Making Science Accessible

Kurt Catania

Disclaimer: The MUT Youth Section would like to stress that views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Section or the MUT. Readers who have diverging opinions are welcome to communicate their own ideas by submitting an article to mutyouth@gmail.com.

In this day and age, science is playing an ever larger role in our daily life. New scientific discoveries are happening every day and are fuelling new technological advances. It is thus very important to keep up and to provide the future generations with the tools to demystify science, a task that due to many factors becomes particularly difficult, especially with students who never got to grips with physics and mathematics in secondary education. The first obstacle arises when students in Form 3 are faced with a too theoretical and mathematical approach to physics, divorcing it from other sciences such as chemistry, biology and earth sciences.

In my opinion, it is a very good idea to present the sciences in a similar structure as we were used to in Integrated Science at Forms 1 and 2. Here the approach should veer towards less work and more play, in that students want to see experiments, and if possible to actually do it themselves. Theory and equations come later. It is imperative when teaching science to actually demonstrate and the student should be able to relate what s/he sees in class to what is out there. What I have observed is that learning is not a phenomenon which can take place in the classroom alone. Learning happens when students manage to see something happening in their everyday life and relate it to what you have explained and presented in class. That is when true understanding takes place.

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Agħfas fuq l-indirizzi biex tidħol fil-paġni tal-MUT:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mutgroup/

https://twitter.com/MaltaMUT

http://www.youtube.com/MUTcampaigns

http://edcommut.blogspot.com/

Daħla Gilbert John Żahra, Ċerpersin

Ix-xhur tas-sajf huma mportanti għall-għalliema u l-istudenti għal raġunijiet varji. Huma xhur li fihom insibu kemmxejn tal-mistrieħ mir-rutina tas-soltu, fejn nirriflettu fuq is-sena li għaddiet u nħejju għal dik li ġejja. Huma wkoll xhur fejn wieħed ifittex opportunitajiet ġodda għal żvilupp personali, opportunitajiet li huma diffiċli li edukatur isib ħin għalihom waqt ix-xhur tax-xitwa.

L-artiklu ta’ Kurt Catania, lekċerer ġewwa l-MCAST, joffri spunt kritiku għal għalliema, l-iżjed dawk tax-xjenza, fuq il-prassi preżenti. Tajjeb li ngħidu li l-edukazzjoni tax-xjenza kienet u għada mira għal riformi. Dan ġara b’mod kontinwu mill-bidu tagħha, speċjament wara t-tieni gwerra u waqt il-gwerra bierda fejn ix-xjenza, assoċjata mat-teknoloġija, ġiet mħarsa bħala ta’ użu kbir għall-bniedem. Kurt Catania jirrifletti kif ix-xjenza tista’ ssir aktar akkoljenti fl-iskejjel tagħna.

L-artiklu minn Nathan Adams jippreżenta opportunita’ interessanti ferm għal edukaturi, speċjalment dawk f’livell post-sekondarju. Huwa jitkellem fuq spedizzjonijiet rigward konservazzjoni ambjentali. Dawm huma mmexxija minn Operation Wallacea, organizzazzjoni internazzjonali li ilha topera għal għoxrin sena u għandha wkoll uffiċju Malta mmexxi mill-istess Nathan li kien hu stess ipparteċipa fil-proġett bħala assistent riċerkatur fl-Indonesia fl-2011. Bħala persuna li kont ukoll sifirt ma studenti u b’hekk naf kemm huma ta’ valur għal formazzjoni kemm tal-għalliema u kemm tal-istudenti, nħeġġeġ lil dawk konċernati jikkuntattjaw lil Opwall Malta għal aktar informazzjoni.

L-MUT Youth Section tixtieq tilqa’ wkoll fi ħdana lil Graham Sansone, li għadu kemm issieħeb magħna f’dan il-proġett. Graham huwa LSA fi skola tal-knisja u bħalissa qiegħed jaħdem flimkien ma Ian Karl Coleiro fuq attivita’ ġejjiena li l-MUT Youth Section ser ikollha mħejjija għalikom.

Ħarġa Volum 2015, Numru 4 – Lulju 2015 Maħruġa mis-sezzjoni MUT Youth tal-Malta Union of Teachers – kuntatt: mutyouth@gmail.com

MUT Youth e-newsletter

6th Form Wildlife Conservation Expeditions for Lecturers, Biology, Geography, and Environmental Science Students Nathan Adams, malta@opwall.com

Disclaimer: This article is a paid advert.

Operation Wallacea conducts a series of biological and conservation management research programmes that operate in remote and biodiverse locations across the world. These expeditions are designed with specific wildlife conservation aims in mind, from identifying areas needing protection to implementing and assessing conservation management schemes. What is so unique about Operation Wallacea is that large teams of ecologists, scientists and academics, who are specialists in various aspects of biodiversity or social and economic studies, collaborate together to collect data at these target study sites.

Operation Wallacea organizes biodiversity survey expeditions for sixth form students accompanied by a lecturer. These school groups are offered the highly coveted opportunity to collect data for a portion of their expedition, which aids their understanding of the scientific process, enhances their CV, and helps with the research objectives of the site they visit. During their 2-week expeditions, the school groups also have the opportunity to work alongside a range of different field scientists and learn about a large variety of survey techniques and species encountered. At each of these sites, a lecture series is delivered in order to provide further information about the habitats and species being surveyed, which are associated with concepts learned in pre-university biology, geography and environmental science courses.

Benefits of Joining an Operation Wallacea Expedition include:

1. Better understanding of course syllabi

The lecture courses given in-field provide examples that can be used to illustrate many of the principles of biology, environmental science and geography courses. Syllabus matching for A levels have been included in the school booklets for each country on the Operation Wallacea website (www.opwall.com).

2. Gaining qualifications

Expeditions with marine sites result in students gaining SCUBA dive-based qualifications.

3. Career development

The research expeditions provide an ideal opportunity for students to meet a range of university academics, ecologists and scientists. Furthermore, depending on the expedition, it also offers them the chance to work alongside university students doing degree courses of potential interest to them. The expeditions are an excellent way of making contacts and many of the students that have joined our previous Operation Wallacea expeditions have then completed degrees in relevant subjects and proceeded to careers in wildlife conservation or field research, or indeed returned to complete their final year dissertation on-site. Furthermore, at the end of an expedition, all students have been provided the opportunity to help conduct hands-on data collection in the field of conservation biology, which is a rare and strong experience to be able to put on a CV at such a young age.

Where will your summer take you (as lecturers)?

i) One lecturer attends these expeditions for free for every eight students that enroll. ii) Professional development opportunities. iii) 13 varied sites to choose from. iv) Operation Wallacea helps to find flights and organizes internal travel. v) Dedicated fundraising team available to help students and parents. vi) All risk assessments and safety procedures are available on our website. vii) Students can use these expeditions to enhance their university applications.

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This brings me to the major challenge faced to the instructors at all levels of education: what is the best balance between remaining faithful to one’s syllabus, warts and all, and taking one’s time and space to implement a more holistic and personal approach towards the subject? While I have been teaching for only one year, which means I can hardly be considered an expert, I have spent more than a decade on the other side of the classroom, and needless to say, the most pleasant experience was whenever a lecturer or teacher was able to make me imagine what they were saying or depicting on the whiteboard, often without fancy presentations. So while it is true that you should have a lesson plan, do give space for students’ imagination. Let them guide you on how they want the journey to be, but then it is up to you to get them where you want them to be.

Sometimes it can be difficult to break what I like to call the science taboo. Students all too often tell you “I was never good at it”, or “I cannot learn Science”. My suggestion would be to create the illusion that the lesson has not started yet, and open a discussion using everyday examples from life or from their vocational subject as an example. If the vocational example is perhaps too complex for you because it is not your area, let them explain it to you – it works even better because that way you are already helping them form the picture in their minds, after which find the science in that picture and proceed. You will be surprised on how perceived aptitudes change. Each class is different; the trick is to let them dream about science!

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Interested? • To get more information, contact us at malta@opwall.com.

• Arrange a quick meeting for us to answer your questions and talk about the available programmes.

• See if your students are interested – let us host a free evening presentation for parents and students, and as well a biodiversity lecture if your students and staff show interest.

• Expedition videos and flyer are readily available for easy promotion.

The Wallacea Resource Library (WRL):

The WRL is a free resource that contains example data sets and lectures from some of the biodiversity research teams around the world. The WRL can be used by sixth forms to illustrate different principles of their A-level syllabuses. Please email wrl@opwall.com if you would like a copy of these resources.