This unit was developed for a vertically streamed Science class of Year 9 and Year 10 girls. It has also been used in modified form for unstreamed Year 9 and Year 10 classes.

 

RATIONALE

When a group of highly able students attending a Science Enrichment Course in the UK were asked to outline their ideal Science classroom and teacher, their answers highlighted the following:

• their need to be autonomous learners, to design their own experiments, have their own workspace, analyse their results and learn from their mistakes, rather than just 're-do' old-fashioned experiments with no new conclusions to be drawn.

• their need to have the opportunity to discuss problems with a teacher who has a wide knowledge in the Science field and its relevance to other aspects of society.

• their appreciation of help given in methods and work sheets but wanting to be free to work at their own rate and not be overly controlled (Endean & George, 1983).

With these thoughts in mind, this unit has been planned to try to give the above average Science student an opportunity to investigate an aspect of Science in which they are interested, to research their topic in detail and to design their own experiments associated with their topic. The only assumed prerequisite skill is the ability to design an experiment along the accepted ideas of scientific method.

 

AIM

The aim of this unit is to encourage students to make a critical independent investigation of an aspect of Science research in Australia which interests them. The investigation is to involve development in either the environmental or technological field and consider past, present and future aspects and implications of the development.

 

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the unit, the student will be able to:

• work independently

• appreciate ideas and contributions from other students

• show improved skills in accessing information from a wide variety of resources

• explore the breadth of a topic

• define an area for investigation

• evaluate the relevance and validity of collected material

• present arguments for and against a case

• design and carry out a relevant practical investigation using scientific methods

• keep records and present results clearly

• predict possible implications and outcomes of the research investigated

• assess social and cultural implications of scientific progress

• be selective in writing a coherent article

• communicate ideas and findings to others.

 

CONTENT

PART 1 - IDEAS

This section will take approximately one week and involves several formal lessons to stimulate curiosity and interest and other lessons in which to explore availability of resources. Students of different abilities must be allowed to move at their own rate. This week should be mainly aimed to help them decide on their own line of research; some will have ideas already and others will find this part very difficult.

A. Activities to Stimulate Ideas:

1. Brainstorming Session

Using large sheets of paper with a word such as medicine, plants, animals, humans, space, soil, weather, food, energy, transport, minerals or communications, students work in groups to think of all sorts of ideas, inventions and technologies which these words inspire.

All ideas are written in a radiating wheel so that one idea may give rise to another. All students may add to each other's ideas. After a while the session is brought to order and each group presents its ideas for all to see so that the whole class may benefit from ideas stemming from different starting points.

At a later stage students may also use this technique to identify a variety of issues involved with their topic and to direct their research, eg by using a more specific starting word, such as diet, soil or salinity.

2. Newspaper/Magazine Search

Using a large number of current newspapers and magazines, students cut out items about any current scientific research or relevant problems concerning the ideas and issues generated in the first session (or any others) - anything to do with environmental or technological developments.

3. Resources and What to Do

This unit is ideally carried out as a cooperatively planned unit with the librarian. In this lesson the librarian explains the variety of resources available, which includes books, videos, media items, newspapers - up-to-date primary sources as much as possible. Students should also be encouraged to contact 'useful' companies, Government departments and other individuals outside school. Methods of documenting resources and note-taking skills are outlined.

 

B. The Product:

The class teacher should spend some time outlining what is required from the unit, to include:

1. A Journal

• Notes from resources, summaries of news items, interviews, pamphlets from companies, etc.

• Cuttings from newspapers with their own comments and opinions, including critical analysis of opinions and bias.

• Any poems, songs, passages from literature, which inspire them about their activities.

• A development of their ideas so that after a while they can identify a specific area to investigate.

• Details of their scientific investigation, including method, equipment, results and observations.

2. Scientific Investigation or Model

A report of their investigation, including a clear statement of their hypothesis, the equipment and method used, observations, and preferably tables and graphs of their results, if relevant, and an analysis of what their results show, with discussion of their expectations and the relevance of their experiment to their general line of research.

3. Report and Presentation

A concise report summarising their research, with emphasis on 'past, present and future' aspects. The report should also include reference to their experimental work.

The presentation of their findings could be in a variety of forms, such as a formal talk, a discussion of their practical investigation and its results, a demonstration of their working model with explanations or a more creative form such as a futuristic story, a news interview, a poem or a video.

 

PART II - DEVELOPMENT (3 weeks)

After the first week students should be working independently to follow their particular line of interest. Their work will involve two areas:

(a) Research of their topic to cover as wide an area as possible.

They should be encouraged to collect and record in their journal anything relevant to their topic, so they have a wide view of the issues involved at first, even though much of it will not be used in the final report. They should be encouraged to investigate divergent areas such as words and ideas new to them and to write their opinions as well. They should be encouraged to write to or visit related industries, interested people and community organisations to gain more information.

(b) Design of a practical investigation associated with their topic.

This investigation may take many forms, such as:

(i) a scientifically designed experiment to test an hypothesis (preferred option);

(ii) an investigation of how some organ or machine works;

(iii) a working model, preferably of original or 'semi-original' design;

(iv) a well designed survey of a particular part of the population to investigate the effect of a scientific issue.

In whatever form, the investigation needs to be carefully planned and have a clear statement of aims, and be carried out in a scientifically controlled manner. It should investigate or illustrate a relevant aspect of the topic or an extended idea from the topic.

During this time of research and planning, the teacher will need to have one or two formal lessons to encourage the students to assess their findings critically and to develop a wide range of aspects of their topic. This can be done by a series of exercises:

1. Additional, more detailed small group brainstorming to identify the aspects of their topic they could research. This may also encourage students to think of ideas for each other and work together.

2. Critically assess both sides of an argument, eg students write a number of 'for and against' arguments for a topic such as (a) school hours should be extended to include Saturday, or (b) school uniform should not be compulsory. In their final report, students should be encouraged to use a similar exercise to assess critically their topic and its implications for society.

3. Exercises to help students focus on the 'past, present and future' components could include:

(a) a creative exercise in which students take an invention (eg an iron, a form of transport, a pin) and imagine the world without this invention, what might have led to its invention and what direction this invention might develop in the future or to imagine an alternative which could be developed.

(b) a similar exercise in which a current technology is chosen (preferably one which no one in the class is using) and students develop a scenario for its use in the future. This can be done as a creative writing exercise or by a group developing a 'futures wheel' as for the brainstorming session.

 

PART III - SUMMARY AND PRESENTATION

In the final week of the unit students will spend time analysing the results of their practical work and summarising their practical investigations into a report.

It is hoped that students will use the higher thinking process of analysis, synthesis and evaluation to collate all the material they have collected into a concise, logical report of their topic. To help this, the teacher could spend a lesson discussing some points to remember, such as:

• Evaluate particular points as 'good' = P (plus), 'bad' = M (minus) or 'interesting but neither good nor bad' = I.

• Don't make hasty judgements of ideas.

• Consider and evaluate all the facts and alternatives.

• Assess information for bias and assumptions.

• Try to draw logical, valid conclusions, given all the information available.

• Avoid letting emotions affect your decisions.

The students will need to spend time designing the presentation of their research. The presentation should be made to the class and any other interested members of the school or outside community. If the student has made contact with people in the development of the work, it may be that such interested people could be invited to hear the final result.

A display of work done in this unit could be established in the school library or all reports could be collated into a journal to be published for the school library.

The presentation sessions should allow time for class members to ask questions and explore each other's topics fully.

 

SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE UNIT IN PRACTICE

All students have enjoyed this unit, mainly because it is open-ended, creative and individual. The majority of students in the extension class overcame very readily the major obstacle , ie the problem of choosing a topic. Most found an area of interest within the first few stimulation lessons and several already knew an area which they were excited to be able to explore, eg one keen ballet dancer conducted a very detailed research and survey on major injuries in ballet students.

However, the occasional student in this class, surprisingly perhaps the most creative student, found it hard to conform to the restrictions of resources, eg she wanted to study 'designer' pigs, or snakes, which were difficult to accommodate in a school laboratory!

The less capable students in unstreamed classes choose predictable topics and investigations but although they lack the flair and motivation of the extension class, still achieve some interesting work and enjoy the freedom of choice.

After the initial exploratory work, which is mainly in the library, the teacher will need to help students organising practical work while others research and plan in the library. If it is done as a cooperative plan with the librarian, she/he will be able to help students with their library skills, letter writing and outside contacts to reach a variety of resources, while the Science teacher works in the laboratory.

The unit is very stimulating for staff as well as students, as the teachers may find themselves dealing with fruit flies, plant nutrients, breathing capacity and antibiotic use, all in the one session.

I have used this as a four- to six-week unit but it is very easy for it to be extended by the interest shown by the students.

REFERENCE

Endean, L. & George, D. (1983) The ideal Science lesson. Gifted Education International, 1, 120-125.

©TalentEd is located at the School of Curriculum Studies, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

This page updated: 23 January 2006 Webmaker: Howard Smith. hsmith4@une.edu.au