Science Teaching v 2.0

Jing is a screen capture program that hovers somewhere on your desktop. If you are using a projector in your classroom the kids will spot the Jing ball and want to know what it is!

I use it for two different types of ” 5 minute tutorials”.

• Mimio interactive whiteboards do not allow you to screencast at the moment. Using Jing to capture work on the Mimio with commentary through a microphone you can record key points of a lesson. This can be placed on a blog or server for student access at a later date. Warning the video was a trial using the cheapest microphone from Dick Smith and you can’t spell check handwriting….even if you can read it.

I was doing the usual reactions of acids (with metals, bases and carbonates). I used the video in each case to remind students of the steps involved in isolating a pure sample of the salt formed in the reactions.

• ACD chemsketch free software allows you to draw chemical structures and produce 3 dimensional models. A 5 minute tutorial is a quick way of showing students how to use it. Jing is a useful tool for creating 5 minute tutorials to train students or staff how to use software.

The original tutorial produced with Jing is fine but for some reason there is a slight soundtrack lag after uploading to youtube. If anyone knows how to fix this please leave a comment

The Consolarium is the Scottish Centre for Games and Learning in Dundee. It is an offshoot of Learning and Teaching Scotland. I first heard about these organisations from Ewen McIntosh who was the keynote speaker at the Ulearn 07 conference in Auckland NZ. Ewan speaks regularly on the impact of emerging technologies on organisations, on education, on young people and on society in general.

That one keynote was the catalyst for a complete rethink of my attitudes to teaching and learning in secondary science education. Since then every time I look at classroom practice through the lens of emerging technologies opportunities arise that challenge traditional assumptions.

Blogs provide communication opportunities with and between students and stimulate collaborative learning. One of the key posts on Ewan’s blog Thinking out of the (X) Box alerted me to the potential of gaming in education.

Which brings me to my good friend Derek Robertson who is currently in charge of the Consolarium and hence the professional development in the title of the blog. Derek is passionate about lots of things including his football team Dundee United ( blinded by unrealistic optimism ). His infectious enthusiasm for the potential of gaming in education has attracted a big following. I was fortunate to spend a morning at the Consolarium in January while on holiday from New Zealand and catch up with his latest ideas. I have watched him on a number of videos recently arguing the case for gaming in schools and politely rebutting traditional methods that placed the teacher firmly in the role of the expert who had all the knowledge. Education by transmission is severely limited if the receiver is switched off or the paper storage system has been screwed up and and on a collision course with the back of the teacher’s head.

The second guest on the show played to the fears parents have of kids transfixed to a computer screen for hours. He also seemed to be concerned about the authority of the teacher being undermined . In secondary science the distinction between a gaming environment and working physics simulation has become blurred. As Derek comments good teachers have always used appropriate resources to open doors to the curriculum locked to many. The traditional Victorian classroom many of us still teach in restricts us to a limited number of learning styles and exclude many, particularly boys.

Deconstructing games and teasing out the science underneath the skin is a good start for secondary teachers. The Nintendo Wii Sports game allows you to simulate motion in a realistic way. For instance playing a round of golf you can hit the ball hard enough to land on a particular spot. You still have to judge how far the ball will carry if it is on fairway or the rough. A cross wind will also affect the trajectory of the ball. Similarly you can lob a tennis ball and observe the effect of spin. These are games but Newton’s laws of physics lurk underneath the graphics.

Cars, bikes helicopters and people move around in games like Grand Theft Auto 4 with slick realism.

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Objects that move around in the real world follow Newton’s laws of motion. To develop software that mimics the real world you need to understand the physics of motion.

Rockstar North is the developer behind Grand Theft and they are based in Edinburgh Scotland. They are currently advertising for a physicist and people to test their games to check that they are realistic! The boundary between games and scientific simulation through a physics engine blurs.
I am currently trialling the use of “Phun” an addictive piece of software for designing and exploring 2D multi-physics simulations in a cartoony fashion. It is proving popular with boys in particular. It can be downloaded free.

Thanks again to Ewen and Derek for some of the best PD to come my way in years

The Ulearn conference at the end of last term was inspirational and I’m still sorting things out in my head. I love this Danish video about an imaginary medieval help desk where people need help with with this new book technology stuff!

Michael Wesch’s video essay on information is packed full of insight and I keep returning to it for inspiration.

and web 2.0, the web isUs/ing us is another wee gem from the same artist.