Category Archives: 2.1 Curriculum

Scientific Literacy

Scientific Literacy TDT completed by myself, Katie-Rebecca and Kim.

AC1 – Maienschein, J. et al. (1998) states that there are two main definitions for science literacy. The first emphasizes a huge focus on gaining units of scientific or technical knowledge. Second emphasizes scientific ways of knowing and the process of thinking critically and creatively about the natural world. Knowing about science means that you can make informed decisions about the world around us from an economic, social and personal point of view. Science literacy links in with some of the principles with the Curriculum for Excellence which are depth, coherence and relevance (Education Scotland, 2016). It is important for children to look at science in depth because if you don’t the children may not have the chance to understand at any other point. Coherence comes in because if the children link up their previous knowledge to their current learning then they may have a better overall understanding. Lastly, relevance is important because if you cannot justify why the children are learning what they are, then why are they learning it? If their work isn’t relevant to the Curriculum and the children’s interests then they won’t be interested in science.

AC2 – A shortage of scientific literacy could result in the development of false scientific conclusions. In 1998 one false accusation reported by the media was the investigation into the MMR vaccine. Andrew Wakefield, who no longer practices medicine, came to the conclusion that a child who is given this three in one vaccine for measles had an increase chance of developing autism. Of course, when these findings were released by the media many parents were hesitant and refused to get this vaccine for their children meaning the chances of the child catching measles increased.

In 2004 it was finally realised that these findings were false. Wakefield only research on twelve children and these twelve medical reports did not match what Wakefield claimed in this findings. His findings were therefore false making the paper he published inaccurate and this paper was taken down. This illustrates how important science literacy is, the outcome of this false information resulted in children suffering for unnecessary reason. In new, recent research it has been found that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. However, there are some parents who may still be hesitant or refuse this vaccine for their child as they still believe Wakefield’s findings.

AC3 – Fair testing is one of many ways of learning through science enquiry. Testing is kept fair by experimenting in a controlled environment and changing one variable at a time. Teaching children how to test one variable at a time along with a control group shows them that by only one variable can affecting the outcome with a comparison (the control) reliably. An example of a fair test in a school to improve scientific literacy could be to dissolve sugar in water. In each cup the same volume of water and sugar would be placed, one cup would have warm water and the other cold. The cold water (the control) gives them the comparison and proof that it is in fact the temperature that speeds up the sugar dissolving and not any of variables such as time left in water. Being scientifically literate is the ability to think critically about the world knowing that what they have in front of them may not always be reliable. So science literacy, the example of how false scientific conclusions and teaching fair testing iterates to children that not everything they say or hear is on based on evidence and they should challenge it if necessary.

Education Scotland (2016) – See here http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/thecurriculum/howisthecurriculumorganised/principles/index.asp

Greenslade, R (2013). The story behind the MMR scare. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/apr/25/mmr-scare-analysis

Jane Maienschein et al. (1998) “Scientific Literacy” in Science:Vol. 281, Issue 5379. page 917 NHS Choices, Ruling on doctor in MMR scare, 2010. Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/01January/Pages/MMR-vaccine-autism-scare-doctor.aspx

Science Kidz (2016) – http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/dissolvingsugar.html (Accessed: 14th February 2016).

UTMB Health, Wakefield Autism Scandal, David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, 2012. Available at: http://www.medicaldiscoverynews.com/shows/237_wakefieldAutism.html

Not just a warm up…

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I was really excited for our P.E. input as anyone who knows me knows I enjoy exercising and playing sports. I think we were all a bit nervous as we weren’t sure what was going to be involved in terms of efforts of exertion however I think we knew Will wouldn’t have us running laps for the whole hour. I was surprised the find out the aims of a warm up that I had not considered before in a P.E class. For our warm up Will gave us a series of simple instructions to follow. He asked us what the intention of this and most of our answers were as you would expect such as increase heart rate and preparing the body. Will then explained his intentions were not only of that mentioned but to also identify areas such as:

Physical ability
Ability following instructions
Potential bullying
Competitiveness
Motivation

The simple instruction that were given for us to follow were also allowing Will to assess who is or isn’t physically able to do some movement. If a child cannot bend down to touch their toes or they aren’t co-ordinated they may need further help in certain areas. Another of the instructions was to stop jogging and sprint in the opposite direction – this was so assess spacial awareness.

The next part of our warm up was to jog round the hall and when will shouted “freeze”, he would show the number of fingers of how many people to get in to groups. What he was doing here was to see if we could follow non-verbal instruction but also identifying possibilities of bullying e.g. do the same people always go in a group and are some people always left out. By doing this when it comes to grouping for further drills or activities the teacher can work out ways to put people in different groups. I am guilty of saying in school we did try to outsmart our teachers by not all lining up in a row to try to be grouped together.

Next in partners we took turns to dribble a ball, however there were only one or two full sized basketballs. What Will was showing us here is that the resources available to us may not match up with our lesson plans so we should checking to see what is available before planning.

I did come across some interesting information while researching for this blog post and came across this report. sportscotland and Education Scotland invested £5.8m to support local authorities in providing two hours for primary and two period for secondary school of quality physical education per week. This report details how some local authorities spent this money including buying resources, sports equipment and inclusion training for teachers to fully include children with additional support needs. From this hopefully the schools we work in will have benefited from this investment and resources won’t be an issue.

Most importantly from this input I learned that P.E isn’t about doing a gym class for two hours per week and that’s it. It provides learners with the opportunity to build and improve physical fitness but also build upon interpersonal skills from working in groups. It allows for children to take on leadership roles and demonstrate fair play.

Truth, lies and the internet

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The internet is undoubtedly the greatest origin of information today. The vast amount of information that is readily available is overwhelming. “I’ll Google it” is a phrase I think and use most days. It could be for absolutely anything from symptoms of a mystery illness, to finding out what movie an actor was in. Ultimately, I use the internet for absolutely anything and everything. The authenticity of the information that I come across is now a concern due to the number of spoof websites. Sharon suggested we search for Martin Luther King and the 5^th website on the first page is a complete spoof. Who knew!!? I am also guilty of looking at only source and believing that information. Sometimes, we come across inaccurate information and reiterate it. But because there is so much out there on the World Wide Web who is it say that it’s right or wrong, the internet says it so surely it must be right? If I am naïve to what I find on the internet, I can’t imagine how this impacts young impressionable children.

In Sharon’s input we found out using Boolean terms such as “and”, “or”, and “not” and using quotation marks can reduce the number of hits from that search quite drastically. By narrowing this search down, it is likely children will come across less accurate information. According to a survey in Truth, Lies and the Internet, 47% of teachers surveyed report having encountered arguments in lessons or homework containing inaccurate information that has been found on the internet containing misleading information i.e. denial of the holocaust!! This is quite unbelievable that this type of information is even allowed on the internet.

There are other search engines out there and some that are child friendly. Some examples of there are:

By showing children there are alternatives to Google and teaching them skills of using the Boolean searching they will come across less inaccurate information. This is not to say that every website they look on will be accurate so they still need to know how to tell the truth from the lies and always being safe in the digital world. There are many tools available on the internet to show demonstrate how to use the internet safely and to show just how easy it is to put anything on the internet.

I have created a Fakebook page using this link and it is so remarkable the likeness to a real Facebook page (obviously that is the point!!).

Using Fakebook, I have created a profile for Albert Einstein. Fakebook is really useful and a fun resource not only to consolidate learning from lessons and topics but to build on ICT skills such as searching, retrieving and uploading information and images . Creating this Fakebook involved using Boolean terms to find out information about Einstein, including his birthday, family members, photograph and associated people to add as Fakebook “friends”. To do this I had to save images to my desktop and upload them to the website. The experiences and outcomes associated with this task could be linked to – “I can access, retrieve and use information from electronic sources to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts” TCH 1-03b. By doing a task like this, the children enhance and consolidate their learning through developing ICT skills.

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