Week 1
This week in sustainable development we were looking at energy and how to implement teaching it in ways children can relate to. Our main concern is recognising how much energy sources (fossil fuels) our planet uses and how we will eventually run out of these sources if we do not make changes and use alternatives. Initially we looked at what everyday forms of energy are used tremendously in the Western world, such as heating and electricity to power households and the use of transport fuels. Looking at basic examples like boiling a kettle or leaving a light on can show children how they heavily rely on fossil fuels and by recognising this they can contribute to helping save energy. We later investigated what alternatives can used to find new ways to generate electricity, power vehicles and make materials.
Our first workshop consisted of going round six stations where there was an experiment set up based on electricity or magnetism. These experiments would be very useful to introduce specific terms to children such as circuits, voltage, series, amps, etc. Each experiment built on my science process skills, including observation and communication. Observing is fundamental in order to see changes, make sense of what has happened and identify why it happened. Communication, especially in groups, is also very important as others can share their observations and ideas, therefore having another perspective can lead a more accurate judgement of what happened in the experiment. Doing these experiments myself particularly informed my planning and practice as a teacher. It gave me the opportunity to judge which experiments would be the most engaging and stimulating for a young class.
The second workshop proved to be very informative to me as a student. We looked at the use of wind turbines as an alternative use of energy. Firstly, we were set out to individually research sources on the argument of wind turbines, i.e. are they a good idea for governments to use a main alternative energy source? We later were set into groups to share our own findings and summarise them into a list/mind map of for and against points of using wind turbines. This use of collaborative learning greatly developed on my overall knowledge of the subject matter, this is an area I have always wanted to learn more about as student. As well as developing my research skills, my critical literacy skills were expanded too as I judged what sources were the most informative and also as I was able to pick out relevant information from the source and apply it to my research. The last stage of our workshop was to debate with another group, with one group being allocated in favour of wind turbines and one group allocated against them. Despite the opinions of the debate teams, each were able to present arguments for their side very well. Debating highly builds on skills for persuasive speech, presenting, listening, critical thinking, and academic confidence. All of which I can use throughout my time as a student. However this experience of learning also provided a meaningful in sight to me as a teacher. I took from this that using debating and other memorable teaching methods is great way for children to use their own ideas and opinions to learn an important subject.
Week 2
We had the chance to listen to a teacher from Onthank Primary in which she spoke of how she incorporates STEM learning in the classroom. She is involved in a project that encourages teachers to get children to think like engineers.
She spoke of how all children should be involved in interdisciplinary learning where they can get involved and become creative, because it should be recognised by teachers that learning through traditional maths and literacy is not for everyone. Key ways to teach children to be STEM minded involved giving them a real-life context to the learning and use specific language that stimulates them to think as a problem-solvers. Also we as teacher should be modelling practice by encouraging children to see that making mistakes is good and reframe failure as necessary part of learning; show them teachers can also make mistakes and do not always have the right answers. I identified that in order to implement effective STEM learning in the classroom the teacher has be skilled in areas of creativity, collaboration and problem-solving. The talk was very informative to me, as a teacher, particularly when she spoke of how a school does not need to be from a wealthy area or have highly intelligent pupils for them to gain achievement in STEM learning. Having spent time in schools in deprived areas, and I most likely will spend more time in my future career as a teacher, I plan to take this knowledge on and implement these useful strategies.
In our only workshop of the day, we had to create an anemometer out of materials and after to create a lesson plan from the task including CfE experience and outcomes, learning intentions and success criteria. Thinking as a teacher, I had to use my organisational skills to clearly structure my objectives and what steps I would plan to take during the lesson. Although we were given the task that would take place in our lesson plan, we came up with other technology/engineering based tasks (such as structuring a paper bridge) this developed my creativity skills as a teacher as thinking of fresh and engaging lessons is a main component of the job. The collaboration of group members developed my group working skills, teacher will commonly share ideas and lesson plans in their career.
