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Full-Text Articles in Education
Conceptual Development: How Do Early Educators And Teachers Support Children's Early Thinking In Stem?, Marilyn Fleer
Conceptual Development: How Do Early Educators And Teachers Support Children's Early Thinking In Stem?, Marilyn Fleer
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
As national and state-based reforms in early education roll-out across Australia, concern for building a well-qualified workforce to meet growing demand has intensified. In parallel with the reforms, teachers and educators are reminded by the recently released 2022 Early Years Learning Framework to design programs that support intentionality in play-based learning. However, the literature shows that despite the concept of intentional teaching being around since 2009, difficulties with how to do this remains. This presentation takes up this challenge, by 1) sharing the collective findings of 6 Australian Research Council-funded research projects into play and learning in STEM; and 2) …
Evaluating I2s2: An Inquiry-Based Indigenous Science Program For Years 5 To 9, Caja Gilbert
Evaluating I2s2: An Inquiry-Based Indigenous Science Program For Years 5 To 9, Caja Gilbert
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
The Indigenous STEM Education Project, funded by BHP Billiton and implemented by CSIRO, aims to increase participation and achievement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and career pathways. It consists of six programs that cater to the diversity of students as they progress through primary, secondary and tertiary education and into employment. One of these programs is I2S2 (Inquiry for Indigenous Science Students). I2S2 is an inquiry-based science program for Years 5 to 9 that has involved over 7600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and 1154 teachers since 2016. It …
Coding In The Curriculum : Fad Or Foundational?, Leon Sterling
Coding In The Curriculum : Fad Or Foundational?, Leon Sterling
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
There has been an unprecedented push to revitalise interest in STEM education. Much of the discussion of the ’T’ in STEM education has been whether coding should be a central element of school education. This talk investigates the arguments for and against ‘coding in the curriculum.’ No sensible person thinks that teaching coding in the classroom will produce master programmers’, any more than teaching music in the school curriculum will produce master musicians. However the teaching of music can encourage some students to become musicians and the same would be true for coding. The issue is more what concepts are …
Activating Teachers’ Creativity And Moral Purpose In Science Education, Martin Westwell, Sonia Cooke
Activating Teachers’ Creativity And Moral Purpose In Science Education, Martin Westwell, Sonia Cooke
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Over the last three years, the Scientist in Residence program (a collaboration between the Department of Education and Child Development, and Flinders University) investigated a model of professional learning in science education that capitalised upon teachers’ moral purpose and drove their creativity. Insight into how teachers transformed their science classrooms is provided through examples of activities, work samples and clips of teachers describing how they changed their practice and how that, in turn, changed the engagement and achievement of the children. These resources will serve to illustrate some of the principles of practice that the teachers drew upon. In particular, …
Addressing The Stem Challenge Through Targeted Teaching : What’S The Evidence?, Dianne Siemon
Addressing The Stem Challenge Through Targeted Teaching : What’S The Evidence?, Dianne Siemon
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Numerous public reports are pointing to the critical importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to Australia’s future, but the number of students studying STEM subjects in senior years is declining, and many students in the primary and middle years of schooling do not have access to the ways of thinking and learning needed to succeed in school mathematics. Research over the past 10 years has established the critical role of multiplicative thinking in building student knowledge and confidence at this level of schooling, but there is a need for an expanded, evidence-based learning and teaching framework to support …
Enhancing Students’ Mathematical Aspirations And Mathematical Literacy As The Foundation For Improving Stem Learning, Merrilyn Goos
Enhancing Students’ Mathematical Aspirations And Mathematical Literacy As The Foundation For Improving Stem Learning, Merrilyn Goos
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Mathematics is the foundational enabling discipline that underpins STEM and its other constituent disciplines of science, technology and engineering. Central to Australia’s mathematical vitality is universal access to high-quality mathematics education. Without this, young people are at risk of early school leaving, low participation in post-school education and training, poor employment outcomes, and social isolation (COAG, 2008; Parsons & Bynner, 2005). But Australia faces significant problems in ensuring that all young people are successfully engaged in learning mathematics at school, and in providing them with teachers who can inspire their learning. This paper explores approaches to addressing two problems that …
Stem And Indigenous Learners, Elizabeth Mckinley
Stem And Indigenous Learners, Elizabeth Mckinley
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Achievement disparities between Indigenous students and their non-Indigenous peers in education continue to be documented across the globe. Over the past three decades, there has been a significant amount of writing on Indigenous methodologies, epistemology and, to a lesser extent, pedagogies. All are crucial in the lifelong process of teaching and learning – the nature of knowledge, how it is gained, and the transmission of it. However, much of this work is contested or seen as inappropriate or irrelevant in STEM education. Indigenous students do not perceive STEM subjects as being welcoming. As STEM educators, we need to take a …
The Stem Teacher Enrichment Academy : Evaluating Teachers’ Approaches To Implementing Stem Education In Secondary School Contexts, Judy Anderson
The Stem Teacher Enrichment Academy : Evaluating Teachers’ Approaches To Implementing Stem Education In Secondary School Contexts, Judy Anderson
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Amidst calls for a greater focus on STEM education in schools, attention is inevitably drawn to the quality of teaching and to appropriate means of supporting the teaching workforce so that more young people are engaged and interested in STEM subjects. This presentation describes the development and implementation of a STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy at the University of Sydney, and presents some of the outcomes from teachers’ efforts to implement STEM education across a variety of school systems. The findings draw on survey and interview data from two cohorts of participant teachers and their STEM mentors as they progressed through …
Drawing To Learn In Stem, Russell Tytler
Drawing To Learn In Stem, Russell Tytler
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Scientists, mathematicians and engineers draw and model to create knowledge. This presentation will describe a guided inquiry approach to teaching and learning science that involves students actively creating visual and other representations to reason and explain as they explore the material world. The approach has been successfully used in a number of major professional learning initiatives in Victoria and NSW. Evidence will be presented of increased student engagement and quality learning flowing from the approach, which aligns classroom processes more authentically with processes of imaginative scientific discovery. Examples of activities and student drawings and model construction will be used to …
Must Try Harder : An Evaluation Of The Uk Government’S Policy Directions In Stem Education, Pauline Hoyle
Must Try Harder : An Evaluation Of The Uk Government’S Policy Directions In Stem Education, Pauline Hoyle
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
There is a common issue across Europe and the UK that vexes governments, employers and educationalists: the need for more young people to choose to study STEM subjects, become graduates in STEM subjects and then take up STEM careers. In addition, there is an urgent need for more STEM skills in the total workforce. For decades, the UK government has been committed to addressing this issue with a range of activities and strategies. Since the influential UK Government report conducted by Sir Gareth Roberts (2002), there have been policy and funding commitments by the various UK governments to improve outcomes …