Teachers CPD proves popular!

Dialogue in Science is now officially on tour! Starting out in earnest at Heathside School in Surrey, swiftly followed by an event at the Basildon Academies, DiS has brought new techniques and resources to teachers and pupils located in the South East. We also undertook a pupil event at Jubilee High School (also in Surrey) as part of their Science Week celebrations. Now that our events are starting to gain acclaim within the teaching community, we are hatching plans to take Dialogue in Science further afeild. Invitations are streaming in from Glasgow to Cornwall and we will try to take as many on as we are able. Infact, we are looking to train up more facilitators across the UK in an effort to meet the demand.

The SciberBrain crew are now offering a brand new FREE CPD opportunity for secondary science teachers throughout 2010. This short course demonstrates a model for encouraging pupils at key stages 3 and 4 to raise questions and engage in dialogue about scientific developments (our course will focus on a topic from the biosciences but the model can be adapted for any controversial topic you like) .

Our model involves presenting a scientific or technological development to learners and provides them with opportunities to raise questions about the applications and implications of these developments across a range of contexts (AF2). The subsequent exploration of the questions raised can also be used to provide evidence for addressing all six PLTS categories.

Dialogue in Science draws upon methods and techniques applied by philosophers and P4C (Philosophy for Children) facilitators which have been adapted to support the aims and objectives of the secondary school science curriculum. We will also be incorporating free resources available from our SciberBrain website.

To book a free Dialogue in Science CPD course, please go to www.sciberbrain.org/events

SciberBrain Launch in the face of adversity!

The Education Team at the Biochemical Society were delighted to finally launch the SciberBrain website at a very snowy ASE last week. Our presentation at the open conference was well received and despite the frightful weather conditions, we felt the whole event was a success. The ASE is really a unique experience in the calendar for enthusiastic science teachers lucky enough to escape for the day. A mind boggling programme of events and talks makes for a whirlwind of a conference but there really is something for everyone. SciberBrain was especially welcome to the throng of PGCE students who came on Saturday morning. They expressed in no uncertain terms that they wanted free, easy to use, quality resources. They were not disappointed at our stand! We also found teacher trainers very keen to host our new Dialogue in Science CPD course - more on that soon.

Party!

Come and celebrate with us at the ASE annual conference this new year in Nottingham! Friday 8th January will mark the official launch of the SciberBrain site and we would love to meet you for wine and conversation in the exhibition marquee from 5pm. Come and say hello!

British Science Festival 2009

SciberBrain took the techniques we learned at our recent CPD workshop and put them into practice with five groups of real live school children at this year's festival in Surrey! Our new friends from the world of philosophy, John Turner and Steven Brammell delved into the inner workings of the minds of teenagers using SciberBrain resources to get them thinking. Over a hundred pupils from schools across the county astounded their teachers with thoughtful questions and insightful observations. It really was a joy to behold!

Class discussion CPD workshop

During the summer, the creators of SciberBrain formed an alliance with Metathink (an independent provider of philosophical dialogue workshops) to come up with a new CPD workshop exploring concepts, values and beliefs in science. Our first free 2 day workshop was attended by 15 science teachers and outreach workers at the Science Learning Centre in London (25th & 26th August). Participants were extremely appreciative and feedback comments were amazing with 100% saying they enjoyed the course and would definitely recommend it to a friend! I think we can safely say we will be expanding in this area over the coming year :)

Message for the Ringmer test pilots....

Hope you are having fun trialling the latest SciberBrain activities for us, here are the links for the vaccinations webquest, good luck!

1. NHS
2. BBC Bitesize
3. ABPI
4. Beep
5. video link video link video link

Come back here next week if you want to see my photos from today.

Thanks for your help

Jane