Melissa is a science and technology reference teacher and just starting her Masters work. She is a teacher leader in her school, helping science teachers conduct experiments and use JASON resources. She has coordinated environmental awareness days at her school and loves bushwalking and caving. Melissa’s desire to learn new things comes out in her teaching, and her passion for teaching is apparent the moment that you meet her. Her spirit is very open and caring and she sees life as an adventure to be had!
In Her Own Words
On Heroes and Inspiration
Believe it or not, my heroes are other teachers. When I see them teaching passionately and they really know what they are talking about, that’s when I am in awe. When I listen to their students talking about what they have learned and how they can apply it to the real world. I am always in awe because I never thought I could be one of these teachers. But now through JASON I know I can be. I must admit though, my science heroes have to be the quirky ones: Einstein, who failed school, and the scientists who went against the norm to discover and prove things.
I am inspired every time my seven or ten year old tells me some amazing scientific fact they have learned; not just because I think my children are amazing, but because anyone at any age can learn and be fascinated by science. We just have to find the right way to catch our students’ attention. What is it that gives them that BUZZ to make them want to learn and be involved? When I see a class of students sitting in awe transfixed by their teacher I am inspired. When I was sitting with Dr. Keller on his Oakridge farm listening to him talk about biofuels I was inspired. Hey, I actually was interested in animal poo and animal guts…that’s a first.
On Using Interactive Methods of Teaching
We were led in a great team-bonding game where pairs of Argonauts had to mime an action and make a noise to depict a form of energy. The other Argos had to guess what it was. WOW! What a great ice-breaker! It got us moving, playing and learning in a very interactive way. It put the focus straight on what we were all there to explore – ENERGY! This activity I believe can be effectively used by all teachers to cement new knowledge and simultaneously build teamwork. A major successful factor in the students learning today was based on the students setting questions at the beginning of the day guiding what they wanted to learn. I saw minds click over during the course of the day as students realised they were coming up with solutions and forming new avenues of enquiry.
On Washington D.C.'s Monuments
What do the Washington Monument, Ellipse, World War II Memorial and Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial all have in common? They all have been made more energy efficient through the installation of LED lights which has drastically reduced wasted light. They can be directed at the buildings better, they last longer and they require less energy. Less energy means less CO2 emissions.
On Magnet Play = Argo Learning
The magnets drew out the child in all of us: repelling magnets across the table and drawing patterns in the iron filings. But WOW did the Argos learn! For example we placed a piece of paper on top of a magnet and then shook iron filings on top. The iron filings displayed patterns that told us the story of electron attraction with the filings creating an arc between the poles with the majority of them congregating at the poles. This taught us that the attraction was strongest at the poles. We were creating a magnetic field in the middle of a coil of wire by moving a magnet in and out of the coil when BOOM, the students connected the concept of magnetic force to making electricity. The play allowed for learning to occur in a natural progression, as students hypothesized they could then trial their hypothesis, and either confirm their ideas or modify and build on them. Dr. Larry Shadle, the Host Researcher provided us with the accelerant to discovery.
On Biofuel From Plants
The team at the BioEnergy Science Center at Oakridge is working on breaking down plants to easily and cheaply use their sugar content to create ethanol. Corn or sugarcane have been the traditional sources of plant matter used to create biofuels due to their high sugar content needed to make ethanol. Using these plants for ethanol does compete with food needs and good cropland. However, if we can use other plant matter such as wood, we remove these competing needs. Wood is high in sugar and trees such as the poplar remove the need for good cropland as poplar grows on marginal land and it does not have a conflicting use as food. There is less input in time and effort in growing poplars or switch grass as they are perennials and so grow over a period of years, they do not require replanting every year and only need care once or twice a year.
What JASON Means to Me
Today, I have been thinking about what JASON can provide to students and teachers. Primary school teachers have to teach every subject and often feel inept in science feel they can’t give it justice. JASON provides the teachers with the tools to give the science curriculum justice. It also opens up the real world to the students. It’s not just copying information from a book that they could never relate to…which often means it goes in one ear and, poof, out the other. JASON is about topics that are important today.
Now, when I come across learning material that may seem hard or complicated - I don’t melt into the lounge in torment thinking “NOOOO! This is to hard for my little primary school brain.” I actually think – “I can do this! How does this relate to my students? How can I use this information to inspire my students?” I try to make my classroom more dynamic and hands on. I want my students to be immersed in the experience of ‘doing’ science, of investigating, questioning, hypothesising, discovering, failing, starting again and most of all owning their discoveries. I heard my first student ask, “Miss, can I be a scientist?” and I can’t wait for the first student to come back and say, “Miss, I’m a scientist and I’ve discovered this!” I look for every opportunity to provide students with access to real life experiences in the outdoors and in real labs. I also know it is okay for me to learn along with my kids. JASON is a lifeline to the world, having students start to focus on real life problems such as the energy crisis.