Category: STEM
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So you want to be a world-famous scientist?
Here are five tips based on success stories of the past but designed for ambitious young women of today In 1909, the Australian suffragist Muriel Matters hit headlines around the world when she flew over London in a dirigible, showering the crowds below her with thousands of campaign leaflets. Although British women were still not…
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More than words – creating gender balance in the science classroom
By Dr Richard Walding, Griffith University and Moreton Bay College, Brisbane The term ‘gender balanced’ graces the back cover of many educational publications, and the first two editions of my Oxford University Press resource New Century Senior Physics make such a claim. The text has been sold in Queensland over the past 18 years, with…
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Lost without atlas skills
By Annie Facchinetti The digital native, tech savvy students in our classrooms today have no need for traditional skills such as knowing how to use an atlas or to read a map, right? They’ll just use Google to get fast information about places or to find their way around. While it’s tempting to think that…
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How to make maths memorable
By Annie Facchinetti Recent research in the area of neuroscience has revealed that the brain has a greater ability to change and adapt than was previously thought. However, brain changes are generally not instant. For lasting neurological pathways to be built, much like wearing a physical pathway between one place and another, they need to be…
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Don’t underestimate the value of practice in maths education
By Annie Facchinetti It is often easy to assume that because students appear to have understood an idea or demonstrated a skill on a particular day, they have mastered the associated concept. However, research is increasingly confirming the importance of practice in embedding learning in long-term memory. The adage ‘practice makes perfect’ is proving particularly relevant…
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Why flipped learning makes sense in the STEM classroom
By Andrew Douch The current generation of STEM teachers is the first that must choose between teaching important skills and teaching urgent skills. In the past, there was no difference — the important skills were the urgent skills. Now there is a fork in the road, presenting a threshold challenge for STEM teachers that flipped…