AEL 2020 Special Edition - Issue 2

Authentic Primary Science During Home Learning in the COVID-19 Lockdown

Simon Crook, Jennifer Fenech and Michelle Bourne

The global pandemic that is COVID-19 has disrupted modern life across the breadth of society. As the seriousness of the situation unfolded, and the uncertainty increased, the manner and rules by which we live and work changed continuously over several months (and continue to do so). This ever changing landscape was arguably felt most in education where, over the course of a few weeks, schools went from:

1. Conventional full-time schooling (start of Term 1), to
2. Students who had recently returned from China asked to self-isolate for a fortnight (start of Term 1), to
3. Unilateral withdrawal of students by some parents (mid-Term 1), to
4. Preparing for home learning with most students still in school, to
5. All students at home, except for those of essential workers or parents who simply wanted to send their children to school. At this time teachers were preparing for and teaching students in school with social distancing and at home simultaneously, unless of course they themselves had to stay at home, still remotely supporting students while homeschooling their own children (late Term 1), to
6. School holidays, back to
7. All students home learning, supported remotely by teachers, except for those of essential workers or many more parents who wanted to return their children to school (start of Term 2), to
8. A gradual phasing back of students to school depending on grade/house colour/siblings, starting at one day per week, with home learning all other days (early Term 2), to
9. Full-time schooling with staggered arrival/dismissal, no assemblies, restricted play, cancelled incursions/excursions and more (mid-Term 2), to
10. Unilateral withholding of students by some parents (mid-Term 2), to
11. School holidays, back to
12. Continued full-time schooling with restrictions (and potential for further restrictions based on need)

Timeline of the impact of COVID-19 on schools in NSW
*except for those of essential workers or parents who simply wanted to send their children to school
**depending on the extent of second wave restrictions

For some, this was an absolute nightmare. For others, through an established high sense of community throughout the teachers, parents, students and leadership, it was unprecedented, crazy even, but nevertheless a continued positive experience. Such an example was at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Villawood (SHV), a very low socioeconomic area in a highly multicultural part of southwest Sydney. A classic example of SHV succeeding in the face of such adversity came in the form of their Science & Technology program.

Science & Technology at SHV

For the past couple of years, in light of the new NSW K-6 Science & Technology syllabus, SHV have engaged the services of Dr Simon Crook of CrookED Science, a STEM education consultancy. Through this collaboration, engaging new teaching programs have been developed for K-6. Team-teaching and modelling of best practice have taken place with all teachers and gifted students from Years 3-6 have been mentored to participate in the Science Teachers’ Association NSW Young Scientist competition.

Jennifer Fenech, Newman Facilitator at SHV helping Year 4 & Year 3 students with a Y12 Physics experiment

Preparing for Home Learning

When it became quite apparent that home learning would be occurring for most students from the end of Term 1 until further notice, teachers collaboratively planned with Simon to ensure engaging Science & Technology home learning experiences. A prime example of this was with Jennifer Fenech, Newman^[1] (Gifted Education) Facilitator and Year 1 teacher.

In Term 2, Year 1 were due to study a Material World unit on mixing different substances. Brilliant - kitchen Chemistry! Accordingly, Jennifer and Simon designed a program of Science experiments achievable at home and fun for all concerned (as opposed to some of the home schooling experiences of many parents during lockdown).

Lesson 1 was simply finding items in the home and classifying them as solids or liquids. The students identified and grouped their items, posting their results on the online platform Seesaw.

Student response to ‘Find examples of liquids in your home’

Lesson 2 was exploring the changes taking place when two liquids were mixed together. In this case, cordial was added to water.

A Year 1 student mixing orange cordial to water and observing and describing the changes that took place

Student recording of results on Seesaw

Lesson 3 involved stirring salt into water to dissolve it. Students were then told to pour a puddle of the saltwater on a saucer and leave it on a windowsill overnight. Low and behold, the next day there were beautiful large cubic salt crystals on the saucer!

Year 1 students conducting the experiment and recording predictions

Describing and recording the results of the experiment

Lesson 4 was a simple classic - making slime. Rather than use borax, a very common ingredient but with a certain amount of risk associated (not realised by many), we opted for the most simple slime mixture: cornflour and water. The challenge is to achieve the right consistency. Students always add too much water. To rectify, add more cornflour. For the sanity of the parents we opted not to include food colouring.

Making slime with cornflour and water

Using scientific language to describe the slime

All of the way through this home learning process, over many weeks, students would read the instructions, make the necessary preparations, conduct the experiments and record what happened through photos, videos and words shared back with Jennifer via Seesaw. The feedback from the students and parents was excellent. As the pictures show, they thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and, as their verbal and written responses demonstrated, their knowledge and scientific literacy around mixing materials increased dramatically.

Since returning to school, the students have moved on to new topics in their Science & Technology programs. However, they continue to capture their learning using Seesaw, this time of their experiments conducted in class, to share back with their parents and carers.

^[1]Newman Selective Gifted Education Program - Sacred Heart Catholic School Villawood is an accredited Newman Selective Gifted Education School. The school provides authentic rigorous programs for gifted students in Mathematics and Science and supports students’ social and emotional wellbeing.