One issue for recently graduated teachers is how to transform the theoretical knowledge gained at university into meaningful activities that engage students in deep learning—the kind of activities that can so engross primary students that they are reluctant to stop working, even for something as compelling as lunchtime. For Luke Norman, a Stage 2 teacher at William Cowper Anglican School,involvement with QTP has made him not only think deeply about translating theoretical knowledge into effective practice, but also to do something about it.
It started when he and a school colleague, Linda Wilson, attended a one-day workshop with AIS consultant, Debra Talbot. This workshop introduced Supporting SciTech in the Primary Classroom, a QTP-produced CD-ROM which provides tools and materials to help teachers plan for and implement quality learning experiences in science and technology. Subsequently, William Cowper Anglican School initiated a QTP-funded action learning project, steered by Luke and fellow science and technology. team members, Laurence Tockuss and Janelle Tongue.
The purpose of the action learning project is to develop a whole-school approach to science and technology., one that takes teachers from their existing knowledge about teaching science and technology. towards new and innovative practices.
So far the science and technology team has experimented with the programming tool on the CD-ROM to scope and sequence the teaching and learning for each stage to ensure a progression of learning from K–6. The CD identifies the “big ideas”contained in each of the syllabus strands. Luke and the team have used these ideas as a basis for consultation with stage teachers about how science and technology is already being taught and how they might change the ways in which they are implementing this syllabus.
Potential activities for each ‘idea’ have been brainstormed and analysed in the context of the syllabus Content and Processes strands. Challenging first-hand investigations that extend students and encourage them to discover what does and doesn't’t work are retained in the school program, while those that are less meaningful ares discarded.
As Luke commented: “This high quality professional development through QTP has given me the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in whole-school planning, to benefit from being part of an action learning team, to utilise the experience of people such as Debra Talbot, and to explore new possibilities about ways in which I can make a difference in how my school teaches science and technology.”
For a direct link to the programming tool and instructions on its use,go to: http://www.qtp.nsw.edu.au/qtp/files/QTP_Primary/stage1/stage1_04b.htm
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