TheFlippedScientist

Recently, the following tweet came across my feed from Adam Boxer , head of science at TTA, related to evidence for the effectiveness of practical learning in improving educational outcomes. So what does an effective practical look like in science education? Having observed and taught a large number of lessons involving practical work, most experiments are designed to reinforce theory, not the process of running a scientific experiment. The implicit assumption appears to be that students will pick up a tacit understanding of what it means to plan and conduct ‘scientifically’ and therefore is not made explicit in instruction (Donnelly et al., 1996). This suggests as science educators we need to develop models of practice in the use of practical work that more effectively integrates theoretical and procedural understanding.  The expectation at present is that students will learn theoretical ideas through practical activities. The learning of scientific ideas is usually ...

So the 2018  Programme for International Student Assessment   (PISA) results have been released by the OECD and the b lame game has begun. Reasons for declining results include teacher resourcing, technology, social and economic struggles, and that  student-directed learning is the devil's work. The argument being that the structure of teacher-led instruction is closely associated with both student academic achievement and their sense of well-being.  So what exactly are these tests and why are they so important? PISA  tests the reading, maths and science skills of 15- and 16-year-olds in the OECD ’s 78 member states, as well as a few other volunteer countries. The idea is that these results provide a means to directly comparing different educational systems.  The aim of the assessment is that the wealth of new information provided will help identify why some school systems do so well and others not. The others would follow the lead of successfu...

I have been to a number of ed-tech conferences over the years and the vast majority of speakers discuss with the righteous indignation of Ken Robinson that today's education system is a school-as-factory scene represented by images from 19th century classrooms. The  majority are romantic about a future of education, one more 'personalized' through automation, based on algorithms; yet see no irony in creating creative classrooms from automation. They believe that through the power of technology, the kids will be alright. However, I am a science teacher and I do love evidence. So as I have listened to these speakers, I always ask is this true? One skill that we desire to develop in our learners is critical thinking, one important aspect of thinking critically is recognizing confirmation bias.  Confirmation bias  is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that affirms one's prior beliefs. Having now been to these conferences, con...

So here in my first term of teaching IB HL Physics, I am exhausted and student marks are not as I have expected from what is a reasonably able group from previous examination grades. Now it is the midterm break, I am reflecting as to why this is the case As this is the first year teaching the course, I have spent  hours  marking past papers and giving detailed individualized feedback on all their work. Additionally, I am over-planning lessons to ensure that my online resources, powerpoints, activities, practicals include  every detail  of the course in order that I do not miss anything out if it comes up in examinations. To this end, I am scheduling weekly lunchtime revision classes with the students who are not meeting my expectations based on their previous assessments. The last task I set for the class before the break was to submit an experimental write up on the compulsory experiment that was done in class around the topic we are presently studying. Less...

Over recent weeks I have been honored to be involved in connecting to the students of the Pugu Innovation School in Tanzania  through Skype lessons. The lessons involve team teaching based around the   UN Sustainable Development Goals , a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. These goals have the power to end poverty, fight inequality, and stop climate change. I have in the last two weeks had the opportunity to co-teach with amazing global educators Bronwyn Joyce from Australia, Rachel Chisnall from New Zealand and Bernadine Reeb from Canada. The first lessons have focused on introducing the students to the SDGs from a global perspective. Bronwyn focused on clean energy related to the coal industry in Australia, Rachel on life underwater relating to the plight of Hector's dolphin in New Zealand and Bernadine access to safe water in Canadian indigenous communities. Both the students and I have learned so much! My own ...

So after traveling in South America for a couple of months during the summer break, I finally have time to make a cuppa and process my experience at International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) conference 2019 in Philadelphia. The ISTE Conference is recognized globally as the most comprehensive educational technology conference in the world. This is my second visit to the conference and has allowed me to engage in hands-on learning, exchanging ideas and networking with like-minded thinkers seeking to transform learning and teaching globally. So in this second visit to the conference what were the main thoughts I took away have already experienced the conference once before? #1 – Putting the I into ISTE One observation I made in 2017 was the emphasis of global collaboration from the perspective of the US teachers only, with what they could offer the international community. This reduced the agency of the international educators they were 'collaborating' w...

The use of animations appears as a natural fit for teaching science. Humans are visual creatures so what better way to explain how scientific concepts the electrostatics works than be a moving visual representation. Hence as a science teacher, I have endeavored to incorporate both digital and analog animations into my lessons and will be presenting my experiences at ISTE in Ju ne  as well as discussing how I use augmented reality in the classroom. Yet when exploring the research on the effectiveness of animations, there appears, at present, little evidence that students learn more from a digital moving image than they would from a still picture or a physical model. However, the research is slowly teasing out important clues on new ways to use digital animation and simulation to deepen students’ understanding of what is happening in the physical world.   As an educator, digital animations have enormous potential in science education. If created with correct insig...