Week 11: Final reflection on the value and use of blogs in the senior biology classroom.

Module Focus: 8.3 Patterns in Nature

I found writing this blog each week to be a challenging experience (much harder that blogs I have had to write for other courses). I definately found it difficult to find the time and patience to sit down and write something constructive, but the blog provided the structure and timeframe to force me to be more disciplined and formal with my engagement with the course content while still providing freedom for my own personal learning preferences and inquiry into the topic.

Writing this blog has cemented my thought that they can defnately play some role in providing and shaping learning opportinities for students. However, these need to be planned programms and structures and not simply "kids start a blog and write something in it each week". One of the real strengths of a blog for students is the development of the 'try to leave class with 1 thing you have learnt' concept that I have seen teachers try intermittently during prac. This is very hard to keep on top of as a teacher, but I think using a blog here might be one good way to implement them. I would consider assigning the last 20 minutes of the last class of the week for the students to write about one idea or concept that interested them that week. I would leave it open to help engage then with whatever part of that weeks work appealed to them.

Having to reply to others' blogs was also a really good idea. It allowed me to see what other people found interesting and see a number of different ideas, approaches, and resources that I would not have seen by myself. I would incorporate this peer review into any student blog activity I ran.

There's plenty of other sources out there that support these ideas too. They range from accademic literature, to teacher websites to youtube clips with adorable kids (just to butter you up) or cartoons (this one is a really good introduction)

Week 10: Develop a question, sample answer and a marking guideline for an exam style question that is related to your slowmation.

Module Focus: 8.2 A local ecosystem

My slowmation was based on the dot point 8.2.2.2.8 - "Identify and describe in detail adaptations of a plant and an animal from the local ecosystem" (a nice coincidence that it matches the module focus for the week)

Exam Question: Describe how the bilby has adapted to survive in Australian desert environment (4 marks) Aimed at bands 2-6.

Sample Answer: The bilby has developed a number of adaptations that help it to survive in Australian desert environments. Bilbies have developed a number of nocturnal habits that help them survive. They forrage at night and hide in the day to avoid the heat of the sun and avoid the possibility of dehydrating in the hot sun.  They also dig burrows to hide in. These burrows are spiralled to make it difficult for predators to enter.  Being 1-2 meters underground allows bilbys to sleep in envonments that are much moister and 10 degrees cooler than the surface. The bilby has sharp clays and narrow pointed snout to aid this digging and forraging. Bilbys have large ears to help it to eliminate excess heat quickly and also to detect larve, spiders and other bugs that they forrage on. Bilby's have developed this diet to contain all the moisture he require, eliminating their need to drink and find water sources.


Marking Guidelines:
3-4 marks - A extensive and detailed understanding of how some of the physical and behavioural characteristics of the bilby increase its ability to survive in the australian desert
2 marks - A sound understanding of some of the physical and behavioural characteristics of the bilby and how this increases its ability to survive in desert environments.
1 mark - A basic knowledge of how some general features of the bilby relate to its ability to survive in a desert environment.
0 marks - No understanding of how the characteristics of the bilby relate to its ability to survive in Australian desert environments. 

The BOS has lots of great examples and resources for modelling exam questions, sample answers and marking guidelines (The 2011 biology examples are accessible through the links, complete list of 2011 exams here). However, one of the failings of the BOS site is the lack of material and resources for teachers pertaining to assessment of the preliminary modules of the HSC syllabus. This is a bit of an issue in this particular case where I am developing a question based on an element of the preliminary syllabus. A good reference for students with regards to exams (and most other information and content regarding Preliminary and HSC syllabuses) is the website bored of studies.

Week 9: Assess the value of mapping skills in terms of summative assessment

Module focus: 9.8 The Human Story

As a teacher it's really important have the ability to map the skills taught throughout the year. By mapping the skills used in each activity teachers can ensure that everything is covered and know when they are covered so they can be assessed properly. This can be difficult to do, so the BOS has provided teachers with a mapping grid document that help teachers through the mapping process. This document is a good start but is limited in it's level of detail. I think it is a good overview and is best used in conjunction with skills mapping on each module programme.

With regard to the focus module, The human story module has lots of great opportunities to incorporate the skills necessary  However it is not so broad as to give teachers the freedom to incorporate every skill. As such teachers need to be prepared and map where they can teach, practice or consolidate each skill (NB: I met a teacher on prac that is very skills focused and actually does this stuff explicitly - it was very good) because this module will be their last chance to do so (because schools usually do electives last).


One aspecst of mapping I found especially important is the ability of teachers to map the skills assessed within assessments. This is really important, as it shapes how assessment questions are worded, developed, and what they specifically ask, as well as the construction of the assessment task as a whole. This is a much more involved, complex, and difficult idea of assessments compared to the naive view of just rummaging up a collection of questions to ask students (as I have seen on prac). Examples of mapping grids that accompany assessments are found with all HSC exams within the marking guidelines (Bio eg here, p23). it is good for beginning teachers to use these as a model, but also use critical thinking when applying skills and outcomes to questions because there is room for individual differences arising from different interpretations and perspectives.