E207:Subject knowledge and professional practice in primary schools Block 4 Science in life and learning Welcome to OULive Tutorial. We will start at 7 pm. Don’t forget to go to audio and tools to set up your microphone Feel free to chat before and after tutorial (& during ) Wednesday 15th February 2017 Tutors: Jill McLachlan & Norma Powell

Block 4 Science & Technology In Block 4 you will: undertake in-depth self-directed study of selected science and technology topics, based on a series of 3 online audits develop a collaborative project in your e-group, which evaluates online science and technology information. observe and apply science and technology subject knowledge in your classroom or school. It is extremely important to follow the study calendar for this Block to ensure activities are done at the correct time.

Study planner: Block 4 covers 5 weeks of study: Week Focus Activity 1 (18) 1 Introduction 18.1 Audits 18.2 e-group project (review websites) 2 (19) Understanding and attitudes towards science and technology 19.1 Plan to observe/discuss science or technology in school 19.2 e-group project (compare websites/plan report themes) 3 (20) Supporting science learning 20.1 Carry out observation/discussion in school 20.2 e-group project (Discuss the four report themes) 4 (21) Science in school and everyday life 21.1 Plan an activity with children using science/technology 21.1 e-group project (Discuss themes and begin to draft) 5 (22) Science today and for the future 22.1 Carry out your science/technology activity 22.2 e-group project (Edit and finalise report)

Key themes: Create a map of the concepts covered during the five weeks of study. Week Content 19 Science in your life Developing scientific knowledge 20 Literacy Science and technology Fantasy/fact/fiction Context for science 21 Fostering attitudes, knowledge and skills Developing process skills 22 Investigating Developing skills Science and creativity Well being and sex education Sustainability Developing an enquiring mind Think about how you might show your knowledge and understanding of these themes throughout your TMA 4 discussion.

How might you use these themes in your assignment? Which themes are most prominent? For example: Views of science & technology (definitions, attitudes/experience/beliefs/context) How we learn science (theory, communication, literacy, questions, experience, context – this links to pedagogy) Fostering attitudes, skills, concepts and processes (abstract/concrete, practical, play, investigating, questioning, creativity, attitudes, curriculum) How might you use these themes in your assignment? Audit your knowledge of these themes – what do you need to know/develop to support children in learning science?

Simple definitions The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge. Different areas of science include biology chemistry, physics and each of these breaks down again Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.

The audits The audits are to make you think. Don’t be stressed if you don’t know the answers!! Look at the answers which are there and then think about what it is that you could do to bridge the gap. It may not be just in subject knowledge but in the way you think about things

The Three Science Audits The audits are organised under these headings: Audit 1: Some of the ‘big questions’ Audit 2: Technology Audit 3: Physics, chemistry and biology. As you work through each audit think about and make notes on what you know and don’t know about the topic it covers then read the larger commentaries given in the ‘science audit answers’ Choose one question that you want to follow up in depth so that at the end of Block 4 you can say to yourself ‘I now know a bit more about this topic’

The Three Science Audits (cont.) Audit 1 tackles the ‘big questions’ of science such as ‘What are we?’ and ‘Where does everything come from?’: Have you ever experienced children asking you a ‘big question’ which you felt unsure about answering? How did you handle the situation?

The Three Science Audits (cont.) Audit 2 invites you to consider what are the most important technologies in your life and how much different your life would be without these technologies: Note down some ‘technologies’ that you feel that you could not live without – remember to consider ‘technology’ in the broadest possible sense and don’t just stick to electrical devices!! Why are these ‘technologies’ so important to you? How might your ‘technology’ choices differ from those chosen by the children that you work with?

The Three Science Audits (cont.) Audit 3 evaluates your knowledge and understanding of the three main branches of science: * Physics – the study of natural science (forces, motion, etc - in other words, everything else not included in Chemistry and Biology!) * Chemistry – the study of the properties of matter * Biology – the study of living things

What is science? Issues How can these issues affect science learning and how has your knowledge of these issues developed since starting Block 4. Gender (wk 19.1.1) (wk 20.3.2) Children’s views (wk 20.3.1) Age and interest (wk 20.4) Context/subject definition (wk 20.3) Personal experience/confidence (wk 19.1) Influences – beliefs/religion/ politics etc (wk 19.2.2) Stereotypes (wk 19.1.1)

Group discussion What does the term ‘science’ mean to you? What memories of science do you have from your primary school days? What about secondary? What has changed?   Emphasise the need for reflection and personal targets in using E207 to support them in their setting. Tutor note: The aim here is to get students to understand that there are many variations in schools and to understand that they can learn from and support each other in gaining a broader understanding of the education system.

When did you give up science? I like this question in the study guide. What do you think about it? Think big!!

Science and technology in your life Our lives are teeming with science and technology. What science/technology excites you? Why? Has this conversation made you see science where you didn’t see it before?

TMA 4 – Assessment of block 4 Observing/discussing science in my setting (1200 words) Audits Activities 19.1 and 20.1 (Observing or discussing science and technology in your setting) OR A practical activity with children (1200 words) Activities 21.1 and 22.1 (planning and conducting a science/technology activity in your setting) AND Collaborative e-group report (1300* words) Activities 19.2 – 22.2 Mentor Statement The purpose of TMA 4 is to allow you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the Block 4 material.

The E-Group Collaborative Project The Block 4 collaborative project involves you working with your fellow E-Group members to explore and evaluate online science and technology resources together Your E-Group collaborative project requires about 20 hours of work over the five study weeks of Block 4: approximately 4 hours per study week It is important that, each week, you all participate and work in collaboration to carry out the tasks so that everyone in your E-Group can submit a report for TMA 04

The collaborative project – an overview Remember this is your major task for Block 4. It is instead of a workbook. There are 20 hours allocated to it. You cannot pass TMA 04 without putting substantial time into it I will follow the e group discussions and grades for TMA 04 will reflect the time and effort put in as well as the final report. NB you will not be marked down for lack of effort on the part of others!!

collaborative project The purposes of the project are: to extend your awareness of the range of science and technology information available online to deepen your understanding of the significance of the rapid growth of online science and technology information to learn from the diverse experience, interests and insights of your e-group to develop team-working skills to extend your web-searching skills (even if you are a skilled web surfer, you may still pick up a trick or two). By the end of the project, you will have: written two reviews of websites that you found yourself evaluated two websites found by others in your e-group written a 300-word section of the e-group’s report written a brief personal reflection on the collaborative project experience

The collaborative report is a compulsory element of TMA04 It is worth 40% of your overall mark for TMA 04. It is an E-Group team effort that also demonstrates your individual contribution. I will evaluate the collaborative report for: participation cohesion academic writing relevance to the topics word count formatting of the collaborative report

How much knowledge do I need? For the purposes of this project, you are a teaching or classroom assistant who is searching for science- or technology-related information online (in other words, you are not expected to take on the role of science or technology expert). In doing this, you will use the ICT skills you have developed during this module and in your previous studies.

Part 3 – e-group report Your contribution to the e-group report is the value equivalent of 1300 words but you will only be writing around 450 of these). Read the ‘Guidance on drafting, writing and submitting the collaborative report’ (week 22 link). A report template must be used. The report consists of 5 parts: 1. Quality (300 words) 2. Reliability (300 words) 3. Subject knowledge (300 words) 4. Pedagogy (300 words) 5. My reflection (150 words) Parts 1 – 4 are shared between the e-group and should be no more than 300 words. If there are 4 in a group, you may decided to draft one part each. It is up to you to negotiate and decide how to divide the workload fairly. Everyone has to write their own part 5, and should be no longer than 150 words.

4 themes The aim of the project is to learn how to select and critically evaluate appropriate online resources to support children in their science learning. You will explore and evaluate a range of websites, considering four key themes; Quality-what makes a science/technology website useful or less useful? Reliability- can online science/technology information be trusted? Subject knowledge- how can online science/technology information improve the knowledge of adults and/or children? 4.Pedagogy (the practice of teaching)-how can online science/technology information support teaching and learning? The collaborative project is built from the accumulation of work over 5 weeks. It will make more sense as you work through it NB: all resources can be found in ‘Module resources’

E group rules Before you begin work on the collaborative project, however, you should familiarise yourself with the guidance on working online in e-groups, which includes some ground rules for e-group working. The role of the e- group chair is particularly important in keeping your collaborative project on track.

Is this you? What are your worries about the project? ‘I was not looking forward to the project – you know, the kid who would not put her hand up in class for fear of giving the wrong answer and looking stupid, that was me. But I must say that I have really enjoyed it!’ What are your worries about the project? What do you think you might gain from it?

The E-Group Collaborative Project (cont.) By the end of the project, you will have: chosen a topic and written two reviews of websites that you found yourself (Activity 18.2 this week – use the ‘Website Review’ form) evaluated two websites found by others in your e-group (Week 19 - use the ‘Website Visit’ form) written a 300-word section of the E-Group’s report (use the ‘Collaborative Report’ form) written a brief personal reflection on the collaborative project experience (at the end of the ‘Collaborative Report’ form)

Remember.... E207 is about YOUR learning journey, it is about auditing where you are at and where you might go in the future. It is about understanding the impact you have o the way you organise and conduct activities with children. It is about the way you work with colleagues.

Next tutorial In the next tutorial we will cover the essay part of this TMA and review where you are in terms of the collaborative report