4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting 2

Major Meeting of Stakeholders Macquarie University, Sydney, June 5 th  Purpose:  Provide scope and overview of the project  Meet research team  Outline research methodology  Participate in question and answer session  Choose schools for first intervention  Organise PD sessions for relevant teachers  Enjoy tea and biccies over a chat 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting3

ARC Linkage Grant Partners  Macquarie University (A/Professor Quentin Parker(CI1), Professor John Hedberg (CI4), Dr David Frew (Post-doctoral Fellow)- administering organisation  Charles Sturt University (A/Professor David McKinnon (CI2), Dr Lena Danaia (CI3, named APDI))  Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (Wayne Rosing (President))  CEO Parramatta (22 schools)  CEO Bathurst (6 schools)  DET Western Region (8 schools)  Possible DET Peninsular and other schools from 2010  Scope: students, 200+ teachers & ~40 schools  will provide significant statistical power in research findings.  Grant is worth over $2.3 million for three years.  Made up of $ + in-kind contributions from partner organisations 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting4

BASIC FT PROJECT STRUCTURE 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting5 Project Leaders (CIs) A/Prof Q.A.Parker (MQ) A/Prof.D.McKinnon(CSU CSU TEAM MQ Team APDI: Dr.Lena DanaiaPD: Dr.David Frew Project Admin Management- Appointments in train (MQ) PhD students (CSU) CI/Consultants ICT innov.centre Hedberg, Evans, LCOGTn FT support PhD student (MQ) CEO Parra/Bathurst and DET Stakeholders Schools,Teachers & Classes across jurisdictions

Slide courtesy Mark Butler The problem we are facing in Australia in science education 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting6

THE CRISIS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION RE-IMAGINING SCIENCE EDUCATION ACER: AER51(Tytler 2007)  Increasingly negative attitudes to science developed over the secondary schooling years  Decreasing participation in the enabling sciences in senior high school  Shortage of SET trained people in the workforce  Shortage of qualified science and mathematics teachers 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting7 Slide courtesy Mark Butler

ARC LINKAGE INDUSTRY PROJECT $2.3M:  The $30M Faulkes Telescopes are the world's largest built primarily for science education  They form the basis for this project to investigate how the hook of astronomy combined with cutting edge technology can improve more general science engagement by students in high schools and beyond  The robotic telescopes are accessed/controlled via the internet bringing the wonders of Deep Space into the classroom.  The on-line experience addresses key science curriculum areas while developing generic skills using unique, innovative, cutting-edge technology.  Students can compete and take ownership of real research projects at a level appropriate to their level of scientific development with suitable support from their teachers and project staff  Support comes from a dedicated team of scientists, science educators, consultants, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and project management support.  A key aspect is the targetted professional development training of science teachers and associated mentoring to gain the skills and ICT/content confidence needed  The project will undertake fundamental pedagogical research as well as developing relevant interactive teaching materials that can integrate these powerful facilities into the science curriculum. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting8 Space to Grow: The Faulkes Telescope and improving science engagement in schools

Faulkes Telescopes (2-metre mirrors) 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting9

4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting10

The FaulkesTelescpes: use in Australian Schools  These telescopes have the potential to play an important role in physics education for at least the next 15 years  They have the potential to work on many different levels  Covers a wide variety of science educational areas in maths, science and technology including:  Scientific methodology  Generic skills  Planning, observing, data collating, testing and comparing  An excellent use of and test of the capacity of the broad-band internet connectivity in NSW to deliver high quality scientific data sets to school classrooms 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting11

Motivating students to study science and technology 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting12 Inherent fascination of astronomy and space Excitement of real discoveries Fabulous images Cutting edge multi- million dollar technology Up to the minute science Collaboration with real scientists

Education/Research Projects for HSC students 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting13 Relevant to syllabuses Suitable for coursework Excellent for key skills Genuine scientific investigations Contribute to scientific knowledge Linked with professional scientists Backed by full web materials

Hawaii FT (North) Australia FT (South) Sites of the Faulkes Telescopes 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting14

Project’s Creative Breakthrough:  A blend of science, technology and mathematics underpins the entire novel educational concept.  The project’s creative breakthrough was in effectively and naturally combining all these areas into the same project using the Faulkes Telescopes and the pulling power of astronomy as the facilitating mechanisms.  This can then be powerfully implemented by the unique combination of professional astronomers, ICT staff, science teachers and education experts in the same support team.  Another creative aspect of the project is to transcend the boundaries of the traditional classroom by requiring students and teachers to develop their own project science proposals to use the Faulkes Telescopes and to assess, reduce and critically analyse the authentic data derived from them.  This approach supports inquiry based learning strategies for both teachers and their students and empowers teachers to use a constructivist and evidence-driven approach to real world phenomena.  The methodology for evaluating the professional teaching, learning and development activities was based on a reflective design research approach. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting15

IYA an opportune time to launch this project  2009 is the International Year of Astronomy (IYA)  This presents us with an additional opportunity to raise the awareness of astronomy, promote science and astronomy as a valued part of modern culture within the classroom context and to encourage better awareness and appreciation of the natural world. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting16

Some of the major challenges that arose from the DEST ASISTM pilot project : lessons learned  It became evident that many teachers experienced difficulties in accommodating this project into tightly- packed schedules and the curriculum  adequate resources within schools a pre-requisite.  Teachers were able to address this by confining the time to a limited number of periods and developing innovative ways to provide students with the necessary background by using learning tools such as a WebQuest  careful adequate timetabling.  It was also clear and anticipated that the success of the project in any school was significantly correlated with the confidence and competence of the science teacher in both astronomy content and the technological ICT challenges.  Unsurprisingly, teacher professional development was identified as the key area that needed to be addressed if such educational opportunities are to be maximised  teacher release. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting17

ICT Innovations centre: 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting18 excellent and relevant supportive infrastructure for both teachers, students and project team

Pilot project feedback continued…  A critical aspect of the project was to develop new skills and expertise in the science teachers.  As well as improving content knowledge, the aim was to assist teachers in locating, accessing, modifying and developing learning activities for students using the Faulkes Telescopes through teacher professional development and mentoring.  Part of the pilot project’s success was in creating cross- curricular synergies  With the help of the TAs, support astronomers and enthusiastic teachers, students designed the projects they would like to investigate, applied for telescope time and analysed their data in exactly the same way a professional astronomer would pursue their research  continue with similar model for this project  This enhanced the study of astronomy for students and introduces them to the scientific process in a real and tangible context. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting19

Student comments from our pilot DEST ASISTM PROJECT  “Everybody found this project awesome and I can’t wait to do more”  “It was so interesting and not that hard to do”  “I can’t believe I have contributed to real life science” 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting20

4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting21 Examples of Faulkes Projects Variable stars Monitoring variation in brightness Estimating sizes of eclipsing binary stars Clusters of stars Observing stars in three wavebands to give colour temp and relative luminosity Hence age of cluster Planetary Nebulae Imaging, measuring and classifying Identification of central stars

4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting22 Mechanics Materials Robotics Electronics Mathematics ICT Technology Not just astronomy! Communications And links with... Art..... Technical English Optics Image processing Mechanics History Geography

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4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting24 Moodle use in project - not very successful

A/Prof McKinnon 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting26

Key Project Aims  Produce a set of learning and teaching materials that engage students with science in general and with Physics/Astronomy in particular within an ICT context and which encourage a depth of understanding rather than lightly covering a breadth of topics.  Develop a teaching and learning context in physics for effective professional development so that science teachers are confident to employ ICT and related pedagogies that enhance students’ learning and also to provide opportunities to explore and develop their own interest.  Investigate and develop strategies in which students use FT data to meet the learning outcomes of the NSW Stage 4/5 Science (pp.11–12, 36–37, 40– 44) and the HSC Stage 6 Physics syllabuses (Module 8.5; 9.2; Option 9.7) and where FT access and use serve as engagement mechanisms to enhance their learning in physics, mathematics and ICTs.  Explore and make explicit the manner in which students engage with, and learn from, the new technologies available to them via their use of the FTs and the data generated by it.  Create cross-curricular synergies and establish inter-school linkages, both here and with overseas partners, as a means of extracting maximum learning benefits in a globally connected world. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting27

Syllabus Contents covered by Interventions  Year 10 – Big Bang Theory, Components of the Universe, Energy and Force, Theories and Laws  Year 11 – The Cosmic Engine  Year 12 – Space (Core) and Astrophysics (Option)  Four of the five Prescribed Focus Areas (history, nature and practice, applications, current issues R&D). 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting28

Project to Syllabus Mappings  Projects:  Contents of the universe – Kepler’s Laws and gravity  Asteroids  Masses of planets (Jupiter, Saturn) – Star Clusters and Stellar Evolution  Planetary Nebulae – Galaxies – The Big Bang (quasars, spectrometry, red-shift)  Astronomical Methods – Instrumentation  Photometry (differential and full aperture) – Light curves (asteroid, variable stars, supernovae)  Spectrometry – Statistical sampling methods 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting29

Research Questions  What key factors affect students’ capacity to understand and retain foundation science concepts, their levels of interest in school science and their participation in Stage 6 physics?  How does a design research model, learning framework and teacher/student partnerships in science research projects impact day-to-day classroom practice and student learning?  What range of possibilities/constraints exist for students who engage in science inquiry tasks using the FTs?  What teaching and learning opportunities and avenues of communication exist within and between teachers, students and the community of astronomers?  What impact does professional development and the use of broadband-based pedagogies have in building teacher confidence and competence in both the subject matter and the technological and conceptual challenges involved with implementing FT projects in physics and astronomy? 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting30

Outcomes - Students Students will:  develop confidence in their use of scientific knowledge and their ability to apply it in scientific practice including ICT competence via use of the FTs  develop knowledge about their own learning of science and how they are able to use the skills acquired from access to the FT online infrastructure to develop further their scientific knowledge and understanding (Hackling, 1998)  link the practical and theoretical aspects of science to their own science learning  value the intellectual quality and rigour in their own work  begin to develop a lifelong appreciation and love of science and of what science can offer in terms of their understanding of the world, its importance to Australia’s economic productivity and to their own career pathways. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting31

Outcomes - Teachers Teachers will:  promote science relevance for students and strengthen their engagement in science learning  be inspired to be competent, confident and creative in their teaching approaches (e.g., Appleton, 2003) through the variety of strategies and activities available via the FTs  think and reflect about their teaching of physics in particular, and science in general, in ways that accommodate the needs of their students set within the context of using the FTs  be able to locate, access, modify and develop learning activities for students using the FTs. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting32

Outcomes - Schools Schools will:  introduce a powerful and engaging pedagogical mechanism where teachers can apply cognitive learning techniques to cater for students from a wide range of backgrounds  provide an ICT/physics learning environment which seamlessly covers IT, physics and mathematics whilst also engendering a base of scientifically useful generic skills involving the creation, refinement and operational parameters of a real experiment followed by the reduction, analysis, interpretation and evaluation of bona-fide experimental outputs  offer a novel and challenging outlet for gifted students in science and technology. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting33

Method 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting34

Data Sources  Teachers  Questionnaires administered via web  Interviews  Record of activities during project  Observation of lessons  Students  Questionnaires administered via web  Pre- and Post-Test of content knowledge  Interviews  Work samples  Web-based data on interactions and communication 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting35

Start  Term 3  All students and teachers complete ethics approval  First professional development session for teachers – complete pre-intervention Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT)  All students and teachers complete pre-intervention Secondary School Science Questionnaire  All students complete pre-intervention ADT- 27 items  1/3 of Year 10 classes commence intervention 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting36

Method (ethical issue) 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting37

Online Questionnaire Links 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting38 Pre-ADT Pre-SSSQ Student Version Pre-SSSQ Teacher Version