Fizzics

I’ve been working on other things recently and the RSS feeds have been building up a little higher than I would like. One of the sites I caught up on today was Kairosnews, where playpus matt has blogged about his discovery of a template within Office 2007 that makes it easier to complain about a teacher.  Microsoft go that extra mile to help their customers, especially when that means complaining about teachers.  You can tell this by the presence of additional templates for complaining about a teacher to the Principal of the School and even writing to the school board to complain about a teacher.

Thanks, Microsoft.  You’re just the kind of Partner in Learning that we need.

I’ve been “tagged” for one of these blog themes that go round from time to time. I usually avoid them, like the emails that say you have to send them on or there will be consequences. This one is a little different though. I have looked at a lot of blog entries with the same title and it is amazing to see what others show to communicate their inspirations in education.

In my tardiness, I have been tagged by both Mrs Moodle and Nick Hood.  Here, finally, is my image.

photo uploaded by jurvetson

Those of you who know I teach Physics will think it’s an obvious choice of image. What is it that appeals to me here? It’s obviously a geeky image with kids taking apart a piece of electronics (it’s a betamax vcr). What I really like is the fact that it is years since Betamax lost the VCR format wars but this device still has value today.

We throw things out unnecessarily these days. There is a lot of educational value in older equipment, particularly in electronics.  Modern equipment is often constructed with a built in obsolescence that prevents repair or makes it uneconomic (so much for sustainability) that often also makes it difficult to see the individual components when we remove the outer cover.

In taking things apart, we offer active and engaging learning.  Ask pupils questions as they “dissect” an old vcr, freeview box or electric sander.  Better still, get them to film the event and add a commentary afterwards -  which part are they removing, what role did it have in the unit ?

I’ve just acquired an old colour portable TV.  My next S3 class will be assessed on their video of this “alien’s” autopsy. 

I’m meant to tag 5 people now.  It’s unlikely I will find five who have not completed this challenge but I shall try tagging

• Tom Barrett
• Alan Stewart
• Andrew Rathie
• David Noble
• Kristian Still

Hot on the heels of ETR#4 comes another show from EdTechRoundUp.  Show #5 has a different format from previous podcasts as it was recorded during one of our regular Sunday evening Flashmeetings.  The show contains a discussion about the merits of different Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), including the Glow portal being rolled out across Scotland.

I just got a tweet from Doug Belshaw to say that the EdTechRoundUp show I recorded with him has been uploaded.  This is the fourth ETR show and it’s the first time that Doug and I have worked together on a show.  The theme of the podcast is internet safety and we talk to a brilliant guy called Ollie Bray who has been doing great work in Scotland, promoting safe and responsible use of the web among pupils and their parents.  Our thanks once again to Ollie for agreeing to the interview.

You can get the show here.

It’s not so long ago that I shared some things I learned during a traffic lighting exercise with two S3 classes.  Now that the end of the school year is approaching, I have found myself handing out questionnaires to senior classes to find out what they thought of the course they have just completed.  The questions are not mine, they came from much further up the chain of command.  Given the feedback I have received, I am actually relieved to have no responsibility for putting the questions together.

I have not compiled a statistical analysis of the responses, I just skimmed thourgh the sheets as I headed off to hand them in to my boss.  However, I thought I would share the following responses with you as they stood out as recurring themes.

1. Was the course what you expected it to be? Yes but there was more/less maths than expected.
2. Did you enjoy the course? Yes
3. What did you like about the course? Lots of youtube and computer stuff to show us and keep us interested, other teachers say they are a waste of time.
4. What are other departments doing that we could be doing to improve your learning experience? The Physics labs are dumps! Can’t you at least paint them?

The first response interests me as it shows that some kids enter physics with a preconceived idea that it will be all about maths, while others barely notice the numerical side of the course.  It’s true to say that there is a numeracy divide in Physics and it is a shame that all we offer pupils on the other side is Intermediate 1, despite their often strong reasoning and explaining skills.

The third response in that list is interesting too.  As someone who has fought to have youtube.com unblocked for staff, I have continued to make full use of it to help pupils visualise a new concept as it is introduced.  It’s also very helpful in flushing out those persistent misconceptions.  Clearly, this response shows that my colleagues wouldn’t notice if access had remained blocked.

The final response is one with which I agree.  My room is a tip.  Partly due to circumstances I won’t air here but also due to the ongoing plan to move science into another part of the school.  Other rooms are being given a lick of paint, new carpet, perhaps even some new furniture.  Since my room is scheduled to be ripped out as soon as someone finds the cash to do so, I must continue to work in less than satisfactory conditions with broken floor tiles, 50 year-old stools and shabby walls that I try to hide behind posters.

More important than all of this is the verbal feedback I received.  Many of the pupils had completed the same survey in Biology and Chemistry earlier in the week and were now sick of it.  Their point was simple.  If we don’t care enough to taylor the survey to the subject in question then it sends a signal that we probably don’t care too much about their responses either.  They’ve got a point, haven’t they?  While some of my classes have already started study leave, I still have a week or so before the others head off.  I think there’s still time for me to provide a more personalised approach to the pupil survey.