Experiments in STEM engagement

A new program being carried out by Deakin University will take a fresh look at the university curriculum and how it prepares education students to teach science in an engaging way. The initiative comes in response to a continuing decline in the number of students pursuing science and maths. Deakin University Australian Laureate Fellow professor Maria Forsyth and her team at the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) will be looking at scientists' work to see how it could be incorporated into the curriculum for pre-service teachers. The project – reconceptualising mathematics and science teacher education programs – has been funded by the chief scientist’s office. Forsyth has been a key force behind IFM’s outreach activities with students. “The problem is you can only reach a handful of kids,” she says. “So what we need to do is get teachers more enthusiastic and see the relevance of science in what they are teaching in the real world.” The research team includes Deakin professor Russell Tytler, associate professor Peter Hubber and associate professor Stuart Palmer, as well as research teams from Monash and La Trobe universities and industry partners, including BioLab and the Melbourne Museum. Tytler said science, mathematics and technology have a ubiquitous role in our lives. “There are many human activities and problems, such as the use of energy, global warming and health and medical care, where understanding requires at least a basic scientific and technological knowledge and confidence,” he said. “Economically as well, we need an ever-growing proportion of the workforce to have quantitative, modelling and problem-solving skills and basic scientific knowledge. “This means academic and vocational programs need to be strong in science, technology, maths and engineering skills.” Tytler co-authored a report for Chief Scientist Ian Chubb looking into Australians’ participation and competency in science, technology, engineering and maths compared with 26 other countries. He said ensuring teachers were suitably prepared to teach the subjects in an engaging way was one solution to increasing the numbers of students studying them.