Science in the Bush

For some years we have been offering an experience that provides students with an insight into some of the scientific processes we use to understand ecosystems. In 2016 we have renamed this experience Science in the Bush. Essentially this is a version of the Minibeasts Wonderland experience, except with more specific data collection outcomes, aimed at students in years 7-10.

There are three main activities:

Aquatic Sampling

In small teams students take samples of the aquatic invertebrates in Fozzies wetland, the highlight of this activity is being able to go right out into the wetland with a pair of waders on. Students are able to apply a scientific method for catching invertebrates to ensure that the sample is consistent with other groups sampling.

Terrestrial Sampling

Students use quadrats to determine the presence and abundance of terrestrial invertebrates in a given area (1m x 1m).  In this session I incorporated 'Graphically Grubs' as a way of creaing their data on site.

Identification and Analysis

Back in the Learning Centre we use dissection microscopes to identify and quantify the animals that have been caught in each environment and use this to form a discussion around the health and diversity of a woodland ecosystem.

First Run for 2016

The students from a school just up the road from the sanctuary attended the session today. There was fantastic bunch of eager grade 7 students keen to jump into the wetland (after a bit of encouragement) and get their sample of invertebrates. It did take a little to warm the students to the ideas of engaging with nature, most being preoccupied with cleanliness and fairly sterile environments, so this place with bugs and mud and where 'anything can happen' may have left them a bit concerned.

Once the students got past this, however, they really engaged and worked well in their teams to collect and analyse there samples.

The invertebrate ID session that I was working on previously, worked really well with this group and asking them why they made a particular conclusion really allowed them to critically engage with the topic. In the Terrestrial session I found two students having a rigorous discussion about their animals and using markers on the worksheets to describe how they had determined what animal it was - this was some great evidence of Creative and Critical Thinking.

Maths in the Bush

PSTs on Fozzies Boardwalk

One of the cool things I get to do is work with Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) who are studying at La Trobe either in the Bachelor of Education or the Masters of Teaching courses. We run a number of professional development style workshops to give exposure to education in a place-based context.

This session, developed as part of the Maths Methods subject coordinated by Pete Sanders, is called Maths in the Bush. It enables the PSTs to see the mathematical outcomes that can be reinforced by using an outdoor (bush) environment... I run it as a way of encouraging teachers to get out of the classroom and enjoy their broader school or community environment. Connecting kids with nature and getting some great mathematical outcomes in an authentic context.

In conjunction with the Masters research I am undertaking, I took this year's session as an opportunity to revisit the session and develop new lesson content that will provide additional resources for future teachers to use the activities as a base for their planning. It also give us an opportunity to articulate a new experience for schools to come to the sanctuary and engage with our educational expertise.

The activities are as follows:

Catch me if you can

This activity is similar to the dip netting activity previously discussed. Students use a net and bucket to collect a variety of aquatic invertebrates from the Rod Fosters (Fozzies) Wetland. Students use Q Cards to identify the animals and then use their wetland sample to determine: Presence, Absence and Abundance of the animals caught. The data collected from this provides great mathematical outcomes (eg Counting, Shapes, Place Value, Graphs). Much of the mathematical outcomes come from what you can do with the data back at school.

Find that Frog

Find that frog is a simple triangulation game. Students position themselves in three points (rough triangle) around a fairly large area (like a school soccer pitch) and they close there eyes (or are blind folded) and I run and hide an Bluetooth speaker (AKA Frog noise) somewhere (you need several 'dummy frogs'). Students then try and point in the direction of the noise - theoretically the frog is located at the spot where their pointing intersects.

I did this in the sanctuary and hid the frog among some leaf litter. It worked really well and students were able to see a great practical application of triangulation.

Graphically Grubs

This activity is a great activity that extends the 'Rock n Roll' activity we often do in the sanctuary, where students roll over logs and rocks and collect the invertebrates they find. In this activity students get 1 or 2 small petri dishes to catch their 'bugs' and each bug must be kept in a separate petri dish. As students collect the animals, they are encouraged to work in teams of 4 to create categories of animals and then build piles of animals in these categories. Students can then draw their graph of the piles or take a picture with a tablet.

Some examples of categories:

Number of legs - 0, 6, 8, 10, many
Animal Types - Insects, Worms, Arthropods
Animal names - Beetle, Spider, Slater, Ant, Worm

On the first run of this activity I found students really engaged in discussing ways of classifying animals and then creating their physical graphs on the ID chart. It was a really good activity for promoting collaboration and critical thinking skills.

Nesting Box Game

Another of my favourite activities for promoting collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. Student in this activity are provided a box full of wooden parts to a nesting box. They are asked to collect 6 pieces (any pieces) and try to create a box for an animal. A few minutes in, I tend to point out that I 'forgot' to mention that you need to collect 6 bits of wood with the same letters on them - thus forcing students into a process of negotiating for parts from other teams. Once teams have successfully completed a box, we then talk about the different types of habitats for different animals, and why these boxes are so important.

These boxes, called nesting boxes are great habitat for a range of animals and are required to replace the hollows that would have existed in old (150Y+) River Red Gums (eucalyptus camaldulensis)

Tree Heights

A great activity for outdoor maths is estimating and calculating tree heights In this activity we demonstrate 6 different ways of estimating height of a tree, each one being more accurate than the next. Once a quick demonstration of the methods is conducted, students then explore the methods and determine which is the most accurate and then gain a consensus on the height of a particular tree.

Here's a worksheet that explains the methods. 

Pinball & Creativity

A week after my lesson on simple machines I visit the school where I did the Pinball Machine lesson and discovered that some students had taken my ideas and created their own pinball's at home. Here's a couple that I took a couple of shots of.

What I find really encouraging about this is that the students have added things to the concept, which is ideally what we'd be looking for in  the development of 21st Century Learning Skills. It denotes critical thinking, creativity and innovation.

In these pictures you can see the students have added score boards and a scoring system and one student has created a more elaborate paddle system that is more authentic to a proper pinball machine.

Wildlife CSI - First Run

Ok, so this was the first multi group session in the Sanctuary for the year. I also had spent a lot of time incorporating activities that would develop collaborative and critical thinking skills in students, in line with the NPDL Framework we've been trialing. The Wildlife CSI experience has needed some work in this space for some time, so it was good to spend the time and end up with a new experience (although it really needs an App, so kids aren’t using workbooks).

I had develop the session so that students would work in a small team of CSI agents, and work through the 6 steps of the scientific process. The workbook we developed encouraged students to look at the crime scene and document the evidence that could tell a story. There were three activities in the session (click for lesson plan)–

Wildlife CSI

The Evidence

The Story

Hi Ho... a 'Sciencing' we'll go... 

The start of this session was in the Learning Centre where I  introduced students to the day and ran through both the scientific process and the collaborative learning process. I asked critical questions about what working in teams involves. 

• What do you need others to do when you're working together? 
• How do you feel when working in a group? 
• What are our expectations about working together? 

Students were excited that they were about to become CSI Agents. They were excited to put on lab coats and CSI agent badges

The Wildlife CSI activity worked well, most groups were working together to capture evidence and using the identification booklets. A quick demonstration of how to 'capture' evidence the the tablets and off they went. Students were certainly engaged… Often student would come 'bounding' up to me to show me what they'd found. Here's the teachable moment, when we can ask inquiry based questions to develop their critical thinking skills and incorporate scientific language into their vocabulary. 

The evidence session was great – students were really engaged in looking at the evidence and using microscopes. I was working my way around the room and ensuring students were able to use the equipment. Again, they were visibly excited about looking at the evidence and adding content to their workbooks - This surprised me because I normally steer clear of workbooks because I want students to engage with whats around them - but in this circumstance it really added to the exploration of the content. 

Creating stories from the Evidence

In terms of collaboration and teamwork the last session was great. Students were actively investigating their evidence on their tablets and then using this to create their story on the template. I think the session worked really well and was able to reinforce the learning outcomes. Ideally we would provide an opportunity for all teams to share their story, but time was short so we only did 2.

All in all, a great first run of a session I've had in my head for many years, that I've never really had the time to put together properly... with a few more tweeks (and possibly the development of an App) I think it will be the way I'd originally pictured it and a really great experience for students to engage with the scientific method.

More details about the Wildlife CSI experience - Here

Wildlife CSI

The Scientific Method

Have you ever wondered about unique ways of developing students understanding about the scientific method? Some years ago I was on my couch watching the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) show and realized that the standard format of the show was the Scientific Method.
So, I had this brainwave of an idea to create an experience at the Wildlife Sanctuary - Wildlife CSI was born.

In the 2016 version of Wildlife CSI we looked over the NPDL Framework to incorporate ways that the session could incorporate opportunities for students to practice communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills into the activities. Three sessions were developed.

See a reflection of the first run of Wildlife CSI - Here

The Crime Scene

In this activity students work in small teams (4-5) and enter a crime scene filled with evidence. They are not allowed in unless they have their CSI agent badge, their lab coats and their CSI toolkit. 

The crime scene is roped off and a range of scats, tracks, animal bones, chalk outlines, taxydermmy and historical artefcats are distributed around a bushland scene. 

Teams of CSI agents move in and capture (digitally) the evidence they find. Each peice of evidence has a unique evidence number so the students can refre to it later. On their worksheets, students document their evidence numbers with a short description so it ensures no evidence is lost. 

The Evidence

Possum Scats

Back in the lab, students investigate the evidence they have found using identification booklets, microscopes and a range of other tools that help them identify and start hypothesising what the evidence means. In their workbooks students start documenting their ideas and linking these to the evidence they have collected.

The story

Finally the CSI agents gather together in the final 'scene' - the presentation room where they work on their stories and collate their evidence into an evidence logbook that tells the progression of their crime scene story. In this activity students work in their teams and critically discuss the evidence and what they conclude is a likely scenario.. students are working collaborative to critically analyse their thoughts and develop a logical argument for their crime. 

Kangaroo Hip

The important part of this process is that there is no prescribed crime - there are a number of possibilities that we introduce through the experience, but it's really up to the students creativity, imagination and ensuring that their thoughts link to the evidence collected. 

As a final step in the process each team presents their theory to the whole class. 

Developers notes: The session outlines, activity sheets and resources have been a collaborative effort between AndyEducate and Natalie Burley. 

Resources

The Crime Scene Lesson Plan

The Evidence Lesson Plan

The Story Lesson Plan

Introductory Powerpoint

Student Workbook

The Story Template

Story Example

Simple Machines & a Pinball

Today I worked with a group of grade 3's from an awesome school in Mill Park. I've been working with this school for some time and its great to be able to get into the classroom and practice (and improve) my teaching. One of my mentors is a great teacher and provides me with some great opportunities to explore my learning through engaging with his class.

Today's lesson was about simple machines, so I got the students to stand up and use their hips to bend over, a bit like doing a stretch... students were surprised to learn that they were creating a lever, with the fulcrum at the hip. This was a great way to start the session and have students focus on the topic.

Simple Machine Kits

Whilst the students are learning 7 simple machines (Wedge, Inclined Plane, Lever, Pulley, Wheel and Axle, Screw and Gears), today's lesson focused on the 5 machines that were in the Simple Machine Kits at the school.

As you can see by the powerpoint presentation, the first part of the lesson was a quick game of Guess that Machine - students were shown an image of the 5 machines and asked to identify which machine it was. The picture below shows the 5 images they were shown.

Next the students were asked some critical questions about working in groups, because of the research I am undertaking I wanted to determine if being explicit about collaboration skills would enhance the learning in the lesson and improve my ability to teach these skills. What was interesting was that students too a moment to responde to the question:

What do you like other people to do when working in groups?

I'd like to reflect on this a bit more at a later stage, but I think most students are used to explaining appropriate behaviors with group work, but this question specifically focused on their needs.

Students were then asked to work in teams and construct the 5 machines - there were only enough parts at each of the 4 stations for the 5 machines to be constructed, which meant students were unable to construct two of the same machine - this presented some problems when they tried to do this... but the end result was that students had to communicate and work together in order to get the machines constructed. Most students were really engaged in working together to construct their machines and really proud of their achievements once completed. I worked my way around the room, asking critical questions like:

What happens when you change the position of the fulcrum on the lever?
What happens when the slope of the inclined plane is changed?

Following this part of the lesson, students were asked to sit back at the front and we talked about how we use multiple simple machines to make complex machines. A screw is a more complex machine because it combines an inclined plane and a wedge.  We spoke about the next activity which was to make a complex machine out of wood, nails, screws, pegs and rubber bands.... and a marble?

I had constructed a number of Pinball Prototype boards that students could use to build their own pinball machine. Students had a great time exploring the construction process and I think by working through the process and then experimenting with the positioning of barriers, students would have practically understood a number of physical science outcomes.

Watch the clip of the pinball machine prototyping board in action.

IN a future blog, I'll describe how to create the prototyping boards.

Some useful links:
Marvellous Machines - Lesson Plan
New Pedagogy For Deep Learning Framework
The 6Cs of 21st Century Learning