Science and Technology Teaching Clinic Portfolio

Through weeks 4-7 of this semester, I participated in teaching clinics at Macquarie Primary School. Me and my partner, Eddie delivered four lessons to six year one and two students around the topic ‘Watch it grow’. I found this to be a valuable experience which helped me develop further as an educator of science and technology. The teaching clinic not only gave us an opportunity to plan and teach the content but also look at our own strengths and areas for development while reflecting on our practice. This portfolio will focus on my teaching and the learning of one student known as ‘M’ over the four weeks.

Situational analysis

Macquarie Primary School offered a unique environment for the teaching clinic. The school has held the reputation as a community school. With students and parents/carers from around the world it is a proudly multicultural environment. Inquiry is the basis of their learning philosophy while science exists in the school as a specialist program. The fact students were familiar with the enquiry model made the flow of learning and activities smoother and more familiar. Likewise, students were familiar with science as a specialist program and highly engaged in the activities.

Working in small groups gave me an opportunity to get to know the students quickly. I believe forming positive relationships with students is vital to being a competent teacher. In the small timeframe we had, we did get to know our students well enough to identify their strengths, areas in need of improvement and when they were struggling. I put this down to the small group. I did find, even in our small group of 6, there was huge diversity which required scaffolding and careful planning, execution and reflection of the lessons. There were three students from ESL backgrounds in our group as well as a range of personalities and behaviour traits. Despite the diversity, our group had minimal behaviour problems and most students were engaged in the activities most of the time.

As university students coming into a school, the students greeted us with open arms. The students identified us as teachers and were excited and positive about the learning experiences to come. The students positive outlooks are likely due to the fact Macquarie Primary School often has pre-service teachers through their school for various programs. It is a mutual beneficial relationship and helps all parties reflect on their teaching to improve practice. The teaching staff at the school were very helpful in observing, providing encouragement and feedback to us while at the school. This reflects the values the school holds high such a professional development and collegial relationships.

I found Macquarie Primary School to have a positive ethos and approach to their teaching and learning, working with the community and creating safe and dynamic learning environments. I believe the school ethos can be linked to its core values and policies. The inquiry based approach to teaching works successfully to engage the students in a thoughtful manner while providing a structure to the lessons and learning experiences.

Unit overview

Our unit consisted of four lessons over the four weeks. The unit was entitles ‘Watch it grow’. Within this unit was plenty of scope for content. My group decided to look at the lifecycle of living things,

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specifically plants. We looked at how they grow, why they grow, and for what purpose do they grow/are grown. We did this using hands-on activities, discussions, focus questions, informative videos and more. Students were assessed using diagnostic, formative and summative assessment. Below is a brief outline of the sequence of our lessons.

Watch it Grow – Unit overviewLesson 1 - Introduction

- Ice breaker- Discussion on ‘living thing’- YouTube video on chickens- Discuss features of a chicken- Students work on life cycle worksheet- Move through the worksheet as a class- Ask about other living things – plant lifecycle?

Lesson 2 - Warm up- What is a living thing?- Requirements for plants to live?- Fill out Flower and tree labelling worksheet for diagnostic assessment- Start planting flowers – Break up and discuss each element that will be used.

i.e. seeds, soil, water and cups. Discuss.- Model planting the flower- Ask students to have a go themselves- Give water and sunlight at the end- Question time about requirements for the plant over the next 2 weeks- Students fill out ‘Plant progression sheet’

Lesson 3 - Warm up- Inspect plants, fill out plant progression sheet with labelling and colour- Talk/discuss life cycle of plants and the changes we can see- YouTube video on lifecycle of plants- Discuss video- Look at practical uses for plants. i.e. food, celebrations etc.- Ask students to create their ‘Ultimate flower’ on A3 paper. The flower will be

labelled and will excel in its environment. i.e. tall enough to receive sunlight. Wide enough to collect water.

Lesson 4 - Tree drama. I.e. grow into a big tall tree, a flower, and a big wide tree.- Turn that into life cycle i.e. we grow, drop seeds and someone else starts as

the new seed.- Inspect plants; fill out plant progression sheet for the last time. Discuss.- YouTube Canberra Arboretum video. Discuss the features of some of the

particular plants that live in the environment.- Interview students one-on-one as summative assessment.- Reflect on everything we have done over the 4 week- Move around the circle and discuss learning- Thanks and goodbye

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Student learning progress

Lesson 1

Following the progress of M, I was able to confidently report on his level of understanding linking to Every Chance to Learn and the Australian Curriculum. The first lesson started with a warm-up and get-to-know-you activity. It was at this stage I decided which student I would follow the progress of. M was enthusiastic yet had learning challenges ahead of him. As a diagnostic assessment to acquire their level of understanding of living things we asked the students questions such as;

- What is a living thing?- How do you define it?- What is a lifecycle?

We decided to focus their understanding of the lifecycle of a living thing, in this instance a chicken. First we talked about features a chicken that defines it as a living thing. M was confident with this but lacked the specific understanding of nesting, eggs and hatching. After a video and discussion M filled out the worksheet below. M has mixed up ‘nesting’ with ‘older hen’.

This first lesson was about working out what students already knew and how to successfully use that knowledge to plan valuable future learning experiences. After reflection we realised students had a generally good understanding of animals and their reproduction/growth. We covered a range of animals as well as the chicken in our discussions. After our debrief we decided to focus on plants for the future learning experiences, specifically their growth, reproduction and uses.

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Lesson 2

After a warm-up, lesson 2 began with a discussion to help acquire knowledge on what the students understood about the lifecycle of plants and the requirements for them to live and grow. We then asked students to fill out the worksheet below to test their knowledge of the parts of a tree and flower.

As you can see M had a little trouble identifying the more difficult parts of the tree and flower. There were a few trick questions in there in which students had to draw the feature before connecting it to the corresponding word. This piece of assessment was valuable in shaping the future learning experiences and providing scaffolding for the students.

We now started planting our own flowers in red cups. The process was modelled and each element explained and discussed including the seeds, water, soil and cup. The process was then attempted by students. Some questions I received from M during this process were;

- Why can’t I give it more water- Why can’t we just use one seed.

Each cup was labelled, below is the finished product.

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Students then filled out a plant progression sheet. This sheet proved vitally important for the students understanding as well as our own. Each week studets inpected their plants and drew what they saw in the cup. Student were making scientific observations and notes on what they saw. Below is M’s plant progression sheet completely filled out.

Lesson 3

After filling out our plant progression sheet, we looked at a YouTube video about the lifecycle of plants. M found the video fascinating and made connections to the flowers we were planting and the video. Further on, M asked questions such as;

- Is that how all trees reproduce?- How do the seeds get under the ground?

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We now instructed students to create their ultimate flower. This task brought in an artistic twist while still allowing us to assess their scientific understanding. Before we started we discussed what the flower might need in order to survive. Student had to consider the features which would make it survive and grow while they were also encouraged to think out of the box. Students were asked to label the flower and were encouraged to explain it once they had finished.

“The flower must be tall enough to receive sufficient sunlight while wide enough to collect water for itself. If it’s a big flower you might need a good root system to hold it in place. If it is ever going to reproduce it may need to produce seeds. Will the colour scare away birds or animals from eating it? If you are going to live in it you might need a staircase to get up the stem!”

M’s flower shows good understanding of the parts of a flower and he explained to me why some elements were there;

“The stem is tall enough to keep bugs away, its big and yellow to collect the sun and the leaves catch the rain on the way down .“

Students were also asked to write down the requirements for plants on their sheet. M wrote “Plants need water, sun and soil”.

Below in M’s ‘Ultimate flower’

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Below is the other students’ flowers.

Lesson 4

Lesson 4 was a chance for students to review and reflect on their own learning, their new understandings and skills. We once again used the arts in a cross-curricula activity in which we acted out different trees and flowers sprouting and growing from the soil. M understood the activity well and he had many comments displaying his knowledge. When being the roots of a tree he told me he couldn’t move because he was stuck in the earth. As a branch he swayed with the wind. All students were engaged in the activity. We finished off by asking the students to work together to create a huge oak tree. Below is an image from that activity.

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We soon moved inside and watched a Youtube video about the Canberra Arboretum. Many of the students could relate to the information or had even visited the Arboretum. After the video we discussed features of some of the rarer species in the Arboretum and how their unique features may help or disadvantage them to survive and excel in their enviroment. M made a comment that all plants are different just like all humans are different. During the discussion time, me and my group took each student aside and had a breif one-on-one discussion as a summative assessment. Two questions were asked;

1. Can you tell me about the parts of a tree?2. Can you tell me about the lifecycle of plants?

M’s interview is below. This tool assisted me in filling out his report.

After the interviews we engaged in some circle time in which we reflected on our learning and new skills acquired over the past 4 weeks. As we went around the circle each student was asked to tell the group one interesting thing they had learnt in the unit. M’s comment was;

“I learnt how to plant a flower and how they grow”

M’s Report

School Report 2013 Name M Year level 1 Class 1/2

Learning Habits S M AEngages effectively in learning experiences ✓Communicates clearly ✓Manages self in a variety of situations ✓Uses appropriate listening skills ✓Displays critical thinking ✓Demonstrates an ability to work independently ✓Works co-operatively in groups ✓Follows instructions ✓Engages in Insightful questioning ✓

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Science WT A WBCan identify what constitutes a living thing ✓Understands the lifecycle of animals and plants ✓Understands the requirements needed for a plant to grow ✓Can Identify different uses of plants in our society ✓Understands the process of how a plant grows ✓Can name the parts of a tree and flower ✓

Reporting KeyS - Sometimes A – Always A – AchievingM – Mostly WT – Working Towards WB – Working Beyond

Teacher CommentsM has a sound knowledge of the content. He works co-operatively and always follows instructions. M has taken a shining to learning about plants and how they grow and displayed passion and care for his sprouting flower. M could improve his understanding by seeking more assistance and asking more questions. This would also help M engage with the activities a little more. M has achieved an adequate level of understandings and skills. Well done!

A B C D EGrade ✓*See next page for A – E descriptors

Department of Education and Training A – E Descriptors

A - The student has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the content and can readily apply this knowledge. In addition, the student has achieved a very high level of competence in the processes and skills and can apply these skills to new situations.

B - The student has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the content and a high level of competence in the processes and skills. In addition, the student is able to apply this knowledge and these skills to most situations.

C - The student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills.

D - The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills.

E - The student has an elementary knowledge and understanding in few areas of the content and has achieved very limited competence in some of the processes and skills.

Reflection

Reflection was an important part of this learning journey. After each lesson, I filled out the ‘Teaching Clinic Observations and Reflections’ proforma. This gave me an opportunity to record what my

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students did and did not understand. It reminded me to ask the right questions to the students to prompt discussions and learning. Recording students’ comments which revealed their understanding made me think about what they understood as well as why. It also gave me practice at assessing this understanding whether it is to a working towards, achieving or working beyond standard. The proforma also helped me scaffold the inquiry learning model so as it is setup to maximise student learning and thus improve outcomes.

Working in a group with one other university student, we had a very strong collegial relationship and discussed and reflected on each lesson and thought about how it would affect the next learning experience. Not only could we reflect together, we could reflect on each other’s performance and suggest ways to improve our practice. As well as our pedagogical knowledge, we reflected on our scientific content knowledge to make ourselves more competent and confident as science teachers.

Moderation

My group and I moderated our student reports so as to achieve fair and consistent judgements of our students’ work. When planning and reporting we spent much time analysing the Every Chance to learn and Australian Curriculum documents for science. This helped pinpoint what we needed to teach as well as provided us with a structure for teaching and reporting.

All assessments we set for the students were carefully considered both in the planning and implementation stage. This ensured the tasks were well designed with clear instructions for the students and clear guidelines for us to assess their work fairly and evenly. Before and while marking and assessing student work and understanding, my group and I talked about the task, marking scheme and marking processes. This professional discussion helped us align our understanding of expected standards. As a further way of gaining accurate and consistent standards we often used peer moderation to help us reflect on the marking process and make sure the judgements were fair and consistent. We found this important to do during or just after the assessment so the process and performance is fresh in our minds.

Link to Every Chance to Learn Framework for Science

Every Chance to learn provided many outcomes to teach related directly to the topic. Some issues we covered in depth were the ways in which living things depend on their environment and each other. As well as observing, identifying and describing features, properties and the ways things change. These outcomes fit in well with the planting of our flowers as we promoted the concept of observing and identifying changes using our plant progression sheet.

- 19.EC.6 obvious features of a variety of plants and animals- 19.EC.7 differences between living and non-living things using basic criteria (e.g.

characteristics and basic needs)- 19.EC.8 some of the changes that take place as living things grow, and similarities of parents

and their offspring- 19.EC.9 some of the ways in which living things depend on their environment and each other

(e.g. basic needs for survival)- 19.EC.13 observe, identify and describe features, properties and the ways things change- 19.EC.15 talk about their investigations and observations. elements of the natural

environment that humans, animals and plants need for survival

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Links to Australian National Curriculum for Science

Likewise, the Australian Curriculum provided many opportunities to explore our topic in depth. Throughout the unit we explored the variety of exterior features of different plants and animals and designed our own flower using these external features and talking about what they do for the plant. ACSHE021 and ACSIS026 aligned well with the collection of data and observations needed in recording the students flower growth and development from seed to sprout.

- (ACSSU017) Living things have a variety of external features- (ACSSU211) Living things live in different places where their needs are met- (ACSHE021) Science involves asking questions about, and describing changes in, objects and

events- (ACSHE022) People use science in their daily lives, including when caring for

their environment and living things- (ACSIS026) Use informal measurements in the collection and recording of observations, with

the assistance of digital technologies as appropriate

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