SocioScientific Inquiry Based Learning SSIBL The big challenges
Socio-Scientific Inquiry Based Learning (SSIBL) The big challenges of the 21 st century A TPD programme for pre-service science teachers in the context of the use and depletion of material resources on Planet Earth Ruth Amos and Dr Ralph Levinson PARRISE (grant agreement 612438) is funded by the European Commission. 1
A TPD course for pre-service teachers • The following presentation shows a series of activities, discussions and tasks we developed and trialled with our PSTs in London during the EU PARRISE project • There are explanatory notes under most of the slides • We hope you find the TPD programme useful in developing confidence to teach through socio-scientific inquiry based learning 2
The Big Challenges for the 21 st Century What would you say? • Health - obesity, antimicrobial resistance, child mortality rates, dementia • Environment - climate change, deforestation, air pollution, depletion of resources Technological development through responsible research and innovation 3
How can / should school science education support young people in. . . • connecting with local and global issues in which science and technology play a part • developing an ‘it matters’ approach to living in 2016 and beyond – tackling the ‘whatever’ disposition • feeling empowered to contribute to a more responsible, sustainable future • working through possible fears and concerns about global disasters ? 4
Capitalising on students’ own questions • We need curious, inventive, responsible and sensitive scientists as well as scientifically-literate citizens in the 21 st century. . . • How can we foster an open, enquiry science classroom through Working Scientifically? • WS is THE opportunity in the current science NC – we can’t afford to ignore it. . . 5
Teachers’ beliefs and practices in inquiry science • Share your research findings from Task 1 with your peers • Work in small groups of 3 – 4 to answer the following questions: • How easy is it for children to ask their own meaningful questions in inquiry learning science lessons at school? • How do teachers manage inquiry? - open, guided, structured, confirmatory • How does inquiry support learning? 6
Banchi, H. , & Bell, R. (2008). The many levels of inquiry. Science and children, 46(2), 26.
‘Working Scientifically’ in the science National Curriculum • 2014 science NC KS 3 (lower secondary, 11 -14 year olds) extract Pupils should understand that science is about working objectively, modifying explanations to take account of new evidence and ideas and subjecting results to peer review. Pupils should decide on the appropriate type of scientific enquiry to undertake to answer their own questions and develop a deeper understanding of factors to be taken into account when collecting, recording and processing data. They should evaluate their results and identify further questions arising from them. 8
What’s in a mobile phone? 9
Elements in the Periodic Table • Symbols, formula, relative atomic masses, relative formula masses, physical and chemical properties …. OR … • How many elements are there in a mobile phone? … and symbols, formula, RAM …. followed by some science with and for society … 10
Getting to know the elements in your smart phone, and Play. Station … and Intel laptop. . 11
Mining for ‘coltan’ • • • Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) War-torn areas with militia in charge Miners working in awful conditions and receiving minimal wages Watch these video clips: https: //www. bing. com/videos/search? q=coltan+mining&&view=detail&mi d=2264 ACC 893 A 122 BA 3149&FORM=VRDGAR https: //www. bing. com/videos/search? q=coltan+mining&&view=detail&mi d=CADAD 58884 A 7 C 7 C 55609&rvsmid=2264 ACC 893 A 122 BA 3149&FORM=VDQVAP • • • What are the socio-scientific impacts? Critique the styles of the film clips; which is more emotive etc? Who gains and who loses from the manufacture of SMART phones? 12
What are the impacts of manufacturing mobile phones? How would you feel about not having a mobile phone? What are conditions like for the miners mining ‘coltan’? Raised awareness; decision to upgrade mobile phone very occasionally (not every 2 years!) Which other materials could be used to make mobile phones?
Stimulating ‘curiosity’ inquiry questions Examine the objects in the mystery box on your table Write down ‘curiosity’ questions to ask the objects (on post-its to take away / display) Use your questions to link some of the objects together in a ‘story’ 14
Grouping your curiosity questions With your partners, try to group the kinds of questions you’ve asked Which questions involve some knowledge of science to answer, for example? Other categories? Environmental … Economic … Societal Are you exposing some socio-scientific issues … ? 15
Mapping the curriculum opportunities • Aluminium • Uses of metals • Chocolate • Plants • Plastic • Uses of materials • Paper • ENERGY! 16
Open, questioning learning environments • Asking questions about science with and for society is important in the 21 st century – who gains, who loses? Who is this technology for? • Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) For students: • What am I interested in? • What matters to me? For teachers How do you support your students in asking workable inquiry questions and pursuing inquiries which matter to them? 17
Controversial (or socio-scientific) issues as starting points • Research – a very important part of inquiry • Communication about and discussion of issues in which science and technology play a part 18
Practical ways to encourage questioning How easy is it for children to ask their own questions in science lessons at school? <What? How? Where? Who? What if? When? Why? > • Use a question wall, including ‘question of the week’ • Use a question box Hang or place stimulus materials around the classroom … 19
Building confidence in asking questions The Question Hunt Come up with a question … 1. with an answer that is always right for everybody 2. with an answer that is always right for one person and never for everybody 3. with at least one right answer that is different now from what it used to be 4. where different people’s opinions can be counted as ‘right’ answers 5. that nobody really knows the answer to 6. that makes you and your friends want to ask lots of other questions (From: Bowkett, S. , (2015). Jumpstart! Thinking skills and problem solving: Games and activities for 7 -14 year olds. Abingdon, UK: Routledge) 20
Question hunt Or ‘here’s the answer, find the question’: Write 5 questions for which the answer is the same. The answer is aluminium. 21
4 Cs thinking – Philosophy for children • Creative – making fresh connections and looking at things from as many different angles as possible • Critical – analysis and constructive argument • Caring – engaging the emotions; ‘emotional resourcefulness’ • Collaborative – a community of thinkers; shared goals For example: http: //www. philosophy 4 children. co. uk/ 22
What’s going on in your placement school? What do experienced science teachers think about inquiry learning? Practical inquiry? Using SSIs as learning scenarios? Open, guided, structured or are ‘investigations’ always recipe-based, confirming results we already know? 23
Re-focusing ‘curiosity’ questions into inquiry questions • Look at one of your ‘other category’ questions and try to decide how you would begin to explore it • The stages of an inquiry • A good question which is important for you • Becomes socially-responsible inquiry when it raises personal awareness and possible action • • • Ask a good question Plan a strategy Evaluate risk Collect relevant data Present data effectively Process data Interpret data State a conclusion Evaluate a conclusion 24
What are the impacts of producing and consuming Kinder Eggs? Why do you buy and eat Kinder eggs? Who benefits or suffers during the extraction of aluminium? Raised awareness; decision to stop buying unnecessary chocolate products (!) Who gains the profits from the making of products like Kinder eggs?
Socio-scientific inquiry based learning • SSIBL • Stimulating authentic questions – images, video clips, objects, news articles, problems to solve • Enaction – research online, survey of friends and family, practical investigation • Action – raised awareness … intention to act/change … actual action/change 26
Think about socially-responsible inquiry in science Back to the Kinder Egg …. What about the Kinder Egg wrapper? PARRISE (grant agreement 612438) is funded by the European Commission. 27
How is this generated? How much does it cost? What impact does it have? Where does it come from? How is it made? Who makes it? What impact does it have? What happens to Al? Can it be recycled? How? Who gains? Who loses? 28
Getting Al+++ Why transport bauxite from one country to another Raw material -bauxite Labour costs; Environmental costs Smelter - electrolysis 29
Increasingly acidic oxides. I Oxide p. H 30
So, what’s in bauxite? Al 2 O 3 + 2 OH- 2 Al(OH)4 - + 3 H 2 O Heat Dissolve Alumina, Al 2 O 3 – but lots of other stuff, mud, iron oxides, sand (Si. O 2), titanium oxides. . Utilise amphoteric nature of alumina (aluminium oxide). Dissolves in caustic soda, leaving others behind as residue. 2 Al(OH)4 - Al 2 O 3 + 2 OH- + 3 H 2 O 31
And what happens when you use caustic alkali to purify alumina Jamaica Hungary 32
But where there’s mud. . . there’s brass (or precious heavy metals) • Money to be made from mud (The Gleaner) • Who gains? Who loses? 33
So, now there is purified solid aluminium oxide. What’s the problem now? • Back to the periodic table: What can you predict about the properties of a triply positively charged aluminium atom? • Very strong electrostatic interactions between ions • Very high temperatures needed to liquidise Al 2 O 3. • Uneconomic to melt. • Dissolution in water means hydrogen liberated preferentially at the cathode. • Cryolite, Na 3 Al. F 6, to the rescue. . . Or. . . 34
The only natural source of cryolite was in ivittuut in Greenland. . . Greenland occupied by the US in WWII. Why? (See also Miss Smylla’s Feeling for Snow) 35
The story so far. . . Greenhouse gases Bauxite Purification with alkali Red mud Al+++ + 3 e- Impact Who cleans up? Social factors National infrastructure Al Cryolite molten Hydroelectric power station Impacts: Environmental Economic Social 36
Supply of charge (electricity) is now needed to reduce the molten aluminium ions. Where does it come from? Height Water i. e. rivers and mountains – Areas of outstanding natural beauty 84 per cent of the power we use in primary aluminium comes from ‘clean hydropower’ – Rio Tinto Alcan 37
It must also be borne in mind that the value of the environment is always assessed indirectly in terms of other goods expressed on a monetary scale. This may result in environmental quality being overvalued, compared with other goods since, among other reasons, the existence value of other goods sold on the market is not included in their valuation. (Institute of Economic Studies, University of Iceland 2009, p. 62) 38
It must also be borne in mind that the value of the environment is always assessed indirectly in terms of other goods expressed on a monetary scale. This may result in environmental quality being overvalued, compared with other goods since, among other reasons, the existence value of other goods sold on the market is not included in their valuation. (Institute of Economic Studies, University of Iceland 2009, p. 62) 39
Nearly there. . . We have the means now to reduce the Al ions. But what happens in the smelter? Graphite electrodes are used Molten aluminium is tapped off at the cathode. But what is produced at the graphite (carbon) anode? 2 O-O 2 + 2 e And at high temperatures, C + O 2 CO 2 Loads of carbon dioxide flows into the atmosphere And don’t forget what happens when the hot molten cryolite combines with graphite • CFCs • • 40
But aluminium production in Jamaica is an important employer and contributes to the economy Cryolite, Na 3 Al. F 6, produces perfluorocarbons. These affect ozone layer and are powerful greenhouse gases Oxidation at anode: 2 O-- O 2 + 2 e- Carbon anode oxidises to form CO 2 – greenhouse effect C + O 2 CO 2
We have the stuff we need for coke cans and Kinder egg wrappers – can it be recycled? Enter the catadores do lixo. . . 42
Gains and losses in recycling aluminium • • • Organised labour Human rights Housing Schooling Cleaner Brazilian streets • • Secondary production in Brazil affects primary production and employment in Jamaica Recycling of cans involves use of toxic lacquer Is recycling aluminium sustainable at a global level? 43
What is SSIBL? Socio-Scientific Inquiry Based Learning (SSIBL) Starts from a question which matters to students Questions have science and socio-political elements Inquiry is different from traditional science inquiries and involves finding solutions for a socio-scientific problem • The inquiry could involve surveys, experiments, modelling, discussions. There is no right or wrong way of doing a SSIBL inquiry • The solution should involve some action which goes beyond the non-trivial, i. e. an outcome which makes a difference to the participants • • 44
Taking SSIBL out into the science classroom • Here the PSTs begin the process of designing their own SSIBL activities within a teaching placement (practicum) setting 45
Examples of ‘local’ SSIBL inquiry for 11 -14 year olds by PSTs at UCL Institute of Education, London • Why do teenagers smoke? • Should there be a ‘fat’ tax on food? • Why do only three students at my placement cycle to school? • How can the number of plastic bottles being used in my SE 1 school be reduced? • How can we become more healthy? 46
Examples of more ‘global’ issues … Should animal organs be used for humans? What are the impacts of a growing global population? How can we reduce air pollution? How strong is the evidence for human-related global warming? • Should the UK build new nuclear power stations? • • 47
Socially-Responsible Inquiry • Refining your question • How will you answer it – responsible research? • Methods which might include questionnaires, surveys, interviews, data collection and analysis • Collating, analysing, presenting and communicating results and findings in meaningful ways? • Drawing valid conclusions, from different perspectives • Evaluating your findings: who loses, who gains? • Taking personal action based upon your findings 48
Example SSIBL activity An example SSIBL activity for 11 -14 year olds on the risks about and reasons why teenagers smoke in the UK. The contemporary technological development of vaping as an alternative to traditional smoking is also presented 49
Why do teenagers smoke? Also see the ‘Smoking Kills’ PPT towards the end of this presentation 50
The vaping scenario What is ‘vaping’? Use your mobile device to carry out some research Eg http: //www. livescience. com/41392 -e-cigarettesaddicting-safer. html 51
Contemporary issues … • The smoking and vaping scenarios – designing a SSIBL • Discuss how you might: o Stimulate students to ask their own authentic questions (what resources/devices might you use? ) o Support students in deciding how to research o What preparation would you need to do? o How would you integrate it with the science curriculum? o Are there cross-curricular possibilities? 52
SSIBL-type questions What are the health problems with smoking? Why do teenagers smoke? Why can’t they stop smoking? Should schools have a smoker’s corner? Should schools discourage smoking? If so, how? Should it be illegal to sell cigarettes to people under the age of 18? • Should people be responsible for their own health? If so, should the state treat smoking-related conditions free of charge? • Should the state fund initiatives to stop smoking? • Is vaping a good solution to support smokers? • • • 53
Feedback • The PST encouraged her Year 9 (13 -14 year old) students to create an online survey to send to friends and family 54
Additional ideas for building confidence in SSIBL 55
Supporting student inquiry with open questions The ‘what if’? - what if humans began to shrink after the age of 30? - what if dinosaurs had never become extinct? - what if there were two races on Earth and one could only come out in the day, the other only at night? - what if all metals melted at 25 o. C? - what if you could blend chocolate and copper? - what if gravity disappeared every day for 5 minutes? - what if every new house in the UK had solar panelled windows? http: //www. ibtimes. co. uk/solar-panel-windows-made-possible-by-quantum-dot-breakthrough-1445213 56
The science NC for England, 2014 • Working Scientifically and ideas which could be learned through the Kinder Egg inquiry • Other ‘use of materials’ opportunities also exist – for example, how many elements are in your SMART phone? 57
KS 1 Working Scientifically in the science NC • During years 1 and 2, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: • ask simple questions and recognise that they can be answered in different ways • gather and record data to help in answering questions 58
Lower KS 2 WS in the science NC • During years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: • ask relevant questions and use different types of scientific enquiries to answer them • use straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings 59
Upper KS 2 WS in the science NC • During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: • plan different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary • identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments 60
Progress with ideas about materials – KS 1 • Year 1 distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock • Year 2 identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses 61
Progress with ideas about materials – lower KS 2 • Year 3 compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties • Year 4 compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C) 62
Progress with ideas about materials – upper KS 2 • Year 5 give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible • Year 6 …. 63
Progress with ideas about materials - KS 3 • Chemical reactions chemical reactions as the rearrangement of atoms representing chemical reactions using formulae and using equations combustion, thermal decomposition, oxidation and displacement reactions • Earth and atmosphere the composition of the Earth the rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks Earth as a source of limited resources and the efficacy of recycling 64
KS 4 - Working scientifically • 1. The development of scientific thinking appreciating the power and limitations of science and considering ethical issues which may arise explaining everyday and technological applications of science; evaluating associated personal, social, economic and environmental implications; and making decisions based on the evaluation of evidence and arguments 65
Progress with ideas about materials - KS 4 chemical reactions take place in only three different ways: proton transfer, electron sharing chemical reactivity of elements in relation to their position in the Periodic Table balanced chemical equations, ionic equations and state symbols electrolysis of molten ionic liquids and aqueous ionic solutions reduction and oxidation in terms of loss or gain of oxygen 66
Progress with ideas about materials - KS 4 • Chemical and allied industries life cycle assessment and recycling to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life the viability of recycling of certain materials extraction and purification of metals related to the position of carbon in a reactivity series • Energy renewable and non-renewable energy sources used on Earth, changes in how these are used 67
Example PST SSIBL activity • Created and trialled during the 2014 -15 PGCE science programme at UCL Institute of Education, London 68
The example SSIBL activity on teenage smoking • Powerpoint and approach follows here 69
PARRISE (grant agreement 612438) is funded by the European Commission.
Breathing and ventilation
How does smoking affect the lungs? healthy lungs smoker’s lungs Not a difficult question to answer but some people still think that smoking is cool!
How does smoking affect health? dental hygiene problems asthma facial wrinkles lung cancer impaired immune system emphysema mouth, lip and throat cancer pancreatic cancer testicular cancer liver cancer Effects of smoking on health bronchitis osteoporosis menstrual problems heart disease cervical cancer kidney cancer leukaemia sperm abnormalities and impotence stomach cancer bladder cancer
Scary smoking statistics! l In the UK, 13 people smokers die every hour as a result of their habit! l Smoking kills around five times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents, other accidents, poisoning and overdose, alcoholic liver disease, murder and manslaughter, suicide and HIV infection all put together!
l. About half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit! l People living with a smoker are 25% more likely to get lung cancer.
Your own survey! What can be done to help people give up this harmful habit? • Write 4 -5 questions and create your own survey in surveymonkey.
PARRISE - An EU FP 7 project 2014 -2017 led by University of Utrecht, the Netherlands Promoting Attainment of Responsible Research and Innovation in Science Education https: //www. parrise. eu/ UCL Institute of Education, UK partner Contact: ruth. amos@ucl. ac. uk and r. levinson@ucl. ac. uk 84
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