Life would not be possible without plants. Plants supply food to many organisms (including people), produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide from the air, provide products for human use, and homes for many other living things. It is not surprising, therefore, that plant growth is a familiar topic in the primary school science curriculum. This paper…

Water is a special substance. Not only do humans rely on water for survival, but it is also fascinating to play with and makes a great topic to investigate. Many simple investigations can be done with water, at home or at school, to guide children's science learning. This article describes a sequence of online learning experiences that were set…

This paper details a digital technology solution to a problem that arose during a science lesson in an early years class. The teacher used the opportunity to enable the children to apply their knowledge and skills of a software application developed in a recent ICT class. Using the age-appropriate app, the students could communicate their learning…

An important element of STEAM education that teachers struggle with is the adoption and application of digital technologies. Digital technologies have the potential to enhance social inclusion and student-centred learning, and for this reason it is important for teachers across all levels of schooling to develop skills and confidence in this area…

The computer game sensation "Minecraft" has become a mainstay amongst school students of all ages. Anecdotally, at Geoscience Australia, we have observed that "Minecrafters" often draw comparisons between their Minecraft experiences and the real world. For some students, the line between reality and fantasy is blurred. At the…

This paper provides a brief introduction to teaching strategies that can be used to support English as Additional Language (EAL) students in learning biology terminology. The paper begins with an overview of EAL students and considers the difficulties that they may face in the classroom along with the challenges that mainstream teachers may have…

New and emerging digital technologies are making an impact on how we practice science, and this has implications on how we teach science. We introduce the concept of the Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) as used in the research environment and describe how we have implemented this as a tool for providing undergraduate science students with an…

The concept of specificity of enzyme action can potentially be abstract for some students as they fail to appreciate how the three-dimensional configuration of enzymes and the active sites confer perfect fit for specific substrates. In science text books, the specificity of enzyme-substrate binding is typically likened to the action of a lock and…

In June 2009 Pamela Melrose was a recipient of a "Premier's Energy Australia Scholarship". Her study tour took her to Scandinavia. This paper is an account of that tour. In her report Pamela argues for the use of authentic studies in science teaching. She cites examples from museums, nature schools and research establishments to…

"Slowmation" (abbreviated from "Slow Animation") is a simplified way of making an animation that enables students to create their own as a new way of learning about a science concept. When students make a slowmation, they create a sequence of five multimodal representations (the 5 Rs) with each one contributing to the learning…

"Teaching Science" has, as one of its predecessors, the "Investigating" journal, which first appeared in 1988. Looking back ten years, the winner of the "Most Valuable Paper Award" for 1999 was Kimberley Pressick-Kilborn for her article--"Steps to Fostering a Learning Community in the Primary Science…

Developing scientific literacy drove the teaching and learning experiences provided to pre-service primary education teachers. Interactive whiteboard (IWB) pedagogy was used to engage and motivate these students' to explore science's role in making sense of our world and to understand key scientific concepts. Active science learning connected to…