Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Science Leaders’ Conference: Achieving Excellence in Science in the New Educational Landscape

by Emily Perry

The 2012 Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Science Leaders’ Conference has Achieving Excellence in Science in the New Educational Landscape as its theme.

We will be exploring what we mean by excellence through two themes: leading a science team and managing the curriculum, while placing these themes in the context of a changing educational landscape with new school structures and the review of the National Curriculum.

To start us thinking about what we mean by excellence, here are two videos to watch which describe contrasting systems of education.

The first explores the education system in Finland, consistently reported as one of the leading education systems in the world.

The second video describes a system of education at the other end of the economic spectrum, in which children teach themselves using the internet.

We think that both videos show aspects of excellence.  But what do you think? What are the similarities and differences between the systems?  What can we learn from them for our science teaching in England?  Is there anything in these videos which you think we do better?

We are interested to hear your views both about these videos and about how we reach and maintain excellence in science teaching, so post a comment below in response to the videos and let us know what you think.  The best comment will receive a free place at the conference.

The Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Science Leaders’ Conference takes place on 2 March 2012 at the National Science Learning Centre in York.  For more information about the conference, and to book your place, visit www.slcs.ac.uk/go/yh/rslc.

Bring Science to Life: CSI Forensics

Our latest video is a spoof based around our course Bring Science to Life: CSI Forensics.  The footage is taken from the actual course and features Brian Hook and Clive Donner, both former members of New Scotland Yard’s anti terrorist branch.

The course provides an exciting and interactive way to bring science to life in and around the classroom and provides a number of key hooks to interest students.

1. They may well have seen police investigations on TV.  This course provides you with the skills to carry out a real crime scene investigation and embed scientific practice and understanding through it. The techniques used on the course are, as far as possible, accurate methodolgies for collecting and processing evidence as done in police laboratories.
2. By carrying out a CSI – type activity in your school you will also be able to provide students with ideas for career paths using science.

In addition the crime scenes participants work on, are recreations of actual crimes Brian and Clive have worked on.

This course has been a very popular course,  We’d love to hear back from you if you have been on it and how it worked for you back in the classroom.

Wearable Technology

By Torben Steeg

The integration of textiles and electronic technologies is proceeding at an astonishing pace. New example I’ve come across in just the last few weeks include a skirt with embedded lights whose pattern depends on the wearers’s movement, a T-shirt drum machine, light up accessories and an illuminated backpack.

At first sight it might appear that a great deal of highly technical understanding underlies developments such these. However, while it is true that quite advanced technologies are being used in at least some of these examples, the level of knowledge required for implementation can be quite elementary. This is a result of the confluence of two technology streams: the first is increasingly sophisticated technology being packaged with increased processing power (in ever smaller packages…) that actually makes using the technology simpler, the second is easy access to a wide range of conductive materials including both threads and  a range of textiles.

Implementing such technology is so simple, in fact, that there is now a growing number of products aimed at either education or the hobbyist market that are designed to provide the novice user with the straightforward ability to embed electronics in textiles products. These include the Arduino Lilypad, Aniomagic’s Sparkle and the PICAXE-based DaisyPIC.

In UK schools the use of PICAXE as a system for developing embedding control is well-established from KS3, so the PICAXE DaisyPIC is what I recommend for introducing electronics work into textiles technology as it should link well with what is happening elsewhere in D&T.

DaisyPIC is the system we will be using in the forthcoming on-line e-textiles course for teachers, starting in February.

This course is eligible for an Impact award.

Participants on the course will recieve an e-textiles kit and can then develop some interesting wearable textiles products.

Physics for Non Specialists Video

Katy Bloom, Professional Development Leader at the National Science Learning Centre, discusses the issues facing schools teaching physics, in particular where non-specialist physics teachers are teaching the subject. Katy’s course, Physics for Non-Specialists, can assist to develop confidence, knowledge, understanding and anecdotes to successfully teach physics for 11-16 year olds.

You can find more information on the Science Learning Centre website for courses relating to Physics for Non Specialists.

The network of Science Learning Centres offers a range of continuing professional development physics training courses for all levels of the curriculum.

Merry Christmas from the Science Learning Centres

Welcome to the last of our resource and activity gifts for Christmas.

A huge thank you to all of our delegates who have participated at one of the Science Learning Centres across the country this year.

Here are the last of our resources for you to share, use or take inspiration from.

Primary

(Please scroll down for Secondary)
In this video, Zoe Crompton provides winter and snow related ideas and activities for primary school children.

Winter Primary Science Activities

►

Here are the primary CPD courses coming up in the New Year.

Secondary

This video shows Simon Quinnell demonstrating a range of experiments which can be performed at the Christmas dinner table.

Science Activities for the Christmas Dinner Table

►

Here are the  secondary CPD courses coming up next term.

If you like the ideas behind Simon and Zoe’s videos and would like to learn more demonstrations then you should consider attending our practical demonstration courses:

Inspiring Science Learning Through Demonstrations

Technicians as Demonstrators:  The Practical Demonstrator in the Classroom

or one of our regional demonstration courses.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported the network of Science Learning Centres over the past year.  In particular to the major funders of our awards and bursaries.

The Wellcome Trust		Department for Education
AstraZeneca		AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust
BAE Systems		BP
General Electric Foundation		GlaxoSmithKline
Rolls-Royce		Vodafone
Vodafone Group Foundation

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year from the Science Learning Centres and the National STEM Centre, we look forward to welcoming you back in 2012.

12 Christmas activities in the science classroom

Ho ho ho.  It’s the last few days of school before the Christmas holidays and your pupils are all far too excited to concentrate on anything other than the looming visit by the big man in red  – and the possibility of making snowmen.

So how do you keep their minds engaged on the subject, yet tie it in with the seasonally influenced lack of concentration in class?

We’ve come up with a range of websites and activities that should come in useful to provide stimulation, enrichment and entertainment before the school holidays, whilst retaining a modicum of scientific learning.

We’d also welcome your comments to share other resources or activities that you have used or found useful.  The #Asechat twitter feed on November 29 also provided other ideas.

12 Ideas for a Scientific Christmas Class

• Christmas Tree Buzzer Game

A great idea to get students to use what they know about electrical currents from Snapshot Science. Pupils use the templates and materials to build a fun game.  It’s showing its age with the requirement of a film canister (this may spark a discussion as to what one of these is!), an alternative may be a small yoghurt or cream pot.

• The Holly Leaf Miner investigation

The Holly Leaf Miner investigation.  The British Ecological Society has a number of investigations in this fieldwork booklet, page 40 outlines Ilkley Grammar School’s investigation into the Holly Leaf Miner.  An interesting way to get the class outside in the school grounds. Source: British Ecological Society

• Christmas Lights parallel and series circuits.

Why do the lights of a christmas tree not work if one of the bulbs is blown? Use this question as a great way to demonstrate practical electricity in real terms… and maybe get all your christmas lights sorted to go up on the tree!  The pupils could be encouraged to bring in their own faulty christmas lights to fix and test?  Another way of demonstrating how science affects us in all sorts of real life activities.

• Hold the front page

A  fun scientific history lesson here, to help understand the progression of scientific endeavours through a calendar of The Sun’s front pages: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/hold_ye_front_page/science/. Inspiration courtesy of our own Lynne Cooper and The Sun.

Firstly produce a list of selected front pages(12?) without dates from the website .

1 Get the pupils to put the front pages into possible date order, earliest first.

2 Then group the pages (into threes) and split the pupils into teams to find out more about their front page/pages either from the site or other websites.

3  Pupils are then asked to Post-it note the date order for the front pages as  a class . Or do something brilliant on your interactive white board so kids can move around the  front pages .

4. In true 12 day of Christmas fashion get the teams to give a one minute jingle (including everyone in the team) singing back information on the front page that they have been researching! In date order of course!

Can be as long or as short as required there are 60 front pages on the site all have more information and some have video clips and of course that are put into date order!

• Make your own real snow

With predictions of a white christmas receding for this winter here is an opportunity to turn this around and make your own real snow.  This page also has some interesting notes about how ski resorts plan and make their own snow, so a good opportunity to relate science to a real world application. Source: About.com

• Christmas chromatography -  Deck the Halls

Explore chromatography with your students by making a string of “light bulbs!” Students cut light bulb shapes out of coffee filters or filter paper and use water-soluble markers, pipe cleaners, and water to create a colorful display. Source: Science Spot and T.Trimpe of  Havana Junior High, Havana, IL. USA.

• Just one Father Christmas?

Who are Father Christmas’s ancestors? Are all British Mr Christmases descended from one ‘Father’ Christmas? After finding out how researchers plan to use DNA fingerprinting to discover the answer to this question, students play ‘Call My Bluff’ or sort true/false cards to reinforce their understanding of inheritance. Source: UPD8

• Santa’s sleigh race

A second offering from Snapshot Science is Santa’s Sleigh Race, which involves making a racing sleigh and then having a race.  The science in the race is to test whose sleigh travels the furthest and then use force diagrams to explain why the sleigh moves.

• Track Santa

In past years Norad (North American Aerospace Defense Command ) have tracked Santa Claus , a tradition started in 1955 after a Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number and put them through to the Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” It is now possible to follow it on google earth and google maps. http://www.noradsanta.org/

• Reindeer Quiz

Here is an easy quiz to help develop knowledge and understanding of Reindeer (as recently starred on David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet series).  Some quick facts can be found here to help answer the quiz questions.  Link courtesy of Enchanted Learning

• How to cook the perfect turkey

Another example from the very good UPD8 website.  This time looking at a combination of chemistry (the chemical reaction of cooking meat)  and physics (heat transferral)  using the cooking of a turkey. Source: UPD8

• Will Santa make it?

Santa is planning ahead for when humans colonise the rest of the Solar System – he may decide to move to another planet! In this fun activity pupils analyse planetary data to find which planet best satisfies Santa’s future requirements.

They then e-mail Santa to advise him of their decision and – if you wish – design a Christmas card to show why this planet is such a great place to spend Christmas, http://www.upd8.org.uk/activity/58/Santa-2025.html

We hope that some of these ideas prove useful in the run up to Christmas.  In a similar vein you may also be intersted in two of our courses that will help enrich your teaching or provide you with new ways of demonstrating scientific principles:

Science Learning Centres Enrichment courses

Science Learning through Demonstrations

Five easy things to help enrich your science teaching

By John Walker

How do we really bring STEM subjects alive for learners?  How do we provide those memorable and stimulating experiences to help them see beyond the limits of the school curriculum and realise that STEM subjects are both relevant and exciting for real? 

Teachers usually recognise that the answers to these and similar questions do not lie in rigidly following published teaching schemes or specifications.  But still, they can struggle to find enough hours in the day to plan and research how to inject that much-needed excitement.  The National Science Learning Centre’s suite of enrichment courses addresses this, providing not just examples of worthwhile activities and resources schools can tap into, but also strategies for managing enrichment so that its benefits are maximised and lasting.

Enriching class lessons can inspire pupils to new heights

There is a whole world of possibilities to enrich learners’ experiences in STEM, from visits and visitors to exciting outdoor projects.  Part of the challenge for teachers is to find out what is available, another is to gain necessary confidence or knowledge of how to do it, and another can be to obtain funding to pay for something out of the ordinary.  It is not the case, however, that enrichment activities have to be conceived as bolt-on extras.  A well-conceived strategy can combine “special events” with an underpinning rationale which focuses on enriching everyday teaching, so that learners are getting more than just the occasional “light relief”.

Given all the other pressures teachers of STEM subjects are under, it is entirely understandable that they may question whether they can afford the time and resources to “do” enrichment.  Reflecting for a moment may make them realise that the question is more a case of whether they can afford not to do it.  Research and inspection evidence shows that genuine and tangible benefits arise for learners as a result of something as simple as, for example, taking the learning outside: this is one form of enrichment.  However, doing this without any kind of strategic plan or rationale is unlikely to produce the lasting levels of engagement that are so sought after.

Here are five easy things you can do to begin enriching science in your school:

1. Check out the STEM directories at www.stemdirectories.org.uk/ to find out what activities and schemes are being run around the UK to enhance the science curriculum.
2. Look at the Royal Society Partnership Grants scheme at royalsociety.org/education/partnership/ to see how you could obtain up to £3000 to run an innovative STEM-based project at your school.
3. Check out some web-based possibilities for improving collaborative and creative learning by visiting cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Resources+for+Teachers
4. Find out who can come and deliver some exciting and stimulating presentations or demonstrations at your school by visiting www.sciencelive.net
5. See what additional practical activities you can use by visiting practicalchemistry.org, practicalphysics.org, and practicalbiology.org.

Inspection evidence can be sourced on pages 20 and 30 of Ofsted’s ‘Successful Science’ report which is available at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/successful-science

A useful overview of the need for an enriched science curriculum can be found at http://www.scienceinschool.org/2006/issue2/rir

The National Science Learning Centre is running a series of enrichment courses in 2012.  They are two day residential courses.  It is recommended that anyone looking at the course series includes the course in June 2012 – Leading Science Enrichment as part of their continuing professional development.

This is just a selection of ideas for enriching sicence teaching.  If you have any ideas or activities which would benefit the wider science teaching community please comment here and we’ll tweet the updates to the wider world.

Contemporary Science – helping to stimulate your teaching

By Debbie Leyland

Science is an evolving subject- we see headlines about new discoveries, innovations, breakthroughs and technology on a daily basis, but what does this mean for our teaching? 

Contemporary topics fascinate and enthuse our pupils, taught well they can encourage scientific debate, explore controversies, link to How Science Works, introduce career paths and make science relevant to their lives.   This is in addition to it being an integral requirement of the Programme of Study.

Essentially there are two types of contemporary topics; first, those with widespread media coverage about the events of the day, for example the recent Japanese earthquake and subsequent Fukushima crisis.   These generally have a large immediate human impact.    The media stories often prompt pupils to ask questions, and offer opportunities for an ‘off the cuff’ style lesson, where the issues can be explored, and the available evidence inspected.  Media moves so quickly that stories can be reported without all the facts, or specific quotes taken out of context on an unreliable evidence base.  The opportunities to teach students about the bad science out there are endless.

Secondly, scientific developments build up slowly and are integrated into the scientific community without much media fanfare.  Over a teaching career spanning four decades, the scientific community moves on significantly.  In 1961 for example, the contraceptive pill was developed, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space and ‘coffee-mate’ was launched.  Nowadays, these are unsurprising, but were once inspirational to students with a controversial undertone.

It can be easy to loose grasp of the developments in our subject areas, as life in the classroom overtakes us, and time pressures can mean we no longer read the scientific journals we once did.

Both of these two types of lesson require a different approach and strategy to be successful and effective learning opportunities.

The following links and resources may help you with these approachs.

Learning Skills for Science:   A training and resource pack which helps to develop independent learning skills for students.

RCUK Contemporary Science Courses:
one day courses which explore one aspect of contemporary science in more depth, using current researchers

Guardian Science Weekly Podcast:  an hour long weekly podcast to help keep your science up to date.

Scientific American 60 Second Science: a shorter burst of scientific information to help keep you up to date with scientific developments.

By:
Debbie Leyland
Assistant Director
Science Learning Centre North West

Lab Design – Why aren’t we planning for the future, rather than languishing in the past?

By Mark Langley

Science teaching has changed a lot in the last 30 years, so why do we put up with facilities that do not help us teach effectively?

Bad Maintenance in a Science Lab

Money is usually the answer and currently there is little of this about.  However, when it is available why do so many schools and colleges just end up with a modern version of the same lab that has been about for the last 100 years or so? Alas, those planning the facilities (very often leaving out those who will be using them- the teachers, technicians and of course the students) don’t always have a clue as to what makes good science teaching accommodation.

Current science facilities are not good, as highlighted in various reports, including the Royal Society of Chemistry and CLEAPSS in 2006 and a recent report by Parliament, flagged up by Lord Winston, which saw that at least a third of school labs were inadequate. Worryingly, even new or refurbished science spaces are often poor- only two thirds were considered good or better.  A lack of sensible planning and ideas, coupled with people seemingly unable to use the extensive guidance and rules already out there, means that many science spaces are pitifully poor for effective science teaching and learning.

Note that I didn’t say “Science Laboratories”. Have a look through the requisitions in your department for the last fortnight and match them against the timetables.  Was there practical work in every lesson? In every other lesson? Probably less than that. So does every science lesson really need to be in a lab? Would a simpler room such as a science studio or maybe even an “ordinary” classroom environment be more helpful for some lessons?

Stool damage in a Science Lab

Scarily a good proportion of labs are downright dangerous or even illegal in places. Building regulations get ignored or haven’t been consulted. This can be expensive to put right or at the worst might put people’s safety at risk.  So when planning science accommodation, what should be done?

Well, finding out what you really want and need is important.  In straightened times might it be more prudent to have say three really well equipped labs plus four classrooms with demo facilities than six small, cramped and badly equipped laboratories? The associated prep room, office and storage space can then get a decent look-in. Squeezing out the space required to prep lessons for both teachers and technicians is very short-sighted.  We have seen several designs that have been built, without the basics such as a separate chemical store or proper thought to where you might keep your radioactive sources!

This comes down to lack of planning and communication. Any new, refurbished or refreshed science facility in a school should be fit for purpose. It is hard to get your head around everything required; even the most experienced Head of Science will have large gaps in their knowledge, so this means speaking to others or getting some training. Investing time in planning will save money later and help make your science department achieve what it wants without having to compromise too much.

Remember it might have to last you another 30 years at least… Plan carefully!

Relevant courses:

Lab Design: Future Science Accommodation for Teaching and Learning Starts 27 February 2012 at the National Science Learning Centre, York.

References:

Improving school laboratories?  A Report for the Royal Society of Chemistry on the number and quality of new and re-furbished laboratories in schools (2006) http://www.rsc.org/images/labsreport_tcm18-65943.pdf

Lord Winston’s comments in the Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/8811102/Lord-Winston-science-labs-inadequate-in-third-of-schools.html

Rolls-Royce Science Prize

By Lynne Cooper

I attended the Rolls-Royce Science Prize awards evening on Monday (7 Nov 2011) at the Science Museum, London. I was really looking forward to hearing Professor Lord Robert Winston the keynote speaker who indeed lived up to expectation. However the real stars of the evening were the teachers I met who were all in the running for the prize. Entries ranged from building greenhouses out of CD cases to making and taste testing smoothies.

It was also great to catch up with teachers who had been on courses that I had led on. My day job is as a professional development leader devising and leading on a variety of courses and conferences at the National Science Learning Centre but I moonlight as a judge for the Rolls-Royce Science Prize.  The other link is that for a school to be eligible to enter the Rolls- Royce Science Prize they must have sent a member of staff on a cpd course at the National Science Learning Centre or enter throug one of the network of Science Learning Centres.  Not only do the winners receive £15,000 in prize money but the fifty merit award prize winners receive £1000 to go towards improving their science departments. I really enjoyed hearing tales recounted of the exciting high impact projects they did for the competition, as well as  what the excited winners planned to do with the money.

And the winners are….

Staunton-on-Wye Endowed Primary School, Hereford, and Mulberry School for Girls, London, beat off competition from 2,000 UK schools to be declared this year’s joint winners. They each receive £15,000 in prize money to advance science teaching in their schools, along with the chance to spend the day with the Red Arrows display team. Presenting the awards, John Rishton, Rolls-Royce Chief Executive, said: “In the future, all of our lives will critically depend on the engineers, scientists and mathematicians who will discover how to produce enough low carbon energy to power the world, build planes that travel non-stop to the furthest corners of the world, using less fuel and travelling more quietly than any aircraft today. “

He went on to say “It is hard to think of a profession more important than teaching. The Rolls-Royce science prize was set up to recognise inspirational science teaching and reward outstanding teachers. I am extremely proud to award this year’s prize to two schools whose projects demonstrate that science teaching can be innovative, creative and fun. Both schools set a fantastic example and I congratulate them both.”

Staunton-on-Wye Primary School

Staunton-on-Wye Primary School

Pupils at Staunton-on-Wye Primary School carried out open ended investigations to research the environmental and social impacts of various building materials, which were then used to construct a play house in the school grounds. Staff, Parents, and local experts brought their skills in, which culminated in a local builder constructing the frame allowing pupils to build the walls and roof. The pupils also pitched to a local architect who helped them weigh the pros and cons of different materials .Science Co-ordinator, Karen Williams, said: “Our whole school has been immersed in exciting, practical science activities related to our Rolls-Royce project and our children have learned how to apply their knowledge and skills in the best way possible. We are all very proud of the house we have built and of the children’s commitment to using science responsibly.”

You can read their development diary and watch the video here.

Mulberry School for Girls

Mulberry School for Girls, London, Team Leader Deborah Colvin (centre front).

Mulberry School for Girls used a hydroponic greenhouse, powered by renewable energy to conduct experiments and learn about sustainable energy and food production. This was a very ambitious project in which the school also raised the money for the solar powered system. They involved students in harvesting and marketing the food, while another team researched the optimum conditions for the plants.  Some feedback I had from the participants included

“The best thing was the opportunity to discuss the issues with colleagues”

“It was brilliant to bring people together who are passionate about solving the issues”

Director of STEM Learning for the school, Deborah Colvin, said: “It’s a great honour to accept this award on behalf of everyone at the school, whose hard work and dedication to science made the project possible. We shall invest the prize money wisely within the science department.”

Read about their progress and watch the video here.

The Rolls-Royce Science Prize is an annual awards programme. It is open to anyone who attends courses at the network of Science Learning Centres in the UK, including those taking advantage of Project ENTHUSE.  Entries are accepted in three age categories: 3–11, 11–16 and 16–19.

Find out more about the Rolls Royce Science Prize here,  including a video.

I’d be interested in comments and opinions on the competition.

• Have you entered it?  Did you find it worthwhile?
• What would you do with the prize money?
• If you didn’t enter it -  why not?  What were the barriers to entry?
• How could we help in future?

I look forward to the conversation.