My name is Mary Rabbidge and Laborastories is the result of many years of experiencing both the joys and the frustrations of teaching Science in New Zealand.
As a youngster, I loved learning languages and writing stories. I wanted to be an author. It wasn’t until I reached Year 11, and my Science teacher showed me that I was capable of success in Science that I began to really enjoy it. This left me with a dilemma. I still loved languages and writing, but I wanted to pursue further study in Science as well. My decision was made easier by my determination to leave my hometown of Wellington to study at the University of Otago and my mother’s insistance that I wasn’t allowed to go all that way to study arts. Health Science it was.
Following my degree in Biochemistry (with some Spanish squeezed in to appease my need to continue with languages) I found myself at the University of Otago College of Education, studying towards a BTchg(Sec). Somehow, I managed to score a job in Dunedin and I’ve still not left.
I’ve been teaching teenage boys since 2009 and I really do love it. In that time, I’ve taught General Science, Junior Maths, Biology, Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences and my new favourite, Physics. In 2015, I was appointed Teacher in Charge of Physics (having previously never taught it) and it was an amazing opportunity for my development as a teacher. It taught me what it is like to be a learner and the challenges our students face with difficult content and requirements of assessment. It was in this time that my passion for creative assessment started to grow. I got so tired of seeing two things:
- Students who understood the content but couldn’t succeed in assessment because the restrictions of the task made it impossible for them;
- The same copy-paste-tweak written report appearing 27 times in my marking pile.
I decided to change the way we do things so that my students could experience the success they deserved and so that I didn’t lose the will to teach every time I marked an internal assessment.
In 2018 I was awarded a scholarship through my school to continue with personal study and I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Science Communication with the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago (while still teaching full-time). For my internship I did a podcasting project with my Year 13 Physics class and it was a huge success. The following year, I received the Secondary Teachers’ Study Award to continue my study and finished a Postgraduate Diploma in Science Communication, (including a paper in teacher mentoring) and started my Master of Science Communication project. And this is it. I surveyed and interviewed Science teachers to find out how best to help them use stories for creative assessment in NCEA Science (find out why here). I’ve done my best to include everything they asked for.
Using creative assessments for the first time isn’t easy, and it takes time for you and your students to get used to. But the rewards are so worth the effort. Be brave, give it a go. And if there is anything more you need to start on this journey, please contact me. I’m always happy to help.