Meeting 3

In today's meeting we attempted the tricky task of spinning the tardis using a larger motor. This was not as simple as we thought it would be.

The base of the tardis has to be reconfigured with either a cog or strategically placed tape to enable the motor to turn the tardis effectively. It was also apparent that the wiring from the light on top of the tardis would get in the way of the spinning motor. Voren, the electronics wizz, will be tackling this challenge.

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:

Voren- assemble the streetscape and get the tardis to turn. Research and present the educational aspects of our assignment, including the powerful field knowledge, outcomes and indicators of the HSIE and S & T syllabuses and how the activity could be effectively implemented in a stage 1 class.

Frances - create a power point to which everyone would add their own speaking points for the presentation. The powerpoint is to include evidence of the production process, blog entries, the budget, photos etc...

Scott - looks after the electrical components of the presentation, that is, any diagrams, explanations etc..

Rosie - create the first three minutes of the presentation which will include; introduction, the 'big idea', justification for the topic within the curriculum guidelines, overview of the interviews etc, that group members undertook etc..

Research - online

YouTube: BBC1 documentary on Police Public Call Boxes. Read the transcript here.

Wikipedia Police box

RAPS - Road and Pedestrian Safety - Teaching road awareness and pedestrian safety to kids!

Neighbourhood Watch brochure

Circuit diagram

First draft


Final

Labelled

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

HSIE

Communities need law enforcement for safety and order.

Communities need police to uphold the law and make society safe.

The ways we use law enforcement have changed with advances in technology.

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

Curriculum - HSIE

Justification for topic "Law enforcement"

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.

Budget

Model making - Police car

Our local police station gives these out to children at festivals. The model folds into a police car money box although I don't really think it would be strong enough to be filled with coins!

This is the paddy wagon. There is also a sedan version.

How to build a Tardis

The model is online at this website: http://www.ironcowprod.com/main.html

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

There's a useful site for print-and-fold miniatures called Printmini.com which is great if you need anything for a doll's house and not so good if you're creating Police stations and phone booths. But shapes can be adapted, right? So first you need a clear idea of what a phone booth looks like.



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...

Meeting Two

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Email from Voren to group titled "Gold!"

Police Public Call Box on YouTube

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Hi Voren
great clip! I've attached a summary of the meeting on Thursday. Please add or amend as you think necessary. If you think the minutes should be more detailed I don't mind recording more at the next meeting.
You'll notice that under your name I've added that you are looking for a toy bike as well as a horse!! I was wondering if you had a toy bike in your collection of things, because at the turn of the century bikes became more widely used than horses, even the police used them. If you don't, perhaps we could stick a picture of an old bike against the wall of our 'old' building?

cheers
Rosie
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MINUTES
Group meeting; 20/8/2009

Our challenge: to effectively integrate a tardis into an Australian setting.

The assignment is in the form of a diorama that represents contemporary Australia and early Australia. Its purpose is to provide a setting to contrast how the community communicates with the police now and how people contacted the police in the past before the telephone.

The group discussed what form the diorama would take and what items were to be included in it, both two and three-dimensional.


All group members to develop ideas for the 'big idea'

Frances:

• research historical police public call boxes (done)
  
• research current police services and communication

Scott:

• find a device that can reproduce the sound of a ringing phone for our telstra phone box research batteries and cells
• investigate and select the appropriate outcomes and indicators for the science and technology component of our unit of work

Rosie:

• interview the curator of the police museum located in The Rocks regarding communication options for contacting the police before the advent of the telephone
• investigate and select the appropriate outcomes and indicators for the HSIE component of our unit of work
• research the text book and HSIE K-6 syllabus for justification for why this topic is important for primary students to study.

Voren:

• locate a toy horse and toy bicycle for the diorama
• attend a school visit by a member of the police force, or interview a member of a school about the purpose of police visits to schools and the content and context of those visits.

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Oh, and before we go any further, we should clarify whether we all agree to having our photos on the blog.

Anyone in witness protection? or otherwise trying to keep a low profile?

I agree to others posting photos of me as long as they don't add any kilos or capture any particularly stupid facial expressions!

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Here's a sketch showing the evolving idea. It reflects the decision to leave out Fire and Ambulance and concentrate solely on police (past and present).



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Hi guys!

Here is the very attractive OLD police station at Marrickville. As you can see, it didn't really fit in the shot but I took several that can be patched together with some snazzy digital editing. I had to stand in my car doorway to take the photo over the top of parked cars. They would have been tricky to edit out.



Everyone happy to use this one? I like how the name is written in stone. They obviously weren't expecting to out-grow the space back then!

I also visited the modern Marrickville police station for a police car money box still in flat mode. I was thinking of scanning it to reduce the size but now I'm doubting we have the luxury of time to have everything scaled perfectly.

The reason I was worried about the car size was that last night I thought I should paint the road onto the masonite base. I'm not sure what the library's policy is on spilling paint (probably not as harsh as their views on being set alight) but dry paint will be easier to deal with at our next meeting.

In order to decide size and position of road I needed to have a good idea of buildings and so selected a few boxes (from the gazillions at my disposal) and then one thing led to another and TV being what it was (less than enthralling) I kind of ended up starting on a modern police station. I'm not sure I like it but it will do if we're strapped for time next week.

From what I've heard from other groups it could take us our whole session to work out the electronics so I'm going with the theory that the more the model is complete before next Thursday, the less likely we'll all have to meet up on a weekend.

Is that ok with everyone?

cheers
Voren
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hi Voren
great old police station. Its unusual to find one with 'police' on the front so its a fantastic find. The camden police station would be interesting for a class excursion because they can see how the old police station looks and then go inside and see how a modern police station operates. Kind of like time travelling in the one building. I love the blog site! You are truly a wizz. Its got all our ideas and looks absolutely professional and interesting too. Of course I consent to my photo being on there, I would just prefer to be photo shopped first!! : ) What materials do you want me to bring on Thurs?
cheers Rosie
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Here's the edited photo. We might need some model shrubbery at pavement level.

Meeting 1 - A plan is hatched

T A R D I S

Timeline Artefact Revealing Developments In Science

Greetings Team :-)

Good news Frances! Colin reckons our explanation has sufficient links to the curriculum for it to work.

To that end, a photo of my Tardis model is attached. It is approx 21 x 11 cm x 11cm.

This is to be located within a streetscape that also represents a timeline. At one end we could have buildings and vehicles representing old style emergency services and on the other, modern ones. These could be photos printed onto cardboard (for strength). Embellishments like trees etc could be added for looks. I like the idea of a fire station with horse drawn "fire truck" at the OLD end because the police are represented by the Tardis and you wouldn't have had a police box right outside a police station! Modern examples could include a helipad for recue choppers etc! OK, maybe too difficult for the artefact but good info for the powerpoint.

Located in front of this backdrop, we'd have the blue Police Public Call Box and the modern Telstra phone booth. Also a person holding a mobile phone.



Scott had the brilliant idea of activating the Tardis to signal that we are "time-travelling" to another era (and the details of this can be photographs, info etc in our audio/visual presentation (eg powerpoint).

The components of the Tardis are to be: a light, a motor to spin the building (replicating "take off) and a sound effect (hopefully phone ringing sound or similar).

And now for curriculum tie-ins (Rosie, this is mainly for you as we discussed this while you were in psych). However, we may need to revisit this a bit in light of Colin's angle.

Social Systems and Structures - Stage 1 SSS1.7 (p11, 48, 49, 52 and 74.)
in particular Roles, Rights and Responsibilities (p 52)

Change and Continuity - Stage 1 CCS1.12 (p 48, 49
in particular:
* 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)

Where to now?

We will meet at 1-2pm next Thursday (I will book a room)

I will play with the Tardis and with electronics on the weekend but merely as "practice".
Everyone do some web browsing and find interesting info and images about emergency services then and now.
Email re further ideas, access to useful bits, etc

And don't forget, overall we're looking to engage students (not just Dr Who fans!) and address some BIG IDEAS.

How does our unit advance SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING and CIVIC EFFICACY? I'll leave that to be pondered for next week.

cheers
Voren

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The kids and I bought various pieces and came home to play with them. Gabriel (boy, 7) had his bulb alight before I'd finished cutting the insulation back off the wire ends for his sister (Isobel 9). She got the fun of making the motor spin first though and then Gabriel made the buzzer work.

I have since got all three wired up to 4 x C batteries with an on/off switch and all three working at once. I was so proud of my efforts (and my kids!). The buzzer is so annoying I since took it out of the loop.

Further investigation/construction has determined that the Tardis is too heavy to spin (and it's alrady as light as I can make it).

In the attached photos you can see a white corflute base concealing batteries and a motor. In the other, the fish is spinning and the Tardis is alight. However, when the Tardis replaces the fish, only the light works.


So, back to the drawing board.

- is there something less annoying than a buzzer that we can use?
- will it be sufficient to rig up the light so it spins and the Tardis stays still?
- should we instead have the motor inside a rescue helicopter on a helipad on the Police building roof?

Given the complications encountered this early I think we might need to get hands on with this as soon as next week. What do you think?

cheers
Voren
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Hi Voren
yes definitely hands on this week! Thanks for booking the library rooms for the next two weeks. i think the helicopter is the way to go because that is definitely a modern emergency response vehicle ( I found a historical picture of a very early cop car--the police in it looked like the key stone cops. It would be a great contrast). Is your idea to have a light and rotating blades on the copter?
Rosie

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If you bring with you to our next meeting what you have, we can have a look.

My thoughts i have from what you have said is - Maybe we need a larger or stronger battery or more batteries - Or perhaps the tardis is not connected properly so there fore slipping or not making a strong enough hold to the spinning thing and therefore not turning - You may have checked this? These are just initial suggestions.

What makes a phone ringing noise? maybe we could find something that does?

Frances
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Hi everyone,

Thanks for getting things rolling Voren. It sounds like you have had a fun filled weekend. The Tardis looks terrific. in relation to the spinning problem, maybe we should try a bigger battery or a bigger motor (I'm not sure if this is within the parameters set for the assignment). In relation to the annoying buzzer, I will try to find a suitable sound generating device prior to Thursday.

Thanks

Scott

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Hiya Team,

I have booked the following Library Study rooms:

Room 4 - 1pm Thurs 20/8
Room 3 - 1pm Thurs 27/8

Yesterday I went to look up Jaycar locations and you won't believe what Google looked like (see attached):

Spooky huh?









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Hi Team,

Just confirming we have Library Study Room 4 booked for 1pm.

I'll bring the guts of the Tardis to show you the problem with the motor/spin that I discovered.

Meanwhile , check out some bits that I've gathered (photo attached):

- Modern police car (my daughter's money box)
- Motorcycle cop ($1 at Addison Rd markets)
- Modern Telstra phone booth (prototype from upside down computer game model!)
- Old fashioned "bobby" (wooden doll with a costume made this evening - just needs some silver buttons and a face!)

I won't bring these tomorrow but you'll know what I'm talking about.
cheers
Voren

Forming a group

We have one spot left in our group. We are in Tute Group 4 meeting at 10-11:30 on Thursdays (HSIE in the first week and Sci/Tech this week).

We like long walks on the beach and the odd bit of train spotting. Sound like you?

Seriously though, we are from Earlwood, Kogarah and the Oaks and may end up collaborating on campus. Added together we bring over a century of life experience to this group. Wanna join us?

cheers

Voren, Rosie and Scott

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Hi Frances,

You are most welcome to join us. I will let the other contenders know that you got to us first :-)

Are you available at 11:30 on a Thursday? The other 3 of us finish our Tute then and I think we could have a brief meeting to plan ahead.

cheers
Voren

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Hi Scott,

Frances has contacted me directly to say she'd like to join our group. As she asked first, that seems to be the way to go.

I was hoping to hear from Rosie by now as I gave her my email address (but didn't get hers!)

At any rate, lets aim to have a quick planning session after the Tute at 11:30 on Thursday (assuming Frances is free then and that Rosie is too).

I'm not so sure about the disco idea now. I've looked more closely at the curriculum and it seems a bit of a stretch to tie it in. I do have another scathingly brilliant idea though. Stay tuned!

cheers
Voren

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The Library sounds like a logical place to meet. Assume we 3 will be there unless I email you to the contrary.

We had a 2 minute chat after we formed our group in which I suggested we make a 1970s disco setting with underfloor lights, a revolving mirrored disco ball etc but I've since thought that might be hard to tie in to the curriculum.

The only other thing we established is that Rosie is near Dick Smith and I am near Reverse Garbage in Marrickville so when it comes to sourcing materials, we have that covered.

cheers
Voren

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I have booked a group study room in the library for 11:30 on Thursday. I don't imagine we'll need very long at this early stage but it may help to have a room to meet in.

cheers
Voren
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hi Voran

sorry I forgot to email you last week! I have a notoriously bad memory and if I don't write things down I usually forget them. Did you want to email me the secret idea? that way I can think of ideas before we meet up with everyone tomorrow. Good on you for booking the library room too. See you in class tomorrow, if not before

Rosie

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Well, by now I have divulged the secret idea. I would attach a photo but the ATTACH thingy has no BROWSE button!
See you tomorrow!
Voren

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