I have been extremely busy in the last few months. It felt as if we had conference after conference, teaching, workshops and presentations, as well as trying to do research and write grant applications… I hope I will have time to reflect, slow down a little bit now and pulling my life back together. Recently, I was interviewed by the Globe and Mail. The journalist asked me about our recent presentation at the American Educational Research Association AERA 2012 Milner. It was an interesting interview as it focused on how modern technology, such as clickers can promote learning of science and mathematics in K-12. I was happy to share our research with her and today I just found out that an article about clickers in K-12 classroom was published by the Globe and Mail. It is exciting to see positive things related to education published in the press:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/david_deutsch_a_new_way_to_explain_explanation.html[/

As a science educator, I am always concerned about how to convey to my students (most of whom have very little training in science and very large fear of science), what science is all about and what scientific method is. This is something that I believe will drive how they teach science… and how their student will think of science… I want to make sure the students do not think that science is the only way to know the world, but I want them to see the way scientists attempt to figure out the world around them. It is also important the students see the difference between science and pseudoscience or cargo cult science, as referred to by Richard Feynman: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3043/1/CargoCult.pdf This is a very important discussion that rarely happens in science methods or even in science courses. I am always amazed how “scientific method” is taught in science methods courses… The model I have seen used is “Predict – Observe – Explain” does not make any sense to me and I wonder who came up with it. I wonder how can one make predictions without having any experience first… Although I have no space here to get into a philosophical discussion, I think the way we teach science methods course often does more harm than helps… What David Deutsch is discussing in his TED talk is one response to this issue… I think it is very important to discuss with the students, especially future teachers the philosophical underpinning of a scientific method and science itself…

For the past number of months I have been supervising education students on a school practicum. The students I supervise are future science teachers and they are learning to teach during the 13 month long practicum. I noticed that many of the student-teachers tend to use video clips to bring exciting science phenomena into the classroom. However, I also noticed that the quality of video clips they use varies significantly. Most of the video clips found on the internet have not been created as educational resources – having young students in mind. In addition, it is not always clear if the information in the video one can find on the web has been vetted by the experts… A few days ago I had a chance to watch a video by the Discovery Chanel, called Amazing Earth Collection. I think this is a resource built with the students in mind, that science educators can use successfully to excite their students in science. The resource consists of four programs (video clips) devoted to four different topics relevant to science curriculum in K-12 schools: Amazing Earth; What Lies Below; Earth 2100: Wild Weather Ahead; and Earth: The Sequel.

Each video contains very exciting footage from amazing places all over the world (including Canadian – Rockies), combined with very interesting animations, clearly explained and narrated. The theme of the collection is Earth and Ocean science: geology, weather, Earth’s amazing geography, volcanology, etc. In addition, real scientists are featured  – speaking about their research – becoming role models for future generations. I wish, however, more of the featured scientists were women or people from more diverse backgrounds (there are a few women scientists in the movies, but the vast majority of scientists are still white males). However, the women featured in the movies are very inspirational. For example, Nancy Aulenbach is a very  experienced caver, who is also a Montessori school teacher: http://www.amazingcaves.com/set_film_explorers.html Her collaborators are a biologist and a geologist. This movie (What Lies Below) shows an amazing collaboration and explorations of underground caves. Certainly the places the movies take us are extraordinary – I am sure they will excite the students of all ages. I especially enjoyed how the videos not only showed what we have discovered so far but also focused on what we still do not know and want to find out. I think the video can be used very effectively with Science students, especially in grades 8-10 in general science or in upper grades discussing specific issues. Among the four video clips, I enjoyed the Earth 2100: The Wild Weather Ahead the most. It discusses the effects of the hurricanes (such as Katrina) and the weather patterns that scientists are predicting will be happening on Earth in the near future…

I am not aware if there are educational activities accompanying the programs on this DVD, but I can see how teachers can use it. I will certainly use it with my pre-service teachers when I teach it next time.

For the amazon link to the video, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Earth-Collection-Patrick-Stewart/dp/B00652U5W0

I think the presentation of Dr. Carl Weiman will be of interest to anybody who cares about science education. Even though Carl Weiman is focused on science education in the United States, his talk has clear implications to all of us.

See:

http://www.osa.org/Video_Library/SearchResultsVideo.aspx?Id=1458629449001

I think Olivia’s thoughts on the panel are worth looking at: http://transmediavancouver.com/2012/02/25/james-hansens-dilemma-science-is-not-enough/ I hope you will enjoy reading her post the same way I did.

As science educators we know that science teaching is much more than lesson plans or science labs. It is also much more than technology we use in the classroom to teach science. Science teaching is also about WHO IS A SCIENTIST and CAN I BE ONE? I really liked how Allie Willinson decided to challenge the stereotypes about scientists using technology: http://lookslikescience.tumblr.com/about And if you like Allie want to challenge the stereotype about scientists, then contribute to her web site. I am certainly going to do so on behalf of myself and my husband. I think the more students see DIFFERENT people who do science, the more open they will be to science careers. I think it is a brilliant idea. Thank you Allie!

I have had an amazing opportunity to attend two very exciting conference this February – the American Association of Physics Teachers’ Conference in Ontario, California and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Conference in Vancouver. I put many of my comments about the events on my www.bcapt.ca blog and I do not want to repeat the same comments twice. However, here I would like to reflect on the panel I enjoy probably the most during the event: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2012/program/plenaries/panel.shtml The Panel  was called “Science is Not Enough” and it featured three very interesting presenters: James Hunsen, Hans Rosling and Olivia Judson and a moderator Frank Sesno. The panel will be posted on AAAS web site and I strongly recommend you to watch it. I also cannot miss noticing once again how impressed and inspired I was by the presentation of Mike Lazaridis. You can watch it on AAAS web site as well. I would recommend you to look at the AAAS news to find out what you missed: http://news.aaas.org/ The fact that the Society makes these talks publicly available is amazing. Enjoy browsing!

My blog has been dormant for a while. However, the lack of my activity has nothing to do with the lack of exciting developments in science education in Vancouver, in Canada and int he world. Vice versa, there have been so many interesting science education things in my life, that I could barely keep up. I would like to name just a few. Last week I attended a presentation of a Olivia Fermi at the Italian Cultural Centre. Olivia spoke about the nuclear legacy and what can we do about it today. I would recommend you to follow Olivia’s blog: Neutron Trail project . Then we have started active preparation for the 34th UBC Physics Olympics: http://phas.ubc.ca/physoly/ It is the first time that I participate in it not just as a volunteer, but as one of the organizers. I am looking forward to this event! Then I started participating in a very interesting graduate seminar taught by one of the colleagues here at the Faculty of Education, Prof. Andre Mazawi. The seminar focused on Research Methods in Educational Research. However, as most of the participants are from non-science fields, I was asked to preapare a talk on the research methods in science education. I decided to focus on the exploration of Thomas S. Kuhn’s work “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”. I am rereading it now and thinking more and more about what it means to do research in science education.I will be happy to share my notes on what I prepare on this blog. It is interesting how the same book or paper might mean different thigns to you at different stages of your life. I think that is what happens to me now when I re-read this book…

I am also looking forward to the upcoming AAPT conference in Ontario, California and to the AAAS and AERA Conferences that will take place in Vancouver. In other words, the science education scene in Vancouver is busy and exciting. In addition, on February 11th we will host a special Professional Development event for BC physics teachers… So I am very busy, but it is “busy in a good and exicitng way”…

I wish everybody a great year and I will be back with my blog…

A friend of mine, Olivia Fermi, will be giving a talk about the Neutron Trail project she has been working on for a number of years now. Olivia is a great public speaker and I would strongly recommend you attend this very special event. It will take place on January 19th at Instituto Italiano di Cultura (Italian Cultural Centre). It is FREE and I strongly recommend you to attend. I am planning on being there.

January 19, 2012, 7:00 pm at Istituto Italiano di Cultura. 500-510 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, Canada. Sponsored by United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-C). Free.

I have had an opportunity to attend a regional NSTA conference in Seattle Washington. There have been lots of amazing speakers there and as I am not a member of an organizing committee there I had a chance to relax and enjoy the conference. I happened to attend a number of amazing events. One of them is Ken Miller’s presentation on Evolution. While listening to this presentation, I just realized that “evolution is just a theory approach” is something all of us science educators should be very concerned about.The presentation was very inspiring and clever and I hope I learned a few things from it. Ken Miller is a biology prof at Brown University and I would have loved to study biology from him. Here are a few links:

Ken Miller on the Colbert Report; Ken Miller’s web site: and his YouTube presentation below: