SciberBlog

Teachers CPD proves popular!

2010-03-31T04:04:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-01-14T03:59:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-14T01:42:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

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

2009-09-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T05:34:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-07-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

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

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

Thanks for your help

Jane

SciberBrain makes it BIG

2009-06-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

The British Interactive Group (BIG) is a not-for-profit organisation for all people involved in interactive science communicaton activities and hands-on education projects in the UK.

I was very please to find that BIG thought the SciberBrain project was worth announcing in their e-news issue for July!

We also featured as a recommended resource in The Guardian's special 'science scores' supplement (23rd June) along side other big resource providers like the ASE and the Science Museum!

It seems that John Vidal of the Guardian also has his eye on SciberBrain from what he says on his blog. His comments have been featured on a whole bunch of other sites. I hope he will be happy with our results!

Psssst! Free CPD, tell your teacher friends!

2009-06-26T02:57:00.000-07:00

SciberBrain is providing 16 grants to cover the cost of a 2 day CPD course with a twist. The course is called Philosphy for Children and is Oxford Brookes accredited.

We would like to encourage more teachers to tackle controversial issues in science by giving them some practical skills they can use with their classes. This philosophy course has been taylored towards discussing science topics at secondary level and will also involve a new practical element.

Participants will be invited to practice their new skills at schools sessions during the British Science Festival in Guildford, Surrey alongside a facilitator.

Course dates: 25th - 26th August + a 90 minute practical session on either 7th, 8th, 9th or 10 September.

Location: Somewhere in Surrey (probably Weybridge or Guildford)

If you would like to know more, please email me!

Read all about it!

2009-05-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

News of SciberBrain is spreading fast. Following our article in The Biochemist we have had a modest flurry of media interest in the SciberBrain project.

Here is an extract from our press release which featured in The Sciblorg and Biochemist e-volution in May.

The Biochemical Society today announced it has received £113,317 from the Monsanto Fund, a private foundation and the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto Company, to continue funding the production of new resources for secondary school science.

The Society's education team have drawn on their extensive links with leading scientists and teachers in the development of SciberBrain resources. The website www.sciberbrain.org will feature free activities, games and animated slideshows that can be used online or in the classroom to inspire young people about developments in modern bioscience. Topics such as stem cell research, vaccinations and genetically modified organisms will be explored.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for a SciberBrain feature in the Guardian supplement on science education, out on 23rd June!

New website for SciberBrain

2009-02-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

At last, SciberBrain materials have found a home! The new website is expected to be ready after the Easter Holidays. Here is an exclusive sneak preview of how the site will look. The site aims to be intuative and clear to give busy people a hassle free gateway to the resources. Resources are also being restyled to make the most out of their new online habitat.

Coming soon at http://www.sciberbrain.org/

Teachers' feedback at the ASE

2009-02-05T00:07:00.000-08:00

SciberBrain began the year with a trip to the 2009 Association for Science Education annual conference in Reading. Here the resources were showcased to a multitude of science teachers, trainee teachers, learned societies and other professionals in the world of school science education over the three day event. Hannah Baker and myself were extremely encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response to SciberBrain resources which were felt to be 'time saving', 'useful' and 'clearly presented'. To compliment our personal interviews, delegates were also surveyed via our 'Water Rocket Competition' questionaire to inform future development. Feedback from sixty teachers highlighted the need for similar resources in other areas of the curriculum with Biofuels, DNA fingerprinting, Drug trials, Genetic engineering and Vaccinations coming top of the list of desirable topics. When asked how they envisaged using the resources, respondents were mostly keen to incorporate the activities to enhance their normal lessons and aid lesson preparation. A significant number were interested in using the activities as part of a workshop style event with the possibility of cross curricular collaborations.

Presenting SciberBrain to Teachers

2008-11-03T02:36:00.000-08:00

On the 30th October, eleven secondary science teachers and five schools outreach personnel attended a two hour presentation which showcased the latest incarnation of SciberBrain as a DIY kit for teachers.

Attendees were introduced to the resources and invited to voice their initial impressions of the tasks, content, format and any concerns about workability in a school setting. Our group were really keen to express ideas and to help us to make our resources as useful to teachers as possible. We are really grateful to all participants for their illuminating and encouraging thoughts.

Teachers were given hard copies of all the workshop activities in a beautifully compiled pack (courtesy of our friends at Portland Press) which they can now try out with their classes. We hope to gather their experiences to inform the future developments of SciberBrain materials and to highlight areas where teachers would like further support.

Thanks are due to all attendees, Chris Kirk, Sheila Alink-Brunsdon, Hannah Baker, Kathryn Reese, Angela Smith, Brian Boyington, Paul Newman and the staff at RIBA.

The gateway to all the sciberBrain resources will eventually be via http://www.sciberbrain.org/ where practitioners will be able to find everything they need to run a workshop. A temporary mock-up is displayed currently for illustrative purposes only. We shall be working on this and other topics over the coming months.

SciberBrain at the BA Festival of Science

2008-09-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

Seventy pupils from four Merseyside schools took part in the SciberBrain event in the 2008 festival yesterday. The event, which took place at the University of Liverpool, was well received by the teachers and their pupils who rose to the challenges posed throughout the day. The pupils were attentive, on task and happy to participate in all the activities presented. Improvements to the presentations and some alterations to the resources definitely enhanced the learning experience in terms of content pitch, visual appeal and pupil engagement.
Now I hope to compile an on-line teacher pack to enable others to present their own SciberBrain events in schools.
Thanks once again to Helen Watson of Southampton University and Hannah Baker for their unwavering dedication and support with this project.

SciberBrain is born!

2008-07-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

Following the pilot of Sciberquest, it became clear that several aspects of the event needed to be tweaked. One of these aspects being the name! Some of the activities are being modified and the teachers guide is being prepared to enable schools to DIY their own event.

In September, SciberBrain is going to the BA festival as a slightly reduced 90 minute version where we hope to try out the newly designed presentations and some of the modified materials. We will have three slots in the programme so by the end we should have a really good idea of what works well.

I am also reviewing the literature to explore the current thinking on teaching socio-scientific controversial issues. I feel this is necessary to inform future developments in this project so I can back up and justify our methods to the teaching community. This went down well with the Science Learning Centre staff in York yesterday. They are very interested in showcasing SciberBrain in their 'How Science Works' courses which would be a fantastic endorsement.

Pilot of SCIBERQUEST, the 3 lesson challenge

2008-06-30T01:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday 27th June, Hannah Baker and myself set out to trial the 3 lesson challenge on stem cells with a class of high achieving 13-14 year olds from Ringmer Community College in East Sussex.

Our aims for the day were to trial several activities and resources to find out which were the best for getting the information across to this age group. The information we gathered during the day will inform the further development of the materials that will be available for other such events as well as being hosted online for schools to DIY their own events.

The pupils were engaged with activities looking firstly at the at the science and later the ethics of embryonic stem cell research. The activities included presentations, video, a web quest, group discussions, cartoon drawing, card sorting and finally a debate. Some of the resources were completely home-made, others incorporated freely available materials from other providers. The event successfully pulled together all these great resources into a neat easy-to-access package.

The day's programme was extremely well received by the pupils and they all worked really hard at the challenges presented.
I attribute the success of the day to a number of factors that were in our favour, namely:

Helen Watson, post grad biochemist (Southampton), member of the Society's education committee (and secret ex-head girl of Ringmer School) for coordinating the liaison between the society and the school, supporting the pupils during the activities and also for being our most attentive hostess throughout the day.
Dr Elaine Allison, vice principal and science teacher at the school for her enthusiasm towards the project and for setting up the infrastructure within the school to make the day possible.
Hannah Baker, the Society's education project manager for her checklists, enthusiasm and support on the day not to mention her truly amazing reprographical feat in the face of adversity
Support of the school science department, IT staff and of the other staff members who allowed their students to be hijacked for the afternoon.
Great timing (the final half term for year 9 is an excellent window of opportunity for extra curricular events)
A good topic
Plenty of good quality activities
A superb bunch of pupils who were a credit to themselves and their school

A big THANK YOU to all involved!

Encouraging teachers to facilitate debates

2008-06-12T01:02:00.000-07:00

To support the pupil activities, we are doing some teacher guidance sessions that will hopefully slot into the existing teacher CPD programme at the science learning centres.

These sessions will consist of:

Eminent scientist working in a controversial area of science speaking about the science, their work and the ethical issues.
Showcasing freely available, relevant and helpful resources for use with pupils
Demonstrations of debating strategies: techniques and technicalities

To this end, I am looking for a bunch of engaging and willing scientists to cover the first part, preferably working (or with an interest) in stem cells initially (more topics will be covered as the supporting materials are produced).

I will eventually be looking to recruit a crack team of about 10 teachers/facilitators to be trained up to deliver the debating strategy element. The education team at the @Bristol science museum have expertise in this and are looking into running a 'train the trainers' event for us.

Pupils' event evolves

2008-06-05T01:25:00.000-07:00

As part of this project I am preparing some resources for ~14 year olds to encourage them (and their teachers) to debate controversial science topics starting with the ethics of embryonic stem cell research.

This may be delivered as a morning event in school or over 3 lessons (probably at the end of year 9 when the curriculum pressures ease off).

The intended schedule will run as follows:

Introduction
Stem cells "the science" slide show
Guided web quest of "the science"
Web quest debrief
Stem cells "the ethics" slide show
Roleplay of perspectives
Group based writing frame activity
Class discussion/feedback session
Video of "eminent" perspectives
Warm-up activity
Preparation for debate
Debate
X factor style Feedback

The BS education committee have been a great source of expertise to consult in the preparation of resources for this event

Helen Watson has found a suitable pilot school to trial the activities with on 27th June, Ed Wood, John Lackie and Robert Rowney have all been very generous in reviewing my draft materials and Ian Harvey has kindly shared his experiences and contacts for the debating element. Chris Willmott is helping with the film aspect and has some good contacts for me to explore.

Thanks to everyone for your help!

The project takes shape

2008-05-27T01:39:00.000-07:00

The project has been evolving gradually throughout May with 3 main elements emerging:

Resources
Schools activities
CPD

I am working on resources to deliver to pupils and teachers that aim to assist the teaching and learning of controversial topics in GCSE science. I am designing a 2 lesson programme for school pupils based around stem cells initially which involve a PowerPoint, web quest and some debating/discussion style activities. I am hoping to pilot these materials with some year 9 pupils before the holidays.

Last week I met with James Probert of the English Speaking Union and Tony Gilland of the Institute of Ideas to discuss how they stage debating projects with young people. James seemed keen to collaborate on a debating day event for schools where we provide the materials and possibly experts, they are working with other organisations in similar events.

Over the next 3 weeks, I have more meetings planned with the Deputy Director of the Science Learning Centre network, the Natural History Museum's Education Programme Developer, the Learning and Programmes Manager from At-Bristol and Frank Swain from http://www.senseaboutscience.org/

That's all for now.

The plan

2008-05-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I met with the National Science Learning Centre in York as they are the experts in teacher's CPD. Hopefully we will be able to work with them in providing some really useful CPD sessions in their 9 regional centres throughout the land.

I hope to enlist the services of brilliant and charismatic scientists to talk to teachers about their research in contempory and controversial areas such as Stem Cell Research, GM Crops and Designer Babies.

I would also like to provide a workshop to give science teachers ideas and confidence in debating ethical and moral issues that are thrown up as a result of scientific advances. I hope to meet with some experts in debating next week!

Watch this space....

Introduction to the project

2008-05-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am Jane.

I have recently started work at the Biochemical Society to work on schools outreach projects.

We were given some money from the Monsanto Fund to help with some of the planned projects for 2008 so I am trying to devise a master plan to spend the budget as wisely as possible.

The plan so far is to create a CPD session for teachers, a schools event and some supporting online materials.

More later.....