1. Digital Science LabEd Walsh, Cornwall Learning

2. IntroductionEd Walsh Science Adviser in Cornwall, providing support andguidance. Series Editor for Harper Collins GCSE (C21) and KS3Science resources, contributing author for Pearson EdexcelPhysics resources and ASE Secondary Science TeachersHandbook Seconded to the National Strategies 2008-10, working onprojects such as APP, GCSE criteria, Curriculum Pathways atKS4 and Narrowing the Gap Science teacher for 20 years, including 12 as team leader. CPD provider at ASE Annual Meetings, BETT and theEducation Show 3. PurposeTo share some effective ideas for developingteaching and learning using digitaltechnologiesTo identify how they can support effectiveclassroom practiceTo identify curriculum opportunities from thesecondary science curriculum 4. CriteriaApplications Needs to be cost effective. Needs to support the curriculum both thesubject and ICT It needs to be reliableHowever This is not a top ten, neither is it a buyers guide It is less to do with what the most outstandingpractitioner might aspire to than identifyingeffective starting points for a wide range ofpractitioners. 5. Tracking earthquakes 6. What it is:www.wolton.net/quake.html EQuake3Dhttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/What it does:Displays the location and strength of earthquakes occurring in the last seven daysWhy use it?Indicates how frequent earthquakes are and the locations relative to land masses.Uses current informationHow could it be used? Use display to show strength and location of earthquakes Follow up with USGS information Ask for suggestions about correlation of earthquake location andedges of tectonic plates 7. Modelling 8. What it does:Displays an animated diagram that shows how the scientific model explains the observed phenomenonWhy use it?To bridge between the concrete model the student has seen and the conceptual model the teacher is offeringTo support explicit use of modelling evaluating the modelHow could it be used? Ask students to investigate a phenomenon, such as the creation of a magnetic field by a solenoid. Ask students to investigate factors such as strength and shape. Offer conceptual model, such as magnetic lines. Use diagram to reinforce and as basis for questions such as: How does this represent the strength of different parts of the field? How does it indicate the direction of the field? 9. What it does:Enables students to bookmark web pages and tag them with keywords.What I use:Delicious.com, which has the feature of Stacks, to categorise links.Why use it?To encourage students to keep track of useful websites they have found in their research and to be able to refer to them either at school or home.How could it be used? When students are researching material for GCSE controlledassessments in science, they are permitted to work incollaboration, without direct teacher supervision and away fromthe centre. Bookmarking enables them to keep track of useful sites (and thereferences). 10. Using handheld games machinesWhat it does:Enables short video clips to be easily accessed, images captured andtext viewed.Why use it?To provide students with portable and user friendly mini computer, enabling them to independently access content and store images.How could it be used? Pupils are asked for ideas about how speed cameras work, accessinformation about speed cameras and suggest how they couldmodel one. Pupils set out the rulers at 1m intervals; one pupil runs, anothertwo photograph the running pupil at agreed points and the othermeasures the time interval between the images. Ask pupils to use the formula on their data and explore theaccuracy of the procedure by question and answer. 11. Star Map 12. www.stellarium.orgWhat it does:Enables objects in the Night Sky to be identified and their apparentmotion modelled.Why use it?To provide a basis for explaining various observed features.To enable variables, such as time, to be manipulated.How could it be used? Students could be shown a simple model of the Sun-Earth systemand reminded of the rotation and orbiting. They could then beasked to suggest on the basis of that what the apparent motion ofthe stars will be. The programme can then be used to explore such questions as: What is the apparent motion of the stars? How would the sky appear if there was no atmosphere? Which stars (and planets) may be visible this evening? 13. Temperature probeWhich freezes quicker, hot water or cold?Which freezes quicker, pure or salt water?How do different insulators affect the cooling rate of water?How does a greenhouse gas affect the extent to which energyis absorbed?Does the colour of a car affect the extent to which it heats upon a sunny day?What temperature changes take place during a chemicalreaction?How can the stratification of air cause different temperatures? 14. What it does:Enables temperature(s) to be measured, displayed and graphed.Why use it?To produce a real time display of changing temperatureTo produce data that can be processedHow could it be used? Ask students to predict the relationship between temperature andtime and the shape of the graph. Ask for a justification of the prediction. Run the experiment and ask questions such as: Whats going on now? Is this what we expected? Why should this be happening? 15. What it does:Enables short video clips with rich questions to be gathered, sharedand easily accessed.Why use it?To have a supply of rich questions readily available as extension work or to stimulate discussion.To provide challenge and fun as well as a whole team focus on learning.How could it be used? Ask students, teachers and non-teaching staff periodically to comeup with rich questions to share. Store on a shared area (or online) either categorised or as a luckydip. Use with groups of students at start or end of lesson, end of topicor revision. 16. USB microscope 17. What it does:Enables real time magnified images to be displayed on a screen andmore images and video clips to be capturedWhy use it?Show students the kind of images they should be seeing or may have seen previouslyProvide a sense of awe and wonderHow could it be used? Ask students to gather, set up and view slides of cheek cells. Run mini-plenary, in which one I did earlier is displayed and keyfeatures pointed out.Alternatively. Use to capture video clip of crystal growth, for example, or pollen tube growth. 18. Create a graph 19. What it does:Enables students to enter data, manage its display and revise it.Why use it?Makes it easy for students to produce a graph, modify it and print itout or save it.How could it be used? Ask students to gather data from an experiment, such as seeinghow high the first bounce of a ball is if dropped from differentheights. Ask students to select type of graph, enter data and preview. Peer review graphs, commenting on, for example, clarity, labelsand use of origin. Ask students to revise graph, then download and print or save. If appropriate a line of best fit can be drawn. 20. Oscilloscope on tablet PC 21. What it does:Enables a tablet PC to display sound as a waveform, showingamplitude, time base and analysis of frequency.Why use it?Illustrates the relationship between a sound and the height andlength of the waveform. Also relates frequency to pitch.How could it be used? Use an instrument such as a recorder to play and demonstrate asingle note. Ask students to predict the effect of playing: A higher note A louder noteAsk students to predict the effect of playing a scale on thefrequency/time graph Ask students to predict the effect on the graph of playing thesame note on a different instrument 22. Contact details: Ed WalshE-mail: edmundwalsh@hotmail.comWebsite: www.edmundwalsh.co.ukBlog:www.collinsnewgcsescience.co.uk/whatschanging