2013 Maths & Science Middle School Conference

10:40 AM

2 Hours

Presented by Cat Stone and Ian Maynard from the Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS). Leaders: This workshop is designed for those responsible for leading colleagues at their school(s) towards improved practice through the effective implementation of the Primary Science components of the Australian Curriculum NPST: It is designed around the Highly Accomplished and Lead levels of two components of the Standard 6: Engage in Professional Learning components of the National Professional Standards for Teachers. These components are: 6.1 Identify and plan professional learning needs and 6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice, with a particular focus on Improving educational outcomes for students Content: The workshop will use strategies to explore the professional learning needs of leaders of Teaching & Learning in Science and how best to meet these requirements. In the process, the presenters will model and articulate methods which participants can use in their own worksites to determine how best to support the teachers in their teams. Outcomes: • The process and tools used will be accessible to participants via the ASMS website. • A summary report and workshop certificate will be provided shortly after the workshop. • The ASMS will be open to negotiations around the delivery of custom-designed support for participants as they discharge their ongoing curriculum leadership responsibilities.

Presenter: Ian Maynard & Cat Stone

Target Audience: Primary science curriculum leaders

10:40 AM

1 Hour

The flipped classroom is a concept where the teacher presents the theory to students using video presentations & frees up the classroom time to allow students to consolidate their understanding do other activities. Most teachers say that it would be great to do a range of other learning activity but I don't have the time because I they have to get through this part of the content. The flipped classroom allow for this now to occur. If students are away they don't fall behind, parents are able to also better help and the teacher has more time to interact with their students and develop real learning opportunities. This initiative also supports students with learning difficulties

Presenter: David Bennett

Target Audience: Middle school (yr. 6-9) teacher

10:40 AM

1 Hour

A hundred hours of content is uploaded to youtube every minute - see how to make the best out of this valuable resource. Learn the tips and tricks for using YouTube successfully in the classroom. Be taken on a tour of remarkable science videos. Learn from a Google Certified Teacher who has worked for Google curating YouTube’s science content.

Presenter: Penny Collins

10:40 AM

1 Hour

This workshop explores the use of a freely available simulator, Genepool, as a tool to facilitate inquiry based learning into selection processes in real time. As a result of such an inquiry, students would meet the following aspects of the achievement standard for year 10 in the Australian Curriculum: "they evaluate the evidence for scientific theories that explain the diversity of life on Earth. They explain the processes that underpin heredity and evolution." Teachers will have the opportunity to participate in and experience the inquiry process during the session.

Presenter: Scott Spargo

Target Audience: Year 10 Teachers

10:40 AM

1 Hour

This equation may not seem balanced, but participants in this session will see how it can be solved. It is possible to provide students with a more flexible learning environment where they can set goals and monitor their progress. As a teacher I completed more frequent and detailed assessment and provided considerably more feedback than ever before, yet most of this was completed during class time! Participants in this session will receive a sample unit of work and experience some of the assessment tools used.

Presenter: Peter Fox

Target Audience:

10:40 AM

1 Hour

This session is an interactive workshop where ideas will be presented for use in the middle years classroom. During this time participants will be asked to investigate the potential of using everyday texts to explore and deepen student’s understandings of mathematical content.

Presenter: Adrian Dilger

10:40 AM

1 Hour

TBC

Presenter: David Andrew

10:40 AM

1 Hour

TBA

Presenter: Lara Golding

11:45 AM

1 Hour

This is a resource-supported session for teachers who are new to the professional benefits of using social media, or who haven’t yet fully investigated the potential of using education-related blogs, facebook and twitter to build a bespoke online PLC. Come along to this career-building session to discover how you can start learning more about topic content, teaching strategies and behaviour management from all corners of the globe. Strategies will also be suggested that will support teachers keeping electronic records to meet the 20 hours per annum of professional development for their teacher registration. The content of this session will be related to specific APST domains, standards, focus areas and descriptors for those teachers looking for evidence to meet APST (AITSL) accreditation. It is suitable for teachers of any career stage, especially those who aren’t already proficient users of social media and/or the internet for professional purposes.

Presenter: Ingrid Lees

Target Audience: No restrictions on audience

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Critical Thinking is one of the general capabilities required of students in the national curriculum. Teachers need to encourage students to think broadly and deeply using skills such as modelling, imagination and innovation in all learning areas and beyond school to meaningfully contribute to society. In this workshop you will have the opportunity to reflect on how you motivate students to develop their thinking skills and how you can identify thinking in action.

Presenter: Dr. Paula Mills

Target Audience: Middle school (yr. 6-9) teacher

11:45 AM

1 Hour

The ATSE STELR programme is improving 21st Century science outcomes in over 350 schools throughout Australia. Providing teachers with a fully resourced, hands on Inquiry based programme, which can be used as is, or tailored to the individual needs of the students. The STELR renewal energy programme provides hands on inquiry based learning to in excess of 35,000 students a year. The STELR – Renewable Energy programme suite is being updated and moving to a new platform. The cloud based platform will allow us to produce a programme aligned to 21st century student and teacher needs, interactive and hands on, while not be abandoning our hard copy users. In Curricula student centred differential learning for all students, not just the science club. Tailoring the units to the individual needs of students or use one of our off the shelf units. Bring your laptop and experience STELR for yourself. What else is new? - Renewable currently caters for years 9 /10, expansion to year 7 currently occurring, eventually to year 5/6, with new component units. The STELR theme base is expanding, introducing a new Theme, Moving to Mars. Working across year levels, science strands and sub strands. Sustainable Housing addresses both mathematics and science curricula. Why STELR? – International League tables Australia have falling behind in some aspects of STEM education. Students today are more likely to go to University than twenty years ago but less likely to have completed ‘the holy trinity of Higher Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry’ therefore less engineering/science students. Subject offerings at school are becoming more exotic, drawing students away from STEM, many of these subjects being deemed easier or less demanding. In the last couple of years statics show an increase in STEM enrolments year on year but this is from a low base. STELR mission is to improve science engagement and outcomes, make students STEM aware, science literate and active learners.

Presenter: Karen Wanless

Target Audience: Middle school (yr. 6-9) teacher

This session promotes a commercial product

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Chance and data plus the nation of 'randomness'. How many chocolate chips would it take to enure every biscuit had 10 chips? Link to science cookie mining. Land degradation/renewable.

Presenter: Rebecca Jamieson

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Conducting and writing about mathematical investigations are important experiences for students in learning and applying mathematics. Scaffolding tasks and explicitly teaching writing skills and language features can support students in preparing for Folio tasks which are an important assessment type at Stage 2 (Yr 12) Mathematics. This session also showcases the MASA publication which includes extensive tasks and resources.

Presenter: Pauline Carter

11:45 AM

1 Hour

Using the 6 Principles of Effective Mathematics Teaching (Peter Sullivan) I will show you how to engage all students using a variety of resources. The focus will be on lessons taught with challenging questions in the units of Algebra, Pythagoras and Statistics. A collection of resources will be available. Please bring a USB.

Presenter: Amanda Aulert

1:35 PM

2 Hours

This workshop will look at what executive function skills are and the critical role they play in student’s learning. We will explore the strategic shift towards teaching practices that develop students’ executive function skills and raise the intellectual demand of learners. We will use a Year 9 Science learning design example to: • Discuss practical classroom strategies • Explicitly model how ‘stop and think’ skills can be deliberately incorporated into student learning of chemical science concepts • Use the Bringing it to Life tool to show how students are asked to do the thinking and learn this concept through Science as a Human Endeavour. • Incorporate cross-curricula approaches by making explicit links to the history curriculum

Presenter: Katrina Elliott & Mandi Dimitriadis

Target Audience: Middle school (yr. 6-9) teacher

1:35 PM

1 Hour

Do you have students that have access to internet connected computers, tablets or smart phones? Perhaps they have internet at home? Unleash the power of Google Forms. You will discover how to use this powerful tool for surveys, feedback, evaluation and self-grading quizzes. Use forms to analyse individual student performance and use de-identified data so you can gauge class understanding. It would be useful if you brought an outline of a quick quiz of 5 to 10 questions to facilitate the construction of a self-grading quiz during the session. You will need a Google (gmail) account - please ensure you have one beforehand.

Presenter: Penny Collins & Jules Potiki

1:35 PM

1 Hour

This workshop looks at developing a course that introduces students who are reluctant learners, to science concepts with a hands on focus. The course is designed to engage students who are interested in careers related to trades in metal engineering and construction and aims to give them scientific knowledge of how processes in these fields work. This workshop discusses different classroom methodologies to keep these students engaged with the content.

Presenter: Stefania Pulford

Organisation: Thebarton Senior College

1:35 PM

1 Hour

A cross-curriculum unit of work was developed for Year 8 students, combining elements of the Mathematics and Science Australian Curriculum. The eight-week unit used a Project-Based Learning approach, in which students investigated a fictitious "cold case". The unit was divided into three phases. In the initial phase, students were introduced to skills and understandings which would assist them in completing the learning tasks. However, these were not explicitly linked to the upcoming tasks, requiring that students made connections themselves. In the second phase students were presented with a bare bones case file, from which some broad conclusions could be drawn and leads discussed. As students worked through the case, additional packets of evidence were released, as required. Students needed to combine their science understandings with mathematical skills and reasoning to analyse the evidence. For example, previous experiments on rusting were quantified to determine a rate equation, which, by analysis of physical evidence at the crime scene, could be used to determine approximate time of death. During this phase, students kept an ongoing series of Case File Notes, to record their predictions, calculations, analyses and conclusions. In the final phase, students completed their Case File Notes with a briefing for the prosecution lawyer, outlining the case they had built against their chosen suspect. Stepping outside the role play, they also wrote a Research Investigation on the role of science in the criminal justice system and a Reflection, evaluating what they had learned throughout the unit. All learning outcomes were based on the Australian Curriculum, primarily drawn from the "Measurement and Geometry" Content strand of Mathematics and the Chemical Sciences Sub-strand of Science. Addition skills and understanding were mapped to the Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills strands. Student outcomes and feedback will be discussed.

Presenter: Rogan Tinsley

1:35 PM

1 Hour

Efofex's FX MathPack contains four of the most powerful and useful mathematical tools available for teachers and students [FX Draw, FX Equation, FX Graph and FX Stats]. This session will demonstrate how this software can be used by students in completing tasks across the curriculum in the Middle Years. It is also a valuable tool for teachers in teaching demonstrations and preparing tasks and tests. (2 month free subscription for all participants) Attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptops with their free 30 day version of FX MathPack preloaded

Presenter: Ralph Broughton

This session promotes a commercial product

1:35 PM

1 Hour

In the Australian Curriculum “The proficiency strands are Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving, and Reasoning. They describe how content is explored or developed, that is, the thinking and doing of mathematics.” This session will look at Maths investigations and how through using “Back Pocket Questions” we can address the proficiencies and capabilities in our math’s lessons

Presenter: Adrian Dilger

1:35 PM

1 Hour

Participants in this session will use TI-Nspire software to quickly and easily create dynamic diagrams that can be used to demonstrate mathematics concepts to students. Don’t spend all your time searching the internet of Applets, you can create your own interactive files in just a few minutes. The diagrams and graphs can also be copied and pasted into Word so that it is much easier to include accurate diagrams on your assignments and tests! See how to put an assignment question together in just a few minutes. Note: Participants will need to bring a computer (PC or MAC) and will also need to install the TI‑Nspire software prior to the workshop.

Presenter: Peter Fox

2:40 PM

1 Hour

Hands-on inquiry-based science learning is a paradigm that frames the concept of the 5E Instructional Model, or the 5E’s, and consists of the phases: engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. Using this model and a highly successful NASA supported program of professional development workshops at the Planetary Science Institute (PSI) Arizona, USA, a sibling program of inquiry based science learning has been developed for, and recently commenced with Australian middle school teachers of secondary science. This program, entitled DiGER2 (Digital Geoscience Education Research and Resources) is an adaption of the NASA-PSI WiSER (Workshops in Science Education and Resources) project into an Australian perspective that specializes at using local context and the requirements of the national Australian Curriculum for Science. This workshop demonstrates DiGER2 through the use of 3D imaging of Earth and other planetary objects and promotes teacher learning and confidence in geoscience, as well as further developing the innate curiosity students have about Earth and Spaces Sciences. The DiGER2 project reinforces the idea of personal ownership of data, information and knowledge through observation and concurrent mental and physical activity ascending from local areas of interest to extraterrestrial settings that span broad ranging temporal and spatial scales. Inquiry-based science learning using 3D anaglyph images is demonstrated within the classroom using hardcopy and digital formats (e.g. personal computers, interactive (SMART) boards, tablets), while technology based skill-sets are shown through anaglyph use, production and investigation for all middle school years and levels of literacy. The implicit use of 3D visualization alongside physical examples (e.g. meteorites (real) or 3D printed) enhances the links of engagement and exploration, as well as the explanation, elaboration and evaluation of geoscience content.

Presenter: Mark Bishop

Target Audience: Middle school (yr. 6-9) teacher, Primary science curriculum leaders

2:40 PM

1 Hour

Change the way we engage students in our maths classrooms. With interactive games and clever adaptive quizzes, all mapped to the Australian Curriculum, you will see dramatic improvements in your students’ attitudes towards learning maths! It's not all just fun and games though - it's about getting the learning gradient just right! That's how we keep our students engaged. But Mangahigh doesn't just make students happy, teachers love it too. Imagine setting differentiated tasks to your students easily. Imagine being able to identify struggling students in real-time and providing helpful intervention remotely. Imagine a program that is smart enough to create a personalised learning pathway for each student, and then adapt that pathway to complement the lessons that you set for your students manually. All this, and more, is possible with Mangahigh.com - one of the world's fastest growing online maths resources used in schools. Mangahigh offers a proven games-based approach that encourages procedural fluency without sacrificing rigorous pedagogy and concept development. Students of all ability levels are enthusiastic to learn fractions, master trigonometry, and perfect their skills in factorising quadratics, thriving on the healthy competition between students and schools that is inherent in the Mangahigh platform. Come and join us in this session to see how this is all possible, and receive your FREE 30-day trial!

Presenter: Michelle Button

Target Audience: Middle school (yr. 6-9) teacher, Years 2-10

This session promotes a commercial product

2:40 PM

1 Hour

How can students be inspired by STEM if they don't know what it looks like outside of the classroom? How can students aspire to STEM careers if they don't know what those careers are? We have developed 4 STEM Careers Packs to inspire and engage students in learning about Science as a Human Endeavour and STEM careers. Written for middle school teachers each Pack includes classroom activities and video interviews, and are linked to the Australian Curriculum. Get to know the content of the Packs and discuss how to use them in your classroom.

Presenter: Tania Meyer

Target Audience: Middle school (yr. 6-9) teacher, Primary science curriculum leaders

2:40 PM

1 Hour

Behind every set of eyes in our classroom is a story, and although as teachers we sadly do not have time to listen to 25 life stories. If we can access the correct data, we do have time to get a picture of every student’s academic story. Data on achievement, attendance and behaviour, as well as results from diagnostic and benchmark testing can all assist us, as teachers, to see where our students are currently working and then assist them in setting targets and reaching their goals. This presentation is aimed to encourage classroom teachers to utilise data within their planning, and then implement effective ‘Assessment for Learning’ strategies within their classrooms. In essence by incorporating these strategies into classroom practice teachers can in effective teach less whilst their students learn more. Participants at the presentation will get the opportunity to actively assess data sets and ‘tell set student’s academic story’. They will then get the opportunity to develop effective methods to utilise data sets in planning, as well as being introduced to the concept of Assessment for Learning in the classroom using data. Strategies shared will include using target based tasks, success criteria and various student lead assessment activities.

Presenter: Rachelle Maynard

2:40 PM

1 Hour

In this workshop we will learn how many factors a number has, how to test for divisibility by 7 and some interesting number tricks. Using technology can assist students to develop a facility with numbers too so please bring a calculator to use.

Presenter: Carol Moule

2:40 PM

1 Hour

Exploring practical and hands-on geometry activities including: Identifying corresponding, alternate and co-interior angles when two straight lines are crossed by a transversal. Applying circle and angle properties in a Star construction using a compass and ruler. Demonstrating that the angle sum of a triangle is 180° and use this to find the angle sum of a quadrilateral

Presenter: Maureen Hegarty

2:40 PM

1 Hour

LOVE MATHS is a series of events and activities that could be held in your school for Maths Month or any other celebration. The events were designed to raise the profile of Mathematics and motivate students through a variety of interesting and challenging activities. The events give the opportunity for all student and staff to engage in problem solving while building cross-curricular links. This session showcases some of the events and introduces our LOVE MATHS package, which will be available for sale in term 2.

Presenter: Mark Robson & Pauline Carter