2. Science Conference
22nd November Eureka Labs
UCC Cork
9.30am -4.30pm

3. Overview of PDST Post-Primary Supports for Leading Learning in the 21st Century
PDST Leadership Programmes
Misneach.....New Principals
Tánaiste New Deputy Principals
Tóraíocht.....Aspiring Leaders accredited by
Maynooth University
Forbairt Experienced Principals & ALNs
Spreagadh...NAPD & PDST collaboration
PDST Websites
pdsttechnologyineducation.ie
scoilnet.ie (portal for resources)
teachercpd.ie (on-line courses)
ollscoil.net (ITE student awards)
School-Self Evaluation
Teaching & Learning Framework; 6 Step SSE Process; gathering, collating & analysing relevant data; implementing the SIP for
literacy, numeracy and any other area of teaching & learning.
Literacy
SSE & strategies for improving
oral language, writing,
reading comprehension, and the use of broadcast /digital media across the curriculum.
Gaeilge
Tacaíocht do mhúineadh & foghlaim na Gaeilge, Féinmheastóireacht Scoile chomh maith le tacaíocht lán Gaeilge a sholáthar do scoileanna san airneál lán ghaelach agus Ghaeltachta .
Numeracy
SSE & strategies for implementing problem solving, estimation, a common approach to maths language and a numeracy rich environment across the curriculum.
Assessment for Learning (AfL)
Learning outcomes/context of learning/success criteria; effective feedback; questioning; Bloom’s Taxonomy; self and peer-assessment strategies e.g. rubrics.
Subjects /Programmes & Generic Support
Health & Wellbeing – PE, SPHE, mental health, anti-bullying and promoting the welfare & protection of students
Junior & Leaving Certificate subject support & planning
JCSP, TY, LCA & LCVP programme support
School planning (policies)
Co-operative learning
ICT for teaching & learning
Differentiation/mixed ability teaching
Integrating ICT
eAssessments & ePortfolios – Mahara, Google Apps for Education...
ePlanning & Collaboration – Google Apps for Education.....
Tablet Technology Integration – Effective use, pedagogy......
Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) – Google Classroom, Edmodo
SSE – On-line tools for gathering, collating & analysing relevant data
Visual - Visualisers, Animoto, Wordle, Tagxedo, Photo-story....
Auditory – Audacity, Vocaroo, Audioboo......
Reading comprehension – Freerice, Studystack, Quizlet......
Kinaesthetic – Tarzia, Cube Creator......
Models of support: whole staff days (circular 002/2014), Croke Park hours, subject departments/groups of teachers/co-ordinators (circular 0043/2014)
It is essential to fill out the on-line application in order for your application to be considered

4. Biology Workshop Agenda
Outline cooperative learning strategies
Reading strategies
Jigsaw Technique
Improve learning in group work by
Including all learners
Provide Challenge to Very Able Students
Must –should – could cards
Motivating and engaging students
Relating biology to everyday life

5. What is Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993).
Within cooperative learning groups students discuss the material to be learned with each other, help and assist each other to understand it, and encourage each other to work hard.
Cooperative learning groups may be used to teach specific content (formal cooperative learning groups), to ensure active cognitive processing of information during a lecture or demonstration (informal cooperative learning groups), and to provide long-term support and assistance for academic progress (cooperative base groups) (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993).
Any assignment in any curriculum for any age student can be done cooperatively.

6. The Johnson brothers identified three different ways of learning, individual, competitive and cooperative. There is a place for each type of learning in the classroom.

7. Individualism I am in this alone
Each student works alone
Each strives for his/her own success
What benefits self does not effect others
Each celebrates with their own success
Rewards are viewed as unlimited
Evaluation is by comparing performance to a pre-set criteria
Many students work naturally with each other in primary school. In Secondary school, many teachers expect students to work alone and sometimes actively discourage students helping each other. There are times when working alone is entirely appropriate, but it should not be the only way that students learn.

8. Competition I swim, you sink
Individuals work against each other to achieve a goal only one or a few can attain
Each student works alone
Students want to outshine each other
What benefits one student deprives other students
Students celebrate their own successes or others failures
Students are ranked from best to worst
Competition only motivates 10% of students. Some students won’t even bother to participate as they don’t believe they have a chance to succeed.

9. Cooperation We all either sink or swim together
Students share the same learning goals and work together to achieve them
Students work in small groups
What benefits one benefits all
All strive for each other’s success
Joint success is celebrated
Evaluation is by comparing performance to previously agreed success criteria
Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals.  Within cooperative situations, individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and beneficial to all other group members. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning.  It may be contrasted with competitive (students work against each other to achieve an academic goal such as a grade of “A” that only one or a few students can attain) and individualistic (students work by themselves to accomplish learning goals unrelated to those of the other students) learning.  In cooperative and individualistic learning, you evaluate student efforts on a criteria-referenced basis while in competitive learning you grade students on a norm-referenced basis.  While there are limitations on when and where you may use competitive and individualistic learning appropriately, you may structure any learning task in any subject area with any curriculum cooperatively.
The first and most important element is positive interdependence.  Teachers must give a clear task and a group goal so students believe they “sink or swim together.”  Positive interdependenc eexists when group members perceive that they are linked with each other in a way that one cannot succeed unless everyone succeeds.  If one fails, all fail.  Group members realize, therefore, that each person’s efforts benefit not only him- or herself, but all other group members as well.  Positive interdependence creates a commitment to other people’s success as well as one’s own and is the heart of cooperative learning.  If there is no positive interdependence, there is no cooperation.
The second essential element of cooperative learning is individual and group accountability.  The group must be accountable for achieving its goals.  Each member must be accountable for contributing his or her share of the work (which ensures that no one “hitch-hikes” on the work of others).  The group has to be clear about its goals and be able to measure (a) its progress in achieving them and (b) the individual efforts of each of its members. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual student is assessed and the results are given back to the group and the individual in order to ascertain who needs more assistance, support, and encouragement in completing the assignment.  The purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a stronger individual in his or her right.  Students learn together so that they can subsequently perform higher as individuals.
The third essential component of cooperative learning is promotive interaction, preferably face-to-face. Promotive interactionoccurs when members share resources and help, support, encourage, and praise each other’s efforts to learn.  Cooperative learning groups are both an academic support system (every student has someone who is committed to helping him or her learn) and a personal support system (every student has someone who is committed to him or her as a person).  There are important cognitive activities and interpersonal dynamics that can only occur when students promote each other’s learning.  This includes orally explaining how to solve problems, discussing the nature of the concepts being learned, teaching one’s knowledge to classmates, and connecting present with past learning.  It is through promoting each other’s learning face-to-face that members become personally committed to each other as well as to their mutual goals.
The fourth essential element of cooperative learning is teaching students the required interpersonal and small group skills.  In cooperative learning groups students are required to learn academic subject matter (taskwork) and also to learn the interpersonal and small group skills required to function as part of a group (teamwork).  Cooperative learning is inherently more complex than competitive or individualistic learning because students have to engage simultaneously in taskwork and teamwork.  Group members must know how to provide effective leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management, and be motivated to use the prerequisite skills.  Teachers have to teach teamwork skills just as purposefully and precisely as teachers do academic skills.  Since cooperation and conflict are inherently related, the procedures and skills for managing conflicts constructively are especially important for the long-term success of learning groups.  Procedures and strategies for teaching students social skills may be found in Johnson (2009) and Johnson and F. Johnson (2009).
The fifth essential component of cooperative learning is group processing.  Group processing exists when group members discuss how well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships.  Groups need to describe what member actions are helpful and unhelpful and make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change.  Continuous improvement of the process of learning results from the careful analysis of how members are working together.
These five elements are essential to all cooperative systems, no matter what their size.  When international agreements are made and when international efforts to achieve mutual goals (such as environmental protection) occur, these five elements must be carefully implemented and maintained.

10. In every class, there is room for:
Individual Learning
Competitive Learning
Cooperative Learning

11. Rationale for Cooperative Learning
Weak students working individually give up when they get stuck; working cooperatively, they keep going.
Strong explaining and clarifying material to weaker students can find gaps in their own understanding and fill them in.
Students working alone tend to delay completing assignments or skip them altogether, working cooperatively they are motivated to do the work in a timely manner

12. Why Cooperative Learning
When students participate in activity learning is greatly increased. But just because you have group work in class doesn’t mean that students are participating.
Cooperative learning ensures that all members in the group are involved in the learning.

13. Cooperative Learning
Think Teams not Groups According to Fortune 500 Companies: The Top Skills sought by employers
1970
READING
COMPUTATION
WRITING
2010
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
PROBLEM SOLVING
TEAMWORK
Suggestion was to include literacy and numeracy but not in the top three skills

14. What is a Team? Teams differ from groups because they include the following basic elements of cooperative learning:
Goals/Success Criteria / are shared
Information is circulated
Roles are assigned
Materials are managed
Teammates depend on each other to complete tasks successfully
Students gain respect for each other’s contributions to the team

15. Five Elements of Co-operative Learning
Positive Interdependence
Individual and Group Accountability
Group Processing
Social Skills
Face-to-face Promotive Interaction
Taken from: Circles of Learning: Cooperation in the Classroom (Revised Edition) D.W. Johnson, R.T. Johnson and Edythe Johnson Holubec. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986
In order to have effective cooperative learning, the following five elements are needed:
Positive Interdependence – shared resources, assigned roles, group members are responsible not only for their own learning but for the group’s learning
Team members are obliged to rely on one another to achieve the goal. If any team members fail to do their part, everyone suffers consequences.
2: Individual and group accountability – students may be assessed individually or as a group. All students in a group are held accountable for doing their share of the work and for mastery of all of the material to be learned.
3:Group processing – students reflecting how to improve the group, three things that helped the group to be successful, teacher reports/feedback. Team members set group goals, periodically assess what they are doing well as a team, and identify changes they will make to function more effectively in the future.
4: Social skills/small group skills – skills such as leadership, decision-making, trust building, communications, listening and conflict management need to be taught to students. Students are encouraged and helped to develop and practice trust-building, leadership, decision-making, communication, and conflict management skills.
5: Face-to-face promotive interaction – students help each other, they explain, teach and ensure noise level is kept to a minimum by working knee-to-knee and eye-to-eye. Although some of the group work may be parcelled out and done individually, some must be done interactively, with group members providing one another with feedback, challenging reasoning and conclusions, and perhaps most importantly, teaching and encouraging one another.

16. Teams work best when they sit…
Knee to knee
Eye to eye

17. Roles in Group Projects
The most common roles are facilitator, recorder, reporter and time keeper
When you are doing experiments it is good to have the equipment managers.
For debates or discussion it is good to have the controversy manager, but you could think of a different title for this one!
This job is to ensure that no one takes over the discussion or no one stays silent in a group. Everyone must make a contribution.
They can have a simple sheet with names on it in a table and they can tick when a person talks so it is very easy for the group to see if someone is taking too much or too little
They are also in charge of moderating comments ie not letting put downs happen or interruptions etc. This is a skill that has to be taught to the students.

18. Benefits of Cooperative Learning
Increased Achievement
Increase in Positive Relationships
Greater Intrinsic Motivation
Higher Self-Esteem
More “On-Task” Behavior
Better Attitudes Toward Teachers and School
Johnson & Johnson 2005
Newsletter Article on PDST website

19. Additional Benefits of Cooperative Learning…
Students take responsibility for their own learning
Students translate “teacher talk” into “student speak” for their peers
Students engage in “cognitive collaboration.” They must reorganize their thoughts to explain ideas to classmates
Students have FUN learning
Students social nature is used to their advantage

20. Bonuses for High Achievers
Higher levels of achievement
Even greater retention of information due to “cognitive rehearsal”
Development of key skills:
Social
Leadership
Communication
Decision Making
Problem Solving
Conflict Resolution

21. Ecology
Positive interdependence
Face-to-face promotive interaction

22. Cooperative Note-taking Pairs Check - in
Directions in Brief
While teaching, stop periodically for a check-in.
Instruct students to skim their partners’ notes looking for:
information they missed
information partners have incorrectly noted
3. Students retrieve their own notes and make any needed changes.
First cooperative learning strategy
Example of note taking strategies on the PDST website

23. Keys Get students to work together to make their own keys
Good practice to clarify understanding of classification
Useful for introducing students to flora and fauna
Decide in your groups what roles you would assign to students
Although making keys is not on the syllabus it is good practice for students as it clarifies their understanding of keys and of classification.
It also is a useful way of introducing them to the flora and fauna in their selected habitats.
Promoting positive inderdepence
Remember groups should have roles
For this type of activity - what roles would you need?

24. Try it in practice Make a key – swap groups
Part of cooperative learning is that group members know that what they learn will be assessed and that they will be providing one another with feedback

25. Key Words to support Differentiation
Ask Yes/No Questions
Number of Legs
Segmented Body
Wings
Shell
Antennae
Strips on body

26. Individual Accountability
One member will be randomly picked to explain the group’s answers
CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS Acceptable answers on all questions
EXPECTED BEHAVIOURS Checking for understanding, encouraging everyone’s participation
INTERGROUP COOPERATION When you finish, compare your answers with those of another group

27. Do you think that this would be a good learning experience with students?
Other ideas for keys on the resource table and on the website.

28. Simulations
Example: Predator Prey Simulations Get students to explain the graphs in pairs Ladybirds When using simulations – always give students questions Use cooperative groups to enhance learning
Just show examples of this
Say the actual game, suitable for TY or if you have time is on the resource table

29. ROUND TABLE Objective:
to get students to recall, summarise or brainstorm
Directions:
State the problem, topic or issue
Distribute one sheet of paper to each group
Give a time limit and ask students to begin to write
This is the same as the placemat and is a cooperactive learning strategy and you may already use this in class
Think pair share also a strategy and can go to the whole class when you think pair share square!

30. Round Table
The table should summarise what has been learned about cooperative learning.
This is an example of how it could be used.

31. Follow me Quizzes Series of Activities Follow me Game Clock PowerPoint
Homework
This has trialled been trialled with a leaving cert class. Each student is given three cards. On the back are the parts of the syllabus included in this quiz. ( not on these ones printed for the night!) At the end of class, you give the students a card with the answer and get them to form a 24 clock of questions and answers. This keeps students paying attention after their question card has been identified. Declan’s recommendation was to split the class into 4 groups of six to form clock. Each set has 24 questions.
Sample: Ecology .Questions will be given for homework again to keep students attention.
Used 160g card instead of paper to print the quizzes. 96 pieces to cut out at a time. 24 pieces for each group x 6 groups.
You will need cooperation of subject departments if you wish to print out all the quizzes. However if you don’t want to cut out you can use the powerpoint – Follow me iQuiz
As a powerpoint the follow me quiz has 24 questions and 24 answers. The first slide on the PowerPoint has the answers. Some questions have the same answer to promote discussion. Sometimes you might have a true or false question, you have to put in true or false so some slides will have more than 24 answers. To do this split a box. These are trimmed down answers from the marking schemes. If the answer you select is incorrect it asks you to select again until you get the correct answer.
Declan has made 57 sets of cards, homework corrections and follow me quizzes.

32. Follow Me Clock
You could use a template for the students when making a clock. A1 size paper is needed. The students could stick a completed quiz onto a template at the end and this could be displayed on the wall.

33. Homework
Q. What substance do plants possess that allows them to carry out photosynthesis? A: Q. What is a primary producer. A. Q. What are secondary consumers? A. Q. Explain the term consumer.

34. Q. What is a primary producer.
This is hyperlinked to the powerpoint. When you download it you may need to hyperlink it again.
Show powerpoint if you don’t want to print out cards and can do it as an individual activity.
Do the clock activity
Show homework book

35. Ecology Resources PDST Website Equipment PPT
Abiotic Equipment Measurement PPT
Key identification ppt
Capture Recapture ppt
These are all on the resource page for downloading or participants can for Dropbox link.

36. Station Outlines
We are now dividing up into six groups and working at 3 stations. ( if small number turn up for example Donegal and Sligo three groups will suffice)
There are six stations ( 3 x 2)
Microbiology
Comprehensions
Challenging more able students
There are acitvities on each of these stations

37. Station 1 - Microbiology
Focus - Inclusivity
As teachers we don’t just differentiate by content we differentiate by process
Cooperative learning allows all students to access information at a level suitable to their ability
You don’t have to make different worksheets for different student abilities all the time. Often you can adapt the one worksheet for different learners.
This table aims to show and discuss how this can be done.

38. Tasks for Station 1 Complete the Diamond Nine bacteria Activity
Fill me in:
Bacteria Nutrition Revision
Structure of typical Bacterial Cell
Rhizopus Structure
Rhizopus Reproduction Revision
Activity on Diversity of Organisms
Antibiotic PowerPoint & Sort cards
Comprehension –
Scientists
Ebola
Bacterial Population Change

39. Microbiology Divide into pairs The group divides up the activities
In pairs take a few minutes to explore your activities using the evaluation sheet guidelines
When ready feedback to other members in the group how the resources could be used in the classroom
There is a microbiology sheet for each pair for this station.

40. Question
Discuss how each of these activities could be differentiated for your students

41. Station 2 Reading Comprehension
Student task Read and answer the questions COOPERATIVE One set of answers from the group, everyone must agree, everyone must be able to explain the group’s answer INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY One member will be randomly picked to explain the group’s answers

42. Tasks for Station 2 SMOG Test ( readability according to age)
Read and explain pairs to help gain meaning from text
My little book methodology
Comprehensions from exams and tips
Make your own differentiated questions from articles or from biology basher book
Students often have difficulty gaining meaning from large volumes of text.
Reading in pairs and note taking after small amounts of text can help, Read and explain pairs is a cooperative learning strategy to assist with gaining understanding from text.
My little book methodology is also another strategy to help increase understanding.
Tommy, Mary, Yseult, Nadia, Virginia and Jacinta have Basher book for centres.

43. Station 3- Applied Biology
Focus - Provide challenge for very able students Relate the syllabus to everyday life Engage students

44. Selection of Articles NBSS newsletters Online articles
Relating companies in Ireland and products to the biology course
Science in the news – relate it to course
Articles with questions
Articles without questions
Make questions to go with NBSS articles
Find online articles and it to

45. Tasks for Station 3 Adapt Articles that are provided
For articles without questions make “could cards” for your more able students
Look up websites to find articles related to the course to engage high ability students
Think of other ideas for could cards and write them on flashcards
Flashcards are available for all centres.
Mary, Virginia, Nadia, Yseult, Tommy and Jacinta have them.

46. Websites for Articles
Sciencenews.org bbc.com/news/science_and_environment/ App that you can use as teacher ZITE for both android and apple

47. Problems with Research
A website that tracks retractions is:
If you browse this you will get a lot of information.  A few Irish entries are at:
There is a Wiki article and a list of the top ten retractions:

48. Social Skills Cooperative groups are developed over time
Students need to be taught how to collaborate and work together
They need to articulate what collaboration “Looks like” and “Sounds like”
Use T Charts as a teaching and learning methodology in the classroom
Link to JC skills of Communication, Working with Others

49. Key Social Skills for Cooperative Learning
Listening
Contributing Ideas
Checking for Understanding
Encouraging
Summarising
Asking Questions
Respecting Each Other .

50. “What children can do together today, they can do alone tomorrow.”
Vygotsky, 1965

51. Use a Rotating Review Topic Something I learned today. . .
Students walk around the room to each piece of chart paper and write something about what they learned that day.
Sheets are posted and used as a review.
Post Its can also be used

52. Questionnaire and Evaluation
To help us prepare for next year and to assess what resources people use please complete the short questionnaire and evaluation sheet. Biology Questionnaire Resources: Dropbox Link DVD Link