Hello All,

The summer is in full swing and the Cambridge Science Festival (CSF) team has had some time to relax after a successful festival this past April. My name is Jesse Billingham, and last week I joined the CSF team as the new coordinator for the Science on the Street program (SciStreet). SciStreet is the mobile arm of the CSF that aims to bring engaging Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) activities, exercises and demonstrations to community and cultural events throughout Massachusetts, year-round. I am excited to work with a great team!

This past Monday the SciStreet team was fortunate to participate in Camp Miracles and Magic. This week-long camp invites children from across the region who were born with HIV to a fun and welcoming place. On Monday the campers were able to explore a variety of engaging science activities including building paper rockets, kites, helicopters, and exploring how electrical circuits work with home-made play dough! In addition, Terry Murray "The Inventor Mentor" was on hand with the SciStreet team with his water rockets and cannon which provided a lot of fun and a nice way to cool off!

For information on upcoming Science on the Street events, please visit the Science on the Street website, and follow the CSF blog for updates on where we've been and where we're going in your community!

Managing feedback, learning journals and maybe a bit of technology?

For years, I have asked my 11-16 year old students to do learning journals in Maths. They need a lot of guidance but many say they really value them, especially for revision purposes. It's also an easy homework task (though I wouldn't set only this).

As marking workload becomes more and more of an issue, I think it's important to think of ways that we can ensure students know where they are and how to improve without actually burning ourselves out by October half term!

In the last couple of years I've also made use of online forums on the school's Managed Learning Environment (MLE) and students find this also a handy reference guide to back topics. It is also an ideal opportunity for some cross-curricular links since I can remind them that any websites or books used must be stated to avoid plagiarism.

Anyway, I don't know anything about MOOCs apart from what I've read on the internet but I wonder if that could be a next step. Last year I made mini video films of worked examples that students could use to check their own work. They really liked that, and I've also used audacity software to make short audio podcasts of key ideas and concepts.

This year I've also set up a classroom 'help desk' .... ermm it's just a box with key facts, FAQs, etc. and post it notes that students can come up and use any time during the lesson. In the past, I've allowed the to come and write questions on the board for others to come up and answer, when they are working on individual problem solving activities.

Today I spotted this on Twitter and really liked it:
@pgcap #fdol131 PBL group 2: Supporting learners online, looking at feedback http://youtu.be/w7atP6Ujwlc  > excellent resource!

and a few weeks ago this

@Janetteww This is my blog post with my initial thoughts on maths journals and inspirations http://devoil.wordpress.com/ 

So, putting it all together and sitting by the pond I started to muse about a new way of working in class ....... (new for me I mean) .....

I think I am going to use the idea of keeping the learning journal in a separate notebook and encouraging students to paste in cuttings etc. I'll continue to work on the online forums and have some 'rules' about who can answer whom and how long I'll leave it before I chip in. I've noticed that, more and more, some students are reluctant to do their own checking of work so maybe we will do more on mini whiteboards and less paper based work - keeping that perhaps for individual problem solving and exam style questions. And I'll be thinking about MOOCs.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Passion of the Cosmos

Here we are, a mere 9 days from the kick-off to the Cambridge Science Festival!

Have you booked your tickets? Have you checked to see who else is coming?

Beware! Some details in the print program have been updated.


And now... hear about today's CSF event highlight from organizer, Andrew:

The Passion of the Cosmos: 
Scientists on Evolution, Cosmology, and Religion: Open Forum
Sunday, April 21, 2:00pm-3:45pm
The Monastery of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, 980 Memorial Dr., Cambridge

I can't be religious because it's unreasonable and unscientific, right? I can't be true to science and follow religion without betraying one or the other. Or can I? Galileo and Niels Bohr were religious. And isn't St. Francis of Assisi kind of awesome? I have faith that science and religion may not always be enemies, but whether you agree or disagree, this is the event for you!

Maybe you're like me, fascinated by meditation and prayer techniques that help bring out the best in us as humans, and bringing about dialogue between the religious people, psychologists, and neuroscientists. Maybe you see the great potential in religion to guide social movements like for Indian independence and Civil Rights in the USA. But maybe, like me, you find yourself hesitant to use religious language and ideas in everyday life as this so often leads to misunderstandings and even abuse.

Perhaps, I think, we could "fix" the problems with religion and use its great potential if we could apply scientific method to it, making hypotheses, testing them, and adjusting our algorithms for living as necessary. The 12 Steps of AA and the Eightfold Path of Buddhism often invite exactly this kind of participation. Rather than settling questions through councils or by decree to determine "one truth," there ought to be discussion, continuous questioning, and personal responsibility. That's what I feel.

But some people disagree, including better educated and very experienced scientific professionals who are also fully religious!

Come and hear from a physicist who says the most authentic of religious understanding is beyond the scope of science, a scientific spokesperson who sees the discoveries of science as demanding a response of praise, an astronomer who asks the big questions wherever she looks, outside or in, and a children's neurologist who deals with the harsh and beautiful realities where science and religion meet: in the ever elusive human soul. Also speaking will be a monk and member of the Monastery of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, where the event is being held.

The best part of this event is that YOU are invited to speak!

If you like science, religion, both, or neither, come, talk, or at least listen and learn. The conversation should be epic this April 21st at The Passion of the Cosmos: Scientists on Evolution, Cosmology, and Religion.

See you then.
- Andrew, Intern at The Society of Saint John the Evangelist