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Unlock Nature - Assignment Instructions

Ages: You can apply this assignment for ages 3-6yrs

Goal: Identify a topic in your current learning program that is in the category of science.
Collaborate in-person (or on-line) with colleagues, use the scientific method to design a scientific investigation.
After your brainstorming session with colleagues, you can finish your planning on your own.
Implement your plan, and submit your reflection about the scientific method and its outcomes.

Collaboration

If you are the only person In your centre doing this course?
You can approach your centre manager and/or the room leader to seek support.

The centre manager or fellow teacher could:
  • Share their perspectives on how to apply the new idea
  • Support you in the planning (i.e do you apply it to an interaction you have already planned? or make a new one?)
  • Help you determine the best time to apply it in your usual program


If you have other colleagues doing this course?
You can work with your colleagues online (using the learning platform chat, or video conferencing) or in-person

Your colleagues could:
  • Share their perspectives on how to apply the new idea
  • Support you in the planning (i.e do you apply it to an interaction you have already planned? or make a new one?)
  • Help you determine the best time to apply it in your usual program

Assignment Logic

Working through your assignment is very simple and familiar.
You follow the planning cycle!

Observe an Interaction

Observe what kind of topics or events switch on the children's attention.
Are they attracted to motion, sound, light, touch etc.
This will tell you which discrepant events you should use.

Assess the Interactions

Think about what you observed or review your centre's videos (i.e things you posted for your centre in the past).
See which elements children naturally animate in the scientific method.
And see which elements they don't animate.

e.g i saw the children ask questions, planning a test, and then doing the test!
And i saw that the children were not not making predictions.
And they were not reflecting on what just happened.

Design a New Interaction

Consider the knowledge you gained in the assess phase.
Begin to design a small interaction, something that fits into your current focus in your classroom.
Use the scientific method to guide your design.

With your colleagues (or online) brainstorm ideas about discrepant events and investigation.

Here is a question to kickstart your brainstorming session
How can you animate the EYLF outcome 4.2 using the scientific method?
4.2 
Children develop a range of learning and thinking skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

Design Guide

This guide is designed to help you animate the key outcomes using the scientific method

EYLF 4.2 
Children develop a range of learning and thinking skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

1) What discrepant events (elements of surprise) could you use to kickstart and investigation?

2) How could the use of questions improve the children's investigation?

3) When asking testable questions how can you include cause & effect?

4) How can you encourage the child to hypothesise, that is, a potential answer to the question along with an explanation?

5) What resources will you need to run the experiments?

6) What testing will you need to do before you prove the experiments?

7) When we do the experiments, how can can we collect the evidence?

8) Can we form logic from our test results?

9) How can we discover a working process that we can use to control?

10) if there is a problem (i.e something doesn't work) how can we refine out testing?

11) how can i inject fun, creativity, and control into our session?

Note: After your brainstorming session with colleagues, you can finish your planning on your own.

Action Your Plan

Simply do it!

Reflect on the Outcomes

This is where you look back on how the scientific method guided and influenced the investigation.
Then copy your reflection and paste it when you submit your assignment.
When you submit your assignment, you will need to upload images or videos of your work 
(please do not include children's faces).