De - STEM - ber

De-STEM –ber for primary school

Electric Circuits Greeting Cards: Using a circuit pen draw a simple circuit on a piece of card, then add the batteries and LEDS. Try not to use button batteries because they are not toys and can be easily swallowed.

Dissolving Christmas Candy Canes. Design an investigation to see how you can dissolve the cane the fastest.

http://www.mamasmiles.com/diy-light-up-christmas-cards/

STEAM Connecting imagination with science through story telling:

STEAM Connecting imagination with science through story telling:
Divergent Thinking: Solve Mysteries and add Magic
How Rudolph's nose came to glow?
Students could make up their own story or write a piece of persuasive writing, or draw using scientific facts in answers to the questions in the video.

Why stories matter for childrens' Learning

http://www.theedadvocate.org/why-stories-matter-for-child…/…

You might to also follow up with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFUqQQUpvZc
from New Scientist - scientific reason for reindeer having red nose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNcd0_qbb18 Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose, but why? Science has the answer to this age-old question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v26roTmutjw
The Science of Christmas

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/…/the-scientific-reason-why-…/

STEM Integration- Different approaches to learning STEM

There are a number of ways STEM can be integrated. These approaches are dynamic not sequential and movement between the approaches may occur. Just as the shifting roles between teacher and students in consuming and producing knowledge occurs depending on your learning intentions.

For PDF version - bit.ly/78STEM  

STEM Resources

DESIGN Thinking STEM

               DESIGN Thinking STEM

What do you notice?

What is it like?

 Have you seen something like this before?

How does it work?

What questions do you have?

How might you investigate?

Link to Wind Tree - Electricity

Using STEM Design Thinking

WHY

What is it for?

What does it need to do?

What designs already exist?

What information do I need?

HOW

What materials do I need?

What size will it be?

What tools do I have?

What do I need to know?

How will I get more information? 

WHERE

What features does it need?

How will we use it? 

What does the user need to know? 

How will it be different? 

How will it be better?

WHEN

How long will it take to make?

How efficient is it?

How long will it last?

How can we change it? 

WHAT NEXT

Can we share it?

Can It help people?

Can we sell it? 

Is it sustainable?

This is innovation : What possibilities do you see?

Who might be interested in this invention?

What Happens when an artist thinks like a scientist?

What Happens when an artist thinks like a scientist?

Here is a great example of artists and scientists working together - trans-disciplinary thinking and learning - innovation in action.

It is called the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project.

"Sometimes it takes an artist to show scientists what they’ve been missing."

Koen Vanmechelen is that artist. For the last 20 years he’s bred his own chickens as part of the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP). That might seem strange to you and me, but not to Koen. He mixes DNA the way other artists mix colors, and uses his chickens to demonstrate cultural and genetic diversity. Besides, chickens are one of the most common animals on the planet. There are 65 million of them. They produce 60 million tons of eggs that we use for everything from food to medicine production. That makes chickens “the most important animal in the world,” to Koen, as he told me over Skype. They never fail to surprise him: “Chickens are like a mirror for human culture,” he said. " from the following link

http://bigthink.com/…/what-happens-when-an-artist-thinks-li…

What do you notice?
Look closer - what patterns do you see? What connections can you make?
Use all of your senses?
What do you wonder? What does it make you think? What questions do you have?
How can you explore? What will you collect?
What is best idea to find out? How will you document what you find?
How will you share?
Who might be interested in what you found out?

Hypothetico-deductive method of science

The hypothetico-deductive method of science.

It goes like this. I have a hypothesis or model that predicts that X will occur under certain experimental conditions. Experimentally, X does not occur under those conditions. I can deduce, therefore, that the theory is flawed (assuming, of course, we trust the experimental conditions that produced not-X).

Under these conditions, I have proved that my hypothesis or model is incorrect (or at least incomplete). I reasoned deductively to do so.

But if X does occur, that does not mean I am correct, it just means that the experiment did not show my idea to be false. I now have increased confidence that I am correct, but I can’t be sure.

If one day experimental evidence that was beyond doubt was to go against Einstein’s predictions, we could deductively prove, through the hypothetico-deductive method, that his theories are incorrect or incomplete. But no number of confirming instances can prove he is right.

From the article in The Conversation Sept. 17th 2016  see link

What exactly is the scientific method and why do so many people get it wrong?

Creative thinking and Problem finding in science

What if, together with the content, the intent of the task was to develop students who think, work and process like scientists and….… and identify insightful problems to address

In designing your task a technique you might apply

• Give students a set of real data to find problems

For example:
Here is a set of data from a wearable device that measures your sleep pattern and efficiency. Can you find any problems?

• What do you notice?
• Do you have enough background information to understand this data?
• What are the different categories of data? Is the data valid?
• Is there missing information? Is there extra, unnecessary data?
• What trends are visible in the data?
• Are there values for which there are no data?
• Are there data points that have unusual values?
• How might this data change if...?
• How might this data be used?
• For what other data sample might you use a similar graph? What would happen if you represented the data in a different way?
• What is the relationship between the data sets?
• Why do you think there is a relationship?
• What questions do you have?

How confident are you with the wearable device claims? What problems did you find?

Through problem finding or identifying problems, students develop their creative thinking skills, and it provokes self-efficacy - the belief that you can change the world around you, that you can make a difference.

Here’s a story on a problem finder.
Another problem was solved more recently. A first-grade girl named Suzanna Goodin hated one of her chores at home. She hated feeding the cat! Now, Suzanna liked her cat and she wanted the cat to have food. There was only one thing wrong. She hated washing the cat food spoon. Every time she fed the cat, the spoon ending up covered with squishy, smelly cat food. It was disgusting to wash. Luckily, Suzanna was a good problem finder, much like Chester Greenwood. Instead of just complaining about the smelly cat food, she thought, “Aha! This is a problem I can solve.” And she did. Suzanna invented an edible pet food spoon. The spoon is made of hard pet food, like a spoon-shaped dog biscuit. After you scoop the pet food out of the can, you can throw the spoon right in the bowl with the food. The cat or dog can eat it right up! For her invention, Suzanna won grand prize in that year’s Weekly Reader invention contest.
What made Suzanna a good problem finder?

Suzanna Story from: https://creativiteach.me/…/problem-finding-lesson-one-peop…/

#transformingtasks #science #AUSCIBABE #BITL

Driven by curiosity to pose scientific questions, in order to make sense of your observations

What if, together with the content, the intent of the task was to develop students who think, work and process like scientists and….
…are driven by their curiosity to pose scientific questions, in order to make sense of their observations
In designing your task a technique you might try:
Provide an intriguing phenomena, cartoon, provocation letter, or perplexing video and ask, “What questions do you have?”
"What if..."
For example:
Cool animation of making the moon : Lots of STEM applications (16 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8LRxIANzQs

This memo was never sent. What does it make you think? What questions do you have?
http://www.lettersofnote.com/…/in-event-of-moon-disaster.ht…

The time machine (2002) : The moon breaking down scene (2 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSs6eKmTCDY

What do you see in this cartoon? What questions do you have?
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/shoot_moon
"What if we could breathe air on the moon, how might that change our lives?"

Through providing compelling and perplexing science phenomena we stimulate curiosity and imagination. Using scientific inquiry, students pose the questions; they are doing the thinking and come up with ideas to investigate. Through using an inquiry approach we provide opportunities for students to make decisions, be innovative and apply their ideas. Students construct their own understanding between what they notice and make meaning of their prior knowledge.
#transformingtasks #science #AUSCIBABE #BITL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8LRxIANzQs

Critical thinking skills How are they the same? How are they different?

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?

How are these animals the same?
How are they different?

Can you name each of the animals?

Which is the odd one out? What makes you think that?
What questions do you have?

How can you investigate?
Who could you ask?

If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you might have the solution.

Ok I have finished the song: How are your critical thinking skills?
If you know the answers then post in the comments.

Sesame Street - One Of These Things (is Not Like The Others) Lyrics | MetroLyrics
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you're absolutely right!

#Science #animals #BITL #Australiancurriulum

Uncertainty in Science

Jelly Belly Bean Boozled Challenge

How certain are you that the flavour of the jellybean can be determined by what you see or smell?
These jellybeans look the same? They are the same colour.
They smell the same. 
What happens when you taste them? 
What do you notice?
Do they taste the same or do they taste different?
Can you describe their flavours?
Are you willing to have another go with these jellybeans?

What are the chances that they will taste the same? What are the chances that they will taste different? How certain are you that they are the same?
Are there other ways we could find out whether they taste the same without tasting them?

Uncertainty is a normal part of scientific research. Research goes on because we don’t know everything. Researchers then have to estimate how much of the picture is known and how confident we can all be that their findings tell us what’s happening or what’s going to happen. Scientific understanding is dynamic and can change as we discover new things about a scientific phenomena.

However, society often thinks that scientific uncertainty is a deficiency of scientific research. We often expect certainty in our lives because it makes us feel safe and we that know that something works well.

While scientists feel comfortable with dealing with uncertainty, everyday people see it as a reason to be cynical about scientific research, such as climate change or the prediction of natural disasters.

Uncertainty does not mean we know nothing, and that evidence cannot be trusted, that anything could turn out to be correct or that decisions can not be made.

Are we helping to develop a positive disposition with uncertainty in our students, to think and act like a scientist, to take risks and try something new or different?

Driven by curiosity to pose scientific questions, in order to make sense of observations

What if, together with the content, the intent of the task was to develop students who think, work and process like scientists and….
…are driven by their curiosity to pose scientific questions, in order to make sense of their observations

In designing your task a technique you might try:
Provide an intriguing phenomena, object or perplexing video and ask, “What questions do you have?”

For example:
Windmill disaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YJuFvjtM0s

Through providing perplexing science phenomena we stimulate curiosity and support our students to be open to new ideas. Students make connections between what they notice and make meaning to what they already know. They are learning how to pose questions that can be investigated using scientific inquiry.

Other ideas
Rapid Bay Primary School in South Australia. The students talking about the Starfish Hill Wind Farm next to their school.
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4256702.htm

Today is Global Wind Day: a worldwide event that occurs annually on 15 June. It is a day for discovering wind, its power and the possibilities it holds to reshape our energy systems, decarbonise our economies and boost jobs and growth.
‪#‎globalwindday‬ 

Wind Tunnel Testing: "Demonstration of Typical Free Flight Tests" 1946 NACA Langley Research Centre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGmigdhxMRw

What happens when you put a hummingbird in a wind tunnel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyqY64ovjfY

‪#‎transformingtasks‬ ‪#‎science‬ ‪#‎AUSCIBABE‬ ‪#‎BITL‬

‪#‎globalwindday‬ image is from this hashtag

Evaluate your own scientific thinking and apply metacognition

What if, together with the content, the intent of the task was to develop students who think, work and process like scientists and….
…evaluate their own scientific thinking and apply metacognition

In designing your task a technique you might apply

• Reverse the question. Give the answer and ask “What was the question?”

For example:
• A rotten egg gas is detected. How might this gas of been produced? How might you produce this gas?

Through generating or identifying different options we can develop divergent and flexible thinkers.

‪#‎transformingtasks‬ ‪#‎science‬ ‪#‎AUSCIBABE‬ ‪#‎BITL‬

Noticing the Unnoticed (Part 2)

DISPOSITIONS for being a good noticer. 

• Are you open-minded? 
• Can you generate multiple options?
• Do you explore and appreciate the importance of other points of views? 
• Do you have an alertness to narrow attention? 
• Do you look for opposites, things that are contrary?
• Can you pay attention? 
• Is there anything that we are taking for granted? 
• Do we have to do it this way? 
• Are we making up "rules" that aren't really rules?
• Do you challenge assumptions?
• What if we change the way that we think about the problem?
What are some other ways to think about this that we haven't tried yet?
• If you were looking at it from where a bird is what might it look like?
• What is the exact opposite of the way we are thinking about it?
• Can you inhibit distractions? 
• Do you make notes to reduce your working memory?

DISPOSITIONS toward WONDERING AND PROBLEM FINDING 
• Are you inquisitive? Do you seek out what’s hidden or missing?
• Do you tend to wonder, probe, and find problems? 
• Are you alert to anomalies, uncertainties and puzzles?
• Can you formulate questions? 
• Can you make predictions?

• Are you curious? Do you like to imagine things?
• What do you wonder?
Are there some things that you want to know about it?
What questions do you have?
• Is there anything that seems odd to you?
Is there anything that you want to fix?
What would you change if you could?
How would you make it better? ...different?
• Do you notice anything that seems to be missing?
What would you add if you could add something? (Why do you think it's not there?)
• What if? What might happen if?
• Can you stay in the grey? … in the uncertainty?
• Do you notice loopholes in reasoning and argumentation?
• Can you stop and think: is this bias, relevant or credible? Is it a fallacy?
• Is this data reliable to make an observation?

IDEAS to help students ask questions

 1. Think, pair, share with each other, before sharing with the class.
They think of a question, share it with their partner to see whether it is a good question to ask. Then they have more confidence to ask the question.

 2. Use collaborative tool that allows students to pose questions and then have the class give them feedback anonymously. Students can like a question or say it could improve, but then they must add a comment saying why or rewrite the question. The teacher can view what students are writing to each other and step in if needed to provide support. The teacher can then show the best questions and some students will get surprised that they asked a good question or that other people in the class had the same question as them. One tool that does this well is Verso.
http://versoapp.com/teaching-resources/sample-activities/
(This could be the same with students sharing what they noticed or wondered.)

 3. As a teacher do you model noticing and wondering? Do students see you as a learner? Do you create space for new ideas? Do you build in lesson time for reflection? Do you use questioning as feedback?

How will your effort be rewarded next time?
Students may not notice or ask questions because they are used to being told/ asked what to look for in investigations. As noticing requires intellectual stretch it is important to praise and provide feedback to students for their effort and not their ability. This guides the student’s behaviours next time, so they value the learning as well as increasing their belief that they can improve their ability.
Students can learn from each other. They can ask each others questions. How did you do that? What did you do to get that result?

Helping students see that learning from mistakes is an important life skill and is central to developing a growth mindset. FAIL is Failing is the first attempt at learning. We can teach students how to reflect on negative feedback so they see how to respond to the feedback instead of seeing it as a personal attack or judgement. A question they might use is: What would you do differently next time?, allows them to have a sense of control over the situation by focusing on their effort and not their ability.
Who can I ask for help? What could I have done better?
Asking what you would do differently is a great example of metacognition; it helps students to analyse and reflect on their thought process.
Metacognition is an effective strategy as it helps students improve how they plan, monitor and analyse their thoughts and behaviours. Students who have strong metacognition often have a growth mindset and high levels of resilience.

picture from sun-gazing.com/

quiz-see-first
link Verso

‪#‎Science‬ ‪#‎Notice‬ ‪#‎Inquiry‬ ‪#‎Investigation‬ ‪#‎growthmindset‬ ‪#‎TfEL‬ #AUSCIBABE

Noticing the Unnoticed (Part 1)

How well do you notice?

Scientific investigations generally begin with noticing something
perplexing, which makes you curious and inspires you to ask questions.

"When you really look at something, you notice details that you otherwise wouldn't see."
What does it mean to really notice? Is there a difference between noticing and observing?
In our daily life we are often selective about what we pay attention to. While this helps us to be efficient, it can also prevent us from noticing and thinking about everyday patterns that are all around us. For example, noticing the relationship of the hands on the clock to each other, is probably much more helpful to us than noticing the colour or form of the markers between the numbers.
The difference between noticing and observing really comes down to "active processing." Observing is more passive, such as paying attention using our senses (seeing, hearing, touching). When we actively process information around us by perceiving it and reflecting upon it, we are much more likely to notice patterns, to make connections to other things that we know, and to develop an appreciation for what we are looking at. Noticing is a more active process, it is more cognitively demanding, as it requires the noticer to take control of, and direct their attention, using their mind. Stopping to reflect can lead to noticing and deepened scientific understanding.

Are you engaging young scientists in noticing?
To help students refine noticing skills they need to be provided with time.

Have students notice the natural world first hand, or through videos, photos, or by reading about scientists' observations.

What new wonderings do their observations spark? What questions flourish from their observations?

With guidance, these questions can lead to fruitful thinking, discussions, and
investigations.

Have students create a
What do I notice/ What I wonder chart

See infographic with questions:
What do you notice?
• What more do you notice when you shift your perspective? 
• What new information can you uncover?
• Which tools will extend your sense to help you observe?
i.e. hand lenses, thermometers, or a microscope 
• What did you observe?
• What did notice about the data?
• What did you already know from experience?
• What problems exist that do not make sense?
• No what do you really notice?

What do you wonder?
• How is it the same as? Different than?
• What does it remind you of? What changes do you notice?
• How many? How long? How often?
• What do you think is happening and why?
• What did the data "tell" you? 
• What patterns did you see?
• What relationships did you see?

Try this National Geographic Quiz on noticing.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…/160326-animals-featur…/

#science #noticing #AUSCIBABE #BITL #TfEL

Exploring Misconceptions Heat and Temperature

Explore misconceptions about temperature. 

How confident are you in explaining this concept?

Click on the link below

Misconception interactive Heat and temperature.

Image from: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/f3/0e/e6/f30ee670a6d818d978ad2dfca38fcbe5.jpg

Forensic Science : Solving what the mystery powder is using inquiry.

Australian Curriculum Year 7 Chemical Sciences : Forensic Science

Mixtures, including solutions, contain a combination of pure substances that can be separated using a range of techniques.

In Year 7 we want our students to understand mixtures, including solutions, contain a combination of pure substances that can be separated using a range of techniques based on their properties.

Let’s look at the concept of the Properties of Matter in Year 7 through the Science Bringing it to Life questions.

Left behind at the crime scene is a mystery white powder.

What do you notice?
What equipment might help you with your observations? What different materials do you notice? What happens when the powder is mixed with water? How does this change the materials?

What do you think?
Could there be any substances that you don’t notice? What similarities and differences might there be in the substances? How are their properties different?

What do you predict?
How might you separate the substances in this mixture? How could you separate the larger particles from the rest? What other properties could you use to separate them? What do you already know or what have you observed that led to your prediction?

How can you test it?
Can you separate a mixture without equipment? What are the safety risks? Using what you already know, how could you separate the mixture? Which way will be best? How do you separate a mixture where the two substances look alike?

How can you review and communicate?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the method you used? How does the data support science ideas? Why? Did you experience any difficulties separating the mixtures?
How could you improve your investigation? How did you separate the mixture? What did you learn from this investigation about the properties of substances? How can the properties of substances be used to separate them from a mixture? After substances are separated, do they maintain the same properties as before? Why did you choose to separate the mixture the way you did? Draw a flowchart to show how you separated the mixture.

So what? What next?

What people do you think would know about the separation of mixtures or the properties of substances? Why would a chemist need to know about the properties of substances? How could you use the different separation methods to separate other types of mixtures?

www.acleadersresource.sa.edu.au 

Brining it to Life Science

‪#‎BITL‬ ‪#‎Science‬ ‪#‎Forensic‬ ‪#‎mixtures‬ ‪#‎chemistry‬ ‪#‎Year7‬