As we move towards Christmas classrooms across the country increasingly draw upon craft and design projects as part of both celebration and creativity; alongside their place in RE, art, DT and pastoral provision, these crafts can also be a valuable source of STEM learning.
For example, a great question to pose to young people might be, ‘Do Christmas decorations on a bird feeder make it more or less attractive to birds, or would it make no difference?’ This encourages learners in our classrooms to think more forensically about the design and construction of their bird feeder, the nature of materials used, the relationship between nature and science, the forming and testing of hypotheses and the dissemination of outcomes
As Neil Atkin, the international award-winning physics teacher explains, “Our young people live in an increasingly polarised world of information and misinformation. Developing scientific literacy – where they learn to question their own and others ideas and look for evidence – is essential. As we know, science is not just a body of facts, but a process that searches for truth. An individual scientist is no more or less trustworthy than any other person, but the process of science is about developing a consensus. When research scientists publish their findings they have to convince other sceptical scientists that the evidence they are presenting is reliable and valid. This demands much greater attention to challenging our own findings first and exploring different possibilities and sources evidence.”
Observing Neil teaching physics, one of the many phenomenal features of his practice was that he constantly encouraged students to challenge him – reminding us all to demand ‘Where is the evidence?’ when presented with any fact, finding or claim. Where there is an absence of evidence there must, instead, be questions, ideas and a healthy challenge of what is presented to us – a finding that applies just as much to media literacy and digital literacy as it does to science.
Importantly, this focus on searching for evidence encourages us all to be more open to what ‘might’ be possible – encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving skills. “Teaching science should be an exploration of a real issue, an opportunity to find out something new, that potentially no one else knows yet,” Neil explains. “This challenges our students to provide and share evidence for their findings that will convince others about what they have found – it gives them real purpose, a real audience and makes classroom science relevant to their wider lives.”
Simple activites, available to all
Fortunately, this kind of science doesn’t have to be limited to specialist teaching in the science department – simple activities are available to us all to weave into a range of other lessons. This is where the festive bird feeders come in – and this activity can also be easily extended into a fully integrated STEM lesson.
The problem
The annual RSPB Garden Birdwatch has revealed the massive decline in the number of garden birds. With winter approaching, and an increasingly unpredictable climate, this is an activity where students can make an immediate and real impact on their own school site, garden or local community area.
Scientific question
‘Do Christmas decorations on a bird feeder make it more or less attractive to birds, or would it make no difference at all?’
The task
Using everyday discarded materials (see the Brilliant Rubbish Science website for great examples and ideas) invite students to design and make two bird feeders – ideally from plastic bottles. These could be made in class or at home, individually, in pairs, groups or through vertical collaboration – so lots of opportunities for meaningful social learning. The two feeders must be identical in every respect other than one has Christmas decorations on it and the other does not.
The experiment
Learners have to find out which feeder (if any) is preferred by the birds over a chosen timeframe; they must provide evidence that will convince others that their findings are valid. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they need to carry out structured written recording (although they might wish to – and you might wish to tie this in with mathematical data handling, or spreadsheet formulas, video recording of the feeders etc.)
The outcome
Learners are invited to share their findings with others – and to see how many people they can convince – on the basis of real evidence – in order to increase the number of healthy garden birds in their local area.
Social impact
Through dialogue and evidence, learners are being empowered to solve real-world problems using their own ideas, without the need to depend on finance, or adult gatekeepers.
With the festive season approaching – whether you use this simple bird feeder idea or another – Neil’s message to you is to think about how simple, everyday, activities which use discarded everyday materials – can become catalysts for science solving everyday problems.
Most importantly, championing our young people to constantly ask, ‘Where is the evidence?’ for every claim, fact or idea they are introduced to will bring a greater level of critical thinking and critical application to both students and teachers alike.
Useful resource:Brilliant Rubbish Science uses discarded materials to solve real everyday problems – all the activities are easy to do – but hard to do well.
Neil Atkin, the physics teacher featured above, is an award-winning science and edtech teacher who has may have taught in more schools worldwide than any other individual teacher. Known for exciting, innovative and engaging approaches to high quality science, Neil has a track record of impact in the UK, Bhutan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia and many other countries – notably, increasing girls involvement in STEM, coaching, challenging schools towards being outstanding, demonstrating edtech innovation and leading pedagogical excellence. @natkin
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