Meet Róisín Uí Choinn from Ireland

School: Coláiste Oiriall, Muineachán 

Subject and Grade Taught: Science (Junior Cert), Biology and Physics (Leaving Cert)

Years Teaching: 14 years

Years in Amgen Teach community: 1

Participation in Amgen Teach programme: National Training for Inquiry Based Learning using Sensors & SEAI Energy Workshop and the 12th Science Projects Workshop in the Future Classroom Lab

This Irish teacher attended her Amgen Teach course in May 2016 and has already been able to apply many examples of the workshop to her teaching: "The main change I have made is in carrying out energy, heat light and sound experiments, of which there are many in our syllabus. I set up between 6-8 different stations with a different experiment at each station and the students go around with a worksheet, as we did at the workshop, and they fill in the bits of information needed and carry out the experiment themselves safely and it is all inquiry based. This has been a real success. I save time in class, it means that we do not need the same amount of equipment and the students learn through fun."

Róisín has also learned how argumentation can be effective in science teaching. Actually, she uses the argumentation workshop in her biology lessons to identify the different kingdoms, as she learned during the training: "I show an Amoeba under a microscope and the students argue is it a plant, fungus, animal or other."

Before the workshop, Róisín used demonstrations during her science lessons due to the limited equipment and time constraints. Now, each student has the chance to explore the different apparatus themselves, draw their own conclusions and what's more, they have given her very positive feedback about this.

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