Teacher+Inquiry+-Science

=**Sharing Critical Reflections**=



=What would this look like for the Science Learning Project?=



Following the Science Inquiry Model above, teachers will need to reflect critically on:

__Professional Development (Goals)__
 * What are our own learning needs?
 * How have you developed knowledge around your goal?
 * What are your challenges as you work towards achieving your goal?

Sarah WB
Goal - Incorporate the Nature of Science (NOS) into my teaching. I need to understand what the NOS is and inparticular what it means to communicate effectively in Science. As a staff we used the Bruce & Astall NOS format to get an overview of all the possibilities in the four dimensions. Then we narrowed down to eight areas. The use of the Schoolwide model of Seed, Sampling and Tree helped develop a rubric to guide learning. Having meaningful feedback from my teaching will be a challenge as this could impact on the following sessions. Can I change my practice quickly enough to be effective? 8/06/11

** Pam **
One of my goals was to better understand the specifics of NoS. Now through readings/discussion /observations with Chris I believe it is the 'umbrella' for the 4 main starnds - "what is science and how does it work?" I now need to ensure that I take the time during learning sessions to help my students learn about the NoS through talking the talk ( questioning, observing, using the appropriate science vocab and predicting) just as scientists do.

** Jamie **
My goal for teaching science in term 2 was to come up with a variety of science lessons relating to the water cycle and water that would be engaging, challenging and most of all, fun, for all students, years 1-6. My initial thought was to compact at least 2-3 science experiments into each session, so that the children were constantly involved in “hands-on” sessions. I was confident that each lesson could be taught from years 1-6, with slight modifications to the way the material is presented (especially to the junior students). With this, I was surprised with how much knowledge the Year 1 and 2 students were able to retain and I was especially pleased that they were using the specific scientific vocabulary in their discussions – and explain these in their own way.

Jason
One of my goals was: To plan and teach quality science lessons for all students. To do this (because i am a beginning teacher) I had to re-ac custom myself and develop more knowledge about how very young (new entrant) students work and learn. I had to adapt plans and lessons to make the learning outcomes achievable for students who couldn't yet write, and are just learning to communicate. The biggest challenge here was coming to a balance as to what language to use, so that my communication is clear; and how much work they could do independently- quite a lot actually! As long as the learning is scaffolded and modeled for them. Another goal was to develop personal knowledge around electronics. I learned about all the vocabulary we used, as well as some that we didn't- just so I had a clearer idea for myself, just in case. (eg: about current and voltage and amperage. - I didn't really need this knowledge for the work we did). There were many questions which the kids came up with that I still don't know the answers to... It was great to have the question sorter- so we could just say "we'll need an expert to help us answer that" or "That question is very difficult, even for experts to answer".

Karen
My overall goal has been to develop my understanding of the NoS and ensure students are engaged in purposeful hands on activities whilst receiving effective NoS instruction. The readings, discussions and observations with Chris has helped guide me develop my own understanding of teaching NoS; and provided me with the support and confidence to provide balanced learning sessions across the school. I have enjoyed watching the children develop their ability to communicate their learning ‘scientifically’ against the KMS rubrics (seedling/sapling/tree). My next step is to work towards providing a range of ways in which the children can record their understandings.

Paula
My goals were to use effective strategies to get the children to ask questions and to provide a variety of ways to communicate observations with a range of year groups. I feel I have learnt a lot on this journey, especially with regards to the latter goal. With help and advice from Chris I have managed to explore a variety of ways of communicating observations, I liked the fact that we had ideas on our rubric because initially all I could think of was to draw or write what they saw! I also found the rubric incredibly helpful when providing feedback to the children about their observations and to get them to peer and self assess their work. Chris talked to me about providing extra success criteria for each way of communicating observations with the older children and again this helped the children produce a higher quality of work. I have used a range of teaching strategies to provide the children with experiences in using these methods of communication - some were very hands on and child centred, while others still needed a larger element of teacher direction because they were new to the children. The thing that I have found most helpful is providing a range of templates for children to choose between for their observations, when they got to choose their own template they seemed to make it work best for them. The challenges I have faced so far have been managing to fit all of the science in the one hour time slot - especially with the older children when I wanted more sharing and reflecting time. I also felt that I only just got started on the questioning goal - I enjoyed using the question starters and question and sorter, but felt that the children's questions good have been extended further if this was a focus on more of the sessions.

My main goal was to develop a greater awareness of and a better personal understanding of the NoS and find ways to integrate NoS goals into my planning and teaching. Using the rubric we developed, this was narrowed down to using the Science sessions we undertook as a vehicle for, "Making Careful Observations." My knowledge has been developed in two main ways. Highly useful were the whole staff discussiond/debates that took place while developing our rubrics. Having to justify a stand-point or opinion always makes me carefully consider what I am saying, as well as listening with increased interest to what others have to say. Also useful was the reading provided by Chris, "Teaching the Nature of Science - Three Critical Questions." Key to the development I needed to undergo was, "...science instruction must go beyond simply teaching science as a body of knowledge." Knowledge based learning had largely made up my teaching in Science until now. Having always realised the importance of teaching Maths in real life contexts and relating it to the real world, it was now important to apply this belief to the teaching of Science. So how to do this and put aside my natural tendency to direct the children's learning towards certain outcomes? Also how to ensure the children believed they were scientists, while in a normal classroom setting? __Design__
 * How did you structure your learning sessions to help you meet your goals?
 * What teaching actions took place during the sessions?

Sarah WB
When planning I identified opportunities to NOS communicating and then shared them back with Chris to receive feedback. Chris helped my incorporate the the Seed, Sampling, Tree model to ensure that there is communicating throughout the sessions. This also ensured students could be self directed if they too used the model to self assess their work. For this to be achieved I needed to introduce the model explicitly to the students and then ensure that there were visual models displayed on the wall for students to refer to. The steps used to reinforce communication was to make each science session focused in on a different part of communicating. 8/06/11

** Pam **
In the initial student discussions I asked lots of questions- answering questions with questions as I wanted the students to extend their own questioning skill and to use the practical approach in an attempt to discover answers. Each week I set up group learning stations to enable students to have hands on access to worms & equipment and so provide a stimulus for discussion/ questions/ observations and to make predictions about worms behaviour and appearance. I was able to circulate and ask more questions - what if/ how do you know /can you tell me/why. Prior to completing their observational drawings Chris' expertise on how scientists draw and label their observations was a valuable learning aspect for both students and myself. I used charts for each year group to record vocab and teaching ( WALTS) points. ( When only having one group one can put this information up on the wall as lessons progress but I needed some way of ensuring each group had their own starting/ ending point). The older students were introduced to the question sorter chart ( an extension to prior question development techniques). Once they had written out their own - using stem starters- they were asked to place these in the appropriate part of the sorter and to give a reason for their selection. This was left on the floor and after further investigations, students were encouraged to reclassify their question - if they thought they needed to. I did get the Y6 students to use the school wide rubric we had developed using SOLO - making observations. Most were able to easily identify if they were a tree/sapling/ seed and provide reasons for their choices. Unfortunately I didn't get one done for the questioning.


 * Jamie **

When working with Dr Astall we looked at ways of assessing the children’s ability to communicate their ideas in different ways (using verbal, written, visual -flip video and artistic). He provided excellent guidance with this and his support was invaluable. Like many of the staff, I referred to the “Building Science Concepts” series, which provided the majority of my experiments. I also Googled these experiments, looked on You Tube and Teacher Tube to ensure that the Science experiments I was presenting to the children were accurate and consistent in their outcomes.

In developing the NOS focus (Communicating Careful Observations and Building Scientific Vocabulary) having the Seed, Sapling and Tree rubric established for these, the students were determined to achieve to a sapling level at least and often referred to the rubrics to ensure they were communicating the right ideas and using the correct terms. This was an area that worked well.

Jason

 * One of my goals **** was to have students **** learn about the NoS, by **** acting and thinking like scientists. **** My learning sessions were structured so that children would be **** - questioning, investigating, exploring, testing, recording, and reporting, as well as using scientific symbols and vocabulary. **
 * Teaching actions that took place to achieve this were: Explicit teaching, modelling/demonstrating, questioning (asking questions of students to help them develop their wondering and own questioning skills), roving and helping, chatting/discussing with individuals or groups, and prompting. **

Karen
Prior to each session I referred to ‘Making Better Sense of the Material World’ text and goggled each topic to ensure my own understanding of the process and science; I also tried the all the experiments at home first. When writing my plan I focused on the specific learning outcomes (making careful observations & build scientific vocabulary) with an emphasis on providing opportunities for students to be hands on and engaged. During the sessions we used a variety of HOT maps, worksheets and ICT to record observations. An area in the classroom was set aside for equipment and a wall display exclusively for science. During each session students were encouraged to refer to the KMS rubrics and prompted to extend their thinking and justify their answers/ideas with evidence.

Paula
Prior to each session I referred "Making Better Sense of the Material World' text for the learning activities and I also made sure that I had examples of the methods of communicating observations to share with the children first. As mentioned above I often had a range of templates for the children to choose between when they came to make their observations and this worked well (Chris gave me advice and guidance of how to adapt templates for different age groups, sometimes it was good just to hear that I was on the right track!) I structured lessons slightly differently for each age group - making the younger children's sessions more hands on, group observations (rather than individual or pairs) and templates that required no writing. With the older children I expected them to work more independently and I gave them more explicit success criteria and reflection time. The most useful tool for me was the rubric we made on Communicating and Sharing Observations, I used this every session and the children seemed to grow in understanding as we got to the end of the unit. I also used the interactive whiteboard to set the scene at the start of each lesson and provide some interaction with the learning goals and prior learning.

Barb
Using the reading, "BSCS 5E instructional Model" provided by Chris, I undertook using this model as the basis for my planning. The activities we carried out came from the MoE publication "Making Better Sense of the Material World." Breaking the planning of our sessions into the five Es (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate) made me think through the activities with greater care. Also, after discussing with Chris the use and implementation of this model, it was good to know that each session does not have to cover all 5 Es and one E may fill a whole session, depending on what is being done. Indeed, in our first rotation the Milk on the Move activity from Session 3, extended into the whole of Session 4, as we developed skills around managing our own experiments. My personal goal of gaining a better understanding of the NoS, came into my planning in the form of, "WALT make careful observations" and built to "WALT make, record and communicate careful observations." The rubric was an essential tool in making explicit to the children what this meant and what it looked like in their work. The first session of each rotation would start with a discussion around how we make observations (using our senses), with subsequent sessions reviewing this and using the rubric to see ways we can become more skilled observers. The rubric was also used to guide the children in self-assessments of their performances at the end of some sessions. One of the most difficult teaching actions for me was to stand back and let the children manage their own experiments (and cope with the resulting mess!) There was always the fine line between the students experimenting, discussing, modifying and growing as scientists, and just larking about.

__Impact__
 * What has been the impact on your teaching?
 * How do we know if the changes made have been effective (on student learning outcomes)?
 * Have you met your goal?

More explicit teaching has happened around teaching and using a range of communication methods. The change and imapct for my teachinghas made me realise that there isnt always one way to record/gather information. I usually stay true to a written format nut have now discovered that when given other methods for recording and gathering students results are far more rich. i needed to give the children an opportunity to experience different typoes of communicating rather than assuming they knew how to it. For example when students were asked to draw their observations they didnt have a Scientific element to them. So after using the rubric to help constructand scaffold thier understanding and learning students were able to see for themselves on the rubric which level they drew at. I would like to extend this self assessment by giving students their own rubric as a visual to follow rather than just having it on th ewall as a reference, it becomes more of a guide. I beleive this goal has been met as I now have a good modelofhow to facilitate student learnng around communication. 8/06/11
 * Sarah WB**

** Pam **
This has reinforced my belief that children do learn by doing ( as most of us do) and the teacher for the majority of the time is the facilliator - asking questions - that lead the students to further investigations and learning and building on their prior knowledge. There are also aspects that they need to be taught ( ie how to make observational drawings with accurate labels, extra information and to record questions for further investigations). To be continually reiterating that //scientists do or as scientists we need to// .... It was great to have Chris involved as a scientist and that he showed the students that even scientists need to ask other scientists questions. The importance of equipment to help with our investigations - the magnifying glasses were vital but the proscope and other magnified pictures ( data projector) of parts of the worm just added extra depth to their understanding - because they could actually see the mouth/ bristles etc. I was also pleased to hear some of the children decide that they could use the books to help them find out the answers - before going to Google! Yes I have met my goal - a better understanding of the NoS and extending my questioning techniques.

** Jamie **
The impact these sessions have had on my teaching has made me realise (a) having the success criteria / rubrics displayed in front of the children will motivate the majority of these to achieve their highest possible outcomes – by using more scientific vocabulary when communicating their ideas, and (b) letting the students have more ownership of what THEY wanted to achieve in the experiments. With this I was predetermining what they would be doing and to a certain degree, I needed to sell the experiments to them better. I would ask the students what would evaporate quicker, milk or water. I should have asked them what liquids would they like to experiment with, to see what would evaporate faster. With the children – all from years 1-6 all being able to explain what evaporation, condensation and precipitation is (at their level) and complete experiments like making clouds and rain – and relating the experiment model to how rain and clouds are formed on earth, I think I have met my goal. But like Barb - their is still plenty to learn.

Jason

 * Like Pam, I know that children learn best by doing... And I did my best to keep the lessons student-centered. The juniors required more modelling/demonstrating (scaffolding), but on the whole- most of every science lesson was filled by kids //doing//; and working in the same ways that scientists do (NoS). The effectiveness of the teaching can be seen in the output of work, and from the children's enjoyment and engagement with the learning tasks. Some days/lessons were better than others, but I believe I have met my goal of delivering quality science learning for students.**
 * I think I needed to do more to communicate with children about how their learning is going.**

Karen
With the support and guidance from Chris I am now more confident in providing student centred learning opportunities in science. I am now more aware of how to use simple equipment/resources to provide purposeful hands–on activities which relate directly to the learning outcomes. During discussions students are using scientific vocabulary (such as acids, alkaline, mordents …) in context. I believe that I have met my goal - a better understanding of the NoS and student engagement in purposeful hands on activities whilst receiving effective NoS instruction.

Paula
I think with thorough planning and support this has been my most successful science unit yet! With the support and guidance from Chris I am confident in using a variety of ways of communicating observations and feel that I have managed to teach these methods to a range of children effectively (Goal 2). I have enjoyed using the resources that we have been provided with and the rubrics that we have come up with together. I have been challenged to be organised and well resourced each week and I think that I have lifted the expectations of my teaching as well as the children's learning. I have believe the children have learnt alot about science and about their learning through the ues of these resources and the provison of such exciting hands on experiences throughout the school - I am looking forward to hearing feedback from their surveys! I have evidence that the quality of the children's observations have improved, especially in the senior level. I believe that I have started to work on Goal 1 (questioning), but need to continue to work on this in the future. I put more time in effort into Goal 2 - less in more, i.e. I decided that I would be better of doing one thing well than two things ok!

Barb

The greatest impact on my teaching has been to let go of the reins and let the children get in and have a go. Following ideas given by Chris, I have been trying to provide better ways for all students to be involved and engaged throughout the session. This does mean more resources are used, so it is important to manage these effectively. I also realise that I do not need to lead the chldren to a particular outcome, rather it is more important to recognise and celebrate the understandings the children develop. The rubrics have made the development of skills in this area more explicit and I will use them to better direct my planning next time. I am not sure how we know if the changes have been effective - although information about the development/changes in the children's attitudes towards Science may come through in the surveys. We may also see the children living and sharing their Science ideas/concepts in their everyday lives. Have I achieved my goal? No. There is so much more about the teaching of the NoS for me to know and implement. However at least I now know that it is out there and I am on the road.