Category Archives: Professional Studies

Scientific Literacy

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Group One

Lucy Allen, Corrie Donaldson, Eildih Lamont and Skye McLauchlan

Assessment criteria:

  • AC1 – Explanation of the concept of scientific literacy – Skye McLauchlan
  • AC2 – Analysis of an example where a lack of scientific literacy has led to inaccurate media reporting.
  • AC3 – Discussion of how teaching fair testing in school science links to scientific literacy.
  • AC4 – A carefully researched and referenced paper on scientific literacy.

Oxford University Press describes being literate as, “the ability to read and write” (Oxford University Press, 2016). Without the ability of reading and writing we would lead a very sheltered life where the most basic of tasks are problematic for us to carry out.

Therefore, scientific literacy could be broken down and be said that it is simply having the ability to understand different concepts and ideas in order to succeed within science.

Scientific literacy is also be the ability to use your knowledge of science in order to identify questions and to have the ability to come to your own conclusions through the use of looking at different sources of evidence. (OECD, 2003)

Scientific literacy is slowly but surely becoming the focused and primary goal for primary school science. (Millar. R, 2007). However this by no means, is saying that all children learning from the science curriculum are going to become scientific geniuses. In light, it is giving the children the chance to fulfil an “enlightened role” (European Commission, 1995) in being able to make and inform their own choices and ideas throughout their learning within science.

A lack of scientific literacy can lead to inaccurate media reporting’s and false belief from the public. For example, the outrage caused when it was, apparently, scientifically proven that the MMR vaccine caused Autism in babies. This belief has managed to frighten mothers into not allowing their babies to be given the vaccine. However, the evidence for the connection between the MMR vaccine and autism was based on a girl, Hannah Poling, in the USA who experienced a reaction to the vaccine. The author of the study claims that Poling was then diagnosed with autism but this is not true. Poling had a very rare mitochondrial disorder, due to her genetics not the MMR vaccine, which was made worse due to her bad reaction with the MMR which led to the occurrence of a few autism like symptoms, but not an autism disorder. Although this report made about MMR and Autism was not necessarily true, it still managed to make an impact on the public as there has been a revival of diseases such as measles and whooping cough, which could be avoided if a child is given the MMR Vaccine.

Having an understanding of fair testing is pivotal to scientific literacy because without it a child will be unable to effectively draw evidence-based conclusions or fully understand and facilitate scientific knowledge- both equally important aspects to science literacy. Understanding what can be changed and what cannot be changed in an experiment to make it fair is massively important to ensuring the results are accurate. For example, if one is comparing and testing the fuel efficiency of cars and one is driven by an experienced professional driver and the other by a newly qualified driver, this would not be a fair test as there are too many variables between the drivers. In order for a test to be fair, there must only be one variable that is changed. For example, if one is testing the absorption rate of paper, then only the type of paper used should be changed but the liquid should remain the same. If both the variables were altered (the type of paper and the amount/density of liquid used) then the experiment would not produce accurate results and therefore would become pointless. Learning to become conscious of the importance of such variables is central to a child’s scientific literacy and therefore vitally important to teach. As scientific literacy is becoming the number one goal in primary schools for science, teaching the concept and rules of fair testing is consequently a vitally important aspect of what we want our pupils to know and understand by the time they leave primary school.

European Commission, (1995) White Paper on Education and Training

http://theconversation.com/muddied-waters-setting-the-record-straight-about-mmr-vaccinations-and-autism-3391

Millar. R, (2007) Scientific literacy; Can the School Science Curriculum Deliver? Communicating European Research 2005, Pages 145-150.

OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development](2003) The PISA 2003 Assessment Framework – Mathematics, Reading, Science and Problem Solving Knowledge and Skills. Paris: OECD

Oxford University Press, (2016) Literate – definition of literate in English from the Oxford dictionary [online]. Oxforddictionaries.com Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/English/literate [assessed 9 Feb 2016]

The Big Five

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Everyone has a personality, there is no disputing that. Everyone’s personality is also very different. However, it is something that I have to say, I have never really thought about until now.

I found todays lecture surrounding personality very interesting, especially the five different dimensions that your personality can be broken into.

I had never heard of, ‘The Big Five’ before and thought that I would do some of my own research into finding out more detail on each of the sections themselves. Whilst doing this, I came across a website that allowed you to take a personality test which would then give you back in a percentage what your personality scored.

This is a snapshot of my personality test which I have to say, did surprise me.

050 Most of the traits were scored quite close together and I do agree with a few. I feel that I do go out my way to please others and I do feel that I may come across as shy in certain situations. However, I was very surprised to see that the score for Neuroticism was very high at 81%. I know that I have experienced some situations that arise negative emotions but I wouldn’t say that it was any more than anyone else. Due to this, I feel that I need to look at myself and take consideration in the way I may or may not react to everyday situations to see if I subconsciously experience negative emotions without myself even noticing.

If this test is something that also interests you and you would like to find out what your ‘Big Five’ say about you, this is the link here.

Reflecting on reflection

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Reflection is a means of processing thoughts and feelings about an incident, or a difficult day… And gives us a chance to come to terms with our thoughts and feelings about it.

Personally, reflection for me is a key part in my learning due to my anxiety. Reflecting back on my learning allows me to identify not only my errors and weaknesses but it can also bring to light the positives of what I am actually succeeding at within my studies. By seeing my own strengths, this gives me a confidence boost and allows me to feel that I could possibly overcome the anxiety’s that I feel sometimes hinder my learning and hold me back.

I reflect on my problems and situations that I find myself in on a day to day basis. Due to this, I see myself implementing and reflecting on most aspects of my life all time, especially my academic studies. I feel that having a more focused reflection, I am able to look at new outcomes and ways of approaching and reacting within certain situations.

‘The way that we learn from an experience in order to understand and develop practice’ – (Jasper2003)

Reflection not only allows us to solve problems but also allows us to learn from past experiences and take control of our own learning. However, reflection does not just have to be looking back and reflecting on what has already happened; it is often useful to also reflect forward. By doing this we can put our past experiences to good use and plan in a way that reflects positively on our learning.

Active & Co-operative Learning

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Active learning allows us as teachers to involve our pupils more in their own learning. Active learning also hopefully lets children feel more engaged in their own learning and feel inspired and excited to learn. There are many positive factors for active learning including; the children being more active towards their learning than having a passive attitude. It also allows the child to take their learning into their own hands which I feel is a more effective method of learning as the child will be more likely to remember and feel excited about what they are learning.

There is an endless list of benefits when it comes to working co-operatively within the classroom for both the teacher and the pupils.

Personally, I feel that working and learning with my fellow colleagues is a more effective method of learning. Discussion ideas with others and getting their opinions and views enhances everyone’s knowledge that is involved within the discussion. Working co-operatively also helps to develop skills such as; time management, communication, social skills and commitment. So if we use co-operative learning within our classrooms with our pupils then this will allow the children to gain and develop these valuable skills.

Co-operative learning gives the children a common goal to work towards as a group. This therefore allows for the children to work closely with each other to get the best results out of the task together, rather than individually so therefore, making it a more effective learning method. As well as allowing the children to develop team working skills it also allows for them to develop respect for their peer’s opinions and views which is a valuable lesson.

Timeline of Neuroscience

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Carrying on from the input on Brain Development today with Will, I found that there is a large array of events that took place in the subject of neuroscience… As there as far too many to write I have just selected a variety that interested me within the 20th century.

  • In 1909, Harvey Cushing is first to electrically stimulate the human sensory cortex.

Studies involving severe epileptics has shown us that using weak currents, investigators found that the usual responses when stimulating the individuals included, numbness, tingling and feelings of electricity and all these feelings where on the contralateral side.

  • The disease, Alzheimer’s, was named by Emil Kraepelin in 1910.

Kraepelin, who was a german psychiatrist that worked closely with Dr. Alzheimer, first named the ‘Alzheimer’s disease’ in the eighth edition of his book, Psychiatrie.

  • The intelligence quotient, or QI, was first developed in 1912 by William Stern.

He felt that by investigating the individuality of a person he could then uncover real principle of personality and intelligence. He developed the idea of expressing intelligence test results in the form of a single number, the intelligence quotient.

He looked at individual test scores and focused on “mental ages” which could then be compared to actual ages which could then relate to their intelligence ability. To get the intelligence quotient, he took the mental age and divided it by the chronological age.

  • In 1916, Shinobu Ishihara published a set of plates that were used to test colour vision.001

The colour test is called, ‘The Ishihara Test’. The test consists of a number of coloured plates which are called Ishihara plates. These plates contain a circle of dots appearing randomised in both colour and size. Within the dots, there are dots of another colour with represents a number or shape visible to those with normal colour vision. However, if you have a colour defect, these numbers or shapes will be invisible or difficult to see.

  • B.F. Skinner publishes ‘The Behaviour of Organisms’ in 1938 that describes operant conditioning.

The term, ‘operant conditioning’ was invented by Skinner. Roughly, it means to change the behaviour of a person or animal through the use of either positive or negative reinforcements. If the subject is shown to be doing the desired behaviour, then this is when the reinforcement is given.

  • In 1953, Eugene Aserinski and Nathaniel Kleitman describe rapid eye movements (REM) during sleep.

Kleitman and Aserinsky discovered there to be rapid eye movement while a child was sleeping. This led researcher into believing that sleeping involves some sort of learning process.

  • In 1956 Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen isolate and purified nerve growth factor.
  • The treatment for depression was introduced by Fluoxetine in 1987.

Eli Lilly and Company discovered Fluoxetine. This drug is used for a number is disorders including; major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bulimia, and panic disorder. In some cases, it has also been used to treat trichotillomania, a condition where the individual feels the need to pull their hair out, if cognitive behaviour therapy has been unsuccessful.

  • 1990 was declared the ‘Decade of the Brain’ by U.S. President George Bush.
  • Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric Kandel shared the Nobel Prize in 2000.

These men were awarded this prize for their discoveries of signal transduction, which is the message being sent from one nerve cell, to another through a chemical transmitter.