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Science Success: Teacher Guide

Science Success: Teacher Guide Nicola Simmons ©BASEF 2004 Purpose of This Presentation To demonstrate the connection between science fair projects and curriculum expectations

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Science Success: Teacher Guide

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  1. Science Success: Teacher Guide Nicola Simmons ©BASEF 2004

  2. Purpose of This Presentation • To demonstrate the connection between science fair projects and curriculum expectations • To introduce the content of the Science Success: Teacher Guide and the Science Success: Student Workbook and corresponding slide presentation BASEF 2004

  3. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – Through Science & Technology Projects Well executed science and technology projects: • Move students through a process of scientific inquiry, and in doing so, • Demonstrate mastery of curriculum expectations in “Developing skills of inquiry, design, and communication” BASEF 2004

  4. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – Through Science & Technology Projects Overall goals in the science curriculum relate directly to the process of completing a project: • To understand the basic concepts of science • To develop the skills, strategies, and habits of mind required for scientific inquiry • To relate science to technology, society, and the environment BASEF 2004

  5. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – Through Science & Technology Projects Science fair projects address specific expectations through all strands: • Formulate scientific questions, • Demonstrate skills to plan and conduct an inquiry, • Select and integrate information from various sources, and… BASEF 2004

  6. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – Through Science & Technology Projects 4)Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and where appropriate, apply statistical analyses, and • Communicate scientific ideas, procedures, results,and conclusions and make appropriate applications based on their findings. BASEF 2004

  7. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – Through Science & Technology Projects Projects may also address, depending on student topic choice: • Specific expectations in content strands • Expectations under “Relating science and technology to the world outside the school” BASEF 2004

  8. 3 Types of Science Fair Projects • Experiment – Start with a question, make a hypothesis, test controlled variables, record & analyze results • Innovation – Design a product or process to solve a particular problem, run trials, record & analyze results • Study – Start with a question, state a hypothesis, observe naturally occurring variables or existing data, record & analyze results BASEF 2004

  9. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – A Sample Experiment The student is interested in types of birds that visit a backyard birdfeeder, and decides to investigate whether using different types of birdseed will attract different types of birds. BASEF 2004

  10. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – A Sample Innovation The student is interested in types of birds that visit a backyard birdfeeder, and notices that larger birds crowd out smaller ones. The student decides to build a feeder that will favour smaller birds. BASEF 2004

  11. Meeting Curriculum Expectations – A Sample Study The student is interested in types of birds that visit a backyard birdfeeder, and decides to study what how many birds of each type visit the birdfeeder in relationship to the weather conditions on any given day. BASEF 2004

  12. How You Can Support Science Success! Follow the learning activities in the student workbook and the teaching suggestions in the teacher guide to: • Encourage students to look at award winning projects from previous fairs, • Hold class brainstorming sessions around topic choice and asking great questions, and… BASEF 2004

  13. How You Can Support Science Success! 3)Start a class bulletin board of science news, and encourage student postings, 4) Remind students that the best projects always begin with something that is of interest to them, and • Encourage students to seek additional resources, such as links from the BASEF website. BASEF 2004

  14. How You Can Support Science Success! In addition, • Use the parent letter template to involve parents in supporting science project work. • Help students know what resources (equipment, lab space) may be available at the school. BASEF 2004

  15. How You Can Support Science Success! • Allow 8-12 weeks (more for secondary) for project completion. • Ask students to get your approval on topic choice • Be prepared with knowledge so you can walk students through approval processes. • Tell students that real science is not a linear path, and that great discoveries have been made by mistake – like the famous glue gone wrong – Post It Notes™ ! BASEF 2004

  16. The Science Success: Teacher Guide • Gives specific examples of how each of the preceding projects directly matches specific curriculum expectations • Provides teaching suggestions to accompany the 22 activities from the student workbook • Outlines tips for running a school or class fair BASEF 2004

  17. The Science Success: Student Workbook • Provides 22 activities that move students through the science project process. • Can be used by self-directed students to complete the work independently, or • Sheets from the workbook can be printed and handed in for assessment purposes. BASEF 2004

  18. The Science Success Student Slide Presentation • Walks students through all the steps in the process of completing an excellent science fair project • Can be used to make a class presentation, or independently by self-directed students • Is designed to be used in conjunction with Science Success: Student Workbook BASEF 2004

  19. Some Specifics • Safety & ethics guidelines • Additional resources • Managing timelines • A word about assessment • Applying to the regional fair BASEF 2004

  20. Safety & Ethics Guidelines • Protect student and anyone else involved • Full guidelines are at http://basef.mcmaster.ca • List is given of prohibited substances • All animal research must have prior approval • No vertebrate research except as observations in a natural setting • Must get prior ethics approval for research involving human subjects BASEF 2004

  21. Where do I Find More Resources? Visit the BASEF website at http://basef.mcmaster.ca • If you go to the teacher area for the current year, you will find an extensive teacher handbook that covers safety and ethics guidelines, and outlines how to register for the regional fair. • Connect to numerous resources from that site BASEF 2004

  22. Managing Timelines Support student success by allowing ample time for project stages • Elementary – 6-8 weeks or more • Secondary – much more! • Activity 10 in the Student Workbook provides a form for recording due dates for project stages BASEF 2004

  23. Managing Timelines Start early! Allow at least 6-8 weeks • Extra time for project stages builds in reflection time. • Allow extra time for ethics approval, or changes needed to accommodate safety guidelines • Murphy’s law will hold true, and time will be needed to fix what went wrong! • Assign a due date of at least one week before the school fair for last minute touch-ups BASEF 2004

  24. A Word About Assessment • Can use the judging rubric (Appendix III in Teacher Guide; Appendix I in Student Workbook) • Can design your own assessment rubric Students who have the rubric prior to project work complete better work, and higher level projects! BASEF 2004

  25. Formative or Summative? Science Fair Projects : • can be formative or summative • are excellent portfolio tasks • provide a particularly good summative activity for consolidating student skills and knowledge BASEF 2004

  26. Applying to the Regional Fair • Winning projects from school or class fairs should be encouraged go on to the regional fair • If there is no school fair, any student may register for the regional fair if they wish • Regional fairs broaden students’ perspectives • Regional fairs let students see the type of work others are doing • Students may win significant prizes! BASEF 2004

  27. Further information can be found at the BASEF website: http://basef.mcmaster.ca BASEF 2004

  28. Good luck with the Student Science Projects! Remember to go to the Science Success: Teacher Guide and Student Workbook for details of each stage The guide and workbook will help you support Science Success! BASEF 2004

  29. Acknowledgements BASEF gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. The Foundation receives annually $100 million in government funding through Ontario’s charity casino initiative. It provides grants to eligible charitable and not-for-profit organizations in the arts, culture, sports, recreation, environment and social service sectors. In addition, BASEF would like to thank Dr. Joseph Engemann, Dr. Stacey Brydges, Dr. Pippa Lock, Angelo Brunetti, Rocco DiSabatino, Martine Fornoville, Gerry Fuchs, Gord Simmons, and Sandy Walker for their feedback during the development of this project. Author: Nicola Simmons Design & Layout: Nicola Simmons Project Director: Wuchow Than

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