to help teachers use news stories effectively in lessons.

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Last month, David Noble invited me to participate in an online discussion on Science Education n Scotland. Also on the panel were Nick Hood and Drew Burrett, both physics teachers, and Fearghal Kelly, a biology teacher seconded to East Lothian Council as Curriculum for Excellence Development Officer.

During the conversation, we touched upon;

• assessment in CfE
• the risk-averse culture that exists in the teaching of general science
• do we teach science by presenting a series of facts?
• use of ICT in the science classroom
• support opportunities available from higher education and other organisations

The event was streamed lived and subsequently posted to the EDUTalk posterous site.  I can’t get to the EDUTalk site from my school due to filtering, so I’ve uploaded the audio file to this site.  Click on the player below to listen.  Apologies for the variable audio quality.

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Over the past 18 months, I’ve been involved off-and-on with the Scottish end of a Science in Society project called S-TEAM, looking at inquiry-based science teaching.

As a member of the reference group, I’ve given my perspective as a classroom teacher and some of my classroom experiences of open-ended investigation with S1/S2 pupils have been included in articles on the nature of an inquiry-based approach to science in the classroom.

A shortened version of our first article has just been published in the February newsletter of the International Council of Associations for Science Education (ICASE).  The article is based on work I did with a S2 class in 2008.

I blogged about the project at the time.  You can download a pdf of the newsletter using the link at the end of this post, our article is on pages 6-8.

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It’s been a while since I posted anything on this site.  Much of my spare time was taken up with the National Mod coming to town.

I thought I would get back in the saddle with a post about a really positive CPD experience I had this weekend.  I drove down to Fortrose for a Saturday event organised by the ASE and IoP.  There was a good mix of workshops on offer and it was great to see so many primary staff joining the physics regulars for the day.

The first session I attended was run by Gregor from SSERC.  He brought a load of laptops with him and we had a chance to try using a useful piece of software called Tracker.  This is a great example of someone developing something for their students, finding out just how great it is and sharing it worldwide with others.  Tracker can do loads of things: analyse projectile motion, rotational motion and do spectral analysis. Best of all, it uses Java, so it works on Windows, OS X and linux.

The second session of the day began with a hands-on example of generating real data with Stuart Farmer, who handed on to Tania Johnston of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.  Tania shared the Observatory’s latest Deep Space resources for schools.  I worked through a group activity that bore a resemblance to galaxy battleships.

The idea is to work through a series of galaxy photographs and classify them into spiral, elliptical or unknown, then plot their location within the cluster on a quadrant.  By bringing the work of 4 groups together, the pattern of galaxy distribution, i.e. where do elliptical & spiral galaxies tend to appear in clusters, can be determined (I won’t spoil it for you).  There is another activity based on planet formation and exoplanets but I didn’t get an opportunity to try that one…

…the Play-Do looks fun though!  I really liked the observatory’s activities. They have have embedded a series of numeracy tasks into the packs so that they are not just about meeting space-oriented O&Es.

In the afternoon, I went to the Optoelectronics College workshop on illumination and communication with Martyn Crawshaw from Millburn Academy.  On completion of the workshop, I received a specially-designed kit worth £500 to help introduce S1/2 pupils at my to optoelectronics.

One of my AH Physics pupils has already spotted the LED board and plans to incorporate it into his investigation on determining Planck’s constant.

The last session of the day involved building a wet day alternative to the IoP rocket launcher.  Everyone was supplied with plastic piping and connectors to build a twin launcher to propel dragsters.  This would be a great activity for a corridor or school hall if the weather does not allow the use of the compressed air rocket launcher.

I’ve been on the receiving end of some horrific ASG CPD days recently – long, tedious sessions from which I have gained little.  I refer to days like that as herd CPD.  The science event on Saturday was a welcome change. The CPD available was relevant to me and was seriously hands-on.  This seems to agree with my learning style – sometimes the people who plan CPD events forget that teachers have learning styles too.

I was interviewed by David Noble last month.  David is currently researching his doctoral thesis by interviewing educators to determine how they use the social web to support learning, teaching and professional development.  You can read more about his work and the participants on the Edonis Ning site.

I was quite nervous because our telephone conversation was broadcast live online using iPadio and I knew some people were listening.  If you missed it, David has published the audio here or you can download it below.

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I’ve been working with a small group of physics teachers enlisted by LTS to help shape the resources required to support the new Higher Physics qualification being developed by SQA.  So far we’ve been discussing and prioritising the CPD issues raised at the SQA meetings held around the country in December.

There is a lot to think about as the proposed new content will be unfamiliar to many teachers.  I for one have a very limited understanding of astrophysics and just enough knowledge of particle physics to get me through the small section in the current advanced higher course.  This means we need to think about resources for teachers as well as pupils.

One thought is that we may go for a solution that mirrors the new National Qualifications site for History, with multimedia resources alongside more conventional text-based support.

Another interesting aspect is the introduction of a practical half-unit called Researching Physics.  This will take the form of an investigation around a theme, with an interesting example that looks at ultra-violet radiation and skin cancer.  (The science of earthquakes has been suggested as an alternative topic.)

The meetings were held at SSERC and this has allowed us to try out ideas for the researching physics topic and consider new approaches to content with which we are already familiar.  SSERC’s Gregor Steele did a great job in developing activities to challenging our thinking.  Here are some photos I took during the practical sessions.

Investigating the effectiveness of different suncream “factors” at blocking uv.
	Measuring the irradiance of a uv light source.
Demonstrating particle physics experiments using a Teltron tube
	Using a coil and magnet as a vibration sensor.
Recording the induced voltage using Audacity

We also looked at the ways in which changing mass might affect the motion of a toy  (lots of things going on here – weight, centre of mass, friction and simple harmonic motion all playing a role in determining the motion of the wooden woodpecker)

and learned how to use tracker.jar to analyse projectile motion.

So far, it looks like my role is likely to involve the creation of digital resources for the new higher.  It could be a busy summer…

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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!

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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.

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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.

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