I have recently arrived back in Palmerston North after 4 days of "Workshop 1" on the Science Teaching Leadership Programme. Two days of the four were spent at Tapu Te Ranga Marae in Island Bay, Wellington. First off, what an incredibly beautiful place. To get really unscientific for a moment, in that place there is a feeling of peace and deep spirituality. I will try very hard to hold to the memory of my time there.
Science, tag back in!
There were two clear parts to the learning at Tapu Te Ranga; first was the art of scientific observation and inference, and second was the importance of valuing Mātauraga Māori as equally valid evidence to help us understand the world.
To me, the clearest example of the second in action was when Craig, our amazing kaiāko, took us for a walk and talk about the rākau and their traditional uses and properties. He had to intentionally put his "Mātauranga Pākehā" to the side in order to help us genuinely value the traditional knowledge and the source of and access to that knowledge that was shared with us. What I have discovered is that part of Te Ao Māori not only requires a deep respect for the knowledge, it requires a deep respect for those that pass it on. For example, a harakeke needs to be cut in a certain place and in a certain way and at a certain time because that is the way we have been told to do it and is the way that it has been done for many generations. That isn't to say that the scientific knowledge about these routines is not important, they are just another lens through which to understand our connection to Tāne Mahuta.
In regards to the first part of the learning, mentioned above, I extend a huge thanks to Brigette and Dayle who facilitated that learning. This learning not only took place at Tapu Te Ranga, but over the following two days at the Royal Society Te Apārangi. Understanding the Nature of Science, the Science Capabilities, and the contextual strands of the science curriculum is, to me, enormously complex! And yet, they have eased us into seeing the logical connections that exist between them. The attached diagram (credit for this goes to Brigette) shows how they connect and therefore indicates how to go about planning for learning that targets one or some of these parts.
Then there was the hands-on experience of practicing my own use of Capability 1, Gathering and Interpreting, through a range of science experiments and also dipping toes into Capability 2, Using Evidence. I've attached some images as examples. The learning here for me was in solidifying my thinking about what defines an observation and what defines and inference and the clear differences and uses cases of the two. With my teacher hat on, I have started to weave into my whākaaro the kinds of questions I need to ask students to try and draw out their critical and metacognitive thinking skills, related to science but applicable across the curriculum.
Questions like:
What can you see?
What might that mean?
How do you know that?
How can you tell?
Could there be another explanation?
What evidence is there to support?
The murky waters of the science curriculum are becoming much clearer to me and this can surely only lead us to more robust and meaningful science teaching and learning.
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