December 27

Here it is the middle of the holidays and science is still a big part of my life.  In todays Taranaki Daily News there was a story about the setting up of the Tapuae Marine Reserve, and about its future. I feature in a little bit of the story and was interviewed a couple of days ago. It made me think about the importance of Marine Reserves as well, and how they are a place where the environment can grow back into balance. The ecosystems don't have extenal influences being put on them and so over time they can change back to what they once were.
Anyway here is a link to the story
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/life-style/6191815/Proud-to-be-kelp-huggers
Oh and yes I do know the journalist that wrote the story, rather well in fact, she is my wife.

Week 20

Week 20 and I have come to the end of the first part of my Fellowship. Wednesday was spent in Wellington with the Royal Society of New Zealand staff and the other teacher fellows. I had a 6 am flight to Wellington so it was breakfast in the airport before being shuttled to our venue. More coffee and chats was the first thing on the agenda and then we were put into groups for our presentations. Each person had to to a 8 minute presentation (with 2 minutes for questions at the end.) We were in groups of 8 or 9 so we heard about the different things people had been up to. It was really good to hear and learn about what other people had been up to. Half of the teacher fellows were part of the Awarded scheme and so their presentations were more about what they had achieved. The Primary Science Teacher Fellowship teachers presentations were more about the process of what we had done and the nature of science we had learnt about.
After lunch we had discussions about heading back to school and what to expect. Next year will be the begining of the next phase of this Fellowship, leading our staff to raise the level of science teaching in our schools. We were awarded certificates and had a chance to unwind before heading back to the airport and home.
 I have loved everything about being on this Fellowship because there have been new challenges and things to learn. Next year there will  be new challenges and new things to learn and I am looking forward to that as well. I am also looking forward to being back in front of a class because it is that aspect of teaching I enjoy the most, developing a class that works together. In lots of ways the Fellowship has confirmed that I enjoy being a teacher, and now I have a new string to my bow. I will be a better teacher of science from this experience, and I believe I will be a better teacher all round.

This will be the last weekly post but theree will be some posts next year as I try new science teachng in my class and with my colleagues. Stay tuned for those and until then have a happy Christmas and holiday.

Week 19

Spent most of the week in Auckland taking part in curriculum days taken by Core Education. The days are designed to help us when we go back to school next year by focussing on the curriculum. It was agood time to have the days because we have been so involved with science that we had lots of experiences to draw on and because it does make us think about next year. In lots of ways it is a nice culmination of all the work we have been doing. Our presenters Dale and Brigette are both excellent value and they complement each other and work well together. We had a lot of hands on activities to balance out the times when we had to do a lot of thinking. One of the highlights was going to Kelly Tarltons for an educational trip. We got to go behind the scenes a little bit and see a couple of turtles that had washed up on New Zealand beaches. They are being nursed back to health.

The other good thing about the week was getting together with the other teacher fellows. We get on easily as a group and we must have all been good because secret Santa visited us all when we went out to dinner. For the out of Aucklanders we got to eat out each night, Malaysian, Thai, and Italian. All very nice. We were lucky someone knew there way around Auckland and places to eat.

Week 18

Another busy week of learning.
I was at the beach by 6:30 on Monday morning, a good low tide and one last transect to do at the southern end of the marine reserve. Was a nice time to be there too. Saw a few brittle stars down near the low tide mark too which I hadn't seen before.
With the data collected I spent a couple of days with Elise trrying to put it into a format that can go onto a GIS map. We added some photos but it took a while to change the Excel data into a csv format for the map. Eventually the data will be online as a baseline for others to see. We spent a couple of mornings on this and there was a real sense of satisfaction when we got things to work. (Though an email this weekend from Elise means I have to change some things) It is about learning anew way to present data that will become accessible for lots of others.
On Thursday afternoon I spent the time with my class. It was to prepare them for a trip to the Marine Reserve on Friday morning. My approach was different just for the hour and a bit I was there because of the things we have talked about in developing an understanding of the nature of science. It was arushed session, I had to get in what we were going to do, some species they would see, why we were doing it, why scientists would do this, as well as the usual organisation and safety stuff.

Friday morning was a lovely Taranaki day and we were at the Marine Reserve by 9:15. I set out a 45m transect and put the kids into groups 5m apart. They had a quadrat and different recording sheets. They counted and recorded what they could see. They made a good job of this. We moved the tape up the beach and they carried out 3 qudrats in total. "Look Mr Smart we found a chiton!" (On Thursday no one knew what a chiton was or had heard of one) "We found a hermit crab" It was really exciting to hear the enthusiasm of the class and their genuine excitement at learning and finding new things in the rock pools. After morning tea they had achance just to explore the reef and they found some new things then as well.

I have missed this contact with my class and know I will look forward to being back at school next year, and I know I will be a better science teacher for my experience.

Week 17

Time seems to be moving really quickly and I am running out of weeks. I spent a lot of this week making graphs in Excel with the data I had collected from my transects. I certainly got quicker at making them as I went.
Monday was back on the beach in the morning, there were lots of bluebottles washed up because of the wild weather we had had. There was also a prion on the beach washed up but still alive. Last Friday when I was at the beach I photographed a bird I hadn't seen before. I couldn't identify it from the bird books I got out of the library either. A few emails later I found out it was a wandering tattler. They are infrequent visitors to our shores from Alaska and Eastern Siberia. I was quite pleased to get a shot of it on the beach.

I spent Tuesday back in Stratford looking through the microscope for species in soft sediment samples. Wednesday and Thursday were back in front of the laptop typing up about what I have been doing and what I have found out. Friday was more of the same but I did get down to the beach for a short while.
  Friday lunchtime I took my daughter to get some lunch, she had just finished her level 3 exams. Anyway waiting for our food we overheard a woman telling the owners that allergies were caused by all the additives in food these days and that 4 out of 5 children now have allergies and this is the reason why. My time around scientists and workiong with science made my ears prick at this. Really I thought to myself, what evidence is there, what proof is there, what studies have linked these two things, or is it just what someone thinks and it gets repeated often enough then people will beleive it without asking questions. Thankfully in the car my daughter thought the comments were wrong too. It reminded me of another time when a man my wife was interviewing firmly believed there were more rips at beaches these days because there were more ships off our coast. This is a true story. Thankfully science makes me ask questions, even though I might not always get the right answers I know where or how to research to find out. This is a skill we need to teach as well.

Week 16

Eight chitons on one stone! This was the sight that got me excited during one of my quadrats on Friday morning. Eight Chiton glaucus Green Chitons together on one stone. I finished counting other things in the quadrat before I took a photo. As I held the stone I could see them moving, sliding slowly away from the top of the rock. With the photo quickly taken they were back where they had come from.

It is sights like this that get me excited on the beach, large cats eyes, lots of little half crabs scurrying away from under a rock, the quadrats that are almost 100% sandy tubeworm, and some of the really big limpets I have seen lately. It illustrattes how well I am getting to know this area and the how much I am noticing within the marine reserve. It has been the continual working in the marine environment and having the chance to observe and research in one specific area that is bringing me this depth of knowledge and understanding. I did spot a seabird that I couldn't identify on my way back though. It sounded like an oyster catcher, but it was grey, will need to some more research on that one next week. 
Spent lots of the week writing, there are only a few short weeks left and a few things I need to complete, and some things I want to finish. This has also meant a chance for reflection on all the things I have done and learnt as well as more thinking about what is the nature of science. I had a session with Elise learning more about using Excel and have produced a couple of quick graphs about some of the things I found.

As well as all the species and science I am learning about, Tapuae Marine reserve is a beautiful place to be as the view back to Moturoa Island shows.

Week 15

Another varied and interesting week doing science. I managed to get back down to my beach, that is how I think of Tapuae Marine Reserve, for a little look around after being away all last week. It is always nice to go back and notice changes and see what has stayed the same. The most noticeable diffeerence being the level of sand that has built up, it was up over the a rock I usually climb down on. In the rock pools themselves there weren't as many changes and I just had a bit of a look around. I did the same on Tuesday afternoon.
I had spent both mornings writing on my laptop, there are a few tasks to get done and so I thought I needed to make a start. This was also the reason I wanted to head sown to the beach to clear my head.
I met with Elise on Wednesday to talk about imputting my data from my first survey. I have spent some time imputting that data into Excel since then, not exciting work, but got to be done. The data is going to be entered onto GIS maps at some stage and in some form. We also discussed the most useful way of doing this for other visitors to the reserve, or intersted people looking on-line.

Thursday was a imputting and writing day, but Friday was more intersting.I went with Brian, a TRC monitoring scientist to set up buckets for air monitoring. It was a case of setting up buckets with water in them in the field. They are left for a number of weeks and then collected in. the water is then filterd and tested to see what particles and other things are in the air. They were set up around the waste refuge site and industrial sites in Fitzroy. Was really good to help and also to see another process to collect data being put into action. These are the different things I am learning and seeing in action, and the reason I am enjoying this Fellowship and consider myself lucky.

These are some signs we saw last week at Leigh. They are educational and emphasise the positive. maybe we need something like this at Tapuae Marine Reserve.

Week 14

What a week! Have spent the week looking and being involved in science with three other teacher fellows. Met Nadia, Sherryl, and Rita at Auckland Airport and we headed towards Leigh.
Our first stop was at Whangateau where we met Samara and Greg from Experiencing Marine Reserves. EMR encourage classes to visit and snorkel in our marine reserves, to find out more about what they do check out their website http://www.emr.org.nz/ but for us it meant we got to go snorkelling. Whangateau is an estuary and so we looked around some mangroves. They look like asparagus growing under the sea. There were also cockles, oysters, and closer to the channel there were large Neptunes Necklace, some jellyfish and fish. After lunch we snorkelled at Goat Island in the Leigh Marine Reserve. Samara said later that it was a less than an average day. We learnt lots though and saw good healthy kelp as well as snapper, john dory, and other fish. From there we went to where we were staying and Samara gave us a presentation about EMR. It really was great day and we experienced science in action as well as ideas of how we can put it into action.
Tuesday saw us spend the day with Rebecca Goffin. She is the manager of the Auckland University Information Centre at Leigh Marine Reserve. We had a tour of the facility and discussed the nature science for the day and how it might apply to a visit to the centre, or in a wider range of settings. It was an excellent day and we learnt a lot, and have a lot to reflect on. For more of what they do there visit http://www.marine.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/. After that we visited two teachers in Warkworth who have had fellowships or about to have. It is good to network with other teachers.
Wednesday we visied Tawharanui. We took part in an ecology walk that took us along the beach and then up through a manuka area, over farmland and then down through native bush. Rita has been working in this type of environment and so she was able to tell us a lot about the birds and the bush. Again it was a case of seeing science in action and things we could do.
Thursday we headed back into Auckland and visited Hohepa, another teacher fellow at Unitec. He showed us what he is up too with inscets and pit traps. We also talked to Glenys, an awarded teacher fellow, working with lichens. That night we went to Patsy's and had a delicious BBQ and met up with a lot of the other teacher fellows from Auckland.
Friday we went to visit Patsy at The Liggins Institute. Again it was really good to see what other teacher fellows are up to. She is doing some genetic experiments with vinegar flies. Easy to do in a classroom setting too. There were a lot of science posters a way of presenting science information. This is something we had seen at Leigh and at Unitec and a good idea for taking back to school for presenting information.
All in all a great week, I learnt a lot and there is a lot to take in that I will reflect on and will come out in some way over the next few weeks.

This weeks video is of our two snorkelling adventures, enjoy, I did.

Week 13

A week of good low tides, and so I got to do some of my own reef surveys. Weeks of setting things up, learning new techniques, learning to identify species, observing Erin doing exactly this, and practising have finally paid off. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday saw me at my three differnt positons in the Tapuae Marine Reserve conducting my transects. At each site I carried out three 50m transects. Each had 10 quadrats, 2 within each 10m section. Using my own data collection sheet I looked at the substrate, the seaweeds, colonies of species and what other species I found in each square 1/4m. The data is now ready to be entered into my Excel sheets. It felt really good to be actually carrying out after getting everything set up.
I haven't entered the data into Excel yet but my observations tell me each of the three sites are quite different. One had a  lot of large rock crabs, and I could hear them scuttle away as I walked over the rocks. One transect had lots of sandy tube worms, and another a lot of cats eyes. I am looking forward to getting it all entered to see exactly what I found.
I also spent time behind the microscope, looking for my species in soft sediment samples. I also met with Elise and talked about designing a brief for some on-line data collection. This sounds exciting and I have spent a lot of thinking time on this so far.

I spent a fair bit of time on the laptop as well putting together the videos from the Penguin Experience II camp. They aren't available to be published yet so here is a little video about some of the crabs I saw. It is not as scary as it seems.

Week 12

Scientists read, scientists research, and scientists write. I have done all of these things this week. I had to write an assignment after my week course in Dunedin. To do this I had to do lots of reading and research. I haven't needed to write an assignment for quite a few years so this certainly was a relearning an old skill. Once I got into it I actually quite enjoyed the process, and I certainly know about the things I wrote about. 
I also had another day inStratford behind the microscope. I seem to be getting quicker at finding the creatures I am looking for. The identification still takes a bit longer, especially with the worms. Even telling which end of the worm is which is tricky sometimes.
I spent some time reading about ecological studies and transects so that I have a bit more theory behind what I will be doing when I do my beach surveys. As the book talks of transects in other environments it was also good to see what I am learning can be applied to other situations. This has already made me start thinking of different things I can do once I am back at school.

Week 11

Another week of variety, from looking through microscopes to being on a little blue penguin camp. The microscope was back at the Taranaki Regional Council looking for different species in soft sediment samples. I seem to be getting better at finding different species and can identify most. At the moment I am just finding things in the species and seperating them out before I try to identify them with Erin.
On Thursday I went on with a group og 10 secondary school pupils on a camp to Urenui. It was organised by 60 Springs, an educational part of Puke Ariki (the local museum and library). The Little Blue Penguin Experience was a chance to go out and observe penguins in the wild, to learn about penguins and to get to know other like minded people. The students came from all around Taranaki. My role was the official photographer and videographer, as well as general helper.
Thursday saw us getting together. We had a talk from Bridy, a lecturer from Massey about penguins and penguin recovery. A lot of her team are currently in the Bay Of Plenty dealing with the ecological disaster. After that we headed to Chaddy's Charters to look at some penguin chicks in a nesting box. There is a camera in the box providing a live feed into the shop. Was good to start the camp by actually seeing some penguin chicks. We headed out to Urenui and set up our baches.
Some people came and told us they had spied a penguin on the beach so a bit later we went down to find it. he wasn't looking all that well, breathing irregularly and so we weren't sure of what to do. We decided to organise getting him to a vet. When we picked him up he didn't fight. The vet said he had a broken toe but he died as he was being examined. A bit of a sad start.
That night we went to nearby Wai-iti beach and ended up seeing about 6 penguins coming up out of the sea to feed their chicks. Was really cool to see them and they certainly can run across the beach but freeze when we got too close or shone too much light on them.
The next day we looked for footprints, surveyed bach owners, played games and that night we went to Rapanui to see grey faced petrels come into land. Unlike the penguins they don't come ashore every night and so we didn't see any.
Saturday was more games, some talks with local iwi, and some suggestions about what the kids could do back in their own communities.
It was a really good experience and part of the variety I am really enjoying with my fellowship.

This weeks video is the penguin that later died, but this is him on the beach during the day which made hime easier to film.

Week 10

Science happens regardless of the weather. At 7:30 Sunday morning in the pouring rain I was on a reef with Erin in the Tapuae marine Reserve. There was a good low tide and I was showing her where I would be doing my transects. I also demonstrated how I would conduct a quadrat study and how I could identify the different species I might find there. I still get some snails a little muddled, especially when they are small. I am learning how to distinguish between cantheridella, melagraphia aethiops, and diloma nigerrima. There are differces that I am learning and remembering. There are quite a few different seaweeds on that particular reef as well and I need to learn more of those.
On Monday I accompanied two other scientists from the Regional Council on a wet weather run. Yes more rain in Taranaki. I helped lift manhole covers, collect samples from stormwater drains, took sample temperatures, and helped where I could so they could be taken back to the lab for testing.
Wednesday I was back behind the microscope looking for species in soft sediment samples.
Tuesday and Thursday mornings found me back at school for meetings and class photos. I also went and talked to my class about what I have been up to and showed them a couple of little videos I have made.
On Friday I went and explored the rock pools at Kawaroa Reef. It is outside the Marine Reserve but it is easily accessible for schools. I also need to compare it to what I find in the Marine Reserve. I found different species there, but in particular a lot of kina. Saw one being eaten by a dark rock whelk, not quite as exciting as a lion catching a zebra, but fascinating to see anyway.
Here is a little video I have made showing some differnt seaweeds, and an anemone. It is from last week and the sunny weather.

The other thing I have been working on this week is an assignment from my course in Dunedin. It's like having to do homework and I need to get more focused and not leave it to the last minute. Then again maybe I should look at it as just another challenge as part of my learning.

Week 9

A busy week that started on Saturday when I accompanied a TRC scientist on a periphyton run down the Kaupokanui river. It involved looking through a tube into the river creating a quadrat. It was then a matter of recording the substrate (rocks, gravel and the like) and then how much and what types of algae were on the rocks. It was an interesting day and actually very similar in lots of ways to quadrats on the reef.
On Sunday Virginia and I went for a walk at the southern end of the Tapuae Marine Reserve. It was heer first visit to that end of the reserve and I was able to show her some of the different species I have learnt.
Monday and Tuesday morning I spent looking through a microscope again looking for creatues in soft sediment samples. The hard part is identifying differnt types of microscopic worms or molluscs or arthropods. I am getting better at using amicroscope and can find most creatures but Erin checks my plates and my identifications. I am up to about 75%, not enough to do it independently.
This week is very low tides and so I have been out with Erin and another scientist to do some reef surveys. She had to conduct transects at three different sites in Waitara on three days. It was really good to watch her in action and see how it is done properly. I would crouch next to her and try to mentally spot what she was saying or trying to work out what I had missed. By the end of the third day she let me have ago at identifying and doing a couple of quadrats. I could do it, but a lot slower and needed help with differentiating between some snails.

The end of the week I have been setting up things for my own transects. My own site sheets, my own field sheets, and practising my identifications. I went down on Thursday with Elise, and on Friday with Virginia. It was glorious weather and great to be back on the beach. 

Week 8

Another busy week with variety. I got back on the beach this week, the first time in a couple of weeks because of being away, the weather and the tides. Sort of felt like going back home after being away on a holiday. There were a few changes baecause of the weather, a lot of seaweed washed up in one place, and some of the sand that was building up was washed out. These aren't scientific observations, just observations. That is one thing I have noticed this week, and probably over the whole time, science tries to be exact as possible. It uses measurement to record changes not just thoughts and opinions.
I spent Tuesday looking through a microscope and learning how to identify what I could see exactly. Erin has some soft sediment samples collected from Tongaporutu and we had to look through these with a microscope to see what lived in each sample. I had to learn what I was looking for, and how to distinguish between different worms, and different arthropods. I took me a while to go through each sample and Erin would find more once I had finished, she has much more experience at this and I am still learning. I am carrying on next week and want to get better at it and see if I can find everything and then correctly identify it.

My time at the beach gave me a chance to practise correctly identifying the different species I saw there. I am finding I can distinguish different whelks, barnacles, limpets, seaweeds, but there others I need more practise with, especially snails and chitons. I have also added a $1 coin to my photos to give a sense of scale to the species I am finding. There are however bigger and smaller examples of each species and I need to make it clear my photos are to act as a guide only. These are chitons, I'm pretty sure they are snakeskin chitons but this is an area I need to improve.

Week 7

I find it hard to believe it has been 7 weeks, the time seems to be racing.
I have spent a lot of time this week learning new skills and developing ideas and plans for the upcoming weeks. I had to learn to use Excel so I can collate data and for one reason or another I kept putting it off. When I met with Elise on Thursday she suggested I map out on paper what I want to see at the end, or how I want to use it. This helped greatly and just having a go meant I could get there. It is interesting to reflect on this, because intially I was thinking this is hard but once I had a go, and asked a couple of pertinent questions I found I could do it. I wonder how often kids are faced with this scenario.
I am getting people coming up to me in the supermarket, on the street, and in other places asking about what I am doing and giving me their own rock pool stories. Most of them I know, but some I haven't. This has all come about because of the article in the Taranaki Daily News a few weeks ago. They all understand what I am doing as well and think that it is a good thing to help science teaching back at school.
The tides and weather have been against me getting down to the beach and this has been a little frustrating. This is also part of what scientists do, it's not all field work, there is reading, data analysis, using the things that have been found out. In this respect I have been putting some of my photos and videos on to the Nga Motu Marine Reserve kete so that others can see what can be found there. Here is a link to have a look.
http://ketenewplymouth.peoplesnetworknz.info/nga_motu_marine_reserve_society/topics/show/89-images

Week 6

Well a completely different week for my learning this week.
As part of the Fellowship I am on when I return to school next year I need to offer professional development about teaching science. This will look at ways we can all become better at teaching science at the school. In order to do this the 13 teachers currently doing the Primary Teachers Science Fellowship were in Dunedin together to attend a leadership course. The course was run by the Otago School of Business Studies and involved a 360 assessment of our leadership style, a Myers Brigg Personality assessment, and lectures on the leadership, values, and visions. It was a fairly intense week and I learnt a lot about myself as well as the other topics I have already mentioned.
The other really good thing about the week was getting together with the other teachers because we had time to get to know each other a lot better as well as talk about the science we are doing, the things we are learning, and the highs and differences we are experiencing. Each of the teachers are involved in different projects, you can read about them on this link.
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/funds/teacher-fellowships/profiles/2011/
This shows all the teacher fellows for this year, as well as the awarded fellowships, but it gives an insight into what others are doing. For any other teachers out there there are links from there if you are interested in applying.

One of the highlights of the week was a quick tour of Dunedin. Here is a photo of the teachers form the course at Baldwin st. the steepest street in the world.

Week 5

It is hard to beleive that five weeks have gone by already. I have been learning and involved in so many things.
 At the start of the week I spent some time down at the beach. On Monday Elise accompanied me and we started off practising some quadrats as Erin had shown me. As it was a good low tide we ventured down further on the rocks. We saw sponges, sea stars, a lot of different types of seaweeds, as well as afew kina hiding under ledges. Elise was surprised by the lack of crabs on this particular reef, we found a few hermit crabs and one porcelain or half crab. On Tuesday I also spotted a camouflage crab, I had thought it was seaweed until it scuttled off under a rock. The longer I crouch and look in a rock pool the more there is to be seen. This is something it will be important to instill in classes visiting the rock pools if they want to see lots.

 I have learnt to use some new technologies this week too. I can now link my photos to a GPS. This means that the exact place I took a photo can be recorded and other people can go back to where I have been looking. I also used my new toy this week, a little underwater video camera. I have put a couple of shots together to make this small film that shows life in some rock pools. I am also learning to use Excel, have started using Picasa, as well as the GPS software. It has taken time to learn and practise these and high tides in the middle of the day have given me time for this learning.
 A story about my fellowship also ran in The Taranaki Daily News on Wednesday. Here is a link to it. Taranaki Daily News Story
 The longer I am doing this the more it is combing in my head. The practise I am getting in the field, the new things I am learning, as well as my readings and thoughts on the nature of science are making a clearer picture of not only what one part of science is and also how it will look back in the school.

Week 4

It has been a busy week up and down the country.

Monday and Tuesday were in Auckland at Point England School for a course on the Nature of Science. It was for all the Primary Science Teacher Fellows and it was good to have some time together to get to know each other. We were involved in discussions, hands on science, looking at resources, all about the nature of science. These are the things we will be taking back to our schools next year and talking about with our colleagues. It was also a good chance to find out what the others were doing with their hosts and to start networking as a group. One of the things we discussed its featured in this video. Have a look to find out what it is.

On Wednesday I was interviewed by two journalism students in New Plymouth. One for Access Radio and a sound bite has played in a news item. I was also interviewed for The Taranaki Daily News. However because Taranaki won the Ranfurly Shield that night my story was bumped and is being held over for another day. I got back to the beach as well and I found myself running down to get there. I had my quadrat and went out onto the reef and practised identifying species and taking a quadrat sample. I had to go and pose for the photographer as well. That night I drove to Wellington

Thursday I went to the Island Bay Marine Reserve. I met up with Jules the educator there. I spent the morning with a group from Mohaka school looking on the reef and then in the aquarium they have. It really is a fantastic set up they have, especially the "gentle touch" tank (where this sea star photo was taken). That afternoon we had a tour through the Victoria University Design School (our daughter is aiming to go next year) and got to see a 3-D printer in action, as well as a lot of other things.

Friday was Victoria Open Day so spent the day looking around hostels and the main campus.

I have found that I keep coming back to the nature of science ideas we talked about at the start of the week.

Week 3

A week that has included snow for the first time in New Plymouth in living memory, and high tides in the middle of the day has meant less trips to the Marine Reserve. In fact it has meant only one visit, and that was Monday afternoon (the day it did actually snow). Erin and I went tdown to the Back Beach end of the Tapuae Marine Reserve and she taught me how to conduct a transect, and a quadrat.
It might sound like a case of going down tho the beach, measuring off 50m and then dropping down your quadrat and looking in it. However each step poses any number of questions. Like why are we starting here? How and will you remember this starting point? Which direction should the transect run? Which side of the transect will your quadrats be? All of these questions, and there were plenty of others like them, need to be answered from a scientific perspective and relate back to the questions and reasons for doing the study in the first place.
Then it was time for the quadrats themselves. This posed a new range of questions, but more importantly,  more learning. With Erin's guidance I learnt how to measure and count things within a quadrat. I certainly needed her help in some species identification and scientific names. It was good to start this process because it will be my way of collecting data.

I have also met with Elise and looked at GIS maps, and have started to learn how use these. friday was taken up with meetings with John form The Royal Society of New Zealand. Talking to him has been really good to help me think about not just my programme, but also to remind me to think on the nature of science, and to consider life back at school and how to help raise the level of science teaching back at school. The questions Erin asks me help me with this process too.

Week 2

The learning continues.

I have spent large parts of the week reading, researching and thinking about how to word a research proposal. Anyone can go to the rock pools and look, count,to  and identify creatures but by writing a reasearch proposal I have to really focus on why I am going to do this. What is it I want to find out? I have to write my methodolgy so that anyone else could go and do exactly the same thing. I keep telling Erin to be tough on me so that I can word it correctly. The whole process has really helped me focus on what it is I will be researching when I am in the Marine Reserve. It has made me start to think like a scientist (no I am not claiming to be one). It also makes me think about teaching and sometimes we do things for the sake of doing them without giving them a real purpose. This process is teaching me the importance of that step.

Mid day low tides have meant easier times to be in Tapuae Marine Reserve practising identifying species and getting to know the area. This week I have tried to focus on the differnt types of limpets. The more I observe the more questions keep coming into my head. Why is this type of seaweed found more on this reef and not others? Why is this seaweed out of the water black in the sun, greeny brown on cloudy days, and brown in the water? I think I know some of these answers but need to formulate them in more scientific terms in my head.

I have also now walked the whole of the Marine Reserve, not in one go, but over two days. From each end I have walked to the same point. I have taken more notice of the different types of reef along the Marine Reserve, from rocky shelves, to large boulder, to smaller boulder, and sandy beach areas. I am more familiar where I will find certain species, where I am more likely to see kingfishers, or where there is lots of Neptunes necklace for example. Walking the beach is also good thinking time for when I sit back down in front of my laptop to write. It helps refocus and invigorate me.

Week 1

My life is now governed by the tides and not bells. Low tides have found me in the Tapuae Marine Reserve, high tides in research mode.

My week started with a day in Wellington with an introductory day and a chance to meet the other Teacher Fellows. There was a lot to take in but I flew back excited about begining a new way of working. Two bits of advice we were given were: "Thinking is working. Reading is working." They are proving to be true already.

Tuesday was a meeting with Elise Smith from the Nga Motu Marine Reserve Society. Elise has a background as an ecological scientist and we talked about some of the things I can be doing.

Wednesday was a meeting with Erin Zydervelt frm the TRC. We talked about science and what sort of things I could be doing.

These two discussions were quite different but there was enouigh commonality that I needed time to pull them togeher in my head. Taking the advice that "thinking is working" I went for a walk at the Back Beach end of the Marine Reserve. Unfortunately, it was high tide but taking the cliff top walkway gave me a chance to walk and think. I climbed Paritutu for a view of the whole Marine Reserve. That's when my camera battery died.

On Thursday morning, low tide was at 6:47 am. I met Erin and we went to Tapuae end of the Marine Reserve. Looking in rock pools I learnt things like how to identify the three types of barnacle most commonly found, some different types of limpets, and the scientific names for things.

We talked about what I am going to do and how I am going to do it. While I found those answers fairly easy, I wasn't immediately able to answer, why am I doing it? and what is the objective for doing the field work? After some research in the afternoon and some thinking about those questions I submitted a proposal to Erin. This is the first thing I have noticed: In the classroom we would probably do something just for it's own sake, but in the real world a field study is carried out to meet an objective. At the planning stage this is something I need to involve the class with more - why are we doing this? and not just for the WALTs (We Are Learning To). It will give lessons (not just science) greater meaning.

So far, there are three types of barnacle (that I know of) in the Tapuae Marine Reserve. Here are photos of them and one of the view from the southern end of the reserve.

The Beginning

First off I have to say I consider myself very fortunate to have the chance to do what I am doing. I have a Primary Science Teacher Fellowship funded by the government and administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand. This means I am out of the classroom for the rest of this year to learn about science and science teaching. My programme is called TIDE, which stands for Tapuae Intertidal Data Exploration. I am being hosted by two organisations. The Taranaki Regional Council are allowing me to accompany Erin Zydervelt, a marine biologist, into the field. The Nga Motu Marine Reserve Society are my other host and Elise Smith, an ecologist is my contact person.
I am going to be carrying out some quadrat studies along some transects within, and outside the Tapuae Marine Reserve just South of New Plymouth.
The next part is to improve my own knowledge of science processes and the nature of science. By being involved in the field and with data input I will have a greater understanding of these things.
The other part of my time out of the classroom is to study the teaching of science and ways to improve this. My duty next year is to lead the other teachers at West End in improving the level of science teaching in the whole school.
These next few months will be a busy time, full of learning and new experiences. This blog will be a place to record some of the things I do, to publish some of the photos I take, and a place to note down some of my musings about the whole process.
I am looking forward to this amazing opportunity I have been given.