MENTOR STEP 2

Goals for STEP 2

Attend MENTOR BRIEFING session if one is held
Attend SCHOOL VISIT #1 on the scheduled date and time
Meet and greet ALLOCATED STUDENT GROUPS
Facilitate student groups to select: FOCUS/TESTABLE QUESTION, VARIABLES, PREDICTION / HYPOTHESIS, METHOD and EQUIPMENT

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SCHOOL MENTOR BRIEFING: attend if invited
SCHOOL VISIT #1: attend correct location, on scheduled date and time
STUDENT GROUPS: get to know them
INVESTIGATION PLAN: ensure students groups have a ‘testable question’ and know what to do once you leave

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A BRIEFING SESSION before the first school visit has many benefits so it is highly recommended that you attend if invited.

You will:

gain awareness of the physical layout of the school and classrooms,
have a chance to ask questions about the program, your role, the class theme, student needs etc.,
meet teachers and other Mentors/MyStics who will be working with the primary students, which will promote a sense of belonging and focus around the purpose for coming into the school,
gain awareness of any school requirements related to working with children, signing in when arriving at the school etc.

Check that you know the: NAME, TELEPHONE NUMBER, LOCATION and TRAVEL TIME to your school so that you arrive 10-15 minutes before your scheduled visit time.
All schools require visitors to register their presence at the SCHOOL OFFICE, where you will be required to ‘sign in’ and to wear a ‘Visitor Badge’ while on the school premises during working hours.
You will likely be met by senior students who will then take you to your contact teacher/classroom.
Your school visit will be co-ordinated with other class mentors so that you are all in the class at the same time.
At the conclusion of your school visit, return your badge to the School Office and ‘sign out’.

By the time of the first mentor visit your students should:

each possess a LOGBOOK in which they have recorded their science activities, thoughts and ideas,
have practised conducting ‘fair test’ scientific investigations related to the class theme with the support and guidance of their class teacher,
understand that when conducting a fair test they need to use ‘Cows Moo Softly’ where COWS stands for CHANGE ONE THING, MOO stands for MEASURE SOMETHING and SOFTLY stands for KEEP EVERYTHING ELSE THE SAME,
have participated in a class brainstorm around a THEME,
have joined a student group who all agree to work on the same TOPIC, and generated a number of possible questions for their investigation – some of which may be ‘testable’.

Student groups need a clear plan for how to do their investigation.

By the end of Visit #1 each group should have recorded in their logbooks:

Use the following RESOURCE BUTTONS for additional information about how to support your primary students in this phase of MyScience.

• ‘2.1 Student Planned Investigations’.
• ‘2.2 Testable Questions’
• ‘2.3 Predictions & Hypotheses’

SCAFFOLDS/PROFORMAS that support student planning:

• ‘2.4 Classroom Poster’
• ‘2.5 Student Scaffold #1’ = BASIC
• ‘2.6 Student Scaffold #2’ = ADVANCED

REMEMBER:
You are guiding and supporting the students – not telling them what to do.
Challenge their questions and ideas, ask them for clarification such as:
‘What do you mean … ?’
‘What do you think will happen if …?’
‘If we change TWO things (e.g type of soil AND pot colour), how will we know …?’
Your discussion and questioning is demonstrating what scientists do when they design a plan to answer their questions.