Space in September

I've been asked to do a Space Day at the start of the new academic year. Trouble with single days is fitting so much in, making sure the children achieve something they're proud of and getting a bit of the "wow".
Content-wise, I'm going to focus on the Solar System and will try to fit in some aspects of temporal change involving the Earth, Moon and Sun.

Software-wise, Comic Life and PowerPoint provide children with the opportunity to make bold and engaging presentations to show their knowledge and understanding.
Although we're short on space, I will be able to use the Immersive Room and the Magic Planet for the "wow".


I'll also use my iPad and the NASA app Spacecraft 3D. I've been surprised by how few teachers seem to have come across this app. It certainly has the "wow" factor. 

While I've been preparing, I've also incorporated some of the latest research into my presentation, just in case one of the children asks about Pluto (below), comets or space junk.

World Space Week is also nearly upon us, as is Hubble's 25th Birthday celebrations. Speaking of Hubble, work on its successor, the James Webb telescope, is progressing well and worth finding out about on the NASA website.
(ESA has a good website for children too)

Finally, although I seem to be the person least interested in alien-life, because of my interest in Lego, I'd like to use my Star Wars planets as stimuli for exoplanets and the possible life on them.

ON THE BEACH

I've been down on the beach collecting shells, fossils and anything else that caught my fancy. This is a great but underused resource for schools in my area. 

My reason for collecting shells and fossils was to support my work on Evolution. I've taught "Variation" lots of times by collecting data from the children (which I will continue to do) and by showing appropriate photographs or drawings (breeds of domesticated animals and garden varieties of fruit and flowers). This time around though I thought I'd try giving the children a mass of seashells, getting them to put them into groups (species) and then looking at variation within each group. I got the idea when we had scallops at Christmas.

I'll blog later about the outcomes from this approach.

IRON-ORE MINING : Scratch, Lego WeDo and more

When I work with schools developing IT in the curriculum, I like to have a theme. At the moment, I'm working on how to incorporate Scratch and other software and model-building (using motors and sensors) into "Iron-ore Mining". 

First to raise it's head was designing a game in Scratch. I've worked on a few maze games recently and a mine could be just a vertical maze. Add in a bit of danger with a poisonous gas cloud and I think the children have got something to get there teeth into. That's the idea, what will they come up with?

Explosion

Escape to Safety

A couple of screenshots of my initial Scratch attempts for an Escape to Safety game.

Scratch file to accompany Lego WeDo model of a mine shaft life

Model mineshaft and emergency pod

Next, you need to move heavy stuff around so design a vehicle to bulldoze or pick-up rocks, a belt-transport system etc. There are similar examples out on the internet. So, another do-able project using Lego WeDo or K'nex and using Scratch for the coding.


Can we make it more like real life? The Chilean Mining Disaster in 2010 has been one of the most tweeted about events ever. Following on from the the explosion in our "maze" game, how could we rescue a trapped miner? Some wrapping-paper tubes, some Lego and cotton and we have "Design and make a working rescue pod to bring the miners up to the surface in a safe and gentle manner". Use Scratch for the programming.

I also like to add in musical and historical references if possible, and after starting to sing "New York Mining Disaster 1941" by the Bee Gees, I thought I'd go for a bit more relevance with Martin Carthy's versions of the "Trimdon Grange Explosion"* and "Springhill Mine Disaster"**. (Carthy actually recorded the Bee Gees song on his "Signs of Life" album.)

Looking on You Tube gave me the idea of providing children with images and sound so that they could create a presentation in Photostory, Movie Maker, PowerPoint or Smart Notebook. Alternatives include using Comic Life or some of the 2Simple Collection to tell the the history of local mining.

*The Definitive Martin Carthy (2003)
** Signs of Life (200?)

WORLD WAR ONE

I know it's a bit late to be looking at WW1 as the hundredth anniversary of it beginning was last year but it will always be relevant.

A bit of personal history first. A couple of years ago my wife bought me a Death Penny for my birthday. It was awarded to a chap from Tyneside, where I was born, who died on my birthday in 1918. It made me cry. This year, for my birthday, she bought me a "Fumsup"* and, for Christmas, the "Oh! What a lovely War" DVD and a 3CD boxed set of WW1 songs.

My Fumsup present

Just before Christmas, when I'd been doing Lego WeDo in a school, my friend asked me to put something together to act as a backdrop to her children singing "All Together Now" by The Farm. I'd never realised that this "catchy" song was about the famous Christmas no-man's land meetings. I made her a PowerPoint presentation incorporating images from "The Best Christmas Present" by Carol Anne Duffy & Michael Morpurgo (Egmont) and some animated gifs (snow and poppies).

So, to another school this week where they're just finishing off their work on WW1 and I've encouraged them to show their knowledge and understanding using PowerPoint but trying to incorporate something of themselves, their feelings. To get across the message I pointed them to the graphic novels of Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun (Charley's War - 10 vols, Titan Books) and the wonderful 32 page panorama produced by Joe Sacco covering the whole of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, The Great War. I played then Poppy Day by Siouxsie & the Banshees & My Youngest Son Came Home Today by Mary Black. We also looked at war propaganda using cartoons from the book "World War 1 in Cartoons" by Mark Bryant (Octopus Books (2006)).

Another book to look out for is the Costa Book Award Winner "Five Children on the Western Front" by Kate Saunders (Faber)**

We all respond to tasks we're given with different interest and enthusiasm, so I'm really anxious to experience what they produce.


*http://blog.maryevans.com/2014/02/fumsup-a-first-world-war-lucky-mascot.html
**http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/10321/Five-Children-on-the-Western-Front-by-Kate-Saunders.html

YEAR 6 EVOLUTION : Book and Magazine

As I've mentioned before, one of my heroes is Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin's Bulldog, and I have a great interest in Evolution. With the changes to the National Curriculum, I was hoping to be inundated with schools asking for help. I'd already done a special day in 2009 for Darwin's anniversaries and, as so much more research has been carried out, I was looking to get myself updated.

One area where there has been great strides is Human Evolution so, with a bit of birthday money, I bought and read Alice Robert's book "The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being". This was very informative and coupled with the purchase of the New Scientist Collection - The Human Story, I felt more confident.

The rush of schools wasn't forthcoming and without that imperative of "How the hell do I engage and enthuse the children?" my new knowledge started to get pushed out by thoughts of Scratch coding.

If you're looking to update your knowledge, I'd recommend both of these and the Corpse Talk comic strip about Human Evolution in the Phoenix Comic (see previous post).

http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/

The good news is that I am in a state of panic because one school has been brave enough to take me on to deliver Evolution. I start this week and will let you know what I do and how it goes. Wish me luck. Watch the blog.

YEAR 6 : EVOLUTION - Lesson 1

My photo - Darwin Doll

The Plan

Introduction
"What do you know about the Universe & Life?"
General chat. 
Try to bring in Brian Cox as a populariser of Science.
Creation myths show the human fascination for our origins and the origins of everything but also the amazing scope for creativity and imagination which we have. Indeed, stress that scientists must be imaginative and creative to be able to understand and to try to explain these questions.


Activity 1 : Watch a video of the Navajo* creation myth.
                   Discuss and constructively criticise it.

Activity 2 : Retell the Navajo creation myth using software of choice
                      2Create-a-Story
                      Comic Life
                      Photostory
                      PowerPoint
                      SmartNotebook
   (Pupils will be given a range of screenshots from the video to use in their
     presentations.)

Activity 3 : Timelines (choice here)
                      Construct a timeline for a creation myth.
                      Watch the "How 2" video of Earth's timeline
                      Construct a "toilet-roll" timeline of:-
                          The Universe
                          The Earth
                          Life on Earth
                          Humans
                   Flash timelines are also available for the children to access.

Plenary : What we've done and where we're going next - Classification and
                 Variation

Homework : My Family's timeline or an "Events Timeline of my Life".

The Reality 
Well done Year 6.
Loved every second of the afternoon. As usual IT raised its ugly head but, despite not getting out my toilet rolls, we achieved a lot. Some great retelling of the myth.
First time ever I was tweeted in a photograph.
Exciting Science @BaderPrimary Evolution & Inheritance with Y6 and @DoctorABeepic.twitter.com/jx2yQ2izqM
 Roll on next week 
                
* Brain Cox : The Origins of the Universe, Solar System, Life
** I chose this as a personal favourite. Other myths are available on You Tube or you could access the Big Myths website. They have also created an app but it costs.

MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness : the article, the books, the app

Mindfulness first reared its head when I was browsing some education articles on the Guardian website. My favourite food is chocolate and there was an article about giving chocolate to children to introduce them to mindfulness.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/teacher-blog/2013/jun/24/mindfulness-classroom-teaching-resource

It sounded interesting and I determined that, soon, I'd go back to my roots in CASE (Cognitive Acceleration in Science Education) and do a bit of metacognition (thinking about thinking). However, the very next day I came across a book entitled Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana and its companion volume, Eight Mindful Steps To Happiness.

Wisdom press (2001) ISBN 0-86171-176-9

Book on loan so no details

It was a stressful time, personally, so I sat and read the book. I took from it what I wanted (I left the spiritual bit behind) and took to trying to be "mindful". It wasn't easy then and I'm afraid I've let it slip a bit but I did feel there were benefits to be gained. It was, therefore, very interesting to read in the New Scientist Collection : The Scientific Guide To A Better You a scientific take on the topic.

If you're up for sitting and actively thinking/not-thinking for 30min a day I'd recommend having a go.

Finally, browsing through one of the Sunday papers, I came across a review of an app. and website to do with mindfulness, Headspace. I've not tried the app yet and am not sure I'd want to "buddy" up with anybody for support through the website, but mindfulness is an avenue I'm happy to walk down in trying to cope with what the world flings at me.