Science

A new national report explores latest achievement data for students’ science literacy, and offers insights into what’s happening in Australian classrooms to help develop their knowledge, understanding and inquiry skills

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) recently released an in-depth analysis of Australian student and principal questionnaire responses, collected as part of the OECD’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In this Q&A, we speak with ACER’s Lisa De Bortoli and Catherine Underwood about what Australia’s results tell us.

It is estimated that within the next 5 years, over 90% of jobs will require STEM skills. In this article, we speak to Daniel Edwards, STEM/Digital Technologies teacher at Montello Primary School and Parklands High School in Burnie, Tasmania, about the value of implementing STEM as a subject, and the amazing successes his students have had.

How do you continue to innovate and adapt your teaching to best equip students for a fast-changing, digitally driven world? In Singapore, the Ministry of Education has implemented regular home-based learning days, where students are tasked with taking charge of their own learning.

A new study has investigated the classroom emotional experiences of boys and girls undertaking integrated STEM projects to understand the role this has on girls’ interest in STEM. To do this, researchers needed to develop and validate a research tool. We unpack the study in this episode of The Research Files.

A report by Evidence for Learning has provided 6 practical recommendations to improve primary science. In this article, Teacher looks at one of the 6 recommendations – developing students’ scientific vocabulary.

The longstanding Prime Minister’s Prizes for Excellence in Science Teaching recognise one primary and one secondary STEM teacher for their outstanding contribution to the field. The 2023 winners were announced late last year and in this episode, we speak with them both about the work they’ve been recognised for.

Students with academic resilience persist and thrive in their studies, despite the odds being stacked against them. In our latest reader submission Associate Professor Nani Tieg, from the University of Oslo, Norway, explores findings from her UNESCO GEM Fellowship study into the role teachers play in fostering academic resilience in maths and science classrooms.

In this expert Q&A, Lisa De Bortoli – ACER Senior Research Fellow and National Project Manager for Australia for PISA – explains what the latest test results tell us about students’ skills and knowledge, and how schools can use the data to inform teaching and learning. She also shares early findings from PISA’s student and principal questionnaires.

Results from PISA 2022 have been released and the data show Australian student performance in maths and reading has been holding steady since 2015, and in science since 2018. However, when looking at the past 20 years, performance has dropped significantly across the board.