Curriculum planning

In our latest expert Q&A we talk to Kristy Osborne, a physicist, former pre-service teacher and Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) about the science concepts that primary students struggle with and why it’s important for teachers to identify and address student misconceptions early on.

‘Deliberately planning to support students to build and use their vocabulary is critical to ensuring that students can both access the curriculum content and effectively demonstrate their understanding.’ Educational leader Michael Rosenbrock shares what this might look like in practice for maths and science teachers.

‘Teacher knowledge of misconceptions and explicitly planning to uncover and address them is vital for supporting student learning growth.’ Educational leader Michael Rosenbrock looks at how teachers can pro-actively plan to tackle student misconceptions in STEM, and steps though an example from the forces and motion topic in physics.

‘In my work supporting mathematics teachers’ planning, I am often told “I just wish we had more time!” That is, more time to understand the concepts, reflect on assessment data, source high-quality tasks, and discuss strategies for supporting diverse learners.’ Dr Aylie Davidson shares 5 tips that her research has shown can help ensure teaching teams stay maths-focused when planning.

While ChatGPT can save students time from searching through textbooks or online databases, the AI-generated content is not always accurate. Steve Brophy from Ivanhoe Grammar School in Victoria assigned students the task of testing the fallibility of ChatGPT with the lesson activity: Would you lie to me?

Does your school have a Reconciliation Action Plan in place? Briar Road Public School has been recognised for their reconciliation initiatives and in this article, we speak to the principal and Aboriginal Culture and Curriculum teacher about how they have created a culture at their school where Aboriginal education is embedded in the curriculum.

The Australian National Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health explores young people’s experiences of sex, relationships, sexual health and school-based Relationships and Sexuality Education. Data from the seventh iteration, involving almost 7,000 participants, have just been released – in this infographic we look at some of the findings.

Research shows that pragmatic and evidence-based consent education in schools can have both immediate and lasting effects in reducing gender-based violence. In this article, we outline 5 further readings which explore consent education in Australia.

‘Understanding how students construct information from their prior knowledge … allows classroom educators to determine the extent and type of unlearning needed before introducing new, challenging and truthful information.’ Associate Lecturer Justine Grogan shares some of the findings of her research in Indigenous Education.

In the second part of our Q&A, author-educator Vanessa Hamilton discusses what consent education is (and some of the misconceptions), examples of what it looks like for students in primary and secondary, best practice for schools, and some of the challenges faced by teachers and leaders.