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/