Helping kids become researchers

BONUS SPEAKER: Alexa Joyce - Communications & Development Manager, European Schoolnet (www.eun.org)

Many kids find learning science dull and boring - but research (for example, the Rocard report) indicates that hands-on science, where kids "become" scientists in the classroom through inquiry-based techniques helps overcome this perception. By inquiry-based science education, we mean processes where children are investigating issues that they find interesting, and even designing their own experiments to help them verify hypotheses. At the same time, there are two great trends colliding right now: science is becoming more open and participative (the UK's Gardenwatch for the public schools is a great example), while the the technical tools for carrying out scientific work are getting cheaper and cheaper (for example, MIT's Scratch and Xplora's web experiment). Open source software, freeware and free online services, and open content for remixing are all contributing to this, along with the arrival of cheap electronic sensors and remote-controlled laboratory tools. These trends can only help in getting inquiry-based learning into schools, and help to create the next generation of scientists. Here are some examples of interesting "cool tools" for science education.

a) Climateprediction.net is "the largest experiment to try and produce a forecast of the climate in the 21st century." It's a downloadable client based on BOINC, the same framework that was used to build the famous SETI@home tool. It's a British project from the University of Oxford. Schools can download the client, and run the global climate model. There are teaching resources for all kinds of levels a available and a discussion forum for school participants. The visualisation tools are great!

b) Concord consortium probeware Concord provides a wide range of exciting science methodologies and projects. Their probeware tools combine low cost sensors with analytical software, so that students can run experiments, and track their results in real time. Even a basic temperature probe can be used to run a huge variety of experiments and investigations, on thermal conductivity of skin, thermodynamics and more. Once kids get the hang of the tool, they can come up with their own ideas to investigate.

c) Sustain.no On this Norwegian site, teachers and students can join running experiments that other schools are involved in. Together, schools can collect and share data, and compare their results. There are lots of different projects available to join. An interesting one is Global POP. 31 schools so far collected data on the level of environmental pollutants in fish.

These are just a few examples of tools that combine technology with science to make the learning process more authentic and motivating. What other tools are out there that can help kids get more enthusiastic about science, and play the role of researcher while in the classroom?

Comments

[Alexa]

It's the end of my presentation timeslot, and getting really late in Brussels now. If anyone has questions or comments on this post, I'll be back online tomorrow to answer them.

Thanks to Steli and Max for giving me the chance to take part in this EduBlogger event!