The Concern

1
The Concern

• For a number of years the issue of secondary
  teacher shortage has been a concern across
  Australia (ASPA 2006). The 2003 Ministerial
  Council of Employment, Education, Training and
  Youth Affairs predicted potential shortages of
  20,000 to 30,000 teachers by around 2012.
• In 2005 the Australian Council of Deans of
  Science found large proportions of secondary
  schools across Australia were having difficulty
  recruiting suitably qualified teachers of
  science.
• 26 of physics teachers and 13 of chemistry
  teachers had neither a major nor a minor in their
  subject.
• 16 of junior secondary teachers had not studied
  a science subject past first year at university,
  8 had not studied science at university at all
• Teacher shortages are likely to be more
  pronounced in certain STEM areas such as
  Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and ICT as the
  supply of education graduates has fallen in
  recent years.
• Attracting good students in the numbers required
  into secondary science and mathematics teaching
  is a serious challenge.

2

• A Department of Education, Employment and
  Workplace Relations (DEEWR) audit of STEM
  supply-side data reported in Participation in
  Science, Mathematics and Technology in Australian
  Education (Ainley 2008) noted that the number of
  graduates in Australia completing undergraduate
  degrees in science related fields over the years
  2001-2006 has remained substantially stable
  resulting in a decline in the percentage of
  domestic undergraduate course completions from
  40.4 to 38.7.
• From a national viewpoint a flexible and highly
  literate STEM population raises the competitive
  advantage of Australia and leads to innovation
  and growth in productivity and wealth. The
  resulting national priority to promote widespread
  participation in STEM has lead to growing concern
  that Australias STEM trained population is not
  sufficient to meet current and forecast demand
  (Tytler 2008).

3

• A recent report by Engineers Australia, SA
  Division, (Engineers Australia 2008), expressed
  concern in regard to looming shortages of
  engineers in Australia.
• A 2006 Department of Education, Science and
  Training (DEST) Audit of science, engineering and
  technology skills concluded that Australia faces
  a cumulative shortfall of 20,000 scientists over
  the eight years from 2006 (DEST 2006).

4

• In 2006 the Chief Executive of Engineers
  Australia remarked to a Parliament Enquiry into
  immigration that At the secondary level, there
  is a disturbing trend for students to lose
  interest in science and mathematics. The most
  recent figures show that about 46 of all
  secondary school students are not studying any
  science or mathematics subjects at all.

5
       Australian TIMSS Results      

• Have a long tail of
  underachievement Are poor at
  the higher levels Have stood
  still while many countries have improved

6
Considerations

• A number of countries (including Korea, Japan
  and Finland) are classified as high achieving
  locations in STEM subjects.
• This is based on international data drawn from
  the (Pisa) or (TIMSS) assessments. In the high
  achieving countries there are a number of
  initiatives that have common attributes, one of
  which includes changing the science and
  mathematics curriculum to make it more engaging,
  hands-on and relevant to real-life situations.

7

• The Finnish National Core Curriculum and the
  Helsinki City Curriculum comply with the
  pedagogical principles of the Frenchman Célestin
  Freinet, who underlines learning by doing and
  community orientation.
• The Essential Concepts of Freinet Pedagogy
• Pedagogy of Work - meaning that pupils learned by
  making useful products or providing useful
  services.
• Co-operative Learning - based on co-operation in
  the productive process.
• Enquiry-based Learning - trial and error method
  involving group work.
• The Natural Method - based on an inductive,
  global approach.
• Centres of Interest - based on children's
  learning interests and curiosity.

8

• One of the most significant areas of concern to
  emerge from research studies is that school
  science and mathematics is perceived by many
  students as being irrelevant and boring
  (Goodrum et al., 2001 Mcphan et al., 2008
  Tytler, 2007). One means of addressing these
  issues is to move towards a contextual approach
  to teaching of science with a greater focus
  around the relevance of inquiry and investigation
  along with the need for students to develop
  higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills
  (Barnes, 2000 McPhan et al., 2008 Williams,
  2005)

9
Inquiry-based Learning

• ? Inquiry implies involvement that leads to
  understanding.
• Furthermore, involvement in learning implies
  possessing skills and attitudes that permit you
  to seek resolutions to questions and issues while
  you construct new knowledge.
• ? Unfortunately, our traditional educational
  system has worked in a way that discourages the
  natural process of inquiry
• ? Students become less prone to ask questions as
  they move through the grade levels.
• ? Students learn not to ask too many questions,
  instead to listen and repeat the expected
  answers.
• Some of the discouragement of our natural inquiry
  process may come from a lack of understanding
  about the deeper nature of inquiry-based
  learning.
• Effective inquiry is more than just asking
  questions.
• A complex process is involved when individuals
  attempt to convert information and data into
  useful knowledge.
• Useful application of inquiry learning involves
  several factors
• ? a context for questions,
• ? a framework for questions,
• ? a focus for questions and
• ? different levels of questions.
• Well-designed inquiry learning produces knowledge
  formation that can be widely applied.

10
The Hallett Cove School solution

• Recognising the need for a change in the way
  that the mathematics and science curriculum is
  conceived and delivered, the Administration and
  Governing Council made the decision to commit the
  school to focusing on improving outcomes (both
  academically and in vocational pathways) in the
  learning areas of mathematics and science. This
  commitment has been written into the Site
  Learning Plan and a new position Assistant
  Principal, Mathematics and Science was created by
  the amalgamation of the two separate Coordinator
  positions.

11

• We are currently in the process of developing a
  contextualised, inquiry-based, fully integrated
  mathematics and science curriculum, from years 8
  10, that will engage the students and encourage
  them to continue with their studies of advanced
  mathematics and science. Working with the
  teachers in the Mathematics and Science Areas of
  Study, the new curriculum for year 8 was
  developed and subsequently implemented for trial
  in 2009.

12
So how did we go about developing this new
integrated curriculum?

• In 2008 I introduced the notion of Rich Tasks to
  the faculty (now a combined Ma/Sc faculty)
• In Learning in Technology Education Challenges
  for the 21st Century
• a Rich task is defined as "a culminating
  performance or demonstration or product that is
  purposeful and models a life role. It presents
  substantive, real problems to solve and engages
  learners in forms of pragmatic social action that
  have real value in the world. The problems
  require identification, analysis and resolution,
  and require students to analyse, theorise and
  engage intellectually with the world. In this
  way, tasks connect to the world outside the
  classroom. As well as having this connectedness,
  the tasks are also rich in their application
  they represent an educational outcome of
  demonstrable and substantial intellectual and
  educational value.
• To be truly rich, a task requires
  transdisciplinary learnings which utilise
  practices and skills across disciplines while
  retaining the integrity of the disciplines.
• Queensland example of a Year 6 Rich Task
  Design, Make and Display a Product. Students will
  design, or improve the design of, a purposeful
  product, and make the product or a working model
  or prototype. As part of a public display
  promoting their product, they will flesh out a
  (restricted) marketing plan and explore the
  suitability of materials for mass manufacture.

13
We began by first developing Assessment Rubrics
based upon SACSA Outcomes
14
(No Transcript)
15
Began the process of finding and/or developing a
series of Rich Tasks that would address the SACSA
Outcomes across both Maths and Science

• A Sticky Subject Some of the tasks are quite
  specific with
• Factor Game Fast Fun Factors their
  instructions to get them started
• Fat Chance while others are deliberately
• Filling Bottles quite vague. It is up to the
  students to
• Kitchen Renovation fill in the gaps by
  researching anything
• About Me that they dont understand. A
  discussion
• Bringing Down the Solar system between the
  students and the tutor will
• Wriggly Worms help determine the level of
  assessment
• Blue Lake achieved.
• Barbie Bungee
• Coins and Weight
• Distance vs Time
• Don't Get Boxed In
• Double Up
• Energy and Water in the Kitchen
• Take a Chance
• Waste Not Want Not
• Tiling
• Bombs Away

16
Mapped the Outcomes across the Tasks
17

• As we wanted to also develop a technology- rich
  curriculum we began to acquire teacher resources
  and data-logging technology from Texas
  Instruments and Vernier.
• Meanwhile I informed the parents of the incoming
  2009 yr 8 students about the new curriculum and
  that they would all need to acquire a TI 84
  graphics calculator at a cost of 160 (socio
  economic factors allowed for).
• Saved money by reducing Science bulk order and
  reduced need for text book replacements for yrs 8
  10 (no Maths or Science text books issued to yr
  8s in 2009)

18
I looked at the physical layout of the
laboratories and made changes where possible to
enable a blocking of two lines of three classes
of yr 8 Maths and Science. This required the
cooperation of the timetabling committee as a
priority after the yr 12s.

• before changes after changes

19

• Students attend 10 lessons per week of
  Investigative Studies (in Mathematics and
  Science)
• Their teacher/tutor is responsible for normal
  administrative requirements like marking the roll
  as well as monitoring and recording their process
• For the majority of the time they choose their
  own groups (to a maximum of three)
• They then choose what task they wish to undertake
• They are responsible for determining what is
  required to undertake the task and ordering any
  equipment/supplies.
• They must also complete the Risk Assessment for
  each activity before having this verified by
  their tutor
• Students are trained in the use of the
  data-logging equipment by a knowledgeable
  teacher, in which case they achieve an expert
  certificate which then enables them to borrow the
  equipment as well as train other students (who
  receive a certificate of competence, which
  enables them to borrow and use that particular
  sensor/probe but not train other students)
• All students are issued with a coloured nametag
  which they must wear if they want to borrow
  equipment or move out of the classroom
• Each task is able to be re-submitted to their
  tutor/teacher so as to improve their assessment
  result

20

• We started the year with some common experiments
  to get them used to laboratory safety rules and
  experimental technique
• Explained the SACSA Outcomes and assessment
  rubrics
• Ran a couple of sessions using the data-loggers
  and probes
• Got all the students to fill in an Attitudes
  Toward Maths Science survey which I modeled on
  a survey of students attitudes toward
  introductory statistics developed by C. Shau.
  The items fall into four subscales affect
  (attitude), cognitive competence, value, and
  difficulty.
• They will be re-surveyed every term
• --------------------------------------------------
  ------------
• Along the way, apart from the Rich Tasks, there
  will occur
• Explicit teaching of how to learn for tests
• Learning how to learn
• Sessions about specific learning and thinking
  theory
• A focus on Depth of Learning rather than
  superficial learning
• A reduction in the content covered as we focus on
  the learning, thinking and problem solving skills
• Rote learning of the times tables

21
Problems

• Big initial workload for the lab manager
  (requiring a change of practice in the
  organisation of the supply and preparation of
  equipment lots of small groups rather than
  class sets, different types of requirements
  necessitating more shopping expeditions)
• More difficult to keep track of student progress
  and to ensure that they stayed on task (some
  students tended to abuse the apparent freedom
  offered by a task orientated curriculum)
• Teachers needed to be more vigilant in what each
  group was doing so that supplies werent wasted
  and checking that everything was returned at the
  end of each session
• The teachers tended to find this significant
  change to be quite stressful and there was a
  tendency to want to revert to their comfort
  zone of how they have always done it before (ie
  shut the door, teacher dominated with explicit
  teaching)
• We reduced the number of tasks that each class
  could choose from to make it more manageable for
  everyone (especially with limited data-logging
  equipment)
• This enabled some explicit teaching to the whole
  class to occur that would be relevant to the
  group of tasks being undertaken (rather than only
  having any explicit teaching occurring as the
  students required it for their particular task)
• We redesigned the assessment summary to make it
  easier for the teacher to keep track of each
  students progress
• We had to find a compromise between the school
  based assessment for reporting against the SACSA
  based assessment as outlined in the assessment
  rubrics

22
Assessment Summary
23
This is a work in progress

• We will be refining our current Rich Tasks, and
  developing new ones, as we go alongSo lets
  look at some of our Rich Tasks