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Nellie Bly – investigative journalist extraordinaire!

May is the birth month of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known as “Nellie Bly“. Here at OpenSTEM, we have a great fondness for Nellie Bly – an intrepid 19th century journalist and explorer, who emulated Jules Verne’s fictional character, Phileas Fogg, in racing around the world in less than 80 days in 1889/1890. Not only was she a bold individual with a keen eye for detail and a gifted wordsmith who could capture an audience with her tales of her exploits, but she was also a thoroughly investigative journalist with a sharp interest in social justice.

She was born 154 years ago in a part of Pittsburgh, USA, named after her father, Michael Cochran, who had worked his way up from being a labourer to a major landowner, postmaster and respected justice. A passionate advocate for women’s rights from the age of 16, her eloquence landed her a job as a writer for the local newspaper. At the age of 21, she served as a foreign correspondent in Mexico, later publishing her experiences in a book. She was forced to flee Mexico after criticising the Mexican government for imprisoning a local journalist.

Emboldened by this experience, she decided to embark on an even more dangerous assignment and, with the support of Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, the New York World, she feigned insanity to go undercover inside a women’s mental asylum and report on the conditions there. After 10 days, the World intervened to have her released and her damning report, later published as the harrowing account: “Ten Days in a Mad-House” did lead to an increase in funding for these institutions and some reforms.

Nellie’s next exploit was to attempt to match the journey from Jules Verne’s novel “Around the World in 80 Days”. The attempt became a race with a rival newspaper fielding another candidate, travelling in the opposite direction. As in the novel, using steamships and railways, Bly started on 14 November, 1889 and travelled through England, France (where she met Jules Verne), Italy, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan (as well as a visit to a leper colony in China). She sent short updates on her progress by telegraph from most places, now connected by submarine cables for the new electric telegraph network. She returned victorious to New York a mere 72 days later, on 25 January, 1890, also beating her rival by 4 1/2 days. Her success inspired a board game, no doubt helping 19th century children with their Geography knowledge!

She went on to marry a millionaire manufacturer, many years her senior, whom she succeeded in business as his health failed, becoming a renowned industrialist in her own right. She was responsible for several innovations and inventions (such as a new milk can and a stack-able garbage can) and was a staunch supporter of the Women’s Suffrage movement.

Nellie Bly features as one of the explorers in our Women Explorers series. She is included in the list of explorers for the OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® Unit 5.2 for students in Year 5, although her adventures are suitable for examining historic methods of transport with students in Years 2 and 3, as well as social issues surrounding women’s suffrage and industrialisation for students in Year 6.

Be Gonski Ready!

Gonski is in the news again with the release of the Gonski 2.0 report. This is most likely to impact on schools and teachers in a range of ways from funding to curriculum. Here at OpenSTEM we can help you to be ahead of the game by using our materials, which are already Gonski-ready!

The latest review of “Educational Excellence in Australian Schools” (known colloquially as “Gonski 2.0”) by a panel chaired by Mr David Gonski AC is now available and once again the media has jumped onto the decline of Australian student outcomes and the description of the educational system as “industrial” and out-of-date. The report also mentions “multiple calls on the time of teachers” and “assessment regimes… focused on periodic judgements of performance, rather than continuous diagnosis of a student’s learning needs and progress” (Gonski et al. 2018:ix). The report highlights three core priority areas with five specific recommendations. The first of these recommendations is:

“Embed a focus on individual student achievement through continuous learning progress…”

This emphasis on tracking “continuous learning progress” is repeated in recommendation #4:

“Introduce new reporting arrangements with a focus on both learning attainment and learning gain…”

(in order to track learning gain, we need to provide continuous assessment). This change has been highlighted in the media – suggesting a move away from periodic exams to a system of continuous assessment.

Here at OpenSTEM, we have long known that continuous assessment is a better route, especially in the primary years. Continuous assessment allows teachers to track their students’ progress and understanding and identify areas of concern quickly and effectively. Continuous assessment means that students are working more effectively towards their learning outcomes, teachers are aware of each student’s progress towards those outcomes and thus time is more efficiently used by all parties. Teachers can provide the timely feedback advocated in the Gonski recommendation #10. Teachers are also spared the giant load of marking a whole class’ worth of assessment pieces in a few days at the end of term, in time for reporting. A few minutes each week spent checking each student’s work means that by the end of term both teacher and student are aware of how the student is tracking and their grade for that term.

The OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® program for HASS + Science has always provided for continuous assessment for all curriculum items for years Foundation/Kindy/Prep to Year 6 for all HASS and Science subjects. By using this program for these subjects, teachers and students will reap the benefits of continuous assessment. This program also directly addresses recommendation #7:

“Strengthen the development of the general capabilities, and raise their status within curriculum delivery, by using learning progressions to support clear and structured approaches to their teaching, assessment, reporting and integration with learning areas”

These issues are at the heart of the Understanding Our World® program: all of our units contain all of the general capability skills for each curriculum area; progression is maintained through a series of linked units that build upon earlier work; and integration is fundamental. Our Teacher Handbooks and Assessment Guides provide clear and structured information to teachers to guide them through teaching, assessment, reporting, and, of course, integration.

So be Gonski-ready! Use the OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® program for HASS + Science now and be future-proof in your classroom and school!

NAPLAN and vocabulary

It is the time of year when the thoughts of teachers of students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 turn (not so) lightly to NAPLAN. I’m sure many of you are aware of the controversial review of NAPLAN by Les Perelman, a retired professor from MIT in the United States. Perelman conducted a similar review in 2005 in the US, which was influential in leading to a change in the American Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs). At the time, Perelman published a guide on how to “ace the essay writing test” and he has produced a similar PDF text for Australia’s NAPLAN writing test. Perelman criticises the fact that NAPLAN essays are marked according to which words in a vocabulary list are included in the essay, with those words on the list rated as “Challenging” being awarded the highest marks. Perelman states that students who use these particular words, regardless of whether or not they demonstrate that they understand the meaning of the words, will score higher, and that students can thus be trained to use these words in their essays. However, Perelman also warns that if students are unsure of the spelling, then they should not use a word because of the emphasis placed on correct spelling in the marking of NAPLAN essays.

Perelman had been asked to review the planned robot-marking of NAPLAN essays in October 2017, and his criticism was so harsh that the plan was scrapped. ACARA seems to be taking Perelman’s concerns seriously. ACARA have stated that they believe that teachers focus on building and expanding the vocabulary of students and students should be able to use this vocabulary in “meaningful, constructive ways”. It seems certain that ACARA will re-evaluate the marking of NAPLAN essays in the face of these criticisms.

So how can teachers best help students to improve their vocabulary? Well, one way may be to study Perelman’s list, but surely there are better ways, more closely aligned to our goals of enhancing students’ understanding of words as well. It is well known (and scientifically proven) that reading improves children’s vocabulary, especially if they are reading texts which use decent vocabulary. The OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® program, which covers the HASS + Science curriculum for the years: Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 6 prides itself on the vocabulary used in its resources, which cover a huge range of curriculum-aligned subjects. We maintain a reasonably high standard of vocabulary aimed at stretching students to improve their knowledge of more complex words. We encourage the concomitant use of a dictionary to ensure that students learn the meanings of these words.

Teachers have already reported to us that they find these resources a useful addition to students’ preparations for NAPLAN. This is a wonderfully efficient use of time – while engaged in HASS or Science learning, students are actually also preparing for NAPLAN’s literacy tests, practising vital curriculum-aligned core skills that will improve their performance in NAPLAN, as well as increasing their overall educational outcomes. It really is the best of all worlds! These resources (over 200 on topics as vast as geography, indigenous peoples, explorers, Australian history, electricity, the seasons, celebrations, sport etc, etc, and including many activities) are available for free download to subscribers, or can be purchased individually, or as part of the Understanding Our World® units.

So let’s help our students to become the best they can possibly be, whilst efficiently covering the curriculum, and most importantly helping them to prepare to face the world armed with the knowledge and skills they will need in their future lives!

Australia and the Commonwealth Games

Australia has been doing exceptionally well at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, held at the Gold Coast, Queensland. We can be very proud of our athletes, not only for their sporting prowess, but also because of their friendly demeanour and wonderful examples of the spirit of sportsmanship. I’m sure we all felt proud when the Australian team waited 4 minutes on the track for the last runner, representing Lesotho, to finish the 10,000 m, after all the other athletes had left the track. Our team was at the finish line to congratulate their fellow athlete, Lineo Chaka, from the extremely poor, small African nation in the mountains of Southern Africa (it can be a good exercise in geography for students to locate Lesotho on a world map or globe). With a per capita GDP of only $2,450 (compared to Australia’s rate of almost $50,000) this tiny nation has almost no money to spend on sporting facilities or training for athletes. The challenges overcome by Lineo Chaka just to be present at the Games would have been enormous and it was a fitting acknowledgement of her efforts for the Aussies to be there to congratulate her at the finish. It is these moments that remind us what the true spirit of these Games should be about. Well done to all!

Empire Games Sydney, 1938 — Opening Ceremony Empire Games, Sydney Cricket Ground, 1938

The Commonwealth Games began as the British Empire Games in the early 20th century. The idea for a games competition for members of the British Empire was first proposed by John Astley Cooper in 1891 in an article in The Times newspaper. Committees were formed in many places around the world (including Australia) and these committees actually helped with the organisation of the first Olympic Games as well. In 1911 a Festival of the Empire was held at Crystal Palace in London, and athletics, boxing, wrestling and swimming events were also held. The Australian Harold Hardwick was undefeated in both the boxing and the swimming. Australia had become a Federation by then and proudly exhibited a 3/4 size scale model of Melbourne’s Parliament House at Crystal Palace. However, the first British Empire Games were not until 1930. They were held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Australia was amongst the 11 teams competing in these games and won 8 medals, of which 3 were gold. England won the most medals that year, with 61, of which 25 were gold; followed by Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and then Australia. Scotland, Wales, British Guiana, Ireland, Bermuda and Newfoundland also competed.

The second British Empire Games were held in London in 1934 and the third in Sydney, Australia in 1938. They were timed to coincide with Sydney’s sesqui-centenary, celebrating 150 years since the First Fleet had arrived. Fifteen nations competed at the Sydney Cricket Ground in eight sports – athletics, boxing, cycling, lawn bowls, rowing, swimming, diving and wrestling. Australia won 66 medals, 25 of them gold, more than any other nation in the competition. War delayed the next Empire Games until 1950. These were held in Auckland, New Zealand.

Landy and Bannister 4 min mile — Landy and Bannister 1954 Commonwealth Games. Photo: Paul Joseph

By 1954 the name had started to change with the British Empire and Commonwealth Games being held in Vancouver, Canada. In those games, John Landy of Australia joined Roger Bannister of England in running a mile in less than 4 minutes, earning the race the title of the “Miracle Mile”. The event was also televised for the first time. In 1970 the games were called the British Commonwealth Games (the days of empire being truly over by then) and in 1978 they became known as just the Commonwealth Games, the name they retain today. In 1982 the Commonwealth Games were back in Australia, this time in Brisbane, Queensland and the opening event featured a giant model of a kangaroo. Forty-six nations competed and again, Australia topped the medal tally. The Commonwealth Games were back in Aus in 2006 in Melbourne, making Australia the country which has hosted the games the most number of times (5 times in all).

Today (15 April 2018) marks the closing of the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast, which started with the arrival of the Queen’s Baton Relay at the Opening Ceremony on 4 April, 2018, having covered 230,000 km through Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Oceania in 388 days, the longest Queen’s Baton Relay so far. The 2018 Queen’s Baton is made from macadamia wood and recycled plastic sourced from the Gold Coast waterways. Australia has done extremely well, remaining at the top of the medal table.

It has also been wonderful to see the events for para-athletes taking place interspersed with the regular events, which has occurred since 2002. This means that para-athletes are part of the same teams and are cheered by the same crowds, giving them far more support than in segregated games. We salute all of the athletes for their hard work, dedication, wonderful spirit and sportsmanship and look forward to supporting them again in the future.

New Mirobot v3 arrival in Australia

Here’s our batch of brand new Mirobot v3 kits on their arrival in Australia, dozens stacked. Since the v3 have a neat acrylic frame, I think I’ll do a proper “unboxing” and first build video of one soon, so you can see for yourself what this is about.

Many classes of year 5 and 6 students around Brisbane and their teachers have done our Robotics Workshops in recent years (using the Mirobot v1 and v2), and others have purchased their own Mirobot to build and use at home. And schools around Australia order sets to run their own programs.

What’s special about the v3 is that it’s now possible to repeatedly build and (carefully) disassemble the Mirobots, which means that not only the programming but also the assembly process can be repeated for future cohorts.

Below is an animation of the v3 kit build process:

The Mirobot is a “logo” turtle: it takes a pen (up&down) and can move forward/reverse (in mm) and turn left/right (in degrees). So, Mirobot can draw, and that’s really important because it provides students with very direct feedback for their programming. There are also bump and line-following sensors.

Students engage with inquiry-based learning: first the build which involves learning about the components and the mechanical structure – then, programming from a “simple” square, to a house, circle, stars and much more complex patterns. Students also make them write letters. Sure!

Most of the current batch was already pre-ordered, but we have some regular stock.

Vale Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo Galilei‘s death (8 March 1942), and died on the anniversary of Albert Einstein‘s birth (14 March). Having both reached the age of 76, Hawking actually lived a few months longer than Einstein, in spite of his health problems. By the way, what do you call it when a set of unrelated facts match up like that? That’s right: coincidence!

While Hawking’s book “A Brief History of Time” is apparently “the most popular book never read”, I own it and have read it. While it’s definitely not easy-going, he did have a good stab at making the complex physics understandable, and I found it very worthwhile – a fascinating read.

I think Hawking was a great scientist because he came up with grand ideas, but was quite happy to be disagreed with. Often the matter wouldn’t be settled for decades, and once it was, he was also quite happy to concede if he was wrong. Sometimes he’d even even declare himself wrong on one of his own earlier hypotheses. This approach is an excellent example of how science advances. Explanations can be improved, proven wrong, or strengthened through observations and calculations. Many complex matters cannot be proven “correct” directly, so a hypothesis can often only be disproven – that is, when an observation is made that doesn’t match the hypothesis, and that observation is repeated by others and thus validated, then either the hypothesis needs to be tweaked, or discarded.

Hawking was also an excellent role model for many young students as apart from his excellent attitude towards scientific research and good sense of humour, he was a key example of how having a serious disability does not necessarily preclude one from doing great things. He was also adventurous, and sometimes quite reckless driving his wheelchair.

Melbourne artist, Mitchell Toy, has produced a beautiful image to commemorate Hawking’s passing.