Modules developed by the partners of PARSEL

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Modules developed by the partners of PARSEL

• Avi Hofstein, Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, Ron Blonder
  and Mira Kipnis
• Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
• The symposium is part of an EU project (PARSEL),
  which involves researchers from eight institutions

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Rationale

• Popularity and Relevance of Science of Science
• Education for Scientific Literacy
• To promote scientific literacy
• To enhance popularity and relevance of science
  teaching and learning
• Relevant chemistry studies have the potential of
• increasing students' motivation to study science
• (Fensham, 2004)

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What we are trying to do?

• We are trying to add to the richness of science
  education material within a country.
• Possibly we stimulate the creation of materials,
  based on our exemplars styles (within the country
  in the future).
• We are NOT trying to change the curriculum
  although we may help the implementation of
  science teaching to better match the curriculum
  intentions.

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PARSEL with respect to Education
From To
Science taught to enable students to become scientists Science taught for responsible citizenship/careers
Science education emphasising basic or fundamental (19th Century?) cognitive concepts Increased emphasis on relevance, argumentation, working together to drive cognitive learning
Science as an isolated school subject Inter-disciplinarity between school subjects
Teacher centred approach, limited feedback Student centred approaches for greater feedback for the teacher
Emphasis on summative tests and examinations More attention to formative, on-going assessment
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Method

• Develop
• Test
• Disseminate

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Examples of modules developed by the partners of
PARSEL
Teaching learning module compiled by the PARSEL
consortium as part of an EC FP6 funded project
(SAS6-CT-2006-042922-PARSEL) on Popularity and
Relevance of Science Education for scientific
Literacy
University of Ionnina
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Examples of modules developed by the partners of
PARSEL

• Preventing Holes in Teeth are Beliefs
  Justified?
• A grade 8-9 science (biology) module on tooth
  decay and its
• prevention (Tartu/Estonia, 5 lessons)
• Ways into the Microscopic World What happens
  with the ice-
• blocks in my softdrink?
• Properties of substances (chemistry), states of
  aggregation, 5th to
• 6th grade (Berlin/Germany, 2 lessons)
• Which cleaning agent do we choose?
• Characteristics of Cleaning agent (Science for
  all). Grade level 8-9.
• (Lund/Sweden, 4 lessons)

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• What is a fair insurance premium?
• A grade 10-12 (mathematics) module on
  Mathematical
• Modeling (Odense/Denmark, 4-12 lessons)
• How much Champagne could you afford?
• Caluclation of volumes, part per Million as an
  use of volume-
• calculation. A grade 8-9 mathmatics module on
  getting scientific
• information (Kiel/Germany, 2 lessons)
• Shall we create new organisms?
• A 9th to 12th grades students module for use in
  Biology Integrated
• Sciences and Science for Public Understanding
  curricular areas.
• (Lisbon/Portugal, 4 lessons)    

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• Bathing and bubbling with chemistry
• Getting to know bath bubblers, their composition,
  
• What ingredients are used in products that we use
  in
• everyday life, such as the bath bubblers? Also to
  know
• the role/function of the ingredients. Also, we
  can extend the
• topic to effervescent medical tablets, their
  function of
• which is based on the same principle. Baking
  products
• such as baking soda are an integral part of this
  activity.
• The activity provides the oportunity to study
  acid-
• base chemistry, and in particluar the
  neutralisation
• reaction, 9th to 11th grade (Ioannina/Greece, 3-4
  
• teaching periods at school)

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• Should Vegetable Oils be used as a Fuel?
• A grade 10-12 science (chemistry) material on
  making and testing
• Biodiesel as a Fuel (ICASE/UK, 5 lessons)
• How can I design a cellular phone that is
• safer to use?
• A grade 10-11 science (science in context in
  society, design-based
• science) module on Electromagnetic radiation
  (Rehovot/Israel, 2
• lessons)  

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Three stage Model

• The modules set out to meet a 3 stage model
• geared to
• Establishing relevance (stage 1) - setting the
  scene
• Acquiring science concepts and problem solving
  abilities (stage 2) - Inquiry-based problem
  solving
• Learning socio-scientific decision making skills
  while reinforcing the transference of the
  underlying science concepts to the everyday life
  situation (stage 3) Socio-Scientific decision
  making

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Front page

• Title
• Abstract
• Sections included
• Overall objectives / competencies
• Curriculum content
• Kind of activity
• Anticipated time
• Prior Learning
• Overall view

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Teaching learning module compiled by the PARSEL
consortium as part of an EC FP6 funded project
(SAS6-CT-2006-042922-PARSEL) on Popularity and
Relevance of Science Education for scientific
Literacy
University of Ionnina
How can I design a cellular phone that is safer
to use?
A grade 10-11 science (science in context in
society, design-based science) module on
Electromagnetic radiation
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Front page

• Abstract
• In this activity students are introduced to the
  design project
• and they are provided with an overview of some of
  the
• activities they will be participating in. This
  lesson introduces
• the context of their design project and it
  provides the
• motivation to hook them into being interested in
  the project.
• Students watch an ABC news video on cell phone
  safety and
• they participate in an activity that has them
  evaluating the
• facts and opinions found in the video. The
  teacher gives an
• overview of the design process and the students
  participate in an
• activity that introduces them to the concept of a
  target market.
• Students end this lesson by creating their first
  concept sketch of
• their ideas and getting feedback in a pin up.

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Front page
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Front page

• Overall Objectives/Competencies
• The students are expected to
• understand the projects goals and objectives
• understand the design process
• understand the concept of a target market
  produce their first
• concept drawing
• Curriculum content Electromagnetic radiation
• Kind of activity Critical reading and group
  activity
• Anticipated time 4 lessons
• Prior Learning not required

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Front page

• Overall view
• This unique teaching-learning material is
  intended to guide the teacher towards promoting
  students scientific literacy by recognizing
  learning in 4 domains intellectual development,
  the process and nature of science, personal
  development and social development.
• Its uniqueness extends to an approach to science
  lessons which is designed to be popular and
  relevant. For this the approach is intentionally
  from society to science and attempts to
  specifically meet student learning needs.

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• This uniqueness is specifically exhibited by
• a society related and issue-based title
  (supported in the student guide by a scenario(
• student-centered emphasis on scientific problem
  solving, encompassing the learning of a range of
  educational and scientific goals
• including socio-scientific decision making to
  relate the science acquired to societal needs for
  responsible citizenship

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Materials for students

• Scenario
• Tasks
• Decision making

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Materials for students

• Scenario (Stage 1)
• In this project you will be examining a common
  communications device the cellular phone How
  does a cellular phone work? What is
  electromagnetic radiation? How do we hear sound
  from a cellular phone? Are there any health risks
  associated with using a cellular phone? You will
  examine some information about cell phones from
  the text embedded in your tasks, and from
  internet websites recommended by your teacher.

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• Stage 2
• Stage two dealt with the way in which
• telephones function, and during stage
• three, the students had to examine some
• information about cell phones from ABC
• news and decide what some safety issues
• when using cellular phones are.

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Tasks (Stage 2)

• Task 1
• What are the alleged dangers of using a cell
  phone? Describe at least one below.
• What kind of radiation does a cell phone use to
  communicate?
• Where have you heard of this radiation before?

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• Task 2. How do telephones work?
• Every telephone has four basic functional parts
• a microphone, a speaker, a transmission unit
• and a dialing unit.
• The teacher will divide you into small groups
• Each group will elaborate on each concept
• microphone, speaker, transmission unit and
• dialing unit.

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Stage 3

• Task 3
• Today you will examine some information about
  cell
• phones from ABC news and decide what are some
• safety issues when using cellular phones.
• General Instructions
• Dear student, please refer to the following
• article

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Wireless worries?

• New Studies Call for More Research,
• Some Scientists Say 20/20 arranged
• for a leading research laboratory in Europe
• to conduct tests on five popular cell phone
• models to determine how much microwave
• radiation can be absorbed into the
• head of a cell phone user, depending
• on how the phones are held.
• (ABCNEWS)
• By Brian Ross

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• Task 3. Class Brainstorm on Cell Phone Safety
• Facts versus opinions. In any controversial issue
  there are facts and there are opinions.
  Scientists use these two types of information
  differently.
• What is a fact? What is opinion? Which kind of
  information is more reliable in science?

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• The discussions which followed this
• activity involved almost all the students,
• since the issue is related to everybody's
• daily life, to health concerns and to
• decision making regarding the way of
• using cellular phones.

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Teaching guide

• Rationale
• Goal
• Lessons overview
• Task description
• Scientific / technological background
• Teaching notes

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Teaching guide

• Rationale
• The curriculum, "How Do I Design a Cellular Phone
  that is Safer to
• Use?" was developed in the Center for Highly
  Interactive Computing
• in Education (Hi-ce) at the University of
  Michigan by one Israeli and
• two US science educators. Hi-ce has a history of
  involvement in
• science education reform in both urban and
  suburban settings. Over
• the course of the 1999-2000 school year, Hi-ce
  developed reform-
• focused science curricula. The development of the
  science curricula
• was only one component in a larger project called
  the Primary
• Sources Network (PSN), a federally funded
  Technology Innovation
• Challenge Grant.

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Teaching guide

• Goal
• The goal of this learning set is to
• Introduce students to the projects goals and
  objectives
• Provide an overview of the design process for the
  students
• Introduce the students to the concept of a target
  market
• Have the students produce their first concept
  drawing

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Teaching guide

• Lessons Overview
• Class 1
• 1. Assign students to new teams
• 2. Project goals and objectives
• 3. ABC News video reading
• 4. Defining design slide show
• 5. Initial concept sketch

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Teaching guide

• Task description
• In this activity students are introduced to the
  design project
• and they are provided with an overview of some of
  the
• activities they will be participating in. This
  lesson introduces the
• context of their design project and it provides
  the motivation to
• hook them into being interested in the project.
  Students participate
• in an activity that has them evaluating the facts
  and opinions found in
• the video. The teacher gives an overview of the
  design process and
• the students participate in an activity that
  introduces them to the
• concept of a target market. Students end this
  lesson by creating their
• first concept sketch of their ideas and getting
  feedback in a pin up.

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Teaching guide

• Background How do telephones work?
• Every telephone has four basic functional parts
  a
• microphone, a speaker, a transmission unit and a
• dialing unit.

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Teaching guide

• Teacher notes
• Additional suggestions
• Students activities
• A breakdown of a conventional phone a
• cellular phone
• A breakdown of a speaker.

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Assessment tool

• Lesson 1
• Assign students to teams of four. For this first
  activity it is okay to randomly
• assign students to teams since everyone is new.
  You may find that you need to rearrange teams if
  people are not being productive or not getting
  along.
• Tell the students that these teams will exist for
  the first project and that they will get new
  teams for the second project. In the second
  project you can let people have some choice on
  teams.

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• Lesson 2
• A. Pass out the document Cell phones goals and
  objectives
• Explain to the students that this new project
  will have them working with a familiar technology
  that has some controversial issues associated
  with it. Have the students read along while you
  read the first paragraph to them.
• Have the students write their team members names
  on this form. (We will return to this document at
  the end of the lesson.)

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Modules assessment

• Students SD questionnaires
• Teachers open questionnaires
• Interviews
• Different assessment tools by the different
  partners

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PARSEL dissemination activities in Israel

• 10 PARSEL teachers 3 meeting of 8 hours each,
  followed by personal work with us
• 2 hours meeting during a teacher's workshop in
  Davidson, January 2008, 25 leading teachers
• 2 hours meeting during a teacher's workshop in
  the north, February 2008, 30 chemistry teachers
• 2 hours meeting of the chemistry group at the
  Weizmann institute
• 4 hours meeting in a workshop of science and
  technology teachers in Shelomi (North), 30
  teachers

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Up-scaling PARSEL
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Preliminary results

• Question Can you please indicate some
  differences
• between the PARSEL modules and regular science
• curriculum?
• Answers
• We are more active
• We work in small groups
• We can advice our parents about dental products
• We feel that it's connected to life. It has an
  issue, a subject
• We can apply the knowledge. We learn about atoms
  and ions, but it has a meaning

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Many thanks to the PARSEL partners!

• Leibniz Institute for Science Education - Germany
• University of Tartu - Estonia
• Weizmann Institute of Science - Israel
• University of Lisbon - Portugal
• Lund University - Sweden
• University of Southern Denmark - Odense - Denmark
• Freie Universität Berlin - Germany
• University of Ioannina - Greece
• ICASE (Hatfield, Herts) - UK

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Thank you for your attention!