Sunday, September 6, 2009
Class activities - HSIE
-- the role of police (through a class visit by a police officer and follow-up role plays)
-- what would happen if there were no police (students draw a consequences chart)
-- how to contact police (homework: students prepare a news item where they practice describing their home address to a police officer on the phone, including their state, street address and nearest cross street).
-- why/when to contact police (discuss the difference between emergencies and non-urgent police matters; distinguish between the different phone numbers:
000 - Emergency
131 444 - General
1 800 333 000 - Crime Stoppers
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Class activities - Science and technology
Indicator: Students recognise official signs and what they are communicating
(as distinct from advertising).
Activity: Students design and make their own signs to warn of hazards or reinforce rules in the classroom.
Indicator: Student designs use clear and simple words and images.
Activity: Students use PC drawing programs and/or recycled materials plus glue, tape, scissors, etc
Indicator: Students successfully create signs that are recognised by their peers.
Outcomes and indicators
Green text indicates quotes from the Syllabus.
Strand - Social Systems and Structures
Content Overview - Subject Matter
Students in Stage 1 will learn about:
- roles and responsibilities of people who work in services in the community, both paid and unpaid
Content Overview - Implications for Learning and Teaching
Students will have opportunities to:
- list the people who help them in the community adn describe what they do, the equipment they use and typical situations in which they perform their roles
- respect the process of rule making and rule enforcement
Strand - Change and Continuity
Content Overview - Subject Matter
Students in Stage 1 will learn about:
- technologies, both past and present (eg ways of accessing emergency services)
- changes, both past and present , caused by changing needs (eg types of emergency services and/or how they operate)
* draw attention to change in technologies over time (eg ways of contacting police)
Link to HSIE samples of work:
Workers in the Community.
Students learn about:
- the roles and responsibilities of people who work in services in the community
- interconnections between technologies, workers, users and the environment
- list the people who help them in the community, describing what they do, the equipment they use and typical situations in which they perform their roles
Students will be able:
Background Information
The police call box was a service that was used by law enforcement in Europe. They were first used in 1928 in order to provide more effective service to the community. The Police box was a large blue box with a light on the top and contained a telephone which linked directly to the local police station. This enabled offices out in the community to report their whereabouts without having scheduled meeting times and the flashing light indicated to the officer on patrol that he was required to contact the police station.
The police box telephone was also accessible to the public in order to make a direct phone call to the police station in the case of an emergency. The police box also contained equipment for the police officers such as a stool, table and fire extinguishers.
The Police boxes were used between 1928 and 1960 to assist in communication with law enforcement however as technology developed the police boxes no longer became required when personal radios were introduced.
Police
The police service is there to protect the community in which we live. Police Stations are situated all around New South Wales and the country and there are various ways of contacting our Police Service. The NSW Police have a website which you are able to contact them through, various telephone numbers for different services which the police provide. However in relation to reporting a crime there are four ways in New South Wales in which you can do so. These include:
Attending your nearest police station
Police Assistance Number for non-urgent crimes number 131 444 where you can report and incident and have the police attend.
Crime Stoppers Number where you can report a crime
Standard emergency number which is 000 which can be called when there is a life threatening situation or critical emergency for prompt police assistance.
Through the use of modern technology contacting law enforcement has become more efficient and accessible through the use of public and mobile telephones.
New South Wales Government: NSW Police Force (2008, November). NSW Police Force. Retrived August 27, 2009, from http://www.nsw.gov.au
Metropolitan Police Service - History of the Metropolitan Police Service. Retrived 23 August 2009, from http://met.police.uk/history/policebox.htm
The artefact
Friday, September 4, 2009
Cells, batteries and circuits
Hubber and Kirkwood have used the following diagram to outline the way a dry cell functions (Skamp, K (Ed.), 2004, pp 131-135).
According to Hubber and Kirkwood:
- A dry cell has a metal casing which contains chemicals held in a paste.
- The metal casing has two separate parts known as terminals. One terminal is positive (+) and the other is negative (-).
- The positive terminal has a steel disc and a bump on it. It is connected to a carbon rod located in the middle of the battery.
- The negative terminal is a flat steel disc that connects to a zinc casing.
- A manganese dioxide and ammonium chloride paste separates the carbon rod from the zinc casing.
- A complex chemical reaction occurs inside the cell which causes a number of negatively charged electrons from the positive terminal to be deposited on the negative terminal. As a result, the positive terminal is left with a greater number of positively charged protons (ie, a positive charge). The negative terminal which has more negatively charged electrons is left with a negative charge.
- The chemical reaction inside an isolated cell reaches a state of equilibrium which leaves a small charge on each terminal. This occurs because "electrons have the same electric charge and so will repel each other. The chemical reaction can't keep moving electrons to places where an excess number of electrons already exist" (Skamp, K., 2004, p132).
The illustration below was obtained from www.odec.ca/.../2006/glaz6j2/battery_info.htm (accessed 04/09/2009). This is an "experimental" website containing basic battery information and activities. The illustration is more detailed than the diagram above and shows how the carbon rod does not connect to the negative terminal. It also indicates that terminals are also known as electrodes. Furthermore, it identifies a positive electrode as a cathode and a negative electrode as an anode. The illustration above also helps to explain how a circuit disturbs the equilibrium in a cell and allows the chemical reaction to continue. In the 3rd edition of Teaching Primary Science Constructively, Hubber and Kirkwood provide a good summary of how this occurs(Skamp, K (Ed.), 2008, pp 127 - 132):
- When a metal wire connects a cathode and anode, an (unbroken) pathway is formed.
- The pathway is called "an electric circuit, or more precisely, a closed circuit".
- If the pathway is broken, it is a “open circuit”.
- Electrons are part of all atoms that make up ALL substances, but generally they are not free to move away from the atoms they are attached to. In some substances, including metal, electrons are free to move (“free electrons”). Such substances are called “conductors”.
- Substances with electrons that are not free to move are called ‘insulators” (eg plastic).
- When a closed circuit is formed, an electric field is created which provides a pathway for the electrons to move from the negative terminal along the wire to the positive terminal. This movement of electrons disturbs the equilibrium and allows the chemical reaction to deposit more electrons on the negative terminal which in turn move along the pathway.
Hubber and Kirkwood provide a good summary of the following terms (Skamp, K (Ed), 2008, pp 130-131):
Voltage - "The voltage of the battery gives a measure of the strength of the electric field which pushes the free electrons around the closed circuit". As such, a 6-volt battery gives four times the push of a 1.5-volt battery on free electrons.
Electric current - the flow of electrons is called the electric current. The greater the voltage in a closed circuit, the greater the electric current.
Energy transformations and transfers in a torch- "The energy in the chemicals of the battery (chemical energy) is transformed into motion energy of the electrons. As they speed around the closed circuit they collide with the atoms in the filament in the globe thus transferring their motion energy to the atoms. This causes the atoms to vibrate. The vibrating atoms transform their motion energy into heat and light energy".
Electric current, resistance and power in the torch - "The size of the current is also affected by the ease with which the free electrons are able to move in the circuit. In the torch circuit, the filament does not provide an easy path for the free electrons as the wire of which it is made is much narrower than the other wires in the circuit".
Power - the term power "relates to the rate at which energy is transformed in the electric circuit. The unit of power is the Watt, where 1 watt represents 1 joule of energy being transformed per second". A 100W light bulb transforms 100 joules of electrical energy into light and heat energy every second the light globe is operating".
Hubber and Kirkwood provide a good summary of how energy, voltage, current, resistance and power are related (Skamp, K (Ed.), 2008, p131). This summary refers to a closed cell in a torch, but equally applies to other circuits. As mentioned they use the term battery for a cell. That said, this summary applies to both cells and batteries:
- - home p <>The battery voltage determines the amount of energy given to each electron; the higher the voltage the greater the energy.
- The battery voltage and resistance in the circuit determine the size of the electric current; greater currents occur with larger battery voltages and/or less circuit resistances.
- The amount of energy transformed at the globe depends on the amount of resistance the globe has compared to the rest of the circuit. In a torch circuit, most of the free electrons' energy get transformed in the globe as it has most of the circuit resistance.
- The rate at which energy is transformed in the electric circuit is the power.
Hubber, P., & Kirkwood., V. (2008). Shining a light on electricity. In Skamp, K (Ed.), Teaching Primary Science Constructively (3rd Ed., pp125-154), South Melbourne, 2008.
Hubber, P., & Kirkwood., V. (2004). Shining a light on electricity. In Skamp, K (Ed.), Teaching Primary Science Constructively (2nd Ed., pp127-173), South Melbourne, 2004.
Cells and Batteries
Online meetings
The Search for an "aesthetically pleasing" sound
I then hooked it up to a 9V cell and was greeted by a barely audible sound I still have trouble finding words to describe. Let's just say it sounded nothing like a siren.
Without a suitable sound device it was agreed that the circuit would be modified to include a switch as the third component.
Voron, S. & Tester, R. (2002) Funway into Electronics, Volume 1. Chullora, NSW: Dick Smith Electronics Pty Ltd.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Personal Research
Voren
- I visited Marrickville Police to talk to their education officer about the talks they give in schools.
- I interviewed a teacher at my son's school about the police visit they had.
- I interviewed students from that class to see what they learned or remembered.
- I found web images of historical modes of police transport.
- I viewed and transcribed a BBC documentary on police public call boxes.
- I read Emergency Australia: Police by Margaret Metz.
- I visited websites that educate children about police.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Research - video
Today this blue box is best known as Dr Who's Time Machine but the real police box has a history of it's own.
The police "signal post" (as it was called) appeared on the streets of London in the 1880s and made use of the newly-invented telephone. For the first time, the policeman on the beat could keep in touch with his local station. Regional variations abounded. In Glasgow the early boxes even had a remote controlled gas lamp to summon the policeman on the beat. The ultimate design was at Trafalgar Square where the box was put inside a stone pillar topped by a lamp from Nelson's ship
And it wasn't long before the posts became fully-fledged boxes and objects of great civic pride. Inside, there was a first aid kit, a desk and a log book. Police boxes were also a place for the weary copper to have a rest and a cup of tea.
Some boxes had a telephone for public use. With a direct line to the police it was claimed "the boxes deterred the rougher and more violent class of prisoner as police officers could quickly obtain assistance".
The classic "Dr Who" police box was the new improved concrete model launched in 1929. These boxes materialised all over the country and to educate the public, demonstrations were given at the 1936 Radio Show: "Perhaps you've noticed those blue telephone boxes labelled 'police box' but some of you still think that they're only for us to use. They are not. They are for you to use, and we want you to use them. There is a little window, through which you can get to the telephone which is in direct communication with the nearest police station."
During the war, the police box saw heroic service. With sirens replacing flashing lamps they doubled up as air-raid warning posts. The hey-day came for the police box in the 1950s. London alone had almost 700 and by the early 60s they were one of the most common sights on the streets of Britain. So it wasn't surprising that a certain time lord chose it as the disguise for his stolen time machine.
...
But for the police, times were changing fast. With two-way radios and quick-response patrol cars, the old-style box was on the way out.
The final blow came in 1969 when the Home Secretary ordered the removal of London's boxes. Vandalism! Today the police box is the Tardis, stranded in time and space and modelled on something which, in the real world, has dematerialised forever.
For informatrion about Police Public Call Boxes in Australia, click here.
Research - books
Board of Studies, NSW. (2006). Human Society and Its Environment K-6 Syllabus. Sydney: Author
Board of Studies, NSW. (2006). Revised Science and Technology Years K-6 Syllabus and Outcomes. Sydney: Author.
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2007). Powerful social studies for elementary students (2nd ed). Belmont: CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Filmer, F. and M. (1999) Emergency 000. Perth. Ready-Ed Publications.
Hubber, P., & Kirkwood., V. (2008). Shining a light on electricity. In Skamp, K (Ed.), Teaching Primary Science Constructively (3rd Ed., pp125-154), South Melbourne, 2008.
Hubber, P., & Kirkwood., V. (2004). Shining a light on electricity. In Skamp, K (Ed.), Teaching Primary Science Constructively (2nd Ed., pp127-173), South Melbourne, 2004.
Metz, M. (2004) Emergency Australia: Police. Alexandria: Watts.
Metropolitan Police Service - History of the Metropolitan Police Service. Retrieved 23 August 2009, from http://met.police.uk/history/policebox.htm
New South Wales Government: NSW Police Force (2008, November). NSW Police Force. Retrieved August 27, 2009, from http://www.nsw.gov.au
Webb, C. (2009) An Overview of Constructivism. Retrieved 15 August 2009, from http://vuws.uws.edu.au/webct/urw/lc5116001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
The NSW Science and Technology Syllabus. Board of Studies, NSW. (2006). Revised Science and Technology Years K-6 Syllabus and Outcomes
Voron, S. & Tester, R. (2002) Funway into Electronics, Volume 1. Chullora, NSW: Dick Smith Electronics Pty Ltd.
Woolfolk, A. and Margetts, K. (2007). Educational Psychology. Sydney: Pearson.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Curriculum - Science and Technology
CONTENT OUTCOMES
Information and Communication
IC S1.2 Create a range of information products and communicates using a variety of media.
PROCESS OUTCOMES
Using technology
UTS1.9 Selects and uses a range of equipment, computer-based technology, materials and other resources to undertake an investigation or design task.
Investigating
INVS1.7 Conducts guided investigations by observing, questioning, predicting, collecting and recording data, and suggesting possible explanations.
Design and make
DMS1.8 Develops and implements own design ideas in response to an investigation of needs and wants.
Curriculum - electronics
But before you get the idea that we know what we're doing... consider the idiocy of nearly setting fire to the University Library with 4 C cells!
It brings a whole new meaning to the words "getting your wires crossed"!
A very authentic learning experience that has burnt itself into our memories!
Research - interviews
NSW Police Public Call Boxes
The Police Call Box system was introduced into Australia by Commissioner Walter Childs in the 1930s. There were still some in use in the late 1970s.
Police on the beat (ie foot patrol) were required to ring in to their station and report (called ‘getting a mark’). This was noted on the reporting sheet at the police station by the Station Sergeant or Reserve Constable. It was used as a means of supervision and also
of relaying out-standing jobs to patrolling police.
The following article from 1947 mentions a member of the public making a call to police from a Police Public Call Box.
Historic use of telephones by police
The NSW Police Dept. Annual Report for 1890 contains the following paragraph:
“The use of the telephone for police purposes has been made more generally available in the city and suburbs during the year. Besides the twenty-five instruments at police stations, the telephones of the Fire Brigade Department are all available to the police, and, in addition, no less than 139 instruments in convenient situations, belonging to private citizens, have been kindly placed at my disposal for use when required. A list of the same has been printed and issued to each member of the force in the district.”
Police in schools.
I spoke to my son's teacher about how to organise a school visit by the police. They had received a visit just the week before. Each police station has an Education Officer and sometimes a Youth Liaison Officer who will visit schools and talk to classes about the role of police.
Mrs S said that the school doesn't specify what they want, the police have their own education program. For Stage 1 they use a biug book and talk about the different kinds of police.
I asked some students what they remembered from the police visit. One said "stop, drop and roll" but then he realised that was from the Fireman's visit. The types of police my son remembered were "swimming ones" and "disguised ones" (water police and undercover detectives). The children were particularly impressed that the police had real guns. Capsicum spray came into their conversations several times over subsequent weeks. This is the stuff that interests 7 year olds!
The class had to practice saying their home address for news. This tied in with what you would say if you had to phone "000" in an emergency. Another piece of homework was an activity sheet that looked at different styles of fingerprints and asked students to record the prints of 4 family/friends: a very inky business!
I visited Marrickville police to talk to the Education Officer, hoping to attend a school visit and/or view their education materials. I collected brochures and a folding police money box (used in the artefact). I also photographed patrol cars (with permission).
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Meeting 3
Scott's large blue strobe light was placed inside the police car and worked really well, but the car needs to be altered slightly so that the light is more visible. The streetscape looks fantastic and is a great representation of both the historical and the contemporary.
We discussed in depth the remaining tasks and divided them up as follows:
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Research - online
Wikipedia Police box
RAPS - Road and Pedestrian Safety - Teaching road awareness and pedestrian safety to kids!
Neighbourhood Watch brochure
Assessment Task 1
Assessment task (1A)
Due date: Tutorial times in the week of 7th September
Group Task
Maximum Group size:4
This assignment has two integrated components.
1. Construction of a model/artefact and research of the time and place in which it is located
2. A group Presentation
In this assignment you will undertake a series of investigations as a member of a group. The initial part of this assignment provides an investigation and a design task in the area of science and technology.
You are to design and make an artefact from a 'time and place' that contains three different electrical devices and demonstrates the capacity to create both series and parallel circuits. Whatever you make must use batteries as the power source and only one power source should be used. It critical to make clear links to a "time and place" that could be studied in an HSIE unit of work.
Some possibilities include:
- Model houses (eg, an historic house, a house from another culture, an environmentally or energy efficient house).
- Streetscapes - modern or historical
- Parliament house (or part thereof)
- Traffic lights
- Advertising signs
- Model car or transport type
- Lighthouse
- Mining equipment
You will need to provide an 'educational context' to authenticate your artefact. When the artefact is presented you will need to:
- provide an explanation for how your artefact links with the 'time and place' (topic) investigated in a "powerful" HSIE unit of work (Suggestions for how this could be done will be provided in lectures and tutes).
- clearly identify and justify the Year/Stage of students to whom you would explore this artefact and teach this unit
- justify why and how unit (topic) should/could be included in the K-6 curriculum, ie why this topic is important for primary students to study, and linking the topic to the Aims, and Subject Matter of the HSIE K-6 Syllabus and your HSIE readings.
- Provide evidence of personal research of the time and place/topic. This may involve a visit, interview, telephone /email conversation, summaries of texts/websites etc
Whatever you decide to make should be constructed in association with an in-depth investigation in the areas of Science and Technology K-6 as well as Human Society and its Environment K-6. You will need to provide evidence of your research, and share the "powerful" field knowledge (teacher knowledge) that you have gained. You will need to document your investigations and group activities through the use of text and other digital media. You may chose to do this by setting up a Blog, a web page, a digital journal, a multimedia presentation, a digital movie, and/or digital photographs. This documentation will form the basis of digital artefacts that might be included in your e-pod.
Your group will present its model to the tutorial using some form of multimedia presentation.
In the presentation you will need to:
- Identify the outcomes and indicators from the syllabus documents that relate to the artefact and time and place/topic investigated.
- Share your research and learning about the and time and place/topic
- Provide suggestions for how this task and unit would be implemented in a classroom context
Assessment task (1B)
Due date: May be submitted during the presentation but no later than Friday 11th September
Individual
Each member of the group will prepare a reflection that:
- Identifies their contribution to the group project
- Identifies the elements/aspects/attributes of the experience that have been most significant for them personally
- Discuss the issues and implications that they will have to address as a beginning teacher if they are to implement these types of learning experiences in these KLAS in primary classrooms.
Big ideas
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• Communication is sensory. Information products are created to meet particular needs.
• Symbols are used to communicate information and ideas.
• Information products can take many forms and use different media.
• Changes in technology have changed the way we communicate.
This first three big ideas were obtained from a document titled, OVERVIEW FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, FIVE DOCK PUBLIC SCHOOL, 2003 EDITION , http://www.stgeorged.det.nsw.edu.au/showcase/scitech/whole-school-planning/Whole_School_Plans_Examples/Five_Dock.pdf, accessed 06/09/2009.
Click on image to see large version.
CONTENT:
There are different ways of communicating with others.
PROCESS:
How to use a telephone in an emergency.
How to design and make straighftorward signs to warn about dangers or rules.
SKILLS:
What tools and equipment are appropriate for the design.
Research - images
1900
From: http://pages.quicksilver.net.nz/mufasa/bicycle.jpg
From: http://pages.quicksilver.net.nz/mufasa/1887%20mounted%20constable.jpg
http://vancouver.ca/police/Bicycle/index.htm
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Curriculum - HSIE
Green text indicates quotes from the HSIE Syllabus and white text indicates examples specific to this topic.
Knowledge and Understanding
In learning about the police force in Australia, students will learn to participate effectively in the law enforcement aspects of their society: knowing what to report to police or when they can call on police for assistance.
By looking at the role of the police force historically students will see changes in the technology used by police (bicycles, horses, call boxes, two way radio, cars, paddy wagons, motorbikes, helicopters, boats and diving equipment) and by members of the public contacting police (mobile phones).
Skills
Students will learn the numbers to call to contact police "000" in an emergency or "131444" for more general enquiries or complaints.
Students will learn to state their home address to report an emergency and seek help effectively.
Values and Attitudes
By gaining an idea of the role of police officers, students could gain "informed and responsible attitudes" about what is expected of them as law-abiding citizens and what role they can perform to assist police in carrying out their duty (p 8).
Justification for inclusion of this topic in the curriculum:
(Please add your thoughts)
Significance of topic.
Understanding the role of the police within the community is an important learning outcome for children. Knowing exactly how to contact them is important for their safety and the safety of others. Linked to this important concept is teaching young children in what situations they would contact the police and when it would be inappropriate to do so.
This topic is linked to the Aims of the HSIE syllabus because it encourages students to develop a sense of community identity and instructs them in effective participation within society through civic efficacy.
This topic is also linked to the Subject Matter of the HSIE syllabus through its links to Change and Continuity and Social Systems and Structures.
In Change and Continuity, students will discover through the streetscape the impact of change and continuity. The historical and the contemporary are clearly shown in a visual and concrete exhibition in the artefact. Learning how citizens in the past contacted the police in times of need will develop their understanding of the past and the evolution of technology within their community and within the nation.
In Social Systems and Structures, the students are able to develop their understanding of roles, rights and responsibilities within their community and the social structures and systems of Australia and how the police and the law are vital to Australia.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Model making - Police car
How to build a Tardis
Or click here for the PDF file to print and fold your very own Tardis.
Make sure you have plenty of printer ink and use light card rather than paper.
Model making - phone booth
An upside down arcade machine looks a little bit like the modern wall-phone kiosk. Now, don't ask me why but there ARE models for those on the internet!
I chose the Tempest and set about removing the lurid colours.
When folded and adjusted it made a reasonable-looking phone booth.
But it wasnt' quite what I'd hoped for. With some measuring, re-drafting and further refinements a new model was created.
With some branding and some leftover plastic packaging added, a fairly decent looking miniature phone booth came to be!
Now, how to make it stand up...