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.
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.
Children are curious and they begin to know and perceive the world at an early age. From the moment they are born, they tend to explore the environment by observing. In the “concrete operations” period, children tend to learn information with the help of materials. The information of children that learned through material becomes more pernament and open to discuss so that’s why we designed a rocket from bottle that will work with water to help our students to improve the interest that they have about space in our eTwinning project “STEM in Space”.
First, we cut a conical cap and glued it as the tip of our plastik bottle and we made support legs from thick cardboard because our bottle was upside down. Then, we placed the relief valve in the cork stopper in such a way that water does not leak into the mouth of the bottle. Moreover, we put about a quarter of the water in the bottle. After that, we pumped air into the bottle with a bicycle pump. The plastic bottle jumped upwards in ten seconds.
To sum up, as we are awere of the importance of using materials during education period and we want to raise the interest of our students in STEM in Space topic, we desinged a rocket that can work with gas pressure. We hope it will be useful for my fellow colleagues and their dear students. I wish you an education life which is full of material learning eduation and of course space interest.
As the 15 Temmuz Ortaokulu , we prepared a stem discovery campaign exhibition.
Before we prepare our posters and invitations.
Our school’s art street studies were carried out. Our teachers worked very hard for the stem exhibition.
STEAM and Art Street work was carried out in the corridors of our school under the leadership of our school Technology and Design Teacher Zeynep KAYA and by Visual Arts Teacher Melih Ulaş Kılınç.
https://youtu.be/EVGF02xc6hg
Thanks to (Zeynep KAYA ), Visual Arts Teacher( Melih Ulaş Kılınç) and students for their work.
Exhibition works of our school science teachers.
While we were making our exhibition, all our teachers worked very eagerly, and the students worked towards sustainable development goals.
The students exhibited model houses they made with solar energy panels as a solution to the goal of sustainable development (climate action).,With our exhibition, we partially achieved the goal of quality education, one of the sustainable development goals and our students had the chance to exhibit the materials they produced by doing and living. bridges with cultural significance, structures of historical importance, simple machines, and kindergarten students exhibited their eTwinning projects about recycle in our exhibition.
This exhibition was to increase students 21st century skills and raise awareness of real life problems. Participation was intense as parents, students, tradesmen and neighborhood. Our exhibition came to a very successful conclusion. Thanks to everyone who contributed.The school administration supported our work and always helped us, we also thank them.
https://youtu.be/KxwWXn7AoPk
Başpınar'da 15 Temmuz Ortaokulu'nda öğretmenlerimiz ve öğrencilerimiz tarafından hazırlanan Sanat Sokağı ile Stem Sergisi'ni gezdik. pic.twitter.com/6QnI9PUjgg
