 North Somerset Independent State School Partnership | sitemap | log in
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| Spanglefish Gold Status Expired 24/02/2012. | ||
SciCast 2009 / 2010 School Year
“The students really enjoyed making the films. It caused them to truly understand scientific concepts so that they could communicate their understanding.” “All students were engaged and given the opportunity would get involved again.” Teachers talking about how SciCast benefitted their students SciCast North Somerset got small teams of students thinking creatively about science. The idea behind it was simple – if students can clearly explain an experiment or concept to someone else, chances are they understand it pretty well themselves! The competition was partly funded by Find Your Talent. Participants made a short film which contained a scientific explanation. The film could be based around a demonstration, an issue, an observation, an idea or concept; in fact anything to do with science. Teams were supported by their science teachers as well as Pippa Robinson, a film practitioner who shared her expert knowledge on planning, shooting and editing films. Most teams worked on their films as part of after school clubs, but some schools incorporated filming sessions into science lessons. One of the challenges faced by the teams was the restriction on film length – each film had to be two and half minutes in duration or less. That really isn’t much time, especially when different team members all have their own ideas that they want to incorporate! Teams had to use time management skills to complete the films to the tight deadlines, and teamwork skills to negotiate differences of opinion. One teacher commented: “Students and staff have had to deal with deadlines, which is a part of life!” Despite these challenges the students were engaged by competition, as one teacher put it: “SciCast took science out of the lab and into an extremely enjoyable activity for the students. They were all really proud of their work.” Over one hundred students from nine schools were involved with this year’s competition, and a total of twenty three films were entered. Films were judged on the quality of scientific explanation, quality of filming and their appeal to secondary school students. An independent panel of judges made up of scientist from the Ministry of Defense, Pippa the film practitioner, and the Weston-Super-Mare Youth Parliament, spent a lot of time discussing the merits of each film. Eventually a winner was chosen for each of the three age categories. The finale of the competition was the Showcase Event at the Curzon Cinema in Clevedon. Nearly all of the teams and their teachers attended and were treated to coke and popcorn whilst they watched their films on the big screen. Each winning team won a Flip Camera and accessories for their school’s science department, as well as Amazon Vouchers for themselves. The event had a great feel to it, one teacher commented afterwards: “Collaborative work has made the experience enjoyable and an outstanding learning experience for all.” The winners were: Year 7 and 8 Category - The Science Inspectors, Year 9 Category – Global Warming, Key Stages 4 and 5 Category – The Aerodynamics of a Cyclist, All of the films were excellent and the organisers would like to congratulate all of the teams and their teachers for a job well done. The films have all been put onto a DVD which is being sent to all partnership school science departments to be used as a learning resource. We are hoping SciCast North Somerset will be an annual competition, so if your school was not involved this year, you might be able to take part next year. Watch this space!
Link to the Science Inspectors video |  |
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