
Access to quality online services continues to open up new opportunities for collaborative learning and teaching activities, as described by Heidi Seidle from the Wollongong Diocese.
“If someone told me 3 years ago that within 3 years I would have revolutionised my pedagogy, presented it at an international conference, created video snapshots of the process and started running workshops for teachers, I’m not sure I would have believed them. But my work on the CRISP (Constructing Representations in Science Pedagogy) project has led me to do just that.
The CRISP approach sets up challenges for students to represent their understanding. As they create these representations under the guidance of their teacher, they are able to construct their own understanding of the concepts. For example, my Year 8 students constructed an animation using the IPad App “Explain Everything” to demonstrate the interaction of particles in a chemical reaction, after having observed a reaction. They came to understand the concept that the particles in a chemical reaction are rearranged, not created or lost.
While traditional methods of teaching can give students this piece of knowledge, it is when they can change the form of the knowledge (e.g. from a statement to a diagram or animation) that deep understanding is established. It is an incredibly engaging and effective approach to teaching science.”
“If someone told me 3 years ago that within 3 years I would have revolutionised my pedagogy, presented it at an international conference, created video snapshots of the process and started running workshops for teachers, I’m not sure I would have believed them. But my work on the CRISP (Constructing Representations in Science Pedagogy) project has led me to do just that.
The CRISP approach sets up challenges for students to represent their understanding. As they create these representations under the guidance of their teacher, they are able to construct their own understanding of the concepts. For example, my Year 8 students constructed an animation using the IPad App “Explain Everything” to demonstrate the interaction of particles in a chemical reaction, after having observed a reaction. They came to understand the concept that the particles in a chemical reaction are rearranged, not created or lost.
While traditional methods of teaching can give students this piece of knowledge, it is when they can change the form of the knowledge (e.g. from a statement to a diagram or animation) that deep understanding is established. It is an incredibly engaging and effective approach to teaching science.”

Heidi Seidel is a teacher a John Therry Catholic High School who has been working with colleagues Wendy Rowan (John Therry), Shannon Marecic (St Joseph’s Catholic High School) and Amanda Nascimento (St Joseph’s). The team of teachers have participated in an extended professional learning project lead by Associate Professor Garry Hoban from the University of Wollongong with the support of Gerry Sozio and Mark Woolley from the Wollongong Catholic Education Office.
The team recently presented their learnings at the ASERA (Australasian Science Education Research Association) 2014 Conference in Melbourne and are currently working on capturing their classroom practice in short video snapshots (Crispy Snaps).
The team recently presented their learnings at the ASERA (Australasian Science Education Research Association) 2014 Conference in Melbourne and are currently working on capturing their classroom practice in short video snapshots (Crispy Snaps).