Michael Caldwell

Educator, lover of Science and everyday learner. @EDfuturesWA Catalyst and founding member. The Montessori School, Kingsley Science and Maths Specialist.

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Happy Birthday Maria Montessori! The cake may not be beautiful, but the sentiment is. ♥️ The LS students of The Montessori School, Kingsley #montessoriAP

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

@StephenPestana5 @RayBoyd007 @SharingBestPrac @ASCD @PeterMDeWitt @CfE_WA @rachaellehr @Gaylehiggins22 @SOTLAus Literally every example I could think of was better than a hand grenade... Which is why it was the perfect prompt 😂

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

@RayBoyd007 @SharingBestPrac @ASCD @PeterMDeWitt @CfE_WA @rachaellehr @Gaylehiggins22 @SOTLAus Dummy water grenades or paintballing, so the risk is lowered. If it's safe and legal (!) I believe an experiential learning experience is better. Chalk and talk has its place, too, after the experience and the reflection. My ideology is dogmatic about avoiding dogma 😉

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Using @phyphoxorg and some cheap AliExpress sunglasses to investigate polarisation of light. My 'hook' for this lesson was "Prove these $3 sunglasses are polarised." Simple and effective 😊

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Our #IBCAS students made cake pops for (what I thought was a real event) "International Cake Pop Day." Apparently, they just made it up! I am putting it out there if anyone wants to run with it. The best 'Service' strand events I've had the privilege of being duped by.

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Shopping with #Montessori students. Prepared environment spills over into everything!

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Long Table today inspired by St Patrick's Day! 🍀

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Investigating Newton's laws with the infamous Newton's Cradle. Next we'll use video analysis to generate real numbers to 'prove' the third law. #Montessori #AdolescentProgram

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Microeconomy project in our Adolescent Program. Chicken clocks. Basically, we cut a door for the chicken coop that was chicken shaped. One thing lead to another and now we have chicken clocks in the classroom. Student led learning works out like that sometimes 🤷‍♂️

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

I know you're all dying to know what I look like as a gingerbread figure. Baked by one of my students for Xmas 😊♥️

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

This is what productivity looks like. It's also what my class looks like 80% of the time. Sometimes metaphorically. I find it comforting that my way of doing things carries over into everything. The people I share offices with do not...

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Ran my 1st school play on Friday (big deal for a science and STEM specialist, IMO). Got so caught up in it I didn't take many photos. Written & produced by students (edited by me), set design by a parent volunteer. New found respect for drama teachers, that was a lot of work!

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

There's a quiet little space of our school I've invaded as my 'office'; a forgotten classroom from a course we used to run. It's usually quite a drab space. We ran an art exhibition recently and my 'office' is now transformed by leftover art! It's now my favourite place to be 🙂

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

We had a little power cut today that disrupted our lessons. Gave the students some independent study time and they made a shared snack for everyone. The chickens got the burnt ones 😂

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

@FionaAOB Sounds amazing! Looking forward to the pics 😉

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

#differentiation in #Montessori Adolescents. Student was disengaged with my project, and wanted to learn something on their own. Let them choose the topic, agreed on the learning journey to follow. Now, this yr 8 has covered year 11(ish) content. I taught ~10% of this board.

[sunny @thePiggsBoson]

On this day in 1687, Sir Isaac Newton published Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), one of the most significant works in the history of science.

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Come join us at The Montessori School, Kingsley as we host 'Meeting in the Middle': an annual gathering of #Montessori Adolescent Program teachers.
19th-20th August.

Tix here: https://t.co/eDW9dzpN6l

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

@rasmansa 13^2 X 2^2

169 X 2 = 338 X 2 = 676

[Michael Caldwell @STEMandMayhem]

Delivery of Arduino paraphernalia today. This is the 4th attempt I've made to learn Arduino. I do my best to model resilience to students. This inevitably means failure over and over again, showing imperfections and how we bounce back. Hopefully I'll see some success this time!