TheFlippedScientist

The above map shows connections between myself and my wider educational professional  community. At the center are the educators who are involved in secondary education especially those involved in science. The borders of the map include those more involved in science research and research on digital online collaboration. I will discuss the following questions in relation to my map and the community that surrounds it, with potential for further expansion ideas over time. 1. What other professional communities intersect with or lie at the borders of your own profession? What impact do these communities have on your practice and professional community? 2. What are or what would be the benefits and challenges of working in a more interdisciplinary environment? Professional communities that intersect at the borders of my profession include: Scientists and science communicators  @nanogirl : The impact of these communities is that they gen...

An important aspect of being an educator is to know the communities we work in. In order to do this I have asked 5 questions: 1) Who are the stakeholders of your professional community? In what ways do they influence your  practice? 2) What are the current issues in your community? How would you or your community address them? 3) What is the purpose and function of your practice? In what ways do you cater for the community of  your practice? 4) What is your specialist area of practice? How does your specialist area of practice relate to the  broader professional context? 5) What are the challenges that you face in your practice? Who are in the community? Catholic Boys School Decile 8 (ranked from 1-10, with 10 being highest in socio-economic factors) Diverse cultural, social and economic backgrounds from all over Auckland Over 20 ethnic groups Pasifika 19%; Maori 10% ; Asian 18% (includes all Asian nationalities i.e. Chinese, Indian etc); European 53% ...

The main questions I looked at while critiquing this article were : What is/are the points in the article that captivate your attention? In which way? What reflective model(s) do you find most suitable to use? Explain why? The article provided many differing opinions and models for teachers to use. I agreed with the example of  Grushka, Hinde-McLeod and Reynolds (2005)  (pay walled site) that stated there are two distinguishable categories – ‘ reflection in action ‘ and ‘ reflection on action ‘. These can be further broken down into specific sub sections that allow a more detailed approach to reflective thinking. Technical ,  practical  and  critical  areas that force us to ask specific questions as we go through the process of self reflection. Additionally,  Finlay 2008 , p.1) states that  "reflective practice is the process of learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and/or practice"   This r...

During the last 24 weeks I have been studying towards a Certificate in Digital and Collaborative Learning at  MindLab at Unitec . During  this time I have learnt many things about me as a learner. I have learned that my learning was enhanced by collaboration with colleagues. Before the course, I tended to work by myself and not consulting with others on my practice. However, meeting and collaborating with fellow teachers was great. When we needed help, had questions or just want to rant about an assignment.  I have learnt that learning is best done as a collaborative process. Collaboration with other educational practitioners and students, allowed me to critique and analyse the reasons why I was doing certain things in the classroom. Those reasons were challenged with evidence from both peers and students through feed back and feed forward. Because of this, the reasons needed to be critically evaluated, modified and/or changed.  For example, the need t...

Welcome to my reflective journal as part of the Applied Practice in Context Course towards a Certificate in Digital and Collaborative Learning at the MindLab at Unitec .   I am a provisionally registered teacher in Auckland with an interest in utilizing digital technology in the classroom, in particular, audiovisual research projects,  gamification and game based learning . I am presently teaching science specializing in  senior chemistry and physics in both NCEA and Cambridge International.  My teaching approach is one of collaboration between students and teachers where learning takes place between the connections. I am involved in incorporating digital technologies into my classroom, especially digital movie making which allows the students to develop and apply 21st Century Skills . 

As part of my digital and collaborative course through Unitec and Mind Lab, I am developing a reflective portfolio to identify and engage with relevant communities in the formation of specific inquiry questions around gamification in developing authentic learning in New Zealand science education. I will also address the potential impact of the findings. Research Topic and Inquiry Question(s) with Justification. The overall research project involved the potential role of gamification in developing authentic learning and assessment in New Zealand science education. The reason I have chosen this particular research area is many fold.  One on one digital devices were introduced to our school in 2011 for year 7 and has moved up one year level each following year. As a school we started to explore strategies to engage students in their daily learning. I observed from my junior students learning  behaviors that they were very engaged in playing online gam...