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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome back to another busy year. I hope you have enjoyed a restful break. There are a number of items in this newsletter: #1-5 outline our teacher and student workshops; #6-11 celebrate student and colleague successes plus describe some other interesting happenings.
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1. NESA Accredited Teacher PL
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Back by popular demand, this term (and next) we are running our flagship, much updated Preparing for the HSC Exam teacher PL workshops. Each of these workshops is NESA Accredited. In these workshops, teachers will:
- leverage 2022 RAP Analyses to benefit teaching and learning
- scrutinise the 2022 exam for emerging themes and commonplace mistakes by students
- translate the language and stimuli within questions into concepts
- pilot mark brand new bespoke questions and sample answers
- unpack and attempt a brand new 9-mark question (15-mark for SciX)
- identify strategies for cross-module questions
- collaboratively develop exam-style questions with marking criteria and exemplar answers
All teachers will walk away with a variety of resources to assist their students in their forthcoming exams. Also, all attendees will receive our bespoke RAP Analysis Spreadsheet within a day or so of registration to use for their own exam analysis meetings at school. Please click on the links for further details and registration:
Preparing for the 2023 HSC Chemistry Exam
Preparing for the 2023 HSC Physics Exam
Preparing for the 2023 HSC Biology Exam
Preparing for the 2023 HSC Science Extension Exam – Fri 17 March (Week 7)
Preparing for the 2023 HSC Investigating Science Exam – Fri 31 March (Week 9)
Preparing for the 2023 HSC EES Exam – TBC
ALL NESA accredited 5 hours each at Proficient
(All via Zoom except Physics 27 March)
EARLY BIRD rates of 15% OFF are available on all workshops if purchased by the end of Week 4 (24 Feb).
New Accreditation Example
Completing Preparing for the 2022 HSC Physics Exam will contribute 5 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and assessment of NSW Curriculum/Early Years Learning Framework addressing standard descriptors 1.1.2 & 2.1.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
K-6, 7-10: schools or groups of schools can request PL via our EOI. We also intend to have a variety of PL, K-12, made available on-demand over the course of this year – keep an eye on the website!
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2. HSC Physics Student Revision Workshops
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With Paul Looyen (Physics High) onboard, we are continuing our termly twilight students revision workshops in Physics, 3.30-5.30pm. All other science subjects will be run late Term 3/early Term 4. Click on the link for further details and to register your students:
EARLY BIRD rate of 15% OFF available if purchased by the end of Week 4 (24 Feb).
If you would like to book Paul to run any in-house workshops for your Physics students, please contact us ASAP.
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At the end of last term, I ran a staff development day (SDD) for 2 primary schools on Working Scientifically K-6, with several more happening this year. This is a very popular SDD for large schools or groups of schools. Shortly, I'll be running Working Scientifically & Student Engagement 7-10 at Willyama High School in Broken Hill. At CrookED Science we offer a variety of high quality SDDs including:
- Working Scientifically K-6
- Working Scientifically & Student Engagement 7-10
- Detailed HSC RAP Analysis
- Bespoke - tailored to your school's needs
If you are interested in booking us for any of your 2023 SDDs, please contact us ASAP.
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Teachers enjoying a K-6 Working Scientifically SDD
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4. Detailed RAP Analyses of 2022 HSC
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As well as training teachers in RAP analyses during our Preparing for the HSC Exam workshops, we also run half-day, full-day and twilight workshops for teachers from individual and groups of schools e.g. Faculty Heads, Science Department etc. If you are interested in having us run a Detailed RAP Analysis of your 2022 HSC results for your school(s) to help identify areas of weakness and strength to adjust teaching accordingly, please contact us ASAP.
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5. Chemistry by Dr Col Harrison
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We are delighted to announce that Dr Col Harrison will be running our Chemistry PL this year. Col is an outstanding Chemistry teacher and professional learning facilitator. He is well known among many science teachers for his excellent advice and resources, particularly on his flipped learning YouTube Channel. You can tap into Col's HSC Chemistry marking expertise at our forthcoming workshops:
Preparing for the 2023 HSC Chemistry Exam
- Sat 11 March (Week 6)
- Wed 15 March (Week 7) (repeat)
- Sat 20 May (Term 2, Week 4) (repeat)
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6. Young Scientist Winners
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Last term, the Science Teachers' Association NSW (STANSW) ran their annual Young Scientist Competition. Gifted students from Years 3-6 from across our Primary Partnership schools entered the Working Scientifically strand. This was in fact the first time we had entered any of our students into this particular strand (having previously focused on Working Technologically). I am delighted to report that 3 students won State awards plus several more received Distinctions (the highest level).
- Gregory, Year 3 from OLSS Miranda was Equal 1st Place in Stage 2 Working Scientifically for his investigations into his toy MAGLEV train set, plus a 'hyperloop', plus a solar panel!
- Liam, Year 4 from OLA Pagewood was Equal 1st Place in Stage 2 Working Mathematically for his work investigating which had the greatest acceleration over different distances, a scooter or a bike?
- Georgia, Year 6 from St Ambrose Concord West was Equal 1st Place in Primary Highly Commended for her investigation into the flow rates of liquids with different viscosities.
Congratulations to all students involved. Many thanks also to the organisers for giving up their time to provide this wonderful opportunity to school students, K-12.
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3 State winners in the STANSW Young Scientist competition
from our Primary Partnership schools
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Congratulations to the 2022 cohort from the CrookED Science Physics Partnership schools for their excellent HSC results, including several Band 6s and lots of value-add across the abilities. Wishing the 2023 cohort all the best as they continue working with Paul Looyen this year.
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8. Prof Manju Sharma - Supervisor of the Year
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While on the subject of success, many congratulations to Professor Manjula Sharma, Professor of Science Education and Director of the STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy at The University of Sydney (and my former PhD supervisor ☺️). At the end of last year, Manju received a 2022 Supervisor of the Year Award from USyd. Well done Manju!
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Professor Sharma receiving her 2022 Supervisor of the Year award
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Also last term, I was delighted to receive a Fellowship from the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (FACEL). Despite working in or for schools all my professional life, as a small business owner one can feel a bit of an imposter when among exemplary career school teachers and leaders. However, this award from ACEL feels like true validation for my work from my professional idols and heroes. I will endeavour to live up to the responsibilities this Fellowship brings. Many thanks to the organisers of the Awards Night, my mystery nominators (I have my suspicions!), and all award recipients, particularly my fellow Fellows: Iris Nastasi, Andrea Stringer and Dr Andrew Fraser.
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2022 ACEL NSW Fellows (FACEL):
myself, Andrea Stringer, Iris Nastasi and Dr Andrew Fraser
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10. Most Popular Post of All Time!
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11. Conference Presentations
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Between us, last term Paul and I were involved in giving 5 conference presentations, panels and workshops:
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TGNSW STEM 2022: Teach Meet Spotlight Panel
My presentation Authentic Learning: Student Architects begins at 12:54
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Wishing you and your students all the very best for the start of the school year.
Kind Regards,
Dr Simon Crook, FACEL
Director, CrookED Science
Honorary Associate, School of Physics, The University of Sydney
crookedscience.com
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