It's what you measure that counts.

Asking which came first, the chicken or the egg is a question which has long entertained philosophers and scientists.

Likewise, asking which should come first, the curriculum or the assessment model, has provided much thought for educationalists.

This question has been brought to my mind once more by a number of events and twitter conversations. The first is the imminent closure of both the government consultation on the EBC, and the heads roundtable consultation on the curriclum. Both of which close for business on 10th December. If you haven't responded to the government consultation then you really should. The documents are on their website.  You might also like to compare the Heads Roundtable consultation document, and reply to that. Again, details are on their website.

There is a feeling amongst many educators that providing an excellent curriculum is where we should start in designing education. If we get the curriculum right, then everything else will follow.

As someone who is, and has been, involved in both the business of examining and in curriculum design I think that this is not the best place to start.  Inevitably the curriculum narrows (or expands) to what is measured.

One only has to think of the 5A*-C (inc English and Maths) which led to the rise of equivalent qualifications, early and regular entry to boost numbers. Or the reported reduction in some arts subjects with the introduction of the Ebacc as a performance measure.

Equally, removing science from KS2 tests did not always allow science to break free of the shackles of a stifling curriculum, instead it meant that science lost prominence in many primary schools and focus was given to English and Maths. Or at KS3, the removal of SATS wasn't always used by schools to develop innovative and engaging curriculum experiences for students. Rather, it allowed them to start KS4 a year early, even to the extent of entering stusents in module tests at the end of year Assessment (and the accountability linked to it) drives the curriculum.  To be fair, some schools did take advantage of the freedom the loss of exams at the end of year 9 gave them and created a new curriculum for their students.

I think that we need to think about what, and how, we are going to assess and use that to plan the curriculum.  This is 'Backwards Design' as outlined by Grant and Wiggins. (Thanks to @damianainscough for the link.)

In brief, we should decide what students should know, understand and be able to do. This then allows us to outline how students can 'show that they know', and only then should we plan the learning episodes that students will experience.  This is the opposite way round that learning is sometimes planned, often with a 'Oh, I know a really good activity we could do' sort of way.

To see how this might look in practice, the York Science project is currently attempting to design a KS3 curriculum based on the backward design principle, and I would encourage schools to get involved with that project.  

For those designing the EBCs (even though the consultation hasn't finished yet) and those who will produce specifications based on the EBCs, then it is important that they think about how the materials they are producing will be assessed. 

For those designing their schemes of work/learning then it is important to think about what you expect the students to know at the end of the scheme, how can they show this (and it doesn't have to be written - see 200 ways for some great alternative ideas), and only then, what are you going to teach to get the students to the end point.

The Science Teacher's Song book.

During #asechat last night the topic of songs to use in science lessons came up... well, ok, I brought it up.

I loved using songs during lessons (and now on CPD courses) often at the beginning to set the scene as the learners arrive or at the end when they're reviewing/reflecting on their learning.

Other educators obviously felt the same, and suggestions came in so I thought I'd collect some here.  The IOP PTNC email list also discussed songs to use in lessons a while ago - as you can see, Physicists have obviously given the topic some considerable thought.

If you have any other suggestions, let me know and I'll add them in.

Biology
Reproduction -  Grease 2
Let's talk about sex - Salt n Peppa
The Circle of Life - The Lion King
Breathe - Prodigy
Dry bones (the knee bones connected to...) 
The drugs don't work - The Verve
Food, glorious food - Oliver

Chemistry
The Elements Song - Tom Lehrer (to be played at every opportunity)
Opposites Attract - Paula Abdul (Electrolysis)
Mole day music video http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Mole-Day-Music-Video-from-the-Virtual-School-6297022/

Physics
Under Pressure - Queen
Opposites Attract - Paula Abdul (electrostatics, or magnetism)
Collide - Leona Lewis
Defying Gravity - Wicked

Good Vibrations - Beach Boys 

Swing Low Sweet Chariot 

You spin me right round - Dead or Alive

Spinning around –  Kylie

Galaxy Song 

Nine million bicycles - Katie Melua 

Adjusted bicycle version! Correct Physics 

It’s electricifying - John Travolta 

Lightning – The Wanted 

Can u feel the force - The Real Thing

Supernova – Oasis Oasis

Supermassive black hole - Twilight 

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas - Dottie Evans 

Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong 

Chain Reaction – Diana Ross 

Atomic – Blondie

Quark song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kXkWXSXRA

Danger High Voltage - Electric Six 

I've got the power - Snap! 

Sound of da police - KRS One 

He ain't heavy he's my brother - The Hollies (for gravity) 

Ray of Light - Madonna 

Spectrum - Florence and the Machine 

Moment like this - Leona Lewis 

Perfect moment - Martine McCutcheon 

Magic moments - Perry Como

Speed and Velocity - They might be Giants  

Why Does the Sun Shine? - They Might Be Giants

Somewhere over the rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo Ole   Judy Garland

Speed of light – Coldplay 

Our Velocity - Maximo Park
Apply some pressure - Maximo Park
Starlight - Muse
Black hole sun - Soundgarden
Strange Charm - Hank Green
Large Hadron Rap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

The Particle Physics song (Higgs, Higgs glorious Higgs)


And good bands:
Astrocapella http://www.astrocappella.com/songs.shtml
They might be Giants 'Here comes science'
Kraftwerk

They want to know what you think ... I think.

We are currently about halfway through the Department for Education's consultation on the reform of the KS4 examination system.

Have you responded yet?

Lots of teachers that I've spoken to haven't read, much less responded, to the consultation.  The frenetic pace of the first half-term being one reason.  However, many teachers said that they hadn't responded because they didn't think they'd be listened to, so it would be a waste of time.

I can sympathise with this view.  Reading through the consultation questions it feels a little like we're being asked 'Which stick would you like me to hit you with - the ash or the oak?' rather than, 'Should I hit you?'

But, and it is a big but, if teachers (and others actually involved in Education) don't respond to the consultation, then the DfE will have no evidence of the depth of feeling about the changes.  It's easy to send out disparaging tweets about the EBCs (and other policies) on twitter, but does take a bit of time to respond to the consultation.  If we care about education, we should be willing to put time in to making our views known.  If we want students to have periodic tables, calculators or set texts in their exams we need to say so.   

I'm not going to comment on specific questions, but others have blogged about them, and about the EBCs in general.  See for example, from an English teacher's point of view by @panderson1979, or from a Headteacher's view from @johntomsett

On a recent course we looked at the consultation documents and discussed the questions.  To do this we made use of a cooperative learning activity that could be useful for departments to carry out in order to assist their teachers to respond to the consultation.  It would take about 1 hour to do well, but the time could be shortened if needed. 

Step 1: What does the consultation say? 

The participants on the course were split into groups of 5 and each group was given a copy of the 19 page consultation document (printed onto single sided A4 paper) and a sheet of flip chart paper which had been split into 8 pieces.

Each member of the group was given sections of the consultation to read and then summarise on the flip chart pieces.  The list shows who was asked to read what.  Each section had to be summarised on separate pieces of paper.

1. 2 pieces of paper for sections 2 + 3
2. 2 pieces for sections 4 + 8
3. 1 piece for section 5.1 - 5.13
4. 1 piece for section 5.14 - 5.25
5. 2 pieces for sections 6 + 7 

 The groups were given about 15 minutes to read and summarise their section of the document.

Step 2: Putting it all together

Each member of the group used their flipchart piece to summarise what they had read and learnt.  This took about 20 minutes.  It was helpful if the group didn’t discuss what they heard at this point (though to be fair, they were very keen to comment on the information).

 In this way the flipchart paper was rebuilt to provide an overview of the consultation as a whole. 

 There was then time for the group to discuss the consultation, say what they thought, and suggest other possibilities, as well as share ideas between groups.  This could take quite a while depending on how vocal people are.

Step 3: Answering the questions

 Helpfully (?), the Department for Education have provided a word document for responses.  I printed this out onto A3 sheets of paper and put them around the room in numerical order.

The teachers then wandered around, writing their answers and thoughts to the questions, discussing further with each other as they did so.  Some question got lots of responses (e.g. should there be tiering and should students be allowed to take calculators, periodic tables or set texts into the exam), others none.  However, as I pointed out during the session, you don’t have to respond to every question – just those you’ve got an opinion about.

At the end of the session, I typed the answers into the word document and emailed it to participants.  That way, when they answer the consultation they have got a starting point to work from.

This process can be adapted depending on how many people you have, or how much time you have. However, it is very important that teachers give their views on these proposals, and I hope that this simple activity will help you to do that by 10^th December 2012.

 

CLV festival 1

I spent today at the Cramlington Learning Village Festival of Learning.  300 participants in a maintained school.  Fewer big names than Wellington College perhaps, but more authentic teacher presenters I suspect.

I deliberately went out of my subject for my workshop sessions.  The second session I attended was 'Implementing Literacy Effectively into lessons'.  Here are my summary tweets from the session (written after the event):

#clvfest Literacy is vital to attainment and opportunities. Many definitions of literacy but includes reading, writing, speaking.

#clvfest Subjects don’t always think about literacy BUT if you’re a teacher IN English, you’re a teacher OF English @learningspy

#clvfest CLV aim to break cycle of poor reading and improve reading for all students, narrowing gap. Starting with year 7&8.

#clvfest Shared ideas about reading in participant’s schools. Discussion about value of silent reading for poor readers.

#clvfest Started to tackle literacy in Humanities and English but other departments involved.  e.g. word walls in Science and Art

#clvfest Some strategies developed from primary schools: VCOP http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6010767 PEE burger http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/151657/2058289/PEE-Burger-UPDATED.png

#clvfest other ideas include: vary length of text, discuss reading, position reading as part of school life, check readability http://www.niace.org.uk/misc/SMOG-calculator/smogcalc.php

#clvfest On World Book Day at start of every lesson each teacher read out part of a short story.  Kids (and teachers) wanted to know what happened next.

#clvfest In humanities there is a LOT to read. They’ve started to  use reciprocal reading strategies http://www.fresherschools.com/index.php/free-resources/literacy-resources/13-reciprocal-reading-group-cards

#clvfest CLV uses Accelerated reader in 7&8.  Organised by excellent librarian, progress monitored by kid’s English teacher and learning guide (tutor).

#clvfest Use different ways to practice spelling in different subjects.  Spell and sort in maths.  Read out terms – kids spell them and put them into correct groupings.

#clvfest Use a literacy marking criteria grid in all 7&8 subjects.  Marked out of 11!  Get simple number to track progress or target intervention.

Examiner Woes part 1

At this time of year, I am mostly to be found marking online scripts.

Examining is an important job, and one that I really enjoy doing - especially writing question papers.

However, at this point in the examining season, 2 weeks into electronic marking, I start to get a bit stir crazy.  So here are a few comments which, next year, you might like to pass on to your students.

1. Don't write anywhere except on the lines. If you need to write more, get additional sheets and use them.  It may be slightly different for different online marking software, but for the one I use it's a real pain to try and find the answer.  We can't flip over the page, or easily check at the bottom of page, or follow arrows and stars. Use extra paper.

2.  Get a decent pen.  The scripts are scanned, and pale inks just don't show up well.

3.  Data is plural.  That means that 'Do the data show....' is actually gramatically correct.  Your examiner  does not appreciate being told that they are wrong, or having the script corrected.  A smiley face doesn NOT make it better.

4.  If asked for 3 conclusions writing 'X does have an effect....', 'X doesn't have an effect...', and 'X could have an effect....' will not get you any marks.  Make up your mind and choose one.

5.  If you're going to write 'I can't believe you asked this' then make sure you get the answer right.

Invisible women

I was listening to an RSA podcast by Mark Easton about his book Britain Etc.  It sounded like an interesting read, and I will probably get it at some point.  If you don’t already know about the RSA podcasts then it is worth exploring the archive.  Every week they have a speaker (admittedly often with a book to sell!) who gives a 30 – 40 minute talk and then answers questions.  They have some really fascinating speakers, with many different view points, not all of whom I agree with.

However, it was a question from the audience at the end of the Mark Easton talk that has set me thinking.  It was from Christina, who represents ‘invisible women.  She asked ‘Where were the women in the book?’  And Easton obviously struggles to identify any named women in his book. Oops.

I like the idea that there is someone who represents ‘invisible women’.  A little like the Lorax who speaks for the trees.   Someone who asks the awkward question ‘Where are the women?’

The invisible women have been a problem in science for a long time.  It is well known that the path towards ‘scientist’ is a very leaky pipeline and there have been many attempts to deal with this, and to encourage more women to remain in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Last year, Ofsted published a report ‘Girls’ career aspirations’. One, slightly depressing, finding was:

Almost all the girls and young women who took part in the survey were open to the possibility of pursuing a career that challenged gender stereotypes, if the career interested them sufficiently. Their awareness of this potential, however, did not always translate into practice.  page 4

Ofsted visited primary schools as part of the survey, and they found that from year 3 children were thinking about what type of career they would like to do, albeit fairly stereotypical ones*. Further up the education tree, Ofsted also found that careers education at KS3 was weak, which made it difficult for girls (and presumably boys) to make choices which challenged their stereotyped ideas.

Which set me to thinking, given the dismantling of the careers advice service, what classroom teachers could do to support all students in their future career choices, and open up a wider world of ideas to them.

Although focussed on increasing the numbers of girls studying Physics at post-16, the Institute of Physics publication ‘Girls in thePhysics Classroom: A teachers guide for action’ is a useful resource when thinking about promoting careers.  The publication suggests that relevance to ‘real life’ is an important factor in enjoyment and take-up of physics, especially for girls.  Using information about scientists and science careers is, I think, an ideal way of increasing the relevance of science to learners.

A recent twitter discussion about classroom displays, started by @hrogerson, led to a discussion about what could go on the walls. Shortly after this, @sciteachcremin wrote an interesting blog post about the displays that he is required to put up for his school. I think that many secondary schools are quite a long way behind primary schools in making the school environment a rich visual stimulus. Walk into any primary school and the displays are usually eye-catching, curriculum linked, and regularly changed. 

This then, dear reader, is today’s suggestion:   

Use classroom displays to highlight the ‘invisible women’ who work in science, technology, and engineering based careers. 

Make sure that ALL the students in your class know what different careers they can follow if they study science.  Help them to find out what it takes to be a radiologist, an accident investigator, a landscape gardener** and so on, and make sure that they know that it can be done by women, as well as men.

I run physics courses for teachers, and one of the things that I say a lot is that you need to make sure that the contexts used in physics appeal to everyone in the class at some point, and that those interests will be many and varied.  We can’t assume that you can pop in a reference to football and hair straighteners and BINGO you’ve contextualised the learning for everyone!  More on that another blog, perhaps.

In much the same way, in all science teaching, by introducing different careers, you begin to provide all the students in your class with role models and information about what they might do.  So if a student is interested in medicine, then it is worthwhile highlighting some of the other careers in the health service to them – after all they’re not all going to become doctors.

One of the difficulties here though is that as a classroom teacher we don’t always have the level of careers knowledge that we might like.  Luckily there are a whole raft of useful resources out there which can help. 

Future morph - website set up by the Science council to highlight different science and technology based careers.  There are sections of the site aimed at different age students, parents, teachers and careers staff.  Plenty of ideas here including this list of examples of careers linked to different science topics. 

Talent 2030 –Aimed at students, but useful for teachers.  Mainly engineering information, with a nice section of ‘Heroes’ showcasing some of the career possibilities. 

WiSET – Some interesting case studies from women at different stages of their careers, from apprenticeships to management and leadership.

NHS – If you’re not sure what jobs there are in the NHS apart from the doctors and nurses then this website will give you some ideas!

Steminist – US based, but does have a nice list of historical figures (most of whom you won’t have heard of, but should have) and interviews with women currently working in STEM careers.

And the final resource I'd like to highlight is This is what a scientist looks like. A very lovely collection of photos of people working in science, sometimes out in the field, sometimes not, to show what science looks like.  People from all over the world represented here. Scroll down to the bottom to get to the archives with hundreds and hundreds of photos and short bios about scientists!

So, go and speak for the 'invisible women' and maybe inspire all your students!

*  "In discussion about what they would like to do for a job, the youngest pupils talked about wanting to become teachers or vets (girls), footballers or pilots (boys). The Year 6 girls interviewed had a wider idea of what they might like to do with some already talking of science alongside nursing, teaching, police, armed services, care services, hairdressing and beauty work. Boys continued to prefer sports or applied technology vocations, a games designer being a popular notion. Around half (51 out of 112) of the Year 6 boys spoken to were thinking of these two areas. In contrast, only four of the 113 girls surveyed referred to sport (horse riding and gymnastics) while 43 were aiming at performing or graphic arts, or writing. Only five girls and six boys had no definite thought about a future job. No Year 6 pupil, girl or boy, wanted to be a nursery nurse or childminder although they all thought that these were ‘girls jobs’." Girls' careers aspirations, Ofsted, 2011, pg 7.

** all taken from Future Morph careers list.

Shooting for momentum

Momentum is a tricky concept to grasp.  It’s not entirely clear, at least to students, what the advantage of using momentum is compared with say, velocity or force.

It doesn’t help that it’s quite tricky to clearly show differences in momentum.  The typical example that I used to use was to compare a truck and a car, or perhaps a motorhome and sit-on toy.

 

The question is then, which would you prefer to be hit by?  Why? 

A large motorhome ... would hurt if it hit you!

Toy Tractor - would still hurt, but not as much

However, the difficulty here is that it’s difficult to separate out the ideas of size, mass, and speed from momentum.

I wanted to think of a way that would allow a more direct comparison of objects for a discussion of momentum.  One of my colleagues uses a Nerf gun as a demo of momentum, and I wondered if it would be possible to adapt it to make some more quantitative measurements of momentum.  She has stuck a ballbearing onto one of the darts for the gun. She then asks a volunteer to stand against a wall and asks them which they would prefer to be shot with. 

Which would you want to be shot at you?  Why? 

Most people choose the dart without the ballbearing.  Are they right?  Let's see.

Adapting the demo:

 

Step 1: Get hold of a Nerf gun (or in my case, cheap replica).

Bought from a cheap shop!

Step 2: Use blu-tac and small washers to add mass to two of the darts.  I stuck one washer and two washers on the darts to see if there was a relationshop between the distance they flew and the added mass.

The prepared experiment!

Step 3: Find a large room and fire the three darts, keeping the gun straight and as close to the same position as possible.

In that classic POE process – predict what you would expect to happen?  Why?

 

Step 4: Observe. 

As I expected the darts flew different distances – with the unweighted dart going the furthest.  I tried this a number of times and each time the lightest dart flew the furthest.

The advantage of using the gun is that the force applied in each case is the same, and the shape of the darts are (pretty much) the same.   

This makes it easier to discuss the idea of momentum as a product of mass x velocity and not get hung up on being run over by a motor home.

I’m planning on repeating my experiment, but actually taking measurements, and possibly videoing and then analysing the results to calculate momentum.  Details to follow…

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'.

Taking part in 'real' science.

A series of tweets this morning started me thinking about involving kids in science experiments.  The conversation started with a tweet about Chemistry in the Olympics on the new RSC site ‘Learn Chemistry’.  

The experiment is similar to ones which I have used in the past, especially when working on CREST awards or experience weeks with students.  The RSC experiment looks at the effect of a ‘sports drink’ on performance in a 100m run.  There is a comprehensive risk assessment, and suggestion that collaboration with the PE department might be appropriate, which I thought was good.

However, the experimental design itself wasn’t ideal – there was no real control condition or attempt at a blind (or even double blind) test.  Personally, I would probably have used each student as their own control.   The first measurement would be the time for the initial 100m run, followed by a timed rest during which they either drink water or the ‘sports drink’, and then finally timing their 100m run again.  The dependent variable would therefore be the change in time, rather than the average group time.

My main thoughts about the experiment though, were to wonder what the purpose of the study were.  It is purported to be a global study, with results being uploaded to the RSC website and displayed on a world map and in a bar chart.  But what exactly will this show?  Will different countries have different average 100m runs?  And if so, what will that signify? 

The RSC Press office tweeted the following about the experiment:

• We wanted to do something quick, easy and open to discussion.  We also have to fit in with…
• schools’ timetables and resources.  If they had a spare day we could devote a much longer expereiment though I’m not…
• sure how many kis (sic) would want to keep running all day!

The instructions for the experiment actually say “There is unlikely to be any effect from sports drinks on a 100 metre run, therefore we wanted to introduce a critical evaluation part of the experiment for the students to discuss in the classroom.” Which suggests that the main point of the experimental design is to provide a model which needs improving.  Whilst I’m all for students learning about null results, I think many teachers would rather try an experiment that was likely to show some differences.

Using live data from around the country is not new.  For example, the Wellcome Trust ‘In the Zone’ project has live data on the site. You can compare data from across the country, and there is still time to take part in this, using the kits that have been delivered to every school.

Last year, during the International Year of Chemistry, there was a Global Water experiment.  During the time the experiment was live, over 100000 students took part in 4 different activities and uploaded their data to the website.  Although data collection is now closed, the experimental protocols are still available, and would make an interesting project for schools.  The data is also still available allowing truly global comparison of water sources.

The Open Air Laboratories Network, OPAL, can also allow schools to get involved in collecting data.  They’ve got surveys on Earthworms, Bugs count, Clouds and biodiversity. The data is being analysed by professional scientists.  Well worth a look if you’re interested in the outdoor classroom.

Similar to OPAL is iSpot – a website where you can upload pictures of nature, and the online community will then identify what it is that you have photographed.

Which is why I thought that the RSC had missed a great opportunity here.  I know that they wanted to link to the Olympics (who doesn't?), but there are lots of great crowdsourced, real science projects that are being done out there. 

Taking part in science – a different way.

By coincidence, today I had arranged for my kids to take part in ‘real’ research.  The Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University has a volunteer register which I have signed up to.  When researchers need experimental subjects they can advertise their project and members of the public can volunteer to take part.  I suspect that other universities (and especially psychology and neuroscience departments) have similar registers.  There could even be opportunities for classes of students to take part in experiments.

So today my kids were part of a control group in a study which is looking at planning hand movements and how it changes with age.  It showed them that science can be done by normal-looking people, and they got some sweets at the end of it.  Result!

Can you see what it says yet?

For a while now I have used water bubbles (aka super absorbent polymer balls or hydrogel balls) to discuss refractive index and to illustrate the difference between transparent and translucent materials.

You may have seen them discussed on an episode of QI (though I don't recommend the use suggested by Jack Dee at the end of the clip). 

These little balls start out tiny, but can absorb water to grow many times their original size as you can see from the photo.  

Comparing the dry and hydrated bubbles

The waterbubbles, when dropped into water, are almost invisible.  This makes them a nice starter demonstration when teaching refractive index. I start with a bowl of ‘mini bouncy balls’ and a bowl of water.  Tell students that the waterbubbles are ‘magic’ and drop them into the water.  They disappear!  This can be used to elicit some interesting questions and hypotheses about what has happened. 

And they’re a lot less sticky than the pyrex test-tube in glycerine demo that I used to do. 

The waterbubbles have almost exactly the same refractive index as the water, so the light passing through them continues to travel in a straight line without refraction.  That means that we can’t see them and they are invisible.

Even in primary school they can have their uses.  Children are taught that light can pass through some materials (transparent) but not others (opaque).   However, children will also know about opaque materials which let light through, but you can’t see what is on the other side.  In opaque materials the light is scattered as it passes through, and so the ‘picture’ is lost because you’re looking at light from lots of different places on the object.

To demonstrate this, I put lots of the hydrated waterbubbles into a clear plastic container and put it on top of a short poem.  The refraction of the light at the air/water/air boundaries mean that the light is scattered and you can’t see the poem, although you can see that there is something underneath.

Waterbubbles on top of the poem.  They are a model of a translucent material

 

Slowly add water.  As the water covers the waterbubbles they no longer refract the light, and the poem underneath starts to become clearer.

Can you tell what it says yet?

Finally, when all the waterbubbles are covered you can read the poem in its entirety.  The light passes straight through the bubbles, and to you.  

Waterbubbles fully covered with water.  A model for a transparent material.

For older students, you could have them sketch what is happening to the light as it passes through the boundary of the balls, and ask them the explain what they have seen using the terms: refractive index, refraction, boundary, air, water, light.

You are now asking “Where can I get these wonderful water bubbles?”.  The ones in these pictures were taken out of a cheap gel air-freshener, rinsed to get rid of the perfume oil, and put in water to plump them up a bit.  They are used in flower arranging, so a local garden centre or florist might stock them.  I have also bought some from waterbubbles.co.uk in the past.

Starting again.

It’s been a while since I started the blog.  Since I began much has changed.  A couple of year ago I began with the idea that I would comment on science stories published in the news.  However, since then I’ve changed my job and that has given me a different perspective on things.

Nowadays, I’m much more interested in the education side of things.  Perhaps because, having left the classroom, I now have time to think.  Time you don’t have when you’re working in the classroom. 

And then there’s twitter.  A flood of ideas, diatribes and social chat.   

So now I’m thinking that a blog would be a good place to record my thoughts about what I’m reading and pondering.  Probably still science linked, but I suspect that education will creep in quite often.

I hope we enjoy the ride.