Dissemination and Innovation Workshop Day Two

Day two was equally brilliant! We started the day with some teacher input, summarised in the last post and then had 3 further presentations about various areas of development in science education. It was lovely to meet people I'd spoken to on Twitter too!

SOLO Taxonomy Linda Needham @needhamL56

Linda talked about SOLO, originally developed by John Biggs (1982). Pam Hook has worked with it to make it more user friendly for teachers and students alike. You can see her website here which also has the full Biggs references. I'm really excited about introducing this to my classroom. I currently have a Bloom's poster arrow that I refer to during lessons or sequences of lessons but I feel this offers more.
It's important not to attach grades to particular SOLO levels because different topics promote different levels of learning for different students. Some topics would expect extended abstract learning for every student, others would not. It is about helping students understand how to extend their own learning on a topic and to become familiar with the verbs that are linked to the different levels. I realise, that in many ways, it is similar to differentiated pedagogical methods currently used, but I just think the graphics and symbols, and the terminology are better suited to how I teach.


The York Science Project.   Robin Millar and Mary Whitehouse @MaryUYSEG

The York Science project aims to focus on what it is we want students to be able to do after a series of lessons. Often we consider assessment only after we have written a scheme of work. This project aims to reverse that and is currently developing resources linked to the KS3 programmes of study. It also focusses on checking student understanding frequently and eliminating misconceptions as soon as they arise. More information is given on the website and the project still requires teachers to trial resources in their classrooms. I have done this already and have been really impressed with what I've seen so far. Many of the questions have had me thinking 'I know that is the correct answer but can I explain why the others are wrong!?'

Computer Gaming in Science.  Bryan Berry

Bryan described the Unbox21 project where teachers have investigated using computer games to teach science and problem solving skills. Two teachers shared their research which showed promising results.
We looked at several examples of how this could be achieved. Machinarium - to which I am now addicted - requires various problems to be solved that often involve science. Aspects of circuits, magnets, levers etc can be identified in the levels. From this students were asked to design their only level and set up a physics based problem to solve in the lab. I loved it and will definitely be looking to include this in my teaching of physics to year 8 next term.
Racing games had also been investigated. This seemed an obvious choice for speed and acceleration but also for analysing real data. Other games included botanicula.com, Shaun the sheep.com, Drive Green, Tap the Frog, Angry Birds, Spore, Aardmans world of inventions,
Home sheep home and F1 racing game.


So that's my summary of 2 days in London. Thank you everyone for all the fantastic presentations. Now off to invent the 8 day week so I can find time to try all the new ideas :)