EDPR5012 Teaching Science Assignment

Introduction

Australia’s former Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb, summarised the value of science in our lives: Science and the application of scientific principles can be found everywhere. Our nourishment, our safety, our homes and neighbourhoods, our relationship with family and friends, our health, our jobs, our leisure are all profoundly shaped by technological innovation and the discoveries of science (Chubb, 2016 p.1).

Working with the premise that science is critical for all Australians then the teaching of science is significant and important. Research has identified that students’ learning in science should be based on the following guiding principles.

1. Science learning involves the integration of knowing and doing
2. Developing conceptual understanding through engaging in the practices of science is more productive for future learning than simply memorizing lists of facts
3. Science learning is best supported when learning experience are designed to build and revise understanding over time (Next Generation Science Standards, 2013)
4. ‘Science is rooted in conversation’ and therefore developing collaborative skills are important to increase science understanding (Heisenberg, 1971) ,/li>

This unit is designed to provide you with the skills, strategies and knowledge to incorporate these principles into your science classroom. Science teaching and learning skills, strategies and concepts will be developed through the exploration of scientific literacy, learning theory, science curriculum and science pedagogy. Students will discover and curate the resources available to teach science and be encouraged to develop to be life-long learners. The emphasis is on discovering the wonder of science and developing the skills and understanding needed to be able to help children to investigate, understand and communicate about their world. The course will focus on the Australian Science Curriculum, which is organised into three strands:

• Science Understanding,
• Science as a Human Endeavour and
• Science Inquiry Skills

With a weekly focus on activities from the four conceptual areas within ‘Science Understanding’;

• Biological science;
• Chemical science;
• Earth and space science and
• Physical science,

These conceptual areas will be explored whilst developing an understanding of science inquiry skills and the place of inquiry in the real world of science and in the classroom.

Unit Learning Outcomes

All graduates of Curtin University achieve a set of six Graduate Capabilities during their course of study. These inform an employer that, through your studies, you have acquired discipline knowledge and a range of other skills and capabilities which employers would value in a professional setting. Each unit in your course addresses the Graduate Capabilities through a clearly identified set of learning outcomes. They form a vital part in the process referred to as assurance of learning. The learning outcomes notify you of what you are expected to know, understand or be able to do in order to be successful in this unit. Each assessment for this unit is carefully designed to test your knowledge of one or more of the unit learning outcomes. On successfully completing all of the assessments you will have achieved all of these learning outcomes.

Your course has been designed so that on graduating you will have achieved all of Curtin's Graduate Capabilities through the assurance of learning processes in each unit

Working with Children:

The safety and wellbeing of children and young people is a community responsibility. Engaging in any learning and teaching activities with children and young people as part of a unit may require you to obtain and provide a valid Working with Children Check, particularly if you are intending to go into a school or other educational facility.

Please be aware that it is your responsibility to obtain this check, to ensure that it remains current, and you must immediately notify the School of Education if your clearance has been revoked. For more information on clearance requirements please see the information particular to the requirements of your state/territory at the following link:
https://aifs.gov.au/resources/resource-sheets/pre-employment-screening-working-children-checks-and-police checks

Please note that the following may form part of this requirement:

• signed parental consent forms (even if the children are your own)
• an “Ethical use of ICT” statement if taking photographs/video of children.

Detailed information on assessment tasks

1. Assessment 1 – Report

AITSL Standards:

This assessment provides the opportunity to develop evidence that demonstrates these Standards:

1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet with the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organization
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
3.4 Select and use resources
4.1 Support student participation
4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

Summary

Interview a child about their science knowledge with questions you create, record the interview, analyse the responses and then plan 4 activities to advance the child’s understanding. Seek written consent from the parent (use letter & consent form on website) and interview ONE child (Years 3-6, ages 8-12).

Part A Research in Science

Research ONE science concept from the choice below.

• Water Cycle
• Weathering and erosion
• Electricity
• Heat
• Light (absorbed, reflected and refracted)
• Forces including direct and indirect forces

Write a brief report on your science concept to at least a Year 9 level. Explain your chosen concept and define the key terms associated with it. Provide valid labelled and/or annotated diagrams to support your discussion. Reference your key ideas using appropriate academic resources

Part B Investigate a Child’s Thinking

Synthesis a minimum of 10 well considered interview questions. You may want to refer to a concrete example (diagram, photograph or object etc.) that you plan to use in your interview. It is expected that your questions will change throughout your interview as you adapt the discussion to accommodate your child’s responses.

In the Appendices: With written consent, interview ONE child (Years 3-6) about their ideas around your chosen science concept. The consent letter MUST be included in the appendices as the assignment will NOT be marked otherwise. Record evidence (an audio recording) of the interview with your child. You should record the interview, transcribe it, and collect evidence in the form of drawings, artwork of any form or photographs (do not include faces of children for privacy reasons). The written transcript and evidence should be included in the appendices.

The purpose of the interview/ informal conversation is to find out what the child already knows and any misconceptions she/he has about the science concept.

Part C Reporting on a Child’s Thinking

Identify Science concepts and misconceptions the child holds using the transcript created. Example taken from transcript include line number and links to relevant academic literature

Part D Application Activities to Advance a Child’s Understanding

Based on the information that you have obtained from the interview conversation, curriculum documents, research literature and readings suggest 4 activities that could address this child’s range of misconceptions so as to progress her/his science learning. These are not lesson plans and are not aimed to be taught to a class, but activities that you could run with the child in a one on one situation.

Ensure you identify the misconception and then synthesis or adapt the learning experience that you have chosen to address this misconception. Whilst it is accepted that you will take your activity ideas from other sources, you must adapt them, not merely drop in a full activity from elsewhere.

Part E Reflection

Based on the information that you have obtained from the interview conversation, curriculum documents, research literature, readings and activities reflect and answer the following questions 1) What changes did you make to your original set of questions and why? You may need to refer to Blooms taxonomy in your answer 2) You have found out about one child’s misconceptions; how would you address the possible misconceptions of an entire class of children?

2. Assessment 2 – Exercise

AITSL Standards:

This assessment provides the opportunity to develop evidence that demonstrates these Standards:

1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet with the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organization
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
4.1 Support student participation
4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically

Planning a 5 week Teaching Program using 5E Model

Prepare a 5 week teaching and learning program for Science using the 5E model. This is a teaching and learning program NOT just a series of unconnected lesson plans. You must focus on one year group from years 3-6 in one (1) conceptual area of Science. Plan an integrated series of interesting, hands on and exciting science lessons that are based on the Australian Science Curriculum.

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Science/Curriculum/F-10. Choose a relevant content description to develop over the series of 5 lessons around the 5E model. For example Year 4 Biological Science Living things have life cycles (ACSSU072).

Your teaching and learning program will need to: Be aligned to the Australian Curriculum Science. Use the proforma provided to scaffold your report. Include THREE assessment types within your program (diagnostic, formative and summative). Focus on the content description for ONE (1) year group in ONE (1) conceptual area of Science. Include aspects from the Inquiry and Science as a Human Endeavour strands appropriate to the year level. Clearly demonstrate how the 5E method is applied. Be age-appropriate.

Incorporate current Science teaching and learning theory and strategies as examined throughout the unit. Provide at least one (1) integration opportunity (not lesson) for cross-curricular learning (and be specific to how and where it would link Consider how ICT resources and strategies can be included to develop and extend learning opportunities. Include relevant resources as appendices Assume one dedicated 60 minute lesson of Science per week in a primary classroom, therefore 5 Science lessons in total. Each lesson in addition, a brief rationale needs to be included to clarify the aims and curriculum intention of the program and demonstrate your understanding of unit materials.

Lesson Plan’s Overview

This overview helps you consider all the aspects of planning that you need to consider and enables you to highlight them and then remember to include them in your programme document. On the ‘Lesson Plan’s Overview’ provided: highlight the statements in the boxes that apply to your 5 lessons, Add the topic name, year level and term, Add the outcome abbreviations for your 5 lessons (taken from the Australian Curriculum), For each of the 5 E’s write a maximum of 2 sentences that summarise each lesson and how it relates to the 5 E’s

Science mini lesson plans,/strong>

These should use the proforma provided and this helps you consider aspects such as: Learning objectives/outcomes, Students prior knowledge Lesson steps (briefly outlined tasks in dot points) Key questions, Assessment, Resources/material. Your lesson ideas may be taken from other sources, however, you must adapt any lessons that you use. Choose your sources wisely and be innovative you need to consider how to challenge,excite and engage your students. Please include all your resources as appendices (including PP slides, IWB notebooks, templates). You should provide one single reference list and appendix at the end of your assignment.

Pass requirements

Please refer to Curtin University’s Assessment and Student Progression Manual for full details of all policies and procedures associated with assessment at Curtin. Each of your tutors and Unit Coordinators is obliged to observe this policy.

Assessment and Student Progression Manual

In order to pass this unit, all assessment tasks must be submitted and an overall mark of 50% or more must be achieved. It is not essential to pass all assessments, although the overall Unit Learning Outcomes must be achieved in order to pass a unit.

Successful submission means that:

• If the assessment task comprises discrete components, such as:
  • three components of a portfolio, involving separate tasks addressing different aspects of the Unit Learning Outcomes
  • discrete sections such as test results and a report
  • mandatory accompanying documentation such as a Parental Consent Form
   

  Then all components must be provided for the assessment to be deemed as submitted. Late penalties will apply until the complete assessment is submitted.

• The electronic file must be readable. It is a student’s responsibility to ensure that assessments are complete and have been successfully uploaded in a readable format. You are advised to check that your file can be opened and that all sections are present and readable. Please seek assistance if you experience technical problems.
• For Turnitin Assessments – Successful submissions will display a green success message once submitted and you will receive a receipt, or notification of successful submission via email. If you do not receive this confirmation, your assessment is not submitted.
• For Blackboard assessment submissions, you will get a success message at the top of the screen, an email confirming submission and can see it listed as submitted in the ‘my grades’ tool.
• It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that assessments are successfully submitted. Late penalties will apply for identifying that the assessment was not successfully submitted post the due date.
• If you experience technical problems submitting you can contact hum-edtt@curtin.edu.au for support.

Students are strongly advised to ensure work is backed up to a separate, retrievable location, as extensions are unlikely to be granted for last-minute computer failure.

Record of marked assessments:

Access to units will cease 18 months after the study period finishes. You are advised to download and save ALL marked assessments from your units once you have received your final grade.

Students who are repeating this unit

If you have previously attempted this unit, you may be able to re-use parts of your assessment tasks in this unit attempt. However, in order to avoid self-plagiarism, it is essential that you follow the following procedure:

1. Contact your Unit Coordinator with a request at least seven days prior to the due date for submission.
2. In making your request, provide a copy of your previously-submitted work and clearly identify the parts of your previous submission that you would like to re-use. Pay close attention to the requirements of the assessment task for the current unit, as these may have changed and your earlier work may not address them adequately. Also consider whether your work can be improved upon in order to maximise your marks, paying careful attention to feedback received.
3. If your request is approved, retain the approval notification, as you will need to attach this to your work.
4. In submitting your assessment, provide the following:
   • This statement: I, (student name), declare that I have previously submitted parts or all of this submission in XXX, YYYY (e.g. SP4, 2017) in unit XXXX#### (e.g. EDUC1001).
   • A copy of the approval received from your Unit Coordinator. Please note this can be a screen shot.

Your tutor will then disregard any similarity to your previous work as revealed by Turnitin, and you will not breach Academic Integrity requirements for the sections of your work that have been approved for resubmission. Turnitin matches for all other content will be reviewed as usual for compliance with Academic Integrity requirements.

Please be very aware that if you resubmit previous work for the same unit without attending to the above, you will breach Academic Integrity requirements and this may result in a case of self-plagiarism being logged, which you will then need to answer to. This can then result in penalties being applied to your mark.

Please also note that the above applies ONLY to work being resubmitted from a previous attempt at the same unit. You cannot under any circumstances re-use work submitted for a different unit.

If you have any questions about how to manage this process, please contact your Unit Coordinator, who will be able to advise you. Academic staff are keen to ensure that you are properly protected by policy provisions and not disadvantaged. This depends on you following procedures correctly.