Science on the Street heads to Worcester stART!

This past Sunday Science on the Street teamed up with the Worcester Think Tank and the Art+Bio Collaborative to bring engaging science activities to the Worcester stART on the Street community event.

The event was filled with vendors displaying their artistic creations. Art+Bio Collaborative and Worcester Think Tank blended the lines of art and science with their interactive displays and activities, while Science on the Street staff and volunteers guided children of all ages through the design of paper rockets and launched them hundreds of feet into the air! See if you can make out the rocket just taking off in the first picture below.

For information on upcoming events where you can find Science on the Street, check out the Events page on the Cambridge Science Festival's website under the Science on the Street heading. Speaking of the Cambridge Science Festival, mark your calendars now for next years event which will take place from April 18th-27th, 2014, and check out the call for entries online form if you have a great idea for this years festival!

Volunteers watch as a local middle school student tests her rocket design by launching it high into the sky using her own power to compress air through a small diameter pipe.

Event attendees check out the Worcester Think Tank and Art+Bio Collaborative.

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.