From The Science Nomad's Back Pack - Indonesia by CAMEL.

Its always good to try new things.

I believe this, deeply, and it's what I encourage educators and students to embrace, as part of the learning process. I even try new things myself .. from time to time. This week, I teamed up with the great Indonesian educator and humanitarian - Ines Setiawan - and the SHINE network ( that she has forged) to try an online platform (TheCN), to reach across Indonesia, and into some of the least advantaged schools and homes. Something Ines has been doing for many years,

In preparation for the trial, I rebuilt my office, converted my bookshelves into a video broadcast rig - my CAMELS ( Camera And Microphone Extended Learning System)   and selected a few activities that required only the most basic of ingredients.

Ines, put the word out through the SHINE network that we would be running the Hands on Science activities, and circulated the ingredients that would be used during the workshop. By the time Friday night ( midnight my time in fact !!) rolled around we had just under 70 participants enrolled and coming online. As with any online, video conferencing system, and, new users ( myself included).. there are always a few teething troubles, microphones being left on, or off, and patchy sound. But I'd prepared a step by step PDF of the activity which we worked through parallel to the live video and audio.

During the workshop we had participants from all across Indonesia, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and other regions, as well as a few friends of SHINE from the USA and China, supported by some wonderful translators.

For those of us, accustomed to the face to face, the direct feedback and engagement of a live audience, and dynamic facilitation, the online platform.. even when the echo and feedback is under control - is a challenge. But the written feedback and messages during the workshop were a great - encouragement - a confirmation that I did have some folks out there listening.

With Translations, and a delayed start as we got people onto the platform , we really only had time during the 2 hours to go into one of the enquries in depth, with a few - quick fire demonstrations related to the enquiry thrown in towards the end to give them more opportunities to try things with their students.

Ari Bowo's view of the workshop from Bogor, Indonesia

The main activity involved cutting out some small paper flowers, from different papers ( and other materials), and dropping them onto water to see - what happened .  This enquiry is one that I have only recently been - developing. I have seen it in the past as just a simple "make and do" - done in various centres. I was - provoked - into re-examining this as a result of it being part of a science show I was reviewing, at a science centre.  The science explanations being given by the facilitators - were a mix of wrong, confused and or  misguided. The process of getting them to think about what was happening, became an enquiry, one that is still evolving.

The main observation is that, when dropped onto water the folded flowers open. depending on the paper -and the design, and a number of other factors - at different speeds. We tried different papers, different treatments, and even brought back to life the old cellophane fish from my youth ( but that's another story).  Many educators soon understood, if they didn't before that it had something to do with the water entering the paper. Glossy paper, was slow, grease proof paper also worked but slowly. Absorbent paper like newsprint was lightening fast. painting the paper with some cooking oil, prevented it from opening at all. We moved into painting some flowers with a turmeric extract ( a tincture made by extracting the colour from ground turmeric with a little alcohol). This made them bright sunny yellow, and once dried, could be folded. This time we dropped them into water that had been made alkaline with a bit of ammonia ( but a bit of dissolved soap could have been substituted by those without the ammonia). Turmeric is a great acid/base indicator, turning deep red when in alkaline solutions. This allowed the participants to track the movement of water very clearly as the colour changed. we could have used dyed water, but this also introduced the ability to do some kitchen chemistry into the workshop and hopefully their activities in their schools and homes. It usefully also stimulated a lot of great sharing among the participants of other acid/base indicators, from flowers local to various areas of Indonesia.

My approach in most educator workshops, is to do the activities first, with little context or science or theory or explicit pedagogy. To have them experience a bit of the wonder, to focus on the observations, to be deep and rich with questions, and to an extent - uncertainty. This is often the state of mind of their students.  It will be the students- experience. But the curiosity, the wonder, the formation and fascination of the quest, the questioning, is the big outcome I value. Once this has run its course, we bring the science content in, and reflect on the observations.

For those of us involved and passionate about sharing, and training, its is always best, most immediately rewarding to see the effect our program has on educators. Yet we are often left wondering if the experiences we bring, go on to find an expression in the nature of the education being delivered.

I have had feedback and requests for more information , from at least a few participants from every workshop I have given in recent years. this was no exception.

While the chatter, and the laughter, and the smiles and the energy of working directly with educators, is hard to bring into an online platform.. with 70 participants, in a 2nd language.. the feedback seems to suggest its was a useful trial.  The photos in the blog, all came into me, the day after the workshop. They are from a great homeschooling educator Ana Shaf, from Pacitan East Java, conducting the activities with her home school. Others have been in touch talking about aspects of the activities.

So its a big thank you to Ines Setiawan, and the participants like Ana, and others, for helping me try something new. Perhaps I don't need to see their faces to feel their energy. I just need a little more patience.