Please find the updated information about the upcoming MSET-Ed research discussion scheduled on Tuesday May 5. Look forward to seeing many of you there.
Discussion 1. Exploring Complexity in Socio-Scientific Soil Health Issues: Supporting Pre-Service Teachers’ Socio Scientific Sustainability Reasoning – Franziska Messenboeck, University College for Agricultural and Environmental Education in Vienna (Austria)
Environmental education requires more than conceptual understanding; it calls for embodied and reflective engagement with complex socio-ecological issues. The study presented explores how pre-service science teachers (PSSTs) engage with a Socio-Scientific Soil Health Issue framed as a Socially Acute Question, focusing on the aspects they prioritise and the implications they draw for classroom practice. Grounded in Socio-Scientific Sustainability Reasoning (S3R), the study combines drama-based practices with controversy mapping in a workshop setting.
Franziska Messenboeck works at the University College for Agricultural and Environmental Education in Vienna (Austria) and does her PhD at the University of Giessen (Germany). In recent years, she has worked as a project coordinator for the Teaching Clinic, an action research initiative with in-service teachers, and the One Health Teaching Clinic, which collaborates with subject matter experts to bring contemporary One Health issues into schools. She organises the Vienna Mushroom Festival, which attracts over 5,000 visitors and sparked her research interest in soil health and its interconnections with human and environmental wellbeing. To engage with different educational cultures and research traditionsfor teaching socio-ecological issues, Franziska came to Deakin as a visiting scholar.
Discussion 2. Developing a white paper to frame the future of science education research – Linda Hobbs, Russell Tytler and others
This presentation outlines the collaborative, research-informed process used to develop ASERA’s Science Education: Fit for the FutureWhite Paper, including synthesis of evidence, consultation with the ASERA membership, and iterativefeedback to refine priorities. It explains how these deliberative steps informed decisions about the key themes—clarifying how we determined what matters most for a future-ready science education in Australia and New Zealand.
Linda Hobbs is a Professor of Education (Science Education) at Deakin University. Her researchinterests include teaching out-of-field, STEM education, teacher learning and school change, partnerships in educations, as well as evaluation of education-based initiatives. She has designed, implemented and evaluated professional learning for primary and secondary teachers of science and STEM for over ten years. Linda is the President/Managing Director of the ASERA executive board.
Posted May 31, 2026
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