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.