• All activities
  • New study options
    • Engaging with practices of contemporary science
    • Inquiry science
    • Schools science project
    • Science in Schools
    • Science and mathematics specialist pathways
    • Science and Mathematics in the Classroom
  • Additional Experiences
    • AMSPP collaboration
    • ASELL for Schools - Victorian Node
    • Back to school
    • Communicating Science
    • Contemporary Biology and Environmental Science In Education
    • Contemporary Science Schools Network
    • Discovery STEM initiative
    • Maths videos
    • Multidisciplinary Science and Technology in Education collaboration
    • Reconceptualising Chemistry
    • Reconceptualising Rocks
    • Representing scientific practice at the Institute for Frontier Materials
    • Scientists as Partners in Education
    • Science Squad

Discovery STEM initiative

A ReMSTEP funded pilot program, the La Trobe Discovery STEM Initiative, for Bendigo 2nd year Bachelor of Education (Primary) students, held at the Bendigo Discovery Science and Technology Centre in 2016.

Contact

Responds to ReMSTEP innovation(s):

4

Specialist science and technology centre collaborations.

5

Opportunities for students to interact with scientists in world-class research environments.

Key points

• 153 Pre-service teachers were involved, with 4 schools and, 875 students over 4 weeks.
• Changed the opinion of many of the PSTs from being adverse to teaching science to wanting to teach science in the future
• In some cases encouraged PSTs to change their speciality to science

As part of La Trobe’s Bachelor of Education (Primary), pre-service teachers (PSTs) are required to complete a unit on teaching science, based around the e⁵ pedagogies of teaching and the use of the Primary Connections workbooks. In 2016, in collaboration with ReMSTEP, this unit included the pilot program of the La Trobe Discovery STEM Initiative, aimed at increasing the science communication skills of the PSTs.

The Discovery STEM Initiative brought groups of 2–4 PSTs to the Bendigo Discovery Science and Technology Centre (DSTC), and partnered them with a primary school class from one of four local primary schools.

The activities that the PSTs conducted as a part of this project were;

• An introductory session at DSTC, to introduce the PSTs to DSTC and explain what was going to be done,
• Interactions and planning activities for each class with an in-service teacher from a local primary school,
• Planning and team teaching of an “Engage” lesson to a class of primary students in a classroom, in conjunction with the mentor teacher,
• Assisting and participating in an “Explore” workshop for the same primary school class at DSTC,
• Creation of a digital “Explain” lesson, to be taught after by the in-service teacher after the workshop, and
• Completion of a reflective journal for their formal assessment of the program.

The workshop, taught by DSTC staff, was created to complement the Primary Connections unit being taught at the local school.

The PSTs, primary school students and DSTC staff enjoyed the program, and thought it was a valuable partnership. PSTs recognised the value in using DSTC as a resource for teaching their students in the future. PSTs said they gained a knowledge of the Primary Connections units and the e⁵ model of teaching that they had not previously known about, and the local teachers saw new approaches to teaching science that they had not previously implemented in their own practice.

The PSTs also said that they found ‘science was easier to teach and more interesting than they have previously experienced,’ and that they would be more comfortable with teaching science in their own practice. Teachers also commented on the interest of their students with the topic material was much higher than what would normally have been achieved in the classroom.