Faye receives the award for Most Outstanding Panel Member, 2022, from Tanya Jordaan, Center Principal at Zhenhai High School, and Stephen Fulton, Director of Education for Dipont High School Programmes.

Here she talks about how she got involved with the Science Subject Panel, and why it is a great way for Dipont teachers to grow their knowledge base and expand their career horizons.

1. Can you tell me a bit about your background? Where are you from? What brought you to China?

I’m originally from South Africa. I grew up and went to school there, including completing my undergraduate degree at a local university. After graduating, I went to the US for eight years. I did my PhD there, and then taught at a college in Oregon for a couple of years. After that I returned to South Africa for a year.

The Zhenhai High School campus is renowned for its lavish gardens and ambient surrounds.

An opportunity came up for me to go to China, working with Dipont. I was in Chengdu for three lovely years, teaching AP physics with a great group of colleagues. After that I moved to Zhenhai, Ningbo. Since then I have made new friends, broadened my horizons, taught new curriculum, and thoroughly enjoyed living in another beautiful part of China.

2. What is the Science Subject Panel?

It is a selection of teachers from all the different science subjects and different curriculums. The primary function is to serve as a resource, providing materials for teachers as needed. It also works to establish Dipont-wide science initiatives, such as Science competitions, and gives advice to the wide community of science teachers in Dipont.

Science students in the Dipont High School Programme at Zhenhai High School are engaged, hard-working, and deeply inquisitive.

If teachers have any questions about equipment or curriculum, or even how to do labs, we are there to help. Every year the panel members are involved in presenting a live demonstration of subject labs and demos. You could say the main role of the science subject panel is to encourage and inspire.

3. How has the Science Subject Panel changed for you over the years?

The first year I was on the panel we all met in person in Shanghai. When we judged the posters, we had the finalists’ posters all spread out on a table for us to discuss and grade together. Due to the impact of COVID, we have had to meet virtually instead. We have had to perform tasks like judging poster competitions online.

An example of an entry in the Subject Science Panel Logo competition for 2022. Works are evaluated on the basis of creative merit as well as the reasoning behind their depiction of science related global concerns.

The members on the panel have also changed. It has been lovely to meet different people as time goes by. It is inspiring to be in a room of experienced science teachers and be able to bounce ideas off each other.

Students at Zhenhai High School proudly display the fruits of their intellectual and creative labours.

In terms of the competitions, the categories have been continuously evolving. For example, we added an artistic category to encourage the more “arty” students to get more involved with science.

We will also be doing a chemistry detective competition for the first time this year. In this event, students are given clues, and they have to use their scientific reasoning, especially their chemistry reasoning, to come up with answers to solve a crime.

4. What are the unique challenges of teaching science classes online?

The biggest challenge is making sure the students are engaged. As a teacher you need to utilize and adapt the technology to make the transition from face-to-face to online as seamless as possible.

For example, I like to use Plicker cards in my classroom. Every student has to choose an answer from a multiple-choice question. As an online equivalent, there’s usually some sort of voting option or comment section that students can use to do the same thing. We know what works in the classroom. The challenge is how to carry what works into an online environment.

Screenshot of PhET, a virtual simulation website developed by the University of Colorado, in action.

Running labs online is an added layer of challenge. A good option is to use virtual simulations. PhET, a great website developed by the University of Colorado, has many interactive simulations of science topics. You can select a particular simulation from this website, design a lab or investigation objective on it, and then ask students to follow the investigation process and write a lab report just as if they were in a physics lab.

Of course, the challenges of experimental error are minimized due to the simulation design, but students still get to work through the lab process, albeit remotely.

5. What have you gained personally out of being on the science subject panel?

From the competition side, it has given me a lot of insight into the work that goes into creating a rubric for assessing the submissions, and the issues that can arise from certain wording. Having been a competition advisor before, I’ve experienced the challenges of interpreting the requirements and rubric firsthand.

While travel restrictions have limited the opportunities for the Science Subject Panel to meet face to face, they are still able to enjoy regular ZOOM catch ups.

Now, seeing it from a planning and coordination perspective, I can experience different challenges. For example, the need to accommodate different school calendars. You could say I am getting more experience with project management, and problem solving.

6. What would you say to someone to encourage them to join the science subject panel?

One great thing about being on the science panel is you are more up to date on current events. It helps you to get to know other experienced teachers that you otherwise might not have had the opportunity to speak with.

If you are in a room with four physics teachers and two chemistry teachers, and your time is limited, it is likely that teachers will gravitate to and talk with the other teachers of the same subject. The Science Subject Panel creates the opportunity to have conversations across disciplines, working together towards a common goal.

Faye has experienced the full gamut of opportunities provided by her involvement with the Science Subject Panel, from helping students as an advisor to directly contributing to the planning and implementation of Dipont-wide initiatives.

Sharing ideas helps you keep up to date in the  techniques involved in the teaching of different science disciplines. This in turn inspires you to be more knowledgeable in your own discipline, which makes you a better teacher.

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Over 50 workshops and sharing sessions were hosted over 4 days, attended by over 600 teachers representing Dipont partner schools from right across China, from Changchun to Shenzhen, and from Shanghai to Chengdu.

Photo by lucas law on Unsplash

Here are some of the highlights of what was a tremendous showcase of talent, expertise, collaboration and community.

Science Coffee Corner

Hosted by Mia Dela Cruz (Chemistry / Biology AQM), Althea White (Physics AQM) and Faye Cai (Chemistry AQM), the Science Coffee corner was a chance for new and returning science teachers from right across the Dipont High School Programmes to touch base before the new academic year commences.

Examples of past Science Poster Competitions proudly adorn the walls at Dipont Education HQ.

Highlights included an invitation for teachers to apply for positions on the Science Subject Panel. This cross discipline initiative enables teachers to take a lead in delivering workshops during conferences. It also provides an opportunity to give input and share experiences on curriculum changes. Finally, subject panel are able to create and participate in nation-wide projects such as the science poster competition and the hugely popular Science Olympics.

Ideas for Delivering a Successful Lesson

Mark Quayle (Humanities AQM) and one of the most experienced members of the HSP team, delivered a guided sharing session on the features of a successful lesson. The importance of signaling highly differentiated objectives at the start of a class, and of deploying activities that are clearly linked to these goals, was discussed, as were strategies to ensure and assess total participation among students.

Good classroom practice has many facets that come together in lasting and powerful learning expereinces for students.

These and more facets of lesson delivery were modeled with what was a large and engaged group of attendees from across several disciplines. The chat box thrummed with insights and discussion, including a memorable quote from a teacher known only as iPad (6), who remarked that “Students can sniff out busy work like a pack of snarling jackals”. There be dragons!

Effective Technology in the Mathematics Classroom

Two new members of the AQM team, Bogdan Muraru and Greg Marthews, introduced a slew of handy APPs and programs to assist teachers with delivering Maths lessons and preparing exams papers.

New AQM Greg Marthews explaining how he uses LaTex, the software system and not the rubber clothing material, to prepare exam papers.

A couple of good examples were an APP called Plickers and the docx2latex.com website. Plickers provides a mechanism for instantaneous evaluation of multiple choice questions. This enables teachers to scan responses to a multiple choice question.  After doing this, teachers can ascertain immediately if there is a need to clarify a learning point. docx2latex.com is a website for converting Word and Google.doc files to LaTeX format, a convenient platform for preparing math exam papers.

Cognitive Load Theory

Common sense met neuro-science in what was a fascinating and accessible introduction to this widely applicable model of learning. Greg peppered his presentation with quotes from leading theorists as well as providing practical examples to a rapt audience of over 60 attendees.

The journey from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence describes the parallel journey of new information from working to long term memory.

Highlights included an explanation about the dangers of over-stuffed PPTs when introducing content PPTs. They can be a useful mechanism to deliver a lot of information to students. However, too much information at once can overload the working memory. This leads to anxiety, and inability to convert this information to long term memory.

Games in Teaching Economics

Mark Avery, Deputy Director of the AQM team, presented a series of games that can be used when teaching economics. These activities  encourage participation, develop communication and critical thinking skills, and create a context for practical discovery of abstract concepts.

How to make specific paper shapes with loads of paper but no technology, and vice versa, is the core challenge of the International;Trade game.

A fascinating example was the International Trade game. Groups of students are allocated “technology” (pencils, rulers, scissors) and “raw materials” (sheets of paper) in differing combinations and amounts. These represent wealthy, middle income, and poor countries. The task is to construct paper shapes with specific design parameters. The goal is to sell these to each other at a price that is decided by the teacher. Via this task, students learn about wealth inequality at a global scale. They also learn about collusion, cartels and coalition forming, all while making some money out of shapes.

Fundamentals of Conflict in the Workplace

One of the final workshops addressed the different forms of conflict that can occur in a workplace. These can be functional or dysfunctional, and their are a range of strategies that can be adopted to address them.

Mark Quayle, AQM, seen here peacefully hosting a conflict workshop.

Delivered by Mark Quayle a key takeaway was the need for flexibility. That is, when reading a situation, one should always adjust one’s approach accordingly. It is important to take a step back from any emotional responses when experiencing conflict. Also of note was the possibility of “positive conflict”. This occurs when an initial difference of ideas creates the opportunity for a fresh, constructive, outcome for a workplace challenge.

As Mark Quayle noted, the driving purpose of the HSP team is “to make people, not break people”. The genuine enthusiasm on display throughout the four days of the conference was a testament to this ideal. The community remains strong, energized and ready for a new academic year.

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Patience. Ingenuity. Resilience. Care. The resurgence of COVID-19 and the necessary return to online classes has brought out the best in the teaching team at Dipont Huayao Collegiate School Kunshan. Students and teachers alike have not only persevered in adversity but have also kept striving to seek and soar beyond. For Huayao teachers, the delivery of online learning has been a great opportunity for innovation and professional growth.

“If you just lecture at kids it can be deadly dull, even face to face, but our teachers do a great job of using the technology to their advantage.”

Dr Jeffrey Walkington, Upper School Principal of Dipont Huayao Collegiate School Kunshan, has been impressed by the variety of strategies teachers use to combine online and offline experiences.

“If you just lecture at kids it can be deadly dull, even face to face,” he says, “but our teachers do a great job of using the technology to their advantage. For example, they will set up group work, where two or three students can go to a breakout room and discuss a topic, then come back to share it with the rest of the class.”

Students can respond in real-time to class discussions

Being responsive to the new reality of online teaching, including the impact of excessive screen time on student wellbeing, has been crucial for teachers. They have had to experiment with what works and think creatively about results-oriented, and health-oriented, lesson strategies.

When online teaching was first introduced, Emma Gu, a Chinese teacher in the Secondary School, used mind mapping software to help students sort their notes, a digital approach that was new and effective at the time.

Traditional and technological approaches embed agile communication into learning

As the novelty of online teaching wore off, however, Emma noticed a drop-off in engagement with these kinds of software-based activities. Her solution was to offer students the option of making their notes on paper, and to then take photos of these notes to share with the class. This combination of traditional and technological approaches to learning not only reduced screen time, but also embedded agile and multi-modal communication as part of the learning process.

Huayao teachers have also been exploring ways to increase interaction during online lessons. Anthony Magee, Teacher of Psychology, has students share their thoughts and opinions in chat boxes as a method of responding in real-time to class discussions and peer presentations. As a result, they can share their screens or screenshots to submit their writing for assessment purposes, while this practice also serves as an ongoing log of ideas for personal and class reflection.

Teachers at Huayao get creative in delivering online PE lessons

Perhaps one of the most difficult lessons to deliver online has been PE. Exercise is never more important than during times of lockdown and increased time at the computer, so careful thought goes into how to keep students physically and mentally healthy.

Nilton Resende, a ninth-grade physical education teacher, admits that it is challenging giving PE classes via a computer, as he is not able to monitor students’ technique and effort as easily.

To compensate, he has adjusted the content of his online teaching, adding fitness plans and nutritional information so that students can track their own physical and athletic development, as well as build new vocabulary and research skills. Nilton combines this with fun online workout sessions that see students – and teachers – working up a sweat in their living rooms or practicing volleyball techniques in their compound gardens.

Flexible approaches to learning encourage students to think creatively and question how they can apply their learning to the environment around them.

This approach of adapting teaching and learning to the physical reality of learning at home even extends into First Aid classes. Here, students are encouraged to use household objects to practice skills such as the Heimlich maneuver. Many sofa cushions have been resuscitated from the brink of catastrophe as they double as choking victims.

As well as being fun, these flexible approaches to learning encourage students to think creatively and question how they can apply their learning to the environment around them. In this way, Huayao teachers ensure students continue to discover learning opportunities in the world around them as they step away from their screens.

Online lessons have inspired Grade 5 scholar, Tino, to continue his learning independently

For Tino, in grade 5, his experiences in online classes such as science and English have inspired him to continue his learning independently. For example, after classes are done for the day, he can use an app on his iPad to measure the size of planets and the distances between them in a DIY model of the universe he has created.

As these examples show, students and teachers at Huayao have strived to turn recent disruptions into an opportunity for growth, both academically and professionally. For students and teachers, online teaching and learning has allowed the development of important soft skills such as ingenuity, creativity and adaptability. This, combined with practical knowledge of using cutting-edge technologies, is ensuring everyone in the Huayao community is better prepared for the challenges and opportunities to come.

There are still positions at Dipont Huayao Collegiate School Kunshan for an August 2022 start. Visit our careers section to review opportunities in our thriving learning community.

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