Nicola DziadkiewiczWorkshop Facilitator

Teaching Inquiry Science:PrimaryConnections in a STEM Context

Workshop outline

INTRODUCTION Welcome; Experience estimators; Sign on

ENGAGE Where are we at? Challenges we face in building a scientifically and technologically literate community

EXPLORE PrimaryConnections – purpose and approachThe 5Es inquiry teaching and learning modelUnpacking the 5Es sequence Investigative and inquiry approach Communicating scientifically - science through literacy

EXPLAIN Putting it all together

ELABORATE PrimaryConnections curriculum units in a STEM context

EVALUATE Summary; Reflection; Feedback

Introduction

• Who am I?• Share your representation with

someone else in the room.

Learning tools

ENGAGE

WHERE ARE WE AT?Engage

What would you like to know or be able to do by the end

of the workshop?

Write one question or idea per sticky note, please be specific.

Consensograms

• How confident do I feel using an inquiry-based teaching and learning approach?

• To what extent do I understand how Primary Connections supports teaching and learning in a STEM context?

What challenges do we face teaching in a STEM context?

Defining STEM

1. What is the purpose of STEM education?2. What is my understanding of the acronym?3. How might our understanding of the acronym

vary and why? What are the implications for me in my role?

4. What is the goal of STEM education for primary students?

5. What is the role and contribution of the ‘S’ in STEM?

Learning intentions

1. To experience the PrimaryConnectionsapproach of effective teaching and learning of science.

2. To establish a shared understanding of how teaching science with an inquiry based teaching and learning approach supports ‘STEM’.

Intended learning outcomes p.3

1. To develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the 5Es teaching and learning model.

2. To develop a robust understanding of the purpose of investigating, and how it is applied in PrimaryConnections units.

3. To identify the links between the teaching and learning of science and literacy.

4. To develop a deeper understanding of PrimaryConnections and how it contributes to STEM education.

EXPLORE

Nanopatch DVD

Being scientifically literate in a technological world

• How does this affect you?

• What do you need to know to be able to understand this technology?

• Why is this important?

The STEM context:Let’s work backwards

• If STEM is the solution, what is the problem?

• What are the implications for teaching and learning?

• What do our students need?

STEM policy

(Office of the Chief Scientist 2013, p. 4)

Scientific literacyRefers to an individual’s… Scientific knowledge and use of that knowledge to:

• identify questions• acquire new knowledge• explain scientific phenomena and • draw evidence based conclusions about science-related issues

Understanding of the characteristic features of science as a form of human knowledge and enquiry

Awareness of how science and technology shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments and

Willingness to engage in science-related issues, with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen.(OECD 2013, p.127)

What might this look like in our classroom?

Let’s explore!

Primary Connections Teaching and learning approach

THE 5ES – KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING

Explore

Teaching and learning approach

Move to the Science Understanding that...

You enjoy teaching the mostYou enjoy teaching the leastYou think your students enjoy the most

You think your students understand the most

Engagement vs Understanding

Earth & Space Sciences, in particular Astronomy, is one of the most loved,

and yet one of the most misunderstood

of the Sciences.

Year 5 inquiry focus

Year 5 Chemical SciencesScience UnderstandingSolids, liquids and gases have different observable properties and behave in different ways [ACSSU077]

Elaborations• recognising that substances exist in different states depending on

the temperature• observing that gases have mass and take up space, demonstrated

by using balloons or bubbles• exploring the way solids, liquids and gases change under different

situations such as heating and cooling• recognising that not all substances can be easily classified on the

basis of their observable properties

Engage Elicit prior knowledge

we see the phases of the moon?

The 5Es

Leaving the lid on, examine the contents of the containers on your table.

What’s inside? A solid? A liquid? A gas?Chat to others on your table to explain your thinking.

As a table group, place the containers in a line, rating the contents from most solid to least solid

Explore

Tissues in a cup

ExplainTeacher explains using information texts and other learning strategies; Students reflect and represent

Using the text to explain your thinking about soilds, liquids and gases

Elaborate

Hot stuff

Evaluate

Summative assessment of the Science Understanding

Solids, liquids and gases have different observable properties and behave in different ways [ACSSU077]

What is the 5Es?

An inquiry-based model of teaching and learning

designed to facilitate conceptual change.

5Es DVD – Introduction

What are the 5Es? p.13-17

Engage Reveal students’ ideas and beliefs, compare students’ ideas.

Explore Provide experience of the phenomenon or concept.

Explain Reflect and represent understanding, consider current scientific explanations

Elaborate Use and apply concepts and explanations in new contexts

Evaluate Re-reflect and re-represent understanding

Embedded reflection and self-assessment

1. On page 51 we have provided the Science Understandings from the Chemical Sciences Strand F-7.

Cut, sequence the cards and paste on to p.18.

2. On your tables we have provided a 5Es card sort. Complete the card sort in teams and check in to some possible solutions with your team.

SCIENCE LINKED WITH LITERACY – A WAY OF THINKING, A WAY OF COMMUNICATING, KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING

Explore

The link between science and literacy

• Three different expressions are used.• What do they mean? How are they similar? • How are they different?

science literacy

scientific literacy

everyday literacy

Visual representation – an everyday literacy

Take 4 post-it notes each.

Represent 4 different ways we use plastics.

• 4 individual visual representations each (1 representation per post-it note)

• Form large groups and create a scientific representation of the group’s data

Everyday literacies

• are the literacy skills students bring to the learning process

• are tools of learning

• are processes and practices that represent what learners know, do or demonstrate when they represent and communicate understanding

• involve multiple modes of representation.

Science literacy(literacies of science)

• Enables students to use particular language practices and processes and create products to represent and communicate science understanding.

• Products are multi-modal and may include factual text, data tables, labelled diagrams, symbols, graphs, models, drawings, computer-generated images, gestures, role-plays.

Drawing a representation, at the beginning of an inquiry, to show what happens when an ice cube melts.

Creating an accurate labelled diagram of an earthworm.

Role playing what you think is happening between the sun, earth and moon to observe day and night.

Learning and using symbols to represent an electric circuit

Literacy Focus – labelled diagram

Differentiating a literacy focus: labelled diagram p.37

How can we modify this literacy focus for different ages / abilities / stages?

Quality matrixLiteracy of science: labelled diagram

Features Characteristics of a high-quality product

Opportunity for improvement

Title Clear and accurate identifying the organism

Write in a straight lineCheck spelling

Labels Scientific language Check spellingUse scientific language

Leader lines Straight lineSame side of diagram

Ensure lines do not cross each other

Scale Units of measurementAccurate

Measure size to calculate scaleInclude a scale

Drawing Clear narrow pencil lineCentred on paperLarge enough to represent detail

No shadingLarger drawing

TWLH charts and claims

Let’s demonstrate this tool using the chemical sciences context

Science and literacy - the relationship

• Literacy skills do not develop inisolation from a context.

• Through science inquiry, students use everyday literacies and learn literacies of science.

• The science context provides a meaningful purpose for literacy development.

Becoming scientifically literate in a technological world

The use of everyday literacies to learn about science concepts and processes, including the development of the science literacy/literacies of science, contributes to students’ developing scientific literacy as they learn about, communicate and represent science and technological understanding.

Scientific literacyRefers to an individual’s… Scientific knowledge and use of that knowledge to:

• identify questions• acquire new knowledge• explain scientific phenomena and • draw evidence based conclusions about science-related issues

Understanding of the characteristic features of science as a form of human knowledge and enquiry

Awareness of how science and technology shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments and

Willingness to engage in science-related issues, with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen.(OECD 2013, p.127)

INVESTIGATING – A WAY OF WORKING, COMMUNICATING & THINKING

Explore

Investigating

Why is investigation important in primary science?

Types of investigation

Exploratory investigations• occur at the Engage and Explore phases• are characterised by hands-on exploratory activities including:

observing, measuring, testing, representing.

Fair test, Survey, Design and Secondary data investigations

• mostly occur mostly at the Elaborate phase• are characterised by a focus on student planning, following the

investigating process, representing findings using ‘literacies of science’ and drawing conclusions based on evidence and communicating findings.

Collaborative Teams

Years P-2 (Pairs)• Speaker• Manager

Years 3-6 (Teams of 3)• Director• Manager• Speaker

Each role has specific responsibilities as the team ofstudents work through the activities and investigations.

Exploratory investigation

‘Stretching Snakes’The second Explore lesson from Bend it! Stretch it!

Let’s investigate

• Manager collects 3 snakes – 1 from each brand, and one A4 copy of ‘Stretch it out!’

• In pairs, discuss the differences in appearances between the snakes

• Conduct the investigation

Scientists do not eat the materials

that they experiment with

for health andhygiene reasons

1. Cut the snakes if necessary so that they are the same length.

2. Place the first snake on the sheet on the outline of the snake.

3. Hold the tail end and stretch the jelly snake following the arrow by pulling gently until the other end touches the end of the row.

4. Release the jelly snake and wait until the snake stops moving. Mark where the snake stops.

Is it fair?

Investigations in the Explore phase can present an opportunity to discuss the features and purposes of a fair test.

Discuss:Would the investigation be ‘fair’ if…• The snakes’ tails were not placed on the start line• We pulled some snakes to the end line and not others• We pulled some snakes very hard and others very softly.

Data

A class discussion at Year 1

• What did we learn about what happens to jelly snakes when they are stretched and then released?

• How did the shape of the snake change before during and after being stretched?

• Which snake do most teams think is made from the most elastic material?• Why do you think some teams have different results?

Claims

Whenever a student makes a representation about a science phenomenonwhether verbal, written, gestured, drawn, constructing a model ….they are making a “claim” about what they understand at that point.

These claims are like “gold” and provide teachers with insights intostudents’ thinking. Delving into these claims with questions is like diggingfor more gold.

What claims do you think a Year 1 student would make after exploring the Stretching Snakes investigation? For example:

• ‘We can change the shape of some objects by stretching them.’• ‘If an object is made of elastic material it will go back to its original shape.’• ‘The more elastic a material is the more it will go back to its original shape.’

Types of investigationExploratory investigations• occur at the Engage and Explore phases• are characterised by hands-on exploratory activities including:

observing, measuring, testing, representing.

Fair test, Survey, Design and Secondary data investigations

• mostly occur at the Elaborate phase• are characterised by a focus on the Science Inquiry Skills - student

planning, following the investigating process, representing findings using‘literacies of science’and drawing conclusions based on evidence and communicating findings.

Fair test investigation

• Have you ever taken a tablet that fizzes in a liquid?

• Have you ever wondered why some tablets are designed to dissolve?

• What might affect dissolving?

Planning a science investigationWhat is the question for investigation?What are the variables?

VARIABLES GRID (M = Measure)What things might affect dissolving?

S S S

S The time it takes for the tablet to dissolve(M)

S

S S

What happens to the time it takes for the tablet to dissolve (M)

When we change the temperature of the liquid (C)?

CTemperature of the liquid

Fair test mnemonic

Cows Moo Softly

Change somethingMeasure something (dependent on the change)Keep everything else the Same

Investigation variables

• What will I change?• Independent variable

• What will I measure?• Dependent variable

• What will I keep the same?• Controlled variables

Conduct the investigation

1. Form groups of 3 and assign roles (Manager, Speaker, Director)

2. Plan and conduct the investigation.

3. Collect and represent your data.

Australian Curriculum: Science -Science Inquiry Skills

• Questioning and predicting• Planning and conducting• Processing and analysing data and information• Evaluating • Communicating

5Es DVD - Elaborate

QCER

Q: What question are you trying to answer?

C: What is your claim at this point?

E: What specific evidence do you have to support your claim?

R: How does the evidence support the claim? Can this be linked to a science concept? Are there alternative explanations for the data collected? How accurate is the data? Reasoning

Investigating images

Embedded reflection and self-assessment1. Science Inquiry Skills.

On page 53 we have provided the Australian Curriculum Science Inquiry Skills (SIS) students F-7.

Cut, sequence then paste the cards on to p.33.

2. Collaborative learningBased on your experience working in collaborative teams during those investigations, and using the ‘How to’ on page 24 …

Complete the Collaborative Learning Behaviours Checklist on page 25.

EXPLAIN

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING?

Embedded reflection and self-assessment p. 40 & 41

A way of thinking A way of communicating

A way of working Knowledge and understanding (scientific literacy)

Primary Connections in a STEM context

Scientific literacyRefers to an individual’s… Scientific knowledge and use of that knowledge to:

• identify questions• acquire new knowledge• explain scientific phenomena and • draw evidence based conclusions about science-related issues

Understanding of the characteristic features of science as a form of human knowledge and enquiry

Awareness of how science and technology shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments and

Willingness to engage in science-related issues, with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen.(OECD 2013, p.127)

General Capabilities

General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum encompass:

• Knowledge• Skills• Behaviours• Dispositions

Developing capability

‘Students develop capability when they apply knowledge and skills, confidently, effectively and appropriately in complex and changing circumstances, in their learning at school and in their lives outside school.’

ACARA website 2017

Why science inquiry?• Long term conceptual learning.• Developing capacity for science inquiry

skills and general capabilities.• Teaching in a STEM context.

Activity based

Investigation based

Evidence based

Argument based

Zembal-Saul, C. (2009). Learning to teach elementary school science as argument. Science Education, 93(4):687-719.

What are our questions?How will we test them?How will we make our investigation fair?What happened?How do we present the data?What does the data reveal?What is our claim?What is our evidence?How do we know?How can we explain this?Is there another explanation?What have we learnt?

General Capabilities through science inquiry

‘Meaning of STEM’ for my contextRole play1. Imagine leaving this workshop and having a

conversation with a significant member of your leadership team.

2. How might you make your case for what STEM education will mean, look, sound and feel in your school?

3. You may wish to use the ideas on your placemat to inform your argument.

4. Role play your conversation with another participant.

ELABORATE

Unit overview

1. Select a PrimaryConnections unit of your choice.

2. Complete the checklist on page 44 to become familiar with the unit.

3. Draw, write or represent the many ways the units are designed to support the teaching of inquiry science in a STEM context.

EVALUATE

Shared reflection

• The most useful thing I discovered…

• Something I will implement in my teaching is...

• Something I will do when I return to work…

Professional learning program linking science with literacy

quality curriculum resources

What is PrimaryConnections?

based on research+

Join the many teachers around Australia using

primaryconnections.org.au

facebook.com/PrimaryConnections

@Science_Academy

http://www.primaryconnections.org.au/http://www.facebook.com/PrimaryConnectionshttps://twitter.com/Science_Academy

www.primaryconnections.org.au

All teaching information and resources in the members section

Evaluation

Has my thinking changed?• Consensograms

Your feedback is important to us.• Survey and Correlation Chart

pcpl@science.org.au

Slide Number 1Workshop outlineIntroductionLearning toolsSlide Number 5Where are we at?Slide Number 7ConsensogramsWhat challenges �do we face �teaching in a STEM context?Defining STEM�Learning intentions Intended learning �outcomes p.3Slide Number 13Nanopatch DVDBeing scientifically literate �in a technological worldThe STEM context:�Let’s work backwardsSTEM policyScientific literacyWhat might this look like in �our classroom?�Primary Connections �Teaching and learning approachThe 5es – knowledge & understandingTeaching and learning approachSlide Number 23Engagement vs UnderstandingYear 5 inquiry focusYear 5 Chemical SciencesEngage Elicit prior knowledgeExploreExplain�Teacher explains using information texts and other �learning strategies; Students reflect and representElaborateEvaluateWhat is the 5Es?5Es DVD – Introduction What are the 5Es? p.13-17Embedded reflection �and self-assessmentScience linked with literacy – a way of Thinking, A Way of communicating, Knowledge & understandingSlide Number 37The link between science and literacyVisual representation – an everyday literacySlide Number 40Slide Number 41Everyday literaciesScience literacy�(literacies of science)Slide Number 44Slide Number 45Literacy Focus – labelled diagram Differentiating a literacy focus: �labelled diagram p.37Quality matrix�Literacy of science: labelled diagramTWLH charts and claimsScience and literacy - the relationshipBecoming scientifically literate in a technological world Scientific literacyInvestigating – a way of working, communicating & thinkingSlide Number 55InvestigatingTypes of investigationCollaborative TeamsExploratory investigationLet’s investigateIs it fair?DataClaimsTypes of investigationFair test investigationPlanning a science investigationSlide Number 67Investigation variablesConduct the investigation�Australian Curriculum: Science - Science Inquiry Skills5Es DVD - ElaborateQCERInvestigating imagesEmbedded reflection �and self-assessmentSlide Number 75What are the implications for teaching and learning?Embedded reflection �and self-assessment p. 40 & 41Scientific literacyGeneral CapabilitiesDeveloping capabilityWhy science inquiry?Slide Number 82General Capabilities �through science inquiry‘Meaning of STEM’ for �my contextSlide Number 85Unit overviewSlide Number 87Shared reflectionWhat is PrimaryConnections?�Join the many teachers �around Australia usingSlide Number 91Evaluation