Are you looking for a catching activity to introduce your students to the principles of the 3Rs – Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement of animal use for scientific purposes? Would you like to engage them in exploring humane experimentation and the welfare of laboratory animals in order to raise their interest in ethics and integrity in science? Organizing a school visit to an animal facility is a good way to reach these goals but not easy to implement. However, technology consents us to take a close look at research involving animals without moving from our classrooms: pupils can participate in a virtual, interactive Lab tour through the Lab Animal Tour. This website represents a great resource and an innovative learning setting because provides the visitor with a virtual ‘street view’ tour of four important animal research facilities in the UK: the University of Bristol, University of Oxford, Mary Lyon Centre at the MRC Harwell, and The Pirbright Institute. The 360-degree vision of animal rooms and surgical suites is really immersive and comes out as a perfect scenario for a lesson on the 3 Rs principles, also in remote learning. When the tour starts, visitors are given maps of the four facilities, with a summary of the specialized research field for each Institute: rooms are labeled so it is easy to turn around and explore.
The map of the Oxford University animal facilities
The activity
The activity is thought for secondary students (15-16 years old) who are approaching the 3Rs principles in science.
The lesson can be facilitated by the science teacher together with the English as a second language colleague in order to support students in understanding the videos and labels in English they find on the tour
Oxford University’s primate research facility
This was the given assignment:
You will visit 4 virtual laboratories’ environments (one for each breakout room/group), check them accurately (click on the hyperlinks you find within the scene), and then discuss with your pairs the following:
identify the animal facilities in the room aimed at refinement and explain their function;
take inspiration from what you see in the scene and with your pairs think of your own enrichment product, such as a better cage design, or toy for the animal you have found in the lab;
share your ideas on Flinga if you like
You will have about 30 minutes to complete the activity, after that, we will be back in the plenary (zoom) session for sharing the results (30 minutes)
(If the activity is online) To facilitate the collaborative exploration of the scene, one person can lead it by sharing his/her screen
You find the exact instructions to give to your students in this document with a sheet to print if the lesson is in presence.
The activity is entirely replicable online.
A scene from the Lab Tour
Students feedback
The participation of students was enthusiastic: they have shown to appreciate the digital tour as a diversion from the usual video watching tasks because it represents a more immersive and interactive experience (both online and in presence).
The investigation of the rooms and facilities has arisen pupils’ interest in animal experimentation and welfare in science, sparking their curiosity and encouraging them to further question the topic.
Digital education materials are very important. Students cannot see space and planets up close in real life.However, it is possible to travel to space with virtual reality glasses. Student can study planets as if they are in space thanks to virtual reaility glasses. For this reason, I designed a digital game for my students that can be played on smartphones and computers. Game editing and voice-overs belong to me and my students.
Project purpose: To give students a realistic experience with STEM. To create an original digital material.
Application stages: Unity Game Engine is used for this application. Unity is a three-dimensional game engine, especially suitable for digital games and simulations. Textures similar to the images of space and planets were determined.Original sound recordings in which the planets introduced themselves were created and converted into a suitable form with the ‘audio-converter’ program. The spaceship was designed with the Blender three-dimensional modeling program.With mathematical calculations, the size of the planets and the distances between them were determined. Joystick control provided. By making a selection from the selection screen prepared to go to the desired planet, movement to that planet was provided with the spaceship. Added pre-made audio recordings to planets. The application was tested by different people and corrections were made according to the feedback. Between April 25 and April 30, 6th grade students practiced. They took turns wearing virtual reality glasses. They also practiced on the digital board in the classroom.
Conclusion and evaluation: The ‘Solar System and Planets’ unit was taught to the students in a shorter time than in the lesson plan. Students learn permanently by concretizing knowledge. It’s fun because it’s game-based material. The subject of Science was discussed. Mathematical calculations have been made. Software programs are used in the field of technology. Designs were created in the field of engineering. An original STEM project has been created. This project has been used in the classroom activity.
Students’ average success before the event is 64 percent. After the event, the students’ average success is 92 percent.
Activity execution time in class: 40+ 40 minutes
Grade level: Secondary school 6th grade
Materials: Smart board in the classroom, virtual reality glasses, joystick, smartphone
This course, which is in the “Visual Communication and Formation” learning area within the scope of the 7, 8, 9 and 10th grade “Visual Arts” course in the Turkish education system, and which is suitable for the acquisition of “Uses art elements and design principles in visual art studies.” In our study, it is aimed that the students make an artistic work by using a different technique than the usual.
Glass beads, metal boat, paper and acrylic paint were used to reveal the targeted product. Our event was held face-to-face with our students in a classroom setting.
First of all, the balls we will use are placed on a metal tray with high edges by putting paper in it so that they do not roll out from the floor. Whatever type of work he wants to do on the edges of the paper in the tray, the appropriate colors are squeezed. Then, the marbles placed on the sides are moved quickly from left to right so that they hit the opposite sides of the tray to form the basis of the picture. What kind of painting the student wants to paint is determined in the second stage according to the color to be used and the direction of movement of the marbles. For example, the landscape painting is completed with the image of the reeds made by moving it up and down with black acrylic paint sprayed on the bottom of the tray on a sunset background created by moving it left and right.
Others should use this method in order to make the student comprehend that artistic works can be created out of just conventional materials and to help students develop their vision, comprehension, thinking and application capacities through artistic work, together with their aesthetic attitudes, from where they are. This method can be used to obtain abstract works by using different colors in one direction, as it will be difficult for children to move the marbles in different directions at the primary school level.
As a result, it is important that the child’s motivation, self-confidence and the contribution of the process he/she goes through to the development of the child’s motivation, self-confidence and the development of a work that they will be dealing with in a very short time, maybe for days.
The Scientix Project was conducted by our MEV College Private Büyükçekmece High School teacher Şennur HAN and MEV College Private Büyükçekmece Secondary School teacher Şensin KARATAŞ with the participation of 6 students in 4 different classes, 2 middle schools and 2 high schools, within the 7, 8, 9, AND 10 Grade Visual Arts course. It was held face to face between March 2022 and 29 April 2022.
In this context, the course work was as follows:
• Scientix project competition was introduced in Visual Arts 7,8,9 and 10th grade classes, and the roadmap to be followed was determined together with the students.
• First of all, the materials to be used are introduced to the students.
• How the work will be done and what needs to be taken into account are shown through the application.
• It is ensured that the student does the work step by step.
What results are obtained at different grade levels? Which levels enjoy or get bored with this work? In this study, which we had our middle and high school students do to analyze these, the feedback we received from both groups was that they enjoyed the application very much.
The development of technology and industry has shifted the concentration of population in urban areas, adding to the challenges for architects and designers in managing urban areas for a sustainable city and a secure future.
In this SDW22 our students will continue to investigate and to understand how important the combination of technology is in creating a healthier, more sustainable city for the planet. Students continue to raise their voice in the community and society about the importance of a friendly, green and healthy city.
We have integrated two themes: technology and architecture.
Our activities are based on the basic concepts of coding through Microbits, computer activities, as well as the importance of computer science and the introduction of new tools and approaches, such as visual programming tools, detached activities and coding for all subjects.
Learning objectives:
Creating a more sustainable city for the system, for human health, economy and sustainable world.
Increasing children’s motivation to learn STEM.
Improving ITC skills.
More mathematical knowledge.
Using online applications to demonstrate results.
Creating a good environment for STEM study within subjects, careers and other professions.
Expected results
– Know the basic concepts of coding and understand why it is important in contemporary education.
– Explain why coding and computer science are important to students.
– Learn and think in a creative way.
– Recognize innovative tools and approaches, such as visual programming tools, detached activities, robotics, and coding for all subjects.
– Develop key competencies related to the importance of the global environmental problem and improve knowledge in their areas.
– Understand how cities can be more sustainable.
– List the elements that make a city more ecological.
– How these elements, such as renewable energy, food, affect our health and environment.
– Writing and drawing materials, for ecological city plan.
– Present the theoretical information and create an ecological city carpet in a creative way.
Demonstrate integrated ICT skills in their curriculum
1. Learn to integrate simple coding in cross-curricular learning topics, such as climate change and ecological city.
2. Recognize various unplugged activities, as part of group collaboration.
3. Understand how to create a specific problem-solving task.
4. Possess cognitive skills, for what students should apply, in order to solve the problems of the environment, climate change, and topics related to the ecological city during a certain task.
5. Have a good application of digital technology learning by developing digital competencies and skills, in order to improve them through the analysis of better data education.
6.Design and implement a lesson plan using recyclable tools in building an ecological city, various ideas and digital resources.
Content description
The event guides students through technology to help them, motivate and build strong knowledge on different topics. Many coding games have been created that can be used to create and interpret computer software – at any age, without a specific background and even without a computer.
Visual programming and unplugged activities offer a wide range of choices that break down any access barrier, having educational value and activating computer programming.
Technology is evolving in our daily lives. But this technological development must be in harmony with the environment.
The purpose of our event is to promote the tourist spots of our small country in Albania by simulating a trip of the robot Edmodo. This trip starts from the Fier city after Edmodo chooses one of the A or B buttons of the microbial tool. Microbit is programmed to display a city after each button that will be Edmodo’s next destination.
But this trip is not easy for him, since to get the ticket for the next trip he has to go through the challenges that are programmed in each city. These challenges are set as QR barcodes after travel tickets.
Developing students’ understanding of the algorithm and the “(IF-THEN-ELSE)” and “(IF, IF ELSE)” commands, the Edmodo tour goes further if it overcomes the challenge or otherwise receives the penalty by going back to the previous city.
The tourist has with him a map of Albania, or uses the web that we have created, which indicates in the travel itinerary and options A and B according to the selected destinations.
If the trip is as short as possible towards the ecological city, this makes the Edmodo a winner.
The game starts from our city Fier, (an Albanian city) in the direction of the alternative ticket selected A or B. If ticket A is chosen, the destination is, for example, the city of Shkodra. Else if the ticket is B, the destination is Vlora.
Shkodra city – the game challenge is in MAZE (students can create their Maze game with different roadblocks for the different levels). At the end of the labyrinth, there is ticket A (Vlora), else if student does not choose ticket A, then the ticket choice is B (Tirana).
City of Tirana – Challenge: Internet network, find the minimum number of paving stones that need to be used so that you can get from any house to any other house. In the end, the city is written, and the destination of the movement (Ticket A – Vlora or Ticket B – Shkodra).
City of Vlora —- Challenge: The puzzle game. If the emoji comes out J the player goes to the city on the Durres, if the emoji is L student returns to the city in Start (Fier city).
Durres city — Challenge: message in bottle. A challenge awaits them in this city: to decode the message in the bottle, which will orient the player to the next destination, Tirana or Berat city.
City of Berat—- Challenge: to complete cryptographic input-output, for example with input code 001000 find the output code 001010. If the player does it correctly, then they will choose the ticket A that leads them to the Ecological City, if not, they choose ticket B, and returns to Start, at Fier city.
City of Fier. — Challenge: quizzes. If the tourist answers correctly, he will get the ticket A that will take them to Berat/County Z, if they do not answer correctly, they will get the ticket B that will take them to Tirana/Country S.
The winner is the tourist who has discovered the fewest routes and cities, to the ecological city.
While the student continues the journey, a student of the class writes on the blackboard the itinerary that the student has followed and the number of routes to the end of the journey.(Challenges can be different in each city, they can be quizzes with information on the culture and tradition of each city, or coding games.)
“Marin Barleti” University organized the ASDEF fair, the first #STEAM fair, in our country, Albania, where the students of vocational and general high schools presented their projects from different fields such as #architecture #engineering #biology #design #robotics #art ,etc. The evaluation committee announced our school project “Edmodo tourist trip to the ecological city” as one of the 10 winning projects.
This project integrated two very important issues: coding that develops in students computer thinking and environmental protection through ideas and innovation in creating an ecological city. This victory gives the opportunity to the students of our school to participate in the international fair Tekno Fest 2022 in Turkey.
In order to involve as many teachers and parents in the SDW22 campaign and to get acquainted with STEM education, Edu-ACT center in collaboration with Barleti University and Scientix ambassadors, we organized the conference, as a hybrid event with the theme: “Edtech-Parents and Teachers conference” .
My presentation focused on:
1. Understanding STEM education
2. The importance of STEM 3
3. Practical examples of STEM activities at home and in the classroom with the aim of involving parents, industry and University as collaborators.
Applied Methods: Blended learning, Group study, Individual Study, STEM-based based on 5E learning cycle model events,
Pedagogical Approaches: Exploratory learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, experimental activities Inquiry-based learning and student-based learning approaches such as learning with
GOALS
1-Realizes the importance of water for living things,
2-Learn to calculate water footprint,
3-Learns ways to reduce water footprint,
4-Blue water green water learns what is gray water,
5-Learns that rainwater harvesting is used to conserve water,
6-Learns the types of rainwater harvesting and practices more,
7-Expressing their ideas clearly
8-Developing inquiry skills
9-Developing collaborative and creative thinking skills
10-Developing engineering skills
11-Solve the basic problem of daily life,
LOGIN
People’s lives depend on clean water. We are getting to the point where we cannot find clean water. change, industrial reasons, and people’s unconsciousness cause these. Therefore, it is very important to manage water resources.
On the other hand, the world population is increasing day by day. Similarly, industrial activities are also increasing. Moreover, we will have uninhabitable environmental pollution. Climate change is also getting worse. Some regions receive less precipitation. That means things are not going well
Also, areas with low rainfall will experience water shortages. Areas with heavy rainfall will exceed the sewage capacity and notably cause serious water pollution.
Particularly ın this STEM learning scenario, we will describe our rainwater harvesting engineering steps to solve.
BASIC PROBLEM
the picture is the author’s own – ( Attribution CC-BY)
Daily Life Problem Status :
1-Why is water important for our life?
2-What kind of difficulties would we face without water?
3-What are the water resources?
4-What pollutes the water?
5-Do you want to produce a solution to protect water?
At this stage, brainstorming is done with the students. Moreover, concept maps are prepared. We ask, what are the factors that pollute the water? Additionally, They are asked to make additions both at school and at home.
the picture is the author’s own – ( Attribution CC-BY)
STEP 1-DISCOVERING
Information is given here to students
Mankind supplies its water needs from surface waters and underground water resources. Especially the most important source of fresh water is precipitation. The same amount of precipitation falls on the earth every year. In our country, freshwater resources are quite limited and only sufficient.
They continue their daily lives and unconsciously increase their water use. To realize this increase, it is necessary to understand what a water footprint is.
It is also possible to calculate the water footprint of an individual in his daily life on a small or large scale. This process evaluates how much clean water is wasted and how much water can be saved.
The water footprint of our students is calculated.
the picture is the author’s own – ( Attribution CC-BY)the picture is the author’s own – ( Attribution CC-BY)
Here are some suggestions for you to save more water:
• Reducing shower time
• Halving textile and food expenditures
• Do not rinse the dishes before putting them in the machine.
• Washing the laundry without prewashing
• Limit your budget for car washes and gas
• Do not leave the tap open
• Paying attention to the efficient use of water resources as well as other resources such as electricity and natural gas.
• Avoiding actions that cause water pollution
• Setting realistic goals with family members to reduce your monthly water consumption
Parents have also promised to reduce their water footprint.
STEP 2-DEEPENING
Alice is 8 years old. He has dry days in the city where he lives. Moreover, their water resources are rapidly decreasing. Alice and her family have difficulties in finding water for drinking and cleaning as they suffer from frequent water shortages. In addition, the city where Alice lives can no longer produce as much from agricultural lands as it used to, as problems begin to occur in the irrigation of agricultural lands. On the way to and from school, Alice sees the wooded areas on the way she passed are rapidly decreasing. It doesn’t rain as much as before where they live. Trying to understand the reason for all this, Alice shares her observations with her family, friends, and teacher. They begin to discover how we can use the water we have more efficiently and how we can recover our water through recycling.
***In STEM scenarios, we like to tell the problems with a story. It is always useful to establish a relationship between a real-life problem and the course content, to turn theoretical knowledge into practice, and to direct our students to research questioning and productivity
Information is given about collecting rainwater in our house. Moreover, a video about the subject is watched.
the picture is the author’s own – ( Attribution CC-BY)
STEP 3- ENGINEERING OF THE ROOF HARVEST FROM RAINWATER
ACTIVITY:
Afterward, students are divided into groups according to the results of their research and their interests.
1.Group Recycling and harvesting of water used in the kitchen.
2.Group Recovery and harvesting of rain water.
decides to work on the use of recycled water in agriculture, cleaning, etc.
the picture is the author’s own – ( Attribution CC-BY)the picture is the author’s own – ( Attribution CC-BY)
STEP 4- EVALUATION
Each group shares the engineering design with the other groups and their teachers. Students have the opportunity to examine products designed by other groups. The aim here is to enable students to evaluate their products by comparing them with other products. The spokesperson of the group briefly explains the product in class. If the school conditions are suitable, the prepared products are exhibited and shared with other students and teachers in the school. We were able to hold our school exhibition. It was really amazing.
Students Yaman, Umut, and Rüzgar explains the engineering of rainwater roof harvesting.
