4/6/09ft kick-off meeting 2. major meeting of stakeholders macquarie university, sydney, june 5 th ...

4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting1

Major Meeting of Stakeholders

Macquarie University, Sydney, June 5th

Purpose: Provide scope and overview of the project Meet research team Outline research methodology Participate in question and answer session Choose schools for first intervention Organise PD sessions for relevant teachers Enjoy tea and biccies over a chat

4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting 2

ARC Linkage Grant Partners

Macquarie University (A/Professor Quentin Parker(CI1), Professor John Hedberg (CI4), Dr David Frew (Post-doctoral Fellow)- administering organisation

Charles Sturt University (A/Professor David McKinnon (CI2), Dr Lena Danaia (CI3, named APDI))

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (Wayne Rosing (President))

CEO Parramatta (22 schools)

CEO Bathurst (6 schools)

DET Western Region (8 schools)

Possible DET Peninsular and other schools from 2010

Scope: 9000+ students, 200+ teachers & ~40 schools will provide significant statistical power in research findings.

Grant is worth over $2.3 million for three years. Made up of $ + in-kind contributions from partner

organisations


BASIC FT PROJECT

STRUCTURE


Project Leaders (CIs)A/Prof Q.A.Parker (MQ)

A/Prof.D.McKinnon(CSU

CSU TEAM MQ Team

APDI: Dr.Lena Danaia PD: Dr.David Frew

Project AdminManagement-Appointmentsin train (MQ)

PhD students (CSU)

CI/ConsultantsICT innov.centreHedberg, Evans,

LCOGTn FT support

PhD student (MQ)

CEO Parra/Bathurstand DET

Stakeholders

Schools,Teachers &Classes across jurisdictions

Physics Candidature as a percentage of total HSC Candidature

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5

10

15

20

25

30

35

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Year

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Slide courtesy Mark Butler

The problem we are facing in Australia in science education


THE CRISIS IN SCIENCE

EDUCATION

RE-IMAGINING SCIENCE EDUCATION ACER: AER51(Tytler

2007) Increasingly negative attitudes to science developed over the secondary schooling years

Decreasing participation in the enabling sciences in senior high school

Shortage of SET trained people in the workforce

Shortage of qualified science and mathematics teachers


Slide courtesy Mark Butler

ARC LINKAGE INDUSTRY PROJECT $2.3M: 2009-2012

The $30M Faulkes Telescopes are the world's largest built primarily for science education

They form the basis for this project to investigate how the hook of astronomy combined with cutting edge technology can improve more general science engagement by students in high schools and beyond

The robotic telescopes are accessed/controlled via the internet bringing the wonders of Deep Space into the classroom.

The on-line experience addresses key science curriculum areas while developing generic skills using unique, innovative, cutting-edge technology.

Students can compete and take ownership of real research projects at a level appropriate to their level of scientific development with suitable support from their teachers and project staff

Support comes from a dedicated team of scientists, science educators, consultants, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and project management support.

A key aspect is the targetted professional development training of science teachers and associated mentoring to gain the skills and ICT/content confidence needed

The project will undertake fundamental pedagogical research as well as developing relevant interactive teaching materials that can integrate these powerful facilities into the science curriculum.


Space to Grow: The Faulkes Telescope and improving science engagement in schools

Faulkes Telescopes (2-metre mirrors)

4/6/09 FT Kick-off meeting 8

4/6/09 FT Kick-off meeting 9

The FaulkesTelescpes:

use in Australian Schools

These telescopes have the potential to play an important role in physics education for at least the next 15 years

They have the potential to work on many different levels

Covers a wide variety of science educational areas in maths, science and technology including: Scientific methodology Generic skills Planning, observing, data collating, testing and

comparing

An excellent use of and test of the capacity of the broad-band internet connectivity in NSW to deliver high quality scientific data sets to school classrooms


Motivating students to study science

and technology


Inherent fascination of astronomy and space

Excitement of real discoveries

Fabulous images

Cutting edge multi-million dollar technology

Up to the minute science

Collaboration with real scientists

Education/Research Projects for HSC

students


Relevant to syllabuses

Suitable for coursework

Excellent for key skills

Genuine scientific investigations

Contribute to scientific knowledge

Linked with professional scientists

Backed by full web materials

Hawaii

FT (North)

Australia

FT (South)

Sites of the Faulkes Telescopes


Project’s Creative

Breakthrough: A blend of science, technology and mathematics underpins the entire novel educational concept.

The project’s creative breakthrough was in effectively and naturally combining all these areas into the same project using the Faulkes Telescopes and the pulling power of astronomy as the facilitating mechanisms.

This can then be powerfully implemented by the unique combination of professional astronomers, ICT staff, science teachers and education experts in the same support team.

Another creative aspect of the project is to transcend the boundaries of the traditional classroom by requiring students and teachers to develop their own project science proposals to use the Faulkes Telescopes and to assess, reduce and critically analyse the authentic data derived from them.

This approach supports inquiry based learning strategies for both teachers and their students and empowers teachers to use a constructivist and evidence-driven approach to real world phenomena.

The methodology for evaluating the professional teaching, learning and development activities was based on a reflective design research approach.


IYA 2009- an opportune time to launch this

project

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy (IYA)

This presents us with an additional opportunity to raise the awareness of astronomy, promote science and astronomy as a valued part of modern culture within the classroom context and to encourage better awareness and appreciation of the natural world.


Some of the major challenges that arose

from the DEST ASISTM pilot project

2006-2008: lessons learned It became evident that many teachers experienced difficulties

in accommodating this project into tightly- packed schedules and the curriculum adequate resources within schools a pre-requisite.

Teachers were able to address this by confining the time to a limited number of periods and developing innovative ways to provide students with the necessary background by using learning tools such as a WebQuest careful adequate timetabling.

It was also clear and anticipated that the success of the project in any school was significantly correlated with the confidence and competence of the science teacher in both astronomy content and the technological ICT challenges.

Unsurprisingly, teacher professional development was identified as the key area that needed to be addressed if such educational opportunities are to be maximised teacher release. 4/6/09FT Kick-off meeting 16

ICT Innovations centre:


excellent and relevant supportive infrastructure for both teachers, students and project team

Pilot project feedback continued…

A critical aspect of the project was to develop new skills and expertise in the science teachers.

As well as improving content knowledge, the aim was to assist teachers in locating, accessing, modifying and developing learning activities for students using the Faulkes Telescopes through teacher professional development and mentoring.

Part of the pilot project’s success was in creating cross- curricular synergies

With the help of the TAs, support astronomers and enthusiastic teachers, students designed the projects they would like to investigate, applied for telescope time and analysed their data in exactly the same way a professional astronomer would pursue their research continue with similar model for this project

This enhanced the study of astronomy for students and introduces them to the scientific process in a real and tangible context.


Student comments from our pilot DEST ASISTM PROJECT

2006-2008

“Everybody found this project awesome and I can’t wait to do more”

“It was so interesting and not that hard to do”

“I can’t believe I have contributed to real life science”



Examples of Faulkes Projects

Variable stars•Monitoring variation in brightness•Estimating sizes of eclipsing binary stars

Clusters of stars•Observing stars in three wavebands to give colour tempand relative luminosity•Hence age of cluster

Planetary Nebulae•Imaging, measuring and classifying• Identification of central stars


Mechanics

Materials

RoboticsElectronics

Mathematics

ICT

Technology

Not just astronomy!Communications

And links with . . .

Art . . . . . Technical English

Optics

Image processing

Mechanics

History

Geography


Moodle use in project - not very successful

A/Prof McKinnon


Key Project Aims Produce a set of learning and teaching materials that engage

students with science in general and with Physics/Astronomy in particular within an ICT context and which encourage a depth of understanding rather than lightly covering a breadth of topics.

Develop a teaching and learning context in physics for effective professional development so that science teachers are confident to employ ICT and related pedagogies that enhance students’ learning and also to provide opportunities to explore and develop their own interest.

Investigate and develop strategies in which students use FT data to meet the learning outcomes of the NSW Stage 4/5 Science (pp.11–12, 36–37, 40–44) and the HSC Stage 6 Physics syllabuses (Module 8.5; 9.2; Option 9.7) and where FT access and use serve as engagement mechanisms to enhance their learning in physics, mathematics and ICTs.

Explore and make explicit the manner in which students engage with, and learn from, the new technologies available to them via their use of the FTs and the data generated by it.

Create cross-curricular synergies and establish inter-school linkages, both here and with overseas partners, as a means of extracting maximum learning benefits in a globally connected world.


Syllabus Contents covered by

Interventions Year 10 – Big Bang Theory,

Components of the Universe, Energy and Force, Theories and Laws

Year 11 – The Cosmic Engine Year 12 – Space (Core) and

Astrophysics (Option) Four of the five Prescribed Focus

Areas (history, nature and practice, applications, current issues R&D).


Project to Syllabus Mappings

Projects: Contents of the universe

– Kepler’s Laws and gravity Asteroids Masses of planets (Jupiter, Saturn)

– Star Clusters and Stellar Evolution Planetary Nebulae

– Galaxies– The Big Bang (quasars, spectrometry, red-shift)

Astronomical Methods – Instrumentation

Photometry (differential and full aperture)– Light curves (asteroid, variable stars, supernovae)

Spectrometry– Statistical sampling methods


Research Questions What key factors affect students’ capacity to understand

and retain foundation science concepts, their levels of interest in school science and their participation in Stage 6 physics?

How does a design research model, learning framework and teacher/student partnerships in science research projects impact day-to-day classroom practice and student learning?

What range of possibilities/constraints exist for students who engage in science inquiry tasks using the FTs?

What teaching and learning opportunities and avenues of communication exist within and between teachers, students and the community of astronomers?

What impact does professional development and the use of broadband-based pedagogies have in building teacher confidence and competence in both the subject matter and the technological and conceptual challenges involved with implementing FT projects in physics and astronomy?


Outcomes - Students

Students will: develop confidence in their use of scientific knowledge

and their ability to apply it in scientific practice including ICT competence via use of the FTs

develop knowledge about their own learning of science and how they are able to use the skills acquired from access to the FT online infrastructure to develop further their scientific knowledge and understanding (Hackling, 1998)

link the practical and theoretical aspects of science to their own science learning

value the intellectual quality and rigour in their own work begin to develop a lifelong appreciation and love of

science and of what science can offer in terms of their understanding of the world, its importance to Australia’s economic productivity and to their own career pathways.


Outcomes - Teachers

Teachers will:

promote science relevance for students and strengthen their engagement in science learning

be inspired to be competent, confident and creative in their teaching approaches (e.g., Appleton, 2003) through the variety of strategies and activities available via the FTs

think and reflect about their teaching of physics in particular, and science in general, in ways that accommodate the needs of their students set within the context of using the FTs

be able to locate, access, modify and develop learning activities for students using the FTs.


Outcomes - SchoolsSchools will:

introduce a powerful and engaging pedagogical mechanism where teachers can apply cognitive learning techniques to cater for students from a wide range of backgrounds

provide an ICT/physics learning environment which seamlessly covers IT, physics and mathematics whilst also engendering a base of scientifically useful generic skills involving the creation, refinement and operational parameters of a real experiment followed by the reduction, analysis, interpretation and evaluation of bona-fide experimental outputs

offer a novel and challenging outlet for gifted students in science and technology.


Method


Data Sources Teachers

Questionnaires administered via web Interviews Record of activities during project Observation of lessons

Students Questionnaires administered via web Pre- and Post-Test of content

knowledge Interviews Work samples

Web-based data on interactions and communication


Start - 2009 Term 3

All students and teachers complete ethics approval

First professional development session for teachers – complete pre-intervention Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT)

All students and teachers complete pre-intervention Secondary School Science Questionnaire

All students complete pre-intervention ADT- 27 items

1/3 of Year 10 classes commence intervention


Method (ethical issue)


Online Questionnaire Links


Pre-ADThttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/students/adt_pretest-section1.htmlhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/students/adt_pretest-section2.htmlhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/students/adt_pretest-section3.html

Pre-SSSQ Student Versionhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/students/pretest-section1.htmlhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/students/pretest-section2.htmlhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/students/pretest-section3.html

Pre-SSSQ Teacher Versionhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/teachers/pretest-section1.htmlhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/teachers/pretest-section2.htmlhttp://wsww01.csumain.csu.edu.au/sote-survey/dnl-project/teachers/pretest-section3.html

4/6/09ft kick-off meeting 2. major meeting of stakeholders macquarie university, sydney, june 5 th ...

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