Category Archives: 2 Prof. Knowledge & Understanding

All About Science Literacy

When one is scientifically literate, they will realise and understand the scientific ideas and methods required to take part in everyday life. Throughout our lifetimes we regularly hear stories about many different issues around the world, such as global warming and new medicines and drugs that have been invented to apparently improve the quality of life. As a scientifically literate person, one must be able to answer things that they question by investigating the answer. These questions come from our inquisitiveness in everyday life.

Scientific literacy suggests that a person can recognise scientific concerns underlying local and national choices and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed. One who is scientifically literate can display positions that are scientifically and technologically well-versed. They are also able to look at scientific statements and evaluate them by studying their source and procedures, and use this in such a way that they can then put forward arguments to reach a conclusion.

Being science literate means not believing the first thing you hear before you have surrounding evidence to the fact. In 2002, BBC news reported that German scientists had found out that blonde hair would become extinct within the next 200 years as it is a recessive trait. It stated that for “a child to have blonde hair, it must have the gene on both sides of the family in the grandparent’s generation” (BBC News, 2002)

The New York Times, found out later that year that no actual study had been done. Despite this revelation, the study continued to be cited in publications right up until 2006.

This sparked a panic and instantly everyone knew about this, though it was only one study, which turns out to not have even happened. Therefore, you should not trust any fact unless you find more than one reliable study to support the evidence presented in the fact.

I believe that it is important to teach children how scientific experiments can sometimes be “fixed” to derive a preferred outcome. This, is often to fool people into believing something that isn’t true. For example, on the 1st April 1957 the BBC aired a ‘Panorama’ programme which hoaxed thousands of viewers to believing that spaghetti was grown on trees in Switzerland which, anyone who is scientifically illiterate would testify isn’t scientifically possible. For children to develop the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts so that they are able to challenge facts they believe aren’t correct then we, as teachers, must teach fair testing throughout the scientific curriculum. I believe that it’s important to enforce to children that they cannot just take the conclusion from their first experiment which they only carry out once. For reliable results they must repeat the experiment several times to ensure that their conclusions are correct. Thus, building their scientific literacy.

BBC NEWS (2002) Blondes ‘to die out in 200 years’ Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2284783.stm (accessed 26/01/16)

BBC NEWS (1957) BBC Fools the Nation Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2819000/2819261.stm (Accessed: 8/02/16)

ICT: Animation

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Teamwork—a hugely important skill in animation! When we teach animation to children, often they will be required to work in pairs or groups, therefore teamwork and cooperation is essential for the lesson to be successful. In a lecture the other day, in pairs or small groups we were required to make a mini movie using animation. We were instructed to have a director and a camera person in our groups, and then one person playing one character in the animation. If the people in the group do not get along or work well together, it just won’t work. You need all these people to ensure the smooth running of the process of creating an animation and it wouldn’t work even if there was only one of these team members missing.

ICT skills are important when creating animation on a computer. The child needs to be able to work a camera and understand why you would place it at different angles, different distances away from the subject of the animation and the effects that all these changes would have.

Image from: img2http://internet-safety-primary-education.wikispaces.com/animation

Children need the ability to add in sounds to their animation to make it more exciting and creative. They need to be able to either record a sounds themselves through a microphone (which also require ICT skills), or the ability to source a song online and then add it into their animation. This can get tricky, especially if you aren’t that good with ICT, therefore the children should be shown how to do this.

Internet safety is key! A teacher must ensure that he/she teaches the pupils how to use the internet safely before allowing them to go online or use ICT. There are so many resources out there for children to use. Classtools is a great website with lots of different activities for the children and the teacher to use. Here is a link to a profile I created on ‘Fakebook’, which can be used as a resource for teachers to teach children about fictional or historical characters in a completely safe way.

ZU3D is a great software that is safe to use and makes creating animations really easy. It is simple to record your own sounds and add them into your animation wherever you want, or to add subtitles or credits into the movie. We were introduced to this software the other day in uni and this is an example of what can be created:

The teacher should familiarise the children with how to work this software before getting into the lesson. The teacher should ensure all of these skills are taught to the children before creating an animation to ensure the best possible outcome.

Speaking of outcomes, here are the expected experiences and outcomes from the Curriculum for Excellence:

available in PDF format at http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/curriculumareas/technologies/eandos/index.asp

Free your mind!

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After recently reading some of my peers’ blog posts on their ePortfolio, it is clear to see that some people have been putting in a great deal of effort and really engaging with the blog. They are reflecting on topics which weren’t even set as tutor directed tasks. This shows a strong commitment to their own professional development.

From writing these blogs posts, not only are my peers able to voice their opinions and invite us to respond to create a debate, but are they transforming and developing their ability to be critical. They are simply taking a statement or current topic and giving their thoughts and opinions on it.

I fully understand that a lot of people on our course may be quite apprehensive about posting on their blog. It can be quite a daunting process for some students and some will feel a bit nervous about voicing their opinions online in fear of receiving negative comments in return. These people should not be made to feel like this!

At first, when the idea of an ePortfolio was introduced to us, I admit I was a bit unsure of it. I had never done anything like this before. The more posts I started to write, the more I felt that it was a really good way to express yourself and your feelings. The ePortfolio is like a blank canvas to start with and gradually over time as we are adding to it, we are creating a masterpiece that reflects ourselves, our personalities and our lives. My favourite part of reading peers’ posts are when I come across a personal part in it. To me, this makes the post more memorable and relatable.

I think it is really important for all of our cohort to be reading other people’s blogs often. Not only will it set the standard for blog writing but will it give people the chance to leave a comment for the author to perhaps suggest other ideas relating to the piece of writing. Like the definition states—our peers in our cohort are there to help and support us, not to put us down.

Free whatever it is that you are thinking, because in the end it may help someone else understand or encourage them to voice their opinion too.

One Born Every Minute

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Made using www.wordle.net

Throughout an episode I recently watched of One Born Every Minute on Box of Broadcasts, I noticed the professionalism that took place by the midwives and the doctors in the wards.

From the diagram above, almost every word on it relates to midwives and doctors in their jobs. The words I thought were most applicable to this type of job were teamwork, supportive, considerate, listening, friendly, and helpful. During the programme, one of the nurses identified that midwifery is more than just a job, proving their professional and personal commitment. All of the staff who helped to deliver the babies were very aware of the language they were using towards the patients. In a job like that, you really need to be conscious of other people’s feeling and emotions and maintain a level of awareness for others.

The hospital staff all conducted a very high level of professionalism during the programme. Firstly, I want to make it clear that I am not against this in any way. You need to be able to enjoy your job and in the programme it was very obvious that the midwives were making this possible for each other. But, If I was to make any criticism towards their professionalism it would be that they were fooling around in the staff room. The reason that I do not have an issue with the staff having a bit of fun is because patients don’t really see into the staff room. As long as the staff are acting appropriately and professionally in front of the patients and visitors in the hospital then that is fine. The only reason I thought it was relevant to bring this up was because in some jobs that would be unacceptable and you need to be aware of the boundaries when it comes to your professional career.

The midwives in the ward had such a great way of working with the patients. I noticed that they made the women feel comfortable and at ease, which is definitely something you would want whilst giving birth. They used their sense of humour to do so and tried making jokes to relax the patient. They created a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere for the patient.

Dress code is very important when it comes to acting professionally. Your appearance is the first impression you give someone, and if the first thing someone notices about you is the fact that you aren’t dressed appropriately, it will have a long lasting effect and majority of the time, a negative one. By dressing appropriately, you are off to a good start towards being a professional. NHS staff are required to wear uniform at all times simply for the reason of hygiene. However, it does also show that they are all part of a team and portrays their professionalism. The midwives wore their NHS tunics and all had their hair tied up. The doctor wore a shirt and dress trousers which looks very professional and conveys a sense of importance.

If I were the one who was designing and developing a degree in Midwifery for students, I think a mixture of learning methods would be the best option. Everybody learns in different ways, and it would be unfair if the assignments were all written, in the case where there is one student who loves writing and one who hates it, and perhaps prefers to give presentations, as it puts the person who hates it at an automatic disadvantage. They should be given the chance to excel in something they enjoy doing as the chances are they will do better in something they have enjoyed doing.

It would be necessary to attend all lectures, do background reading and self-study throughout the course to develop their knowledge and understanding of the content of midwifery. However, it would also be necessary for them to attend practical training sessions and professional practice as does this not only reinforce knowledge they have learnt as they see it in a real life scenario, but does it show them how to act professionally. They will be able to see the staff during their placement, for example, and know what is appropriate and what isn’t in being a professional in the health care industry. Their time should be spread equally between all of these learning methods.

I feel that this episode of One Born Every Minute has shown that the skills that are required to be a professional in the teaching industry are also very applicable to other types of professional careers. I have learnt from this episode that sometimes the ability to calm and relax people is necessary in teaching, for example in a child who has anger issues. However, at the same time nursing and midwifery are totally different jobs (both very rewarding and appreciated) and the things that take place in the hospital don’t tend to happen in the classroom. Therefore this means that I can only take some basic skills, e.g. the ability to be helpful, from the programme and apply it to my own professional development.

Peer Review Strategies for the Classroom

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Pinterest is such a fantastic resource for teachers. It is so easy to use and is full of great ideas. I have started a new board on my account where I have saved some peer review strategy ideas. I will continue to use this board over the period of my course, so hopefully by the time it comes to me having to use peer review strategies in the classroom, I will have this as a reference to go to for ideas and inspiration.

Peer Review and Feedback

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Before we do anything here, we need to understand what feedback is to be able to give feedback to others. Simply, as Google states, it is information which is used as a origin for development and improvement. It has a very meaningful purpose to it, yet provide us with many benefits and challenges.

Below is a diagram to describe the different forms that we can receive feedback in.

http://learning.cf.ac.uk/examples-of-feedback/#peer

Peer review has a very meaningful purpose. Through self-assessment it activates us as students, as learners of our own learning. Through peer assessment it activates students as teaching resources for one another. It puts the people/individual giving feedback at an advantage, alongside the people receiving it.

Receiving feedback helps develop key skills, such as critical thinking and reflection, communication, self-motivation and time management. It also allows us to be able to give constructive feedback to others, therefore helping them improve. If we engage with peer review, we are also engaging with assessment criteria which leads to improved application of our own work. We get a richer understanding of our own work.

On the other hand is the challenges of peer review. Reluctance of one or more to partake in the process can be a barrier to effective results. Some people, especially young children, may have a dislike to assessing or judging their friends. Others may not get on with other people taking part in the peer review process, which is an issue. In general peer review is very time consuming, therefore a lot of teachers, for example, may have 101 other things to do and simply doesn’t have the time to sit and do a thorough assessment. Finally, if people lack evaluative skills them this can cause a lot of problems.

Next, we need to understand how to give useful criticism. By understanding what ineffective feedback is, it allows us to understand what effective feedback consists of.

Below, is an interesting video I found on YouTube that brings up some points that I hadn’t thought about whilst looking into peer review.

The woman in the video has used the bird house as an example. She feels that there is so many things that the pupil could improve on from the bird house, that she suggests giving feedback to them in parts: one thing at a time. I feel that this is a really good idea. If a teacher bombards you with loads and loads or corrections to do on your work, you are going to be clueless as to where to start. However, if each correction is pointed out to you gradually, it allows you to fully focus on improving from the feedback that is given, without having to worry about all the other mistakes that you’ve made.

Another issue that was raised in this video was resubmission. I feel that this is really important to be able to hand something in a second, third, even fourth time! I know from my own school experience that if a teacher hands you back a piece of writing with all the corrections that you should do to improve your work , but they are never going to look at it again, then your initial thought is why bother doing the corrections if I don’t really have to?

I remember throughout my time in high school studying Higher English, my teacher got to the point where she would just expect another draft of my essay in each day to go into my folio. I must have handed in about eight copies of the same essay to her (I’m pretty sure she got sick of me and ended up just telling me that it was really good after the eighth copy). But, I wanted to keep receiving constant feedback from her to help me improve my work to get it to the highest standard I could possibly achieve. After all, it must have worked as I got my B in Higher English and here I am studying Education at the University of Dundee! To me, this is proof that effective feedback is definitely beneficial.

Most of all, I am delighted to see people actually taking the time to read my work on my ePortfolio and give their opinion on it. I really value what people are saying. Receiving feedback on my work was definitely a positive experience for me, even though it contained good points about it and points that I could improve on. It is a confidence booster to read the good points that people are making about my work. I sometimes write posts for my ePortfolio and wonder “am I doing this right?” but from the comments I am receiving from my peers, it most definitely implies to me that I am doing something right!

From leaving other people comments on their work, I have learned the basic things to look out for when assessing, such as spelling, grammar, and identifying whether or not they are following the learning criteria. Also, I’ve learned how to be critical. At first, I didn’t want to mention things that people should improve on because I didn’t want to feel like I was being picky or nasty. Often this can be a barrier to leaving feedback to others. Now after receiving comments from peers about how I could improve my work, I have realised it isn’t nasty or picky at all. It is actually really helpful and important.

I feel that as I go through my course at University I should be engaging with other people’s work on ePortfolio and leaving constructive criticism in the comments as this will really help both the student and I. The student will gain a deeper understanding of their work and I will develop skills which I can use in the classroom.

Pupils need feedback on their work in the classroom – it is really important. We learn and develop from receiving feedback, therefore it is crucial for children to be presented with critical comments upon which they can improve. Not only will they understand where they are going wrong and be able to prevent it happening again, but will it allow for them to become more critical by seeing good examples of criticism. They will understand what it is to give feedback, and how to do it. There are lots of resources that can be used in the classroom to get children self and peer assessing. I will show examples of strategies that can be used in the classroom to get everybody thinking about peer review in my next post.

Constructive criticism and peer review is the way forward!

The Enquiring Practitioner

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Practitioner enquiry is a ‘finding out’ or an investigation with an origin and method that can be explained or defended. This is usually carried out within the practitioner’s own practice or by working together with others. It is thought that practitioner enquiry should become something that is carried out every day in a school.

With being an enquiring practitioner, I think one of the many benefits is that ultimately you are helping shape education and continually changing it. Through practitioner enquiry you are encouraged to challenge and transform education as a teacher. Also, it allows the teacher to continue to learn and develop their own understand of what teaching and education is. It also helps teachers bring new ideas and new ways of teaching to the table, which could be the way forward. Lastly, practitioner enquiry allows us as teachers to become more professional.

The GTCS states “The findings can then be shared so it becomes more than reflection or personal enquiry.” Here, we can see that practitioner enquiry is also beneficial when done as a team. We already know that working collaboratively is extremely valuable to a lot of people, because we can learn things from others that we may not have thought of before, therefore by reflecting back to your colleagues about practitioner enquiry, we can see things that were missed by ourselves.

On the other hand are the more challenging aspects of being an enquiring practitioner. Practitioner enquiry is something you would really have to get used to at first, which will require a lot of time, effort and commitment.

To me as a student teacher, I know that I have to be an enquiring practitioner whilst in school, and even out of school.

The most successful education systems …invest in developing their teachers as reflective, accomplished and enquiring professionals who have the capacity to engage fully with the complexities of education and to be key actors in shaping and leading educational change. (Donaldson, 2011, p.4)

Practitioner enquiry is a really important means of developing school and education in general, therefore I am willing to be critical, questioning, thinking, leading and developing. I will therefore develop a better professional knowledge and understanding.

Professionalism

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Video 1

At the basis of a good teacher is good education. A teacher must be able to deliver this to their pupils on a daily basis. A bad education may mean they lose some of the opportunities and chances in life they would’ve had, if only they’d been educated better. A teacher who delivers a good education to their pupils is a teacher who makes a difference. This means that they must have certain skills and abilities to be able to do so.

Throughout the video I agreed that all of the qualities mentioned were important for an exceptional teacher to have. One of many that was mentioned was that the teacher has to be reachable. The teacher comes into contact all the time with the pupils, often their parents and occasionally members of the public, such as the police. They have to be easy to talk to, and confident enough to speak to people they don’t know. Pupils should feel like they are able to come to the teacher with any problems they may have and know that they can trust him/her.

The most important point I took from this video is that to be a teacher who makes a difference, you must be willing to put the extra work in. I really enjoy art and am passionate about it, and would be willing to start an after school arts and crafts club for the children in a school. I used to love things like that in primary school and believe that they were beneficial to my creativity. Passion and commitment are qualities that a good teacher must have.

There are still many other qualities that a teacher who makes a difference has to have thought. Being professional is not just about dressing smart!

Video 2

In this video, the teachers say that professionalism is being a role model to your pupils. As the children grow up, their teachers have an effect on them. Their attitudes, language etc. rub off on them, therefore as teachers we must be a positive role model for them to look up to.

I agree that we, as teachers, are role models and need to be a good image. To be a good role model you must be able to present things well, speak well, and act appropriately in front of the kids. As mentioned in the video, it is also important how teachers react to the way the pupils speak to them. You cannot judge the children based on anything like background or class and must respond fairly and appropriately. You need to be an effective communicator and also be willing to keep up to date with ever-changing education.

Video 3

The message I got from video three was that there is an ongoing debate to whether or not teachers are professionals or workers. The male in this video thinks teachers should be highly appreciated and paid more money, because they are professionals. On the other hand, the female has the opinion that teachers are workers. She, who is a teacher, classes herself as ‘an educational worker’. The main thing about this video is that it makes you question yourself whether a teacher is a professional or a worker.

Social media is powerful!

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I was always brought up by my parents to be aware of the things that can go wrong on the internet, and how explosive it can be. Because of this, I have always been aware of what I posted on social media and made the decision myself, whether or not it was appropriate. Quite often something will come up on my Facebook news feed and I cannot believe what I am seeing, and can’t help but wonder why on earth some people post the things they do.

Social media is very dominant is the current generation. I bet nearly everybody you know has a Facebook account and probably half of them even have a Twitter account, without even mentioning all the other resources there are out there for people to socialise and connect on.

When it comes to the internet and you are in a professional career, you need to be very careful. You have to be mindful of what you post, who you are friends with and who can see your profile without you knowing. GTCS Scotland says, “Teachers therefore need to be alert to the risk that actions which might, on the face of it, seem quite innocent can be misunderstood and misconstrued by others.” Some people are unaware of how far something can go after innocently posting it on social media.

Take this group of women who wanted to have a night out and enjoy themselves, but couldn’t because of the power of social media… http://http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1389292/Disgrace-drinking-pole-dancing-primary-school-teachers-published-pictures-Facebook.html

This proves that as a teacher who uses social media, you must be aware that once it goes online, there is no way of getting it back. You have to think to yourself: do I want everyone to identify me by this photo, as the teacher who is not fit to teach?

After an eye-opening lecture with Derek on internet safety I was taken by surprise by what I saw after I logged in to Facebook and checked out my privacy settings. There was an option on whether you wanted other search engines to link to your timeline. This was automatically turned on, and doesn’t come off unless you are aware it is there, and turn it off yourself. Instantly, your information and photographs are escaping from the Facebook world and without you knowing, your profile is connected with search engines such as Google. I think this is scary as anyone has access to Google, therefore anyone can see your posts. It is frightening how wide the internet can reach and it helps you understand why a lot of people don’t agree with the use of social media.

A lot of people agree with the use of social media and internet in schools, but others don’t. Many frame it as a destroying resource, which may be because we only ever see the negative effects of the internet. You hear lots of horror stories about young people online and this bends your view on social media to it being a complete waste of time and that it shouldn’t exist. People less often talk about how fantastic Facebook, Twitter etc. is, therefore people don’t get the chance to see that they can be useful for many different things.

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