Be Amazing: How to teach science the way primary kids love

Testimonials

‘This is by far the most engaging, cutting-edge and practical science book I’ve come across. Packed with eye-popping experiments, handy tools, great ideas and grounded in years of practical, down-to-earth educator insight from author Ben Newsome, this is a simple, fun and detailed, one-stop guide to creating an amazing STEM classroom.’

— Heather Catchpole. Editor, Careers with Code

& head of content Refraction media,

Australia’s leading STEM publishers.

‘An awesome new asset for teachers, written by an awesome science teacher!’

— Aaron Tait. Director of Innovation

– Education Changemakers

‘I wish I had this book when I was training as a science teacher. I spent a lot of time searching for practical advice and ideas to bring the classroom to life but never found anything as useful as Be Amazing! Ben will inspire a whole new generation of science educators and their students. His expertise, passion and enthusiasm are infectious and so needed in the industry.’

— Vanessa Barratt. Science teacher and communicator

‘Well done – a valuable and comprehensive guide for enhancing the teaching of science in schools and elsewhere. I’d suggest any practitioners reading the book should have a copy of the science curriculum and their lesson plan handy, and be prepared to take some notes as well as trying things out for themselves!’

— Adam Selinger. Creative Director,

Children’s Discovery Museum

‘Just finished your book – this is gold and a great resource! Brilliant.’

— Paul Stafford. School literacy consultant & author

‘Absolutely love the document and I particularly like the common misconceptions. I use a similar approach with a True/False quizzes for my Y7 class at the start of each lesson! There are some really great ideas in this and if my Y7 class had experienced even some of these things during primary school, they would have been far better set up for science at high school.’

—George Morton. Science teacher

‘Phenomenal work, I absolutely love it! It’s quite apparent that the book is the outcome of over a decade of hands-on experience putting the techniques/experiments/approaches you so clearly describe into practice through Fizzics.’

—Elizabeth Fritts. Director M&A, PwC Australia

‘Ben has put together a collection of experiments that make science fun and accessible and are safe, quick and easy to do. If you’ve been looking for a way to bring science to life in your classroom, then grab a copy of this book.’

— Marc Wileman, Founder of Sublime Science

& TEDx Speaker

First published in 2016 by Grammar Factory

© Ben Newsome 2016

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

All inquiries should be made to the author.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Creator: Newsome, Ben, author.

Title: Be Amazing: How to teach science the way primary kids love / Ben Newsome.

ISBN: (eBook)

Subjects: Science--Study and teaching (Primary)

Effective teaching.

Teaching--Methodology.

Motivation in education.

Printed in Australia by Excite Print

Cover design by Designerbility

Book production and editorial services by Grammar Factory

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

All product and company names referred to in this book are registered® trademarks of their respective holders, including Amazon Inc., Apple Inc., Australian Museum, BioInteractive, Common Sense Media, Digitech Inc., Dragons Den, Enchroma, ExperienceScience, Google Inc., Headup Games GmbH and Co KG, Imagechef, Invitrogen, Lego Inc., Meme Creator, Meme Generator, Midnight Martian, Niantic Inc., Novim, Now Instruments and Software, NSW Geological Survey, NSW National Parks & Wildlife, OSC Apps Craic Design, PBWorks, Pinterest Inc., Poll Everywhere, Post-It, Quickmeme, SA Water, Shark Tank, Siemens, Slack Inc., Sunset Lake Software, Terrapin Software, The Meta Picture, Tinybop, Trello Inc., United Nations, Vimeo, Vito Technology, Weebly, Wikispaces Classroom, Wordpress, World Health Organisation and YouTube. Reference to these trademarks does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Contents

Author’s Note

Greetings!

Introduction: Primary challenges and opportunities

A call to action!

Who am I?

Over to you

1. Understanding the students

Student misconceptions: Strange ideas abound!

Students’ perceptions of scientists and science lessons, and the effect on learning

Teaching science to gifted kids … overcoming the challenges

What will they remember?

2. Priming the classroom

The seed of an idea: Using stimulus material to prompt a discovery mindset

How poor science models can still be useful for teaching science

Variables and fair testing: Teaching the heart of science experiments

Teacher Toolbox: Inexpensive materials that teach science at a pinch

3. Unleashing teaching tactics

Scenarios that spark students’ interest in science

Using history as a narrative within science

Create a class STEM pitchfest!

Lessons and learnings when taking students on bush walks

Using craft materials to teach problem-solving

Building bridges using craft materials

Establish a Maker space and join the movement!

4. Leveraging technology

Science apps for the classroom: Devices at the ready!

Robotics: Teaching problem -solving in a digital environment

Classrooms without walls: Break through using video conferencing!

Using drones to teach science

Some more quick ways to integrate technology into a primary science lesson

5. Exploring social media

Classroom science blogging

Pinterest® for education: It’s a hive mind of ideas!

The value of short-form videos for teaching

Trello®: A social media solution to classroom organisation and lesson planning

Teaching science through memes

6. Engaging the community

Create a school science fair that draws attention!

Create a community science garden

Observance days and STEM learning opportunities

Getting creative creates community

Citizen science

More support networks to check out:

You can do this!

Support resources

About Fizzics Education

Science apps for a variety of uses

Video conferencing resources

References

Appendices

Colour blindness in the classroom

How to improve school communication using Slack®

Acknowledgements

About the author

Author’s Note

If you love enrichment and extension of science for primary students, then this is the book for you! Different countries have different syllabus requirements, different student groups have different needs. This book is not about one specific curriculum (besides, curriculums change anyway!). You know your students, you know your school and you most likely know a bunch of primary schools that already run awesome science lessons that you would do if given some support & the chance. This is your opportunity to look beyond the norm and to really set your students up for learning in later years. This is about how primary students really learn science best, it’s about how to capture their imagination and how you can be that inspirational teacher they all remember. Let’s have some fun!

Greetings!

‘Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops.’

–Henry Brooks Adams

I love this quote … and no doubt you do too! You didn’t choose teaching because there was nothing better to do. You have chosen teaching because you know the incredible impact you can have on the young lives you connect with. You have chosen teaching to make a difference . You have chosen to open a window to the world so that students can see how this incredible universe functions and perhaps, one day, want to teach their own children. Every day, you provide the keys for children to unlock hidden meaning in books, websites, activities, abstractions and more. It’s not just about ‘teaching’ … your job is to inspire!

Your work in the classroom can help bring about the real possibility of inter-generational change in science literacy. Think about the sheer number of students that you will have direct impact upon during your teaching career. What an awesome thing to think about! And if you become a head teacher, principal, consultant or similar, your curriculum decisions and the way you help others to teach can literally shape your community’s attitude towards science and technology.

This book aims to look at the practical ways you can turn a classroom into a space where students are ridiculously motivated to want to learn more. A place where you can spend less time dealing with day-to-day classroom management issues and more time teaching about the world … which is why you started teaching in the first place! Throughout this book, together we will look at ways technologies can be adapted to the classroom environment and how you can reach experts from across the globe to enhance your own students’ learning. Together we will look at the very essence of the scientific method and how to teach this in ways that won’t send students to sleep. Above all, this book looks at the practical ways your actions and those of your students can inspire others to approach science the same way.

Importantly, while all this guidance is valuable … it is also meaningless without action. There are no free rides, unfortunately. But the fact that you’re reading this means that you’ve made the conscious decision to implement more teaching ideas in your own class. Without a doubt, some of the content presented in the book will be familiar to you, while some things you might not have played with much … which is fantastic! This means that you can mesh the new with the old and, in doing so, re-visit your tried and true lessons with a fresh frame of mind.

So, with all this in mind and a fresh cup of coffee in hand, let’s delve into the ways to ignite the spark in your class and change your everyday teaching experience into something much, much greater. The best bit – it’s going to be fun!

It’s time to re-invigorate primary science education.

Introduction: Primary challenges and opportunities

‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.’

— Carl Sagan

The reality of full-time teaching is not quite what Sally expected. Despite all her good intentions and lesson preparations, she finds the considerable task of keeping thirty students together for seven hours a day, five days a week quite challenging.

Classroom behaviour management has become priority number one, as her rowdy bunch of Year 4 kids have a dynamic that could only be described as explosive. Sally’s evenings during Term 1 and 2 have become quite predictable – long hours spent researching the topics for the next day. Lesson planning has become as much about preparation for teacher survival as it is about student learning.

She’s had some awesome lesson wins (that volcano she made rocked!), but she’s also had some spectacular failures (during her long, complicated talk about textiles, one student actually fell asleep!). If only she could emulate the Master Teacher she saw in her student placement! As much as she would like to balance her face-to-face time across all the subject areas, she finds herself leaning on her previous studies in the arts and literature, as this is her comfort zone, her area of strength.

Is there much science to teach? Well, she has covered the syllabus dot points as required but as the focus in the school leans so heavily towards mathematics and English, she only looks at teaching science for the minimum weekly set time… and that can only happen when the kids are listening anyway! She’s fairly sure she’s teaching the science correctly, but then again, there’s not always someone in the room to help her. For now, she just must assume she’s doing it well enough. After all, her major is in literature and drama and it’s only Year 4!

Over the months, she does cover the content required in the curriculum but, with honest reflection, she never really feels in control of most of her lessons. When the end of the school year comes, however, for the most part, she’s succeeded. Her first class of students has done very well under her guidance and she’s offered a permanent placement at the school for Year 3, which she gladly accepts.

Does this seem familiar? While this is a fictional story, it’s one I’ve seen repeated many of times in various guises. I’ve spoken with thousands of primary teachers over the years and they often recount their first teaching placements as filled with a whirlwind of ideas and potential. It can often be about survival in the classroom as you learn to corral those kids!

With classroom management being priority number one in the initial years, you become laser-focussed on keeping the students on task and if that meant playing to your strengths, well, so be it. In Sally’s case, she has a major in literature and drama and so she leaned towards these subjects whenever the class needed to be kept together – completely understandable! In the first few years it can feel like such a difficult task to keep thirty students focussed on the lessons you’re presenting. Now when it comes to teaching primary science, in your first years it can be quite a challenge to juggle hands-on learning materials plus get all science facts out when the kids are going nuts … and you’ve got to stay on time!

It can be quite frustrating when other teachers make it look so easy, especially when they’ve got a few years of teaching behind them. When you watch those experienced teachers run a science lesson they seem so confident in what they’re doing; they seem to be able to grab any material hanging around the room and turn it into brilliant lesson, with very little behavioural issues to boot! While you acknowledge that they’ve been teaching primary science for years it can still feel like it will take forever to achieve that level of mastery. Don’t worry, you’re