Diary Entry - November

 

I started the term by asking the science department staff to volunteer to help, so we could involve as many year nine classes as possible.  The response was fantastic and has enabled us to reach over 160 students already.

We had our first meeting at the end of September to discuss the aims of the project and methods we would use to improve the students’ analytical skills.  We also underwent training, given by Yvonne, on how to use the Active Response handsets and software.  This new expertise, which we have already passed on to the rest of our department and the Geography department, is proving to be a popular tool in many of our lessons.

October arrived and at last it was time to get the students involved.  First we surveyed our classes, using active response, to find out how much they understood about the media and science reporting.  Once the results were collated it was found that the students had a basic understanding of the media but knew very little about what to look for in scientific articles to determine if they were reliable.

In class, over the next few weeks, we discussed “What makes a good scientific article?” and used the “News Bugs” activity to focus on using criteria to analyse written articles and television reports. 
The class is split into teams of 6; each team member has a leg for the Bug and a criterion card.
If the team member feels that the report has met the criterion on their card they put a leg on the Bug. If the Bug has enough legs to stand up, the report is deemed to be a “good scientific article”.

Meanwhile, the Flip cameras have been delivered and we are learning how the students can record their own news reports. 
We are also preparing the rules for the launch of our news competition next week.

Today, Friday 20th of November, we have been visited by Amanda Smith from North West Regional Science Learning Centre.  The students happily explained what they were doing in the project and showed off their new skills and equipment. They had the added bonus of having their picture taken for the local paper.  We, the project team, also got a bonus as Amanda has offered to come back and train us in making podcasts.

All in all, an excellent start to the project which has both staff and students enthusiastic for what is to come.

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