never mind the optics

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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The dust (sorry!) is starting to settle after 2 fantastic nights of participation in the annual Perseid meteor shower.  The event hasn’t actually finished just yet but the number of meteors per hour will fall rapidly now that we have passed peak activity.

So what was it all about?  I’m no astronomer, nor am I presumptuous enough to think I provide a decent explanation.  Basically, our planet just passed through the debris trail left by a comet called Swift-Tuttle.  You can find out more about the phenomenon here.  What I have found astonishing is the sheer number of non-astronomers (myself included) who have been following events and staying up late to view these blazing trails of light as they stream across the night sky.  How do I know that so many people have taken part? Well, that would be down to Twitter.

Many astronomers have seized the publicity available to them through the International Year of Astronomy 2009 to promote their work/research/hobby to people who have never had any dealing with astronomy before.  The 365 Days of Astronomy podcast dedicated an entire episode to the Perseids just before they arrived.  While these would have contributed to a raised awareness, they are not sufficiently mainstream to attract the unprecedented interest surrounding this year’s event – this is where Twitter comes in.

In the UK, a local astronomy group called Newbury Astronomical Society, who tweet from the @NewburyAS twitter account, seized the initiative by setting up the #meteorwatch hashtag for the Perseids event.  The tag caught on and hundreds of people shared their experiences during the shower by tweeting with that hashtag, taking it to 4th place in Twitter’s trending topics.  The organisation of the Newbury club even drew the attention of the BBC (click link on that page to see video footage) who visited “the bunker” during the first evening.

While the south of the UK enjoyed clear skies on the first evening, I was not so lucky.  As there was no way I could see the meteors, I tried to detect them using a very basic radio technique instead.  I connected an FM antenna to the back of an old Pioneer receiver unit and fed the output into a Griffin imic (with RCA to 3.5mm jack adapter) that was plugged into the usb port of a laptop.  The Griffin components were essential to convert the RCA HiFi electrical connections into a standard computer connection.

I tuned the radio to the lowest clear FM frequency available (87.5MHz) and used a virtual chart recorder package call Radio SkyPipe to record the data.  The recording software is quite straightforward and would be a good introduction to signals and measurement for senior pupils, such as those undertaking AH Physics investigations or the new Science Baccalaureate, as it requires several calibration & signal nulling steps before use.

Unfortunately I didn’t capture any exciting data although there was a curious low frequency amplitude modulation (see below) on the signal that I could not explain.

On the second night, I decided to leave the setting up of hardware for radio astronomy to the professionals and concentrated on looking for streamed data from the web.  I found this site broadcasting from Tavistock in Devon.  I downloaded the BS-Tuner application and pasted in the url of the broadcast site.  To my surprise I heard streaming FM static coming from the laptop.

Every now and then this static was pierced by an eerie scream as radio waves were reflected back down towards the Tavistock antenna by the ionised wake of each meteor.  The signals varied in volume, duration, clarity and complexity but due to their unpredictable nature it was difficult to record one.  However I have attached one of the sounds I captured and encourage you to play it using the flash player below.

I was disappointed to view just a single Perseid at around 2.30am last night, the weather just wasn’t right for it.  However, without those clouds I’d never have considered the potential for homemade radio astronomy.

A Nasa podcast on the Perseids is also available.

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I thought I would include a second Animoto video.  What’s interesting is that pupils did not feel it was necessary to extend their videos beyond a minute, even when they had access to the all-areas education pass that allowed for full-length animations.

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So what might we consider to be evidence of achieving a Curriculum for Excellence outcome?  I’ve been working on one of these with a lower ability S2 science class.  The outcome we explored was

I can use my knowledge of the basic needs of humans, and the bodies of our solar system, to put together a reasoned report on whether we can colonise space.

I like the way this ties together aspects of physics and biology.  A lot of people out there have this idea that physics and chemistry go well, as do chemistry and biology.  How many people have experienced the intersection of physics and biology though?  I understand this gap a little as I used to work as principal engineer in a biophotonics instrumentation company developing laser-based laboratory equipment for protein analysis in the drug development sector.  When I attended meetings, I was amazed to see so many presentations from researchers who were using biology and physics to solve their problems.

As I mentioned in another post, my class have researched the bodies of the solar system.  They then reviewed their prior learning on the gases in the air, respiration and photosynthesis to make an informed choice of potential colony – they decided on Mars.  Our timing was spot on, as we were able to follow the European Space Agency’s Mars500 project, looking at the potential effects of long term isolation on astronauts travelling to Mars.

For a lower set, writing a report was a daunting prospect.  So we threw out that idea and I took them to the library and introduced them to Animoto, GoAnimate and Glogster.  Once we got round initial problems of web filtering, pupils experimented with all 3 and unanimously agreed to work with Animoto.  I applied for, and received, a free education all-access pass from the Animoto folks for 6 months.  Without this, their films were limited to 30 seconds.

I’ve attached one of the short films they produced to this post.  Are these clips evidence of achieving an outcome?  I feel that they are at least part of the way.  One of the things I like about them is that there is not a powerpoint presentation in sight.  My concern when I hear people around the school talking about implementing CfE is that too many of the outcomes might be assessed by the quality of a powerpoint presentation to the rest of the class.  If nothing else, I hope I have shown this class a different way of structuring and showing information.

Oh, did I mention that they had fun doing it?

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