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My
bio teacher: Ms Berry
Tara
Francis
World-Wide
Day in Science 2006 was on Wednesday 12 April. I and other
year 12 students at St Joseph’s College (Banora Point) were
finishing our half-yearly exams.
So, I interviewed my Biology teacher- Ms Gail Berry about
her experiences that day.
Her day starts at 8.10 where she begins preparation (eg. Photocopying)
and organisations for her classes that day. The bell at 8.42
signifies homeroom, and as well as being a Science (junior)
and Biology (senior) teacher, she also acts in a pastoral
role for year 12 students. As World Wide Day in Science falls
on our school’s Sport’s Day, this entails only four lessons
prior to sport.
Period Two is a year 11 Biology class. With their preliminary
half-yearly exams approaching, this lesson is a part of ensuring
that her class has a thorough knowledge of their topic area
of the ‘Local Ecosystem.’ This involves note taking from their
textbooks and Ms Berry’s class discussions.
This topic allows students to learn about flora and fauna
relationships particularly in an area relevant to themselves.
This year her students will undertake their practical research
at Lamington National Park.
That period is followed by a year 7 Science class. This class
studying ‘Octopus’ garden,’ being all about oceans and it’s
inhabitants. Ms Berry stated that she is often trying to improve
her approaches to learning and “finding fun and creative ways
to do things.”
In particular, they are utilising the internet as it is a
great tool for finding ideas, and helping to engage her students
in science. The lesson today involves the students working
through a ‘Web quest,’ a series of compiled internet links
that allows them to answer questions and submit for marking.
After recess, Ms Berry spends this lesson marking year 12
Biology exams. Involving assigning questions, developing marking
criteria, cross referencing and entering these marks into
the database.
The last lesson for the day is a year 10 Science class. Year
10 spends 13 weeks in each of Physics, Chemistry and Biology,
to help choose Higher School Certificate Subjects with insight.
Today’s lesson involves designing Punnett squares, discussing
the student’s own genetic history and makes the topic of Genetic
Evolution more applicable to themselves as Human Beings. Students
also made a Double Helix Model out of paper to keep with the
interesting and hands-on approach.
Her day does not officially end until around 5 o’clock when
she has finalised her preparations for her lessons the next
day, although as different days have differing numbers of
classes some preparation may even continue whilst at home!
Ms Berry concedes that with her constructivist approach-the
theory that students learn best by "doing" so should
be involved in what they are learning and are not passive
in the classroom- it is “sometimes difficult to come up with
exciting ways to do things” in regard to all the required
course contents and that “this means greater preparation time
and more organised chaos.”
However, she accepts and enjoys this challenge in her role
as a part of Science Education, as students seem to enjoy
the lessons and so become interested in the science more than
just merely knowing about it.
World-Wide Day in Science 2006 has let me appreciate the remarkable
effort of teaching staff to help students aged 12-18 and in
effectively communicating their particular branch of Science.
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