Many teachers and science educators are using the film in their lessons, including Mark Jones who has posted a lesson plan here.
You can download a free copy of the film from the vimeo site. You will need to sign up to vimeo to do this - a process which takes a couple of minutes. The download option will not show up on vimeo unless you sign in as a member. The file is a big one (about 900 MB) and may take some time to download. Sorry about this, but the result is you get a better-than-DVD quality film to show in class for free.
If for some reason you really can’t download the film from vimeo and you’d like me to send you a DVD copy of the film, drop me a line at alom.shaha(at)gmail.com and I’ll get one to you as soon as I can.
If you use this film or the website in your teaching, PLEASE leave a comment below - it will really help with my evaluation of the project. Any tips or suggestions for classroom use can also be shared via the comments section.
17 Comments
I would love to use this video in my lessons. But our school system doesn't allow accessto anything from the Vimeo site where the video is posted, not even via this site.
I've tried to down load it from Vimeo on my homecomputer but I just get a file my computer doesn't recognise
Help! Please.
I have used several of the short segments with my middle school students. They enjoy the accent of the speakers! Anyway, here's how I've been able to download the videos and carry them to school, thus avoiding slow download times on the network or filters that would block the video. I use Miro, an open source freeware (getmiro.com, I believe). I'm able to download the videos via YouTube, save them to my desktop (I use a Mac), then copy them to my jump drive and I'm off to school. Miro uses numerous media players. I use Quick Time. Hope this helps.
This is an excellent resource -- many many thanks for the huge amount of work that must have gone into all stages of creating it.
I (together with about half of my department -- and spreading) use it with my Y10 classes (in chunks, throughout the year) to create opportunities for debate or reflection. Some of it fits very nicely into the teaching of aspects of HSW.
I learnt of this video by word of mouth and have told all the other science teachers I know. We need more of this kind of thing! Perhaps a showcasing of the vast variety of destination careers where a science education leads?
Stuart - 'careers from science' is exactly the concept of the Science Council-led 'Future Morph' project: www.futuremorph.org. Also see www.scienceandmaths.net and Science: So What?.
I showed it to all of my 6th graders. I explained how you sent the copies out of your desire to educate and inspire all young people about the importance of the subject of Science. I showed them the envelope from London and we saved it along with the discs. The kids thought it was cool and loved your accent. We especially thought that it was interesting how we can know what the atmosphere was like hundreds of years ago. Oh, the possibilities! Thank you again! It was yet another way to explain the Scientific Methods to my students.
This is great! I plan to use it with my science methods class. Too often elementary schools stress the importance of reading and writing and math so that there is no time for science in the school day. I hope this video will offer the pre-service teachers a more global view about what science is.
Love science and philosophy of science
Thank you for this amazing clip! I teach A-level General Paper in Singapore and used the video as an introduction to the topic on Science & Technology for my lecture on 2 Mar 2010 (Tue). The invaluable insights shared by your interviewees provide a strong basis for my students to better argue for the importance of and need for science. One of the highlights during the screening of the clip was the students got to see A.C. Grayling giving his opinion - they were 'thrilled' as they are familiar with his writings in his book The Reason Of Things, which we are using as a reference text.
Thank you and regards.
I am a science teacher for grades 3-5 at Science and Arts Academy in Des Plaines, Illinois. I love your video and plan on showing it to all of my classes. I will ask them the question and have them write down a response. I will show them the video, then ask them to revise their response. This will be a great way to start the year. Thank you for your work!
Thank you for your excellent video on "Why Science is important". I went for an interview yesterday where I was asked to teach a 20 minute lesson to year 9 students on this very topic. I used a small section from your video and some quotes from your website and it worked really well - I ended up getting the job!
Starter and Learning Objectives (developing, sharing and embedding)
Provide an answer to the question “why is Science important?”
Show video of training Science teachers answering question
Why is Science important? Students discuss question and record initial thoughts on posters
Teaching sequence and AFl opportunities
Group discussion activity – what would the world be like in 25 years time if this was the last ever Science lesson? (this should help the students to appreciate how Science has shaped the world around them)
Why is Science important – students update their answers on their posters
How could you find answers to these questions? (questions shown on powerpoint e.g. why is the sky blue? why do I get dizzy when I spin around? why is water wet? what would happen if the sun dissapeared? why does chocolate taste so good?) - This helps the students to think about Science’s role in its expression of human curiosity
Twins – show an image of black and white twins (How could this have happened? We are all Scientists – by thinking about how and why and by formulating a hypothesis to explain what we see)
Extension activity: which questions have you ever made you wonder?
Plenary and showing progress
Why is Science important – final answers
Your video provides an excellent example of your own subject material by publishing research openly and allowing for alternative views.
Your key points will be useful for teaching my science students here in Australia of the importance of Science in ways they had not considered. I really like the considerations away from purely employment reasons to consider the advantages to us as humans.
I hope to encourage my students to use the video as a springboard to consider the reasons presented, and then to also consider other reasons for why studying Science is important.
I got the DVD today and watched it with my triple science Y9 group - they really enjoyed it. (they said they would have liked to have seen more experiments but they remained engaged). Thanks.
Hi, Do you have a handout or more info on that bubble experiment you were doing at the beginning of the video? I think that would be a fun activity to do.
Hi, Do you have a handout or more info on that bubble experiment you were doing at the beginning of the video? I think that would be a fun activity to do.
Sorry, I don't have a hand out for the bubble experiment. It was an open-ended experiment - I simply start the lesson by presenting the students with 3 different brands of washing up liquid (you can blow some bubbles at them to get them excited) and challenge them to think of how they could test to see which was the "best" to make bubbles with. You can then have a discussion about what "best" means" (in this case we decided that it meant the one which required the smallest amount to make a working bubble solution). Other things to discuss - how to make it a "fair test", what apparatus to use, what measurements to take and to what degree of accuracy.
I am the chair of our science team at Highland Lakes and we are charged with im[plementing the common core standards into our content curriculum.
The following is our Science as Inquiry standards that I feel you video addresses.
Strand 2: History and Nature of Science
Scientific investigation grows from the contributions of many people. History and Nature of Science emphasizes
the importance of the inclusion of historical perspectives and the advances that each new development brings to
technology and human knowledge. This strand focuses on the human aspects of science and the role that scientists
play in the development of various cultures.
Concept 2: Nature of Scientific Knowledge
Understand how science is a process for generating knowledge.
PO 1. Describe how science is an ongoing process that changes in response to new information and discoveries
PO 2. Describe how scientific knowledge is subject to change as new information and/or technology challenges prevailing
theories.
Below is the Common Core standards that we will be using.
Common core Anchor Standards for Writing
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating
understanding of the subject under investigation.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each
source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
Your video addresses many reasons for why science is important but also shows how science and technology are closely related. It addresses science literacy for the advancement of government as well as the benifits for a global society. The greatest strength I believe are the examples that support the claim that science is important in these areas. We will use this as a model for setting up arguiements and the citing of examples, observations, modeling, research and testing as evidence to support an arguement.
Sincerely,
Hank Shoop
Hi!
I am a student at Teacher's College and I loved your video. I wanted to let you know I referenced you in a paper.
Thanks for your great video!
Caroline