In March and April 2014, the author travelled overseas on a 2013 Churchill Fellowship to study education programs that successfully engage and enthuse primary and middle school students in maths, engineering and science (MES) or science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) learning in schools, universities and institutions in the United…

An integrated approach to assessment afforded pre-service teachers the opportunity to learn about a local sustainability issue through three learning areas: science and technology, the arts and studies of society and environment (SOSE). Three sustainability issues chosen by the pre-service teachers are presented in this paper highlighting the…

Noby Leong is a PhD student in Chemistry at University of Adelaide working on the design of new drug delivery systems for medical applications. He's also a science communicator, part of the volunteer blogging community at RiAus and curator of his own blog "The Other Side of Science." In this article Noby shares the highs and lows…

In this article, we describe a project on reasoning about socio-scientific issues (SSIs), involving French and Australian pre-service science teachers engaged in on-line discussion and development of a wiki. In the research, we developed frameworks for looking at the quality of reasoning about "socially acute" sustainability questions.…

This article reports on the results of a paper-pen questionnaire study involving certain key aspects of the nature of science. The questionnaire covers, among other things, aspects such as uniqueness of the scientific method, objectivity of scientific data, and immutability of scientific laws. The survey was given out to eighty trainee teachers…

Introducing Problem Based Learning (PBL) to a cohort of science education pre-service teachers enabled them to engage in a widely used learning and teaching strategy helpful to align university courses with the professional work they are expected to undertake on graduation. Almost fifty pre-service teachers participated in the study, focussed on…

Supermarket Botany is a frequently-used teaching resource or strategy. It draws on a student's existing familiarity with plant-based foods to explore plant structure and life cycles. One of its strongest points is that it is adaptable to many age levels--from lower primary school to university and general interest groups. We have designed a unique…

This study reports on the strategies that regional science teachers found useful when early career scientists--tertiary science students were employed as peer mentors in their science classroom with indigenous and non-indigenous Year 7-10 students. Teachers engaged in a participatory action research to define the role of the early career…

Of concern is an international trend of students' increasing reluctance to choose science courses in both their final years of secondary school and tertiary levels of education. Research into the phenomenon indicates an influencing factor to be the "uninteresting curriculum" (OECD, 2006) of school science. This article presents an exploration of…

Studying physics for nonphysics majors at college level is usually a process of learning new problem-solving skills and sometimes seems a frustrating experience. In an attempt to provide students with more learning resources, online homework was required to supplement the instruction. This study reveals the role of the online homework assignments…

Lab components of undergraduate science courses typically have students complete highly directed cookbook-like laboratory activities. These experiences rarely engage students in a meaningful manner and do not accurately convey what the work of science entails. With funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), we have created more…

A modified model of cooperative learning known as the GIG model (for group-individual-group) designed and implemented in a large enrollment freshman chemistry course. The goal of the model is to establish a cooperative environment while emphasizing greater individual accountability using both group and individual assignments. The assignments were…

Retaining college-level science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students remains a priority in higher education. A variety of methods have been shown to increase retention, including mentorship, tutoring, course enhancements, community building, and engagement in high-impact practices such as undergraduate research. In 2011, an…

This study examines the within-field persistence rates of physical science/engineering (PS/E) students compared with those of students in life science, business, social science, education, and humanities. The data are drawn from a nationally representative sample of college matriculates and include students' high school and college transcript…

The partnership between science and the environment in service-learning projects helps students to make greater connections to the world around them. Service learning provides many benefits to students, faculty, and communities within the context of a college course. However, to prevent frustration, it is important for faculty members to make a…