Tuesday 25 September 2012

Discuss how you could use STANSW Young Scientist Awards or a similar award system (e.g. CREST or BHP Awards) to assist teachers and students with open-ended investigations and apply holistic marking criteria. (May draw relationships to your MyScience project)'.


Our role as teachers has changed. There is a wealth of information available online, and gone are the days when we had to visit the library to check an Encyclopedia, and envy the kids whose  parents had one at home and were paying it off one month at a time. 

As a teacher, I would have to both challenge and inspire students.

Both of these are not easy. The capable kids may need more of the former, and the unmotivated ones need the latter. 

Marking the Yong Scientist Awards has been a great experience. It has opened my eyes to what students these days are capable of doing. I was amazed at some of the projects, and spent a couple of hours at home arguing with my husband about a physics investigation that didn't support the hypothesis. (My husband doesn't yet know that I am always right. )

Competitions like this have always existed, but unless they are presented to the students, students can miss out on great opportunities. These are golden opportunities to accomplish something that they can be proud of. It is not about getting the right result, but conducting a fair test, as Joanne Shalala pointed out in her blog. 

So to assist students and teachers in open-ended investigations, I would introduce the Young Scientist competition to the school I am working at. The students will most likely feel intimidated by what they see at the beginning, but as I have taught my kids at home to say when they see something difficult at face value: "BRING IT ON". 

Some students may remain unmotivated and unchallenged, but I believe the majority will find something to 'like and relate to'. The competition caters for physics, chemistry and biology, so it's great for all science students. 
One of the difficulties I have seen the students experience is 'where do I begin?', and ' how do I come up with an idea like that? It's too hard', and again, this is where the support of the teacher and the parents too can be valuable. 
The holistic marking criteria was new to me. It's not easy to bypass a speling mistace. I hate speling mistaces. and ignoring punctuation and structure of reports etc... but I see why now. Holistic marking is about testing a hypothesis as a fair test. It's not about writing reports, but about scientific investigation. Sharing this with the students will most likely make a difference to their attitude and work. SOme science students may need help with literacy. It's comforting to know they will not be penalised.


I would also like to point out the euphoric feeling students feel when they are recognised. Please take a minute to watch the following link. It gives me goosebumps. 



I saw a plane model at the 2012 YS assessments. What will we see next year? 

http://www.stansw.asn.au/ys/



Sunday 16 September 2012

Week 7 Assessing a website

 

'Assess one useful web site that you would use for a practical activity for your Syllabus point.' 


Gone are the days of endless hours in a library. Nowadays, it's all about the web. As a teacher, it's very important to be able to assess websites. 

In this blog I will focus on dot point 8.4.7 which states
Students learn to 'process and analyse information from secondary sources to evaluate the effectiveness of quarantine in preventing the spread of plant and animal disease into Australia or across regions of Australia'. 


I have chosen the above website to assess
http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/about/public-awareness/education


Quarantine is something we think about when we are coming home from an overseas trip, grinning at the thought of our friends' reaction when they see 'what we brought with us'. It's also something we think about when we watch Border Security, and shake our heads in utter disbelief , when we see what other people bring in the country.
When it is 'us' bringing in products, it's upsetting and frustrating when QUARANTINE come to say hello and investigate.
When it's others, we shake our heads in revolt. Why? Because often, we (me included before ACU), didn't understand the implication of what we are bringing into the country.

It's not because others smuggle in drugs and bird eggs, but the ignorance of what can be on the same goods that we are binging in from overseas.

I think including quarantine in the biology syllabus is  very relevant as Australians are a nation who loves to travel. It is important to protect our country from invading armies- armies of bacteria, viruses, parasites and even animals that can affect our environment. Who can forget the devastating effect of the Cane toad, brought into Australia in 1935 to control sugar cane pests?



During my prac, I walked into a biology lesson and was surprised that weeks before the HSC the students were watching border patrol. I now realise that this is actually part of the syllabus. It is important to understand why the government spends millions of dollars to quarantine what comes into the country (If only they could manage all funds well, like not cutting millions of dollars out of the education system, but that's a different debate). 

The above website is valid, reliable and robust. 

It is from a reputable source (.gov.au). It is not sponsored by a company, nor is it written by a person. It is the work of a body of professionals, who need to adhere to strict guidelines.

It is rich in information. It outlines the work the officers do at the airport, what one can or can't bring into the country, and provides valuable advice (to plan ahead). It lists goods that can't be brought into the country. 
There is a link to download the full document with the relevant details. 

It also has some Australian history and trivia, to make it more interesting. I think the website will be better appreciated if it's looked at with another website about the effect of the cane toad in Australia. Students need to read about the devastating effect of introducing species to better appreciate what quarantine is about. 

Thank you.
Silvana Gittani.

Please note I will comment on Joanne Shalala. 





HI Margaret,

I just got home 9.30pm after a loooooooong day at work . The blog is on its way. It's stuck in traffic on m4.

Friday 14 September 2012



Hi guys, 

This clip is hilarious. If you have a minute (or 4 minutes) , it's worth it. 

Silvana.

Sunday 9 September 2012

'Select any Biology website relevant to a column 2 content and evaluate it for reliability and validity': 

I have chosen the website:

http://www.who.int/genomics/publications/en/index.html

The World Health organisation WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

It is a respected body and medical practitioners, pharmacists and university professors often refer to WHO and discuss its guidelines. 
This is because of the reliability and validity of its data and recommendations. 

So what is reliability? 

Reliability is "Yielding the same or compatible results in different clinical experiments or statistical trials". 

For example, Margaret Shepherd is reliable as she is at every tutorial, ready to give her students insight into the world of biology. 

Joanne is a reliable friend in so many ways I can't begin to count. 

Silvana is a reliable source of snacks in tutorial. 

Over many weeks, the same results are yielded.

And what is validity?

Well, according to Gerry McCloughan from the Department of Education, validity refers to whether the measurements you are taking are caused by the phenomena you are interested in. The relationship between reliability and validity can be confusing because measurements can be reliable without being valid. However, they cannot be valid unless they are reliable.


Surfing the WHO website is easy. The information is clear and if it's not reliable , it is not published. 
It is also valid. Processes are in place and material is scrutinised before it is published. I believe we should always question information at hand, but also appreciate good sources of material like WHO.int



Gerry McCloghman also suggested the following questions to assess validity and reliability from secondary sources.


Some good questions to ask:

first-hand information and data
secondary information and data
reliability
Have I tested with repetition?
How consistent is the information with information from other reputable sources?
validity
Does my procedure experiment actually test the hypothesis that I want it to? What variables have I identified and controlled?
How was the information gathered? Do the findings relate to the hypothesis or problem?




The following is interesting information from the department of Education: 

References to validity and reliability in Stage 6 syllabuses

  • Skills content 11.2: Plan first-hand investigations to:
    (c) design investigations that allow valid and reliable data and information to be collected.
  • Outcome P12: Discusses the validity and reliability of data gathered from first-hand investigations and secondary sources.
  • Outcome H12: Evaluates ways in which accuracy and reliability could be improved in investigations.
  • Skills content 12.4: Process information to:
    (e) assess the reliability of first-hand and secondary information and data by considering information from various sources.
  • Outcome H14: Assesses the validity of conclusions from gathered data and information.



In relation to 9.3 and 9.5 of the biology syllabus, there is a lot of reliable and valid information about the Human Genome Project. 




I would recommend WHO.int to all my biology students, and encourage them to navigate this great website. One can get lost for hours reading about mutations and diseases, and initiatives to change the world. It helps students in biology and helps shape their morals and ethics as they may read about diseases in third world countries.

It is an international website with translations into many languages. 
The campaigns by WHO are global.
WHO’s Constitution came into force on 7 April 1948 – a date we now celebrate every year as World Health Day.


And then there is Facebook as a potential biology website!! 
Reliability? Validity? 
I would need another two thousand words and a couple of hours of reading!



















Sunday 2 September 2012

Describe one assessment tool you would use in the Biology classroom – examples of good practice:







Formative assessment is very important for good teaching.
There was nothing worse than setting up an experiment for my year 9 science class on sound waves, only to find out that they still thought of  waves are what you see on the beach and surf. After spending an hour and my lunchtime making sure the experiment was ready, and making an additional last minute trip to McDonalds to get different size straws, I walked into class ready to demonstrate sound waves and the effect of amplitude and frequency changes. I was quietly excited at thought of creating a small orchestra with different wavelengths. I dreamt of them playing Mary had a little lamb!!

 I lost them after two minutes. There was no bringing them back in that period.

I had spent two days before the prac speaking about waves and how sound travels, and I thought they understood. They nodded when I spoke, and they answered questions.
But did they understand? Had every student understood what I was saying? NOOOOOOOO

I quickly realised that the same three people had answered the questions, and the rest nodded approvingly. What a lesson to learn. With my co-ordinator laughing at the back at the students sticking straws into their noses and whistling the highest pitch sounds that the neighours' dogs were barking, I sat down and thought long and hard about what I should have done.
Formative assessment can take many shapes. It can be sitting for the exact test they will sit for at the end of the module right before starting the module, to get a gauge of what and how much they know.


The following book is useful for different strategies of assessment and I always have a read to get ideas to suit the task.





Each dot point of the syllabus may require a different type of an assessment tool.

For 8.5, I find it quite theoretical with so much detail. I know some students will love it, but I imagine a large number will find it dull and unchallenging.
I will choose a group assessment tool, like two plusses and a wish.

Each groups of about four will need to design a poster on the following dot point:

  • gather information from secondary sources to describe some Australian fossils, where these fossils were found and use available evidence to explain how they contribute to the development of understanding about the evolution of species in Australia
The groups will then use peer assessment to indicate two aspects they liked, and one thing they would have liked to see. 

High school students can quite often dislike being critical of their friends' work, so two pluses and a wish can make criticising justified. 

I, the teacher, would also be looking at the work presented to get a clear picture of ability and knowledge.  

Thank you for reading my blog. 
Silvana Gittani. 

Please note I commented on Joanne's post.