Finding research papers

It can be reasonably straightforward to find research papers online.  In this post I’ve outlined where you might find such papers, and how you can get copies of them.

1. Open Access papers and other sources

There is an open access movement slowly spreading through the journal world.  Whilst not all journals are open access, some do provide access to papers without charge to the reader. The downside is that their ‘impact rating’ tends to be lower and so academics may avoid publishing in them.

This website is a directory of open access education journals.  There are probably far more journals there than you will ever want to look at, but you might spot a few that look interesting.

There are other sources of educational research, and this helpful blog post from SUPER contains a number of links to research papers and information.  http://schooluniversitypartnership.wordpress.com/access-to-research/

2. Searching.

Avoid the temptation to use a standard search engine to look for research.  Instead make Google Scholar your friend.

This allows you to search for articles in scientific journals, and cuts out the blogs, news articles and general clutter that a standard search engine would return.

As with all search engines, the more specific you are the more helpful the results are likely to be.  There is also an advanced search query which allows you to be more specific about what you want to include or exclude from your search.

So for example, if I want to find out about the research into gender equality in STEM subjects, then I would get the following results:

On the right of the picture you can see that some of the articles are available as a pdf – and if you click on that link it will take you directly to the paper.

Narrowing your search:

You can use the search fields on the left hand side of the page to narrow your search to a specific time range, or since a particular year and only look at more recent papers.  

You can also remove citations, which removes references to papers of interest in books or other papers.

3. Getting the paper
What if you've found a paper that looks interesting, but which isn't shown as a pdf in your search results?

The first thing to do is to read the abstract on the journal homepage.  This should be a summary of what the researchers did, and what they've found.  There will often be enough detail for you to decide if you actually want to read the paper.  Some journals will also allow you to 'look inside' which provides a longer extract of the article.

 

If the abstract looks interesting, then you will want to get hold of the paper.  However, I suspect that you, like me, might balk at paying £29.95 to read it. Thankfully, you don't need to pay.

Every article will have a link to the authors and their email address. It is a simple matter to choose one of the names - probably the first one* - and contact them by email to politely ask for a copy of their paper.

I have found that, when emailed, researchers are more than happy to send you a pdf copy of their article, and sometimes will send other possibly relevant papers. 

So there you have it.  An easy way of getting hold of research papers, even if you don't have university access.


*The order in which the names are written on a research paper is a complex matter of hierarchy depending on who did what.  Exactly how the order is determined depends on the research field, but in general, the person named first did most of the work, and the person named last is the professor or principal investigator.

Teach them well...

Our visit to CERN proper started in a crowded lecture room.  As well as the 51 UK teachers, there were around 40 Israeli students and their teachers.  Israel has just become a full member state of CERN, and these students were the first visitors since that event.  Over the three days, it was fascinating to watch these young people sit through some fairly tricky lectures on cosmology, the Higgs Boson and medical applications of particle physics amongst others.  And not only did they sit through the lectures, they listened and asked intelligent questions at the end.

Each year CERN hosts tens of thousands of visitors.  Amongst these are teachers from all the member states of CERN, as well as other friendly states.  The teacher programmes typically last a week (our UK programme is a little shorter than most), and is hosted where possible by a researcher from the visiting teacher’s home country. 

The education and visits programme is a massive endeavour for CERN, and so it is reasonable to ask ‘Why?’.  What is the benefit to CERN of inviting teachers and others to wander round the facilities, taking photos, getting in the way and filling the restaurant?

Indeed, one could also ask why the National Science Learning Centre, and STFC (who provide financial support for our study visits) take teachers to CERN.

The answer, said in a slightly misty eyed way way, is that it is for the kids.  We, in the words of a song, believe that children are our future.  

The future?

More prosaically, without kids taking STEM subjects, there won’t be big science and technology undertakings in the future.  Somewhere like CERN is the work of a LOT of people – people who studied sciences, engineering, architecture, and other STEM subjects.  And at some point, those people were in all likelihood taught science by enthusiastic teachers who made them think that science was a subject worth studying.

So CERN (and NSLC) want to work with the teachers because they are the multipliers.  If a single student, such as one of our Israeli companions, comes to CERN then that is one person who will (in all probability) be enthused about science.  However, if one teacher comes, then that teacher will go back into school or college with a renewed interest and, dare I say it, excitement about science.  One teacher may teach 200 to 300 students each year.  As the teacher says ‘when I was in CERN….’ and shares the excitement of standing just in front of a 15m wide particle detector 100m below the French countryside, then their interest can be contagious and spread to some of their students.  So one person’s visit will hopefully inspires classrooms full of students.

Up close and personal with a beam pipe

And it’s not just seeing the scale of the undertaking.  The guides who show the teachers round are often researchers, who volunteer to show people round CERN.  Meeting the researchers, chatting to them and asking about how they ended up working in CERN, provides real examples to teachers of possible career paths that their own students might take.  Career paths which the (non-specialist) science teacher might not have realised were possible.

Konrad, explaining why there is more than one particle accelerator at CERN

So to CERN, the cost and disruption, of hosting teacher programmes is worth it.  In fact, it is part of their core mission to the future.

Arriving at CERN

First impressions

I think that the main thing that struck me about CERN is its apparent normality.  Walking around the site on a Sunday afternoon, above ground, CERN looks very like the light industrial estates that surround my home town.  Large non-descript buildings, empty roads and cul-de-sacs.

Industrial estate?

There are some hints to let you know that it isn’t just an industrial estate: the roads are named after famous physicists; the French-Swiss border passes, unmarked, across a roundabout; and there are a lot of compressed gas cylinders (often Helium) outside the buildings.   

Sounds familiar.

I'm standing in Switzerland, the trees are in France.

For party balloons or particle accelerators?

Another noticeable feature is the noise.  Even on a Sunday afternoon there is a constant hum in the air coming from some of the buildings.  It sounds very like the hum of an air conditioning unit.  In a country where almost everything is shut on a Sunday, the equipment at CERN keeps running.

Sitting in the restaurant (thankfully also open on a Sunday) snippets of conversation float through the air, different languages, different accents.  Mostly everyday topics, but every now and then physics appears.  

CERN Restaurant 1 - one of the most cosmopolitan places to eat anywhere.

Of course, the really interesting thing about CERN is not what happens above ground.  It is in the tunnel underground that makes CERN special.  And it is the experiments at CERN that I, and 51 teachers from the UK, are looking forward to finding out about.

The participants on the Feb 2014 CERN study trip

Working Scientifically

Recently I've been talking with secondary school teachers about the quality of science enquiry that can take place in primary classrooms. I've become more aware of what goes on in primary classrooms because I've been working on a course for primary science specialists.  I have developed sessions on physics subject knowledge (up to KS3), and with colleagues have linked this to activities that take place in the primary classroom.

In the previous national curriculum, science enquiry became a strong focal point in primary classrooms, with a lot of good practice being developed.  The Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) and also the Primary Science Teaching Trust have highlighted what good primary science can look like. 

In the new National curriculum, scientific enquiry has been subsumed into 'working scientifically'.

‘Working scientifically’ specifies the understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science for each year group. It should not be taught as a separate strand. These types of scientific enquiry should include: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources. Pupils should seek answers to questions through collecting, analysing and presenting data.

pg 3, Science Programme of Study, 2014

I know that a lot of work was done by the primary science community, including the ASE, to ensure that the definition of science enquiry in the new NC was not limited to 'fair tests', but included a range of different ways of doing science.  If you are interested in looking at these ideas in more detail then the ASE publish a book called 'It's not fair...or is it' which is worth a read.

Looking further through the programmes of study, working scientifically is defined in more details for each of the key stages.  So in lower KS2 (years 3 and 4) we find that children  "... should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out."  In upper KS2 (years 5 and 6) children "... should select the most appropriate ways to answer science questions using different types of scientific enquiry… Pupils should draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings."

In good primary science lessons this happens.  Children choosing their own equipment, devising a method, thinking about controlling variables, taking measurements and drawing conclusions from their experiments. 

If you haven't had chance to visit a primary science lesson recently (or at all), I would recommend that you try to do so - especially if you have a PSQM primary school near you.  You might be surprised by what you see.

And then the children enter secondary school, and often this level of independence disappears.

Looking at the statement about what children should be doing in years 5 and 6, many secondary teachers that I have been working with have been struck by the similarity in description between the new primary national curriculum and the marking descriptors for controlled assessment.  

That set me wondering if there were some interesting ideas for enquiries that could also be used as part of the preparation, or even as investigations, for controlled assessment.

A few years ago (when it was still coursework) I was involved in moderating for an exam board.  At the moderation training, we were told to expect to see a wide variety of different investigations.  In reality, I saw a very narrow range of experiments: resistance of a wire, osmosis using potato chips, and the thiosulfate cross.

On one of my courses (small advert!), I do a session on physics enquiry, where we look at different investigations that students could carry out and I thought that perhaps this could be developed further to reflect the changes to the national curriculum from 'How science works' to 'Working scientifically'.  I also wanted to incorporate some of the skills that I'd seen in primary science.

It's a physics course, so I asked my physics minded twitter followers if they had any good examples of experiments used for controlled assessment tasks or investigations that went beyond the ubiquitous resistance of a wire.  

I wanted examples where students would have more freedom about what they might investigate, where the science was perhaps not straightforward. 

Some of the suggestions were of quite straightforward experiments, but I could see that it might be possible for students to design their own method, choose suitable equipment and take data that could be interpreted using their GCSE science knowledge (with perhaps a bit of stretch).

Suggestions given included:

• Ray box and several thermometers with bulbs painted different colours to investigate heat absorption
• Rolling ballbearings down curtain tracks to measure efficiency
• Hookes Law with springs or plastic bags (or use strawberry laces to examine creep)
• Different ways to measure g
• Dropping cupcake cases or parachutes
• 2 beakers of hot water wrapped in paper towels and one is kept wet to investigate evaporation (video of a similar experiment but with bottles and a towel)
• Looking at how power changes with time, doing step-ups on and off benches
• Voltaic piles
• Conduction rods
• Windmills -
• Solar panels

These last two were from the Gatsby SEP Innovations in Practical work series.  They produced a series of booklets on a variety of different topics which included a lot of practical work and also worked with Mindsets online to develop equipment that can be used in science investigations.  The booklets are all available as downloadable PDFs .

With the eventual demise of controlled assessment, I hope that teachers will be able to include a wider variety of practical work.  But as you can see, there is quite a lot of practical work that can be done which will fit into the controlled assessment model - especially if that includes an investigation.

The tweacher revolution?

I have written before about the discussion of 'Twitter as the best CPD ever' that occasionally surfaces in my twitterstream.  I find it very sad that the quality of CPD in some schools is so poor, that 140 character interactions are so transformational.

Having said that, I do like twitter a lot.  It makes my job of keeping up with Policy changes and government pronouncements much easier, and allows me to discuss the changes quickly with others who care about such things.

However, do I think that twitter and blogs have the power to change education, as Joe Kirby discusses in his blog 'How might social media help teachers improve education'?  I'm not so sure that I do.

The digital elite.
The vast majority of teachers and education professionals are not on twitter.  When I am running courses I often ask who is on twitter, and rarely will more than 5% of the course answer in the affirmative.  Last week I was working with over 50 NQTs.  Before the course started we thought that of all our courses, this would be the one where there was a high proportion of twitterers.

There wasn't.

Possibly about 10% owned up to being on twitter - but not the large proportion we were expecting.  They were not the social media generation we were expecting.

Those of us on twitter are the minority in education.  Most of the teachers and educators do not tweet, or blog.  In our little bubble world, it might feel like we are mighty, but sometimes I feel that we are in a hall of mirrors, listening to the echoes of ourselves.

The enthusiastic few
I would argue that, in teaching, there have always been an enthusiastic few who have been willing to try out new things, who read books, who went to meetings.  And now some of these are on twitter.

And it's great.  We can indeed write blogs that the Secretary of State reads (well, some of us can), we can find out about the latest trend (PBL, direct instruction, SOLO, educational myths and the like) and we can find people like us (or not like us if you choose to follow a wide range of people). Which is a good thing.

But . . .

Twitter and blogging is unlikely to cause system wide change.  The vast majority of teachers will be untouched by the ebb and flow of ideas on twitter.  They will continue to go to, and grump about, in-school CPD, they'll teach, and they'll be good at their job.  They'll complain about the new changes, and implement them well (or badly).

The system is so large and ponderous that having a small proportion of teachers (and others involved in education) on twitter will not change the system.

The best CPD I've ever had...

There are many claims made by teachers about Twitter.  Something that I've seen tweeted a few times is that Twitter is 'the best CPD I've ever had.'  As someone who now provides CPD for a living I always find that statement very concerning.

However, I think that part of the reason that Twitter is a useful source of CPD is that it is immediate, often focused on a topic of immediate relevance to the tweeter, and can lead to a sustained conversations.  The fact that so many teachers spend Mondays (#asechat), occasional Tuesdays (#sciteachjc) , Wednesdays (#InthePicture) and Thursdays (#ukedchat) taking part in twitter chats shows how valuable teachers find this.  Not to mention the impromptu discussion of pedagogy, education policy etc that take place at other times of day (and night).

However, I do wonder if these learning conversations could be migrated into the 'real' world.  At work, we have a Journal club. Once a month a few of us meet together to discuss a paper from educational research, and consider its relevance to us, and the teachers we work with. We usually meet over lunch, and spend about half-an-hour chatting around the paper. I've found it really beneficial to have this space to think more deeply about teaching, and CPD provision, with colleagues.  As with teaching, during the course of a normal working day, usually it's hard to make time for professional conversations, so making time for journal club is great.

Which made me wonder if it would be possible to develop something similar in science (or other) departments.  Think about the conversations that take place in your prep room or staff room. In my experience it's rare for professional learning conversations to take place day-to-day in schools/colleges. You're so busy with the day-to-day busyness of teaching that it's hard to take a step back to discuss what you're doing, why, and how it could be better.  Even training days / department meetings are often taken over by admin and bureaucracy, not professional development.

To digress slightly...

In one of my previous schools, the science department was split over 3 blocks. Often, you wouldn't see some members of the department from one week to the next. To try and encourage us to get together more often we started 'Cake Friday'. I drew up a rota and each week we would meet together in a room, have cake and chat. (On a recent visit back there, I was pleased to see that it was still going on. A fine legacy I feel.)

Back to twitter chats...

Wouldn't it be great if the professional conversations that teachers have on Twitter (and we have in journal club) could be had in school? 

I was able to talk to a couple of HMIs from Ofsted recently. One of the things that struck me was a comment made that regardless of the grade of the school, they often saw examples of good practice in every school.  However, in some schools, this was in isolated classrooms, and was not shared between staff.  This matched with my experience that teachers don't get the opportunity to discuss their practice together.

A suggestion then, dear reader. If you enjoy the professional development you get from twitter, why not try to do something similar at school.  Take the chat topics and summaries from your favourite chat, and use them to have semi-structured professional conversations in school. Probably not every week, but maybe once a half term. Encourage colleagues to meet together to discuss what they've tried out in the classroom recently, to reflect on their teaching. 

You could even try your own version of cake Friday to ease the flow of conversation.

It could be a great way of developing your own real-life 'best ever CPD'.