News

Thursday 20th and Friday 21st November saw researchers gather at Deakin Downtown for 2 days of methodological discussion. We heard from 33 researchers who presented methodological and theoretical challenges – with short presentations but long, rich discussions. Presentations were offered in themes that enabled discussions to focus. We also enjoyed 2 keynotes – that were […]

The Contemporary Approaches to Research (CAR) Symposium is to be held on 20th and 21st November 2025 at Deakin Downtown. The two-day symposium focuses on practical & theoretical aspects of a range of research methodologies. The program will include two keynote speakers and themed sessions. Have you registered? If not, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/contemporary-approaches-to-research-symposium-tickets-1088453938029?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Edited By: Peta J. White, Russell Tytler, Joseph Paul Ferguson, John Cripps Clark, Jill P. Brown. We are excited to announce the release of Methodological Approach to STEM Education Research Volume 6. Seventeen chapters informed by presentations at the CAR Symposium 2024. This volume offers a contemporary, grounded perspective on research methodologies for education practitioners and

The David Clarke Memorial Lecture was delivered by Russell Tytler on 29th October. Russell’s lecture titled ‘Exploring New Understandings of Teaching and Learning Science and Maths’ was enthusiastically received by the large audience. Please find link to the recording for your viewing and/or to share with your networks, https://go.unimelb.edu.au/6kn2

Register https://www.aaee.org.au/

The highly anticipated 2025 Contemporary Approaches to Research in Mathematics, Science, Health and Environmental Education Symposium is on 20th-21st November 2025 at Deakin Downtown and online. The closing date for expressions of interest is extended until Friday 17th October 2025. If you, your colleagues or HDR students are interested in presenting at this symposium please

In collaboration with VicPhysics, Deakin University we will be hosting a free event, a talk on Physics Education by Stuart Farmer from the UK Institute of Physics. The event will be held on Wednesday 15th October, 5pm-6.30pm, at Deakin Downtown and online. Please book through VicPhysics. Stuart will address what we need to do to

An exciting opportunity for free professional learning ‘tasters’ for upper primary and lower secondary science educators, ‘Critical Thinking in Science‘ through the Deakin PLEd Hub. The ‘tasters’ on 11th November and 17th November (repeat session) are from 4pm-5pm and provide a ‘taster’ for upcoming full day or online PL. The professional learning is a collaboration

Russell invites you to attend the David Clark memorial Lecture titled Exploring New Understandings of Teaching and Learning Science and Maths. You can register at: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/x23p

MSET-Ed are proud to be supporting the 2025 AstroEdu Conference, an International Astronomy Education conference bringing together educators and researchers to reflect on the past 10 years, and look ahead a decade to leverage the potential of astronomy in teaching and learning. Dr. Saeed Salimpour, MSET-Ed Associate Researcher, is event organiser and speaker at the

Associate Professor Jill Brown presented Reasoning Cartoons as a Methodological Tool in a session with colleagues Justine Sakurai and Julia Hill 🙂

On Wednesday 20 – Thursday 21 March members of the REDI STEME group attended Science Meets Parliament.

Theme: Critical Thinking in Teacher Education: Evidence, Reflections, and Ways Forward Special Issue launch for Teachers and Teaching Date & Time: 8:20-17:30, December 2, Saturday, Beijing time (11:20-20:30, December 2, Saturday, Australia-Deakin time) Organizer: Beijing Normal University Center for Teacher Education Research (national key research institution in China) Target audience: Teacher education scholars and practitioners in

In climate policy, increasing attention is being paid to identifying “positive tipping points”, i.e. potential leverage points that could enable far-reaching systems transformations in line with environmental and climate goals. This session looks into how education systems can best contribute to positive tipping dynamics and enable social change at the scale and pace needed to

Many of the Deakin Science Education team and ccolleagues are presenting at STAVCON this year. 

The Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) annual conference (MERGA45) was held in Newcastle July 2-6, 2023. Recent graduate Dr Jiqing Sun, current HDR student Lei Bao, and Jill Brown all presented our reviewed and accepted research papers at MERGA45 in Newcastle last week. Jiqing presented A Further Investigation to Introducing the Equal Sign

The Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA) hosted the annual conference in Cairns, Queensland and the Deakin Science team were present and presenting!

Across an awe-inspiring timespan of more than 65,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have created knowledge as Australia’s first scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians. The songlines of this country are intricate scientific knowledge systems. As the peak body for the science and technology sector, Science & Technology Australia honours this long tradition. Our

Launch of the PISA 2025 Science Framework Oxford University Press and the OECD invite the global science education community to join us for an online event to launch the PISA 2025 Science Framework.  OUP has collaborated with the OECD to develop the PISA 2025 Science Framework to help policy makers understand the capabilities and progress

The 10th annual symposium for the Out of Field / Teaching Across Specialisations (OOF-TAS) Collective will be held online and in Glasgow from the 20th to 21st of August, 2023. They will celebrate a decade of the OOFTAS Collective (previously the TAS Collective), sharing research, and sharing friendship through research. Abstract submissions are now invited.

Professor Travis Rector, a high profile astrophysicist from the University of Alaska Anchorage, will make links between astronomy and teaching climate change in a free workshop. Professor Travis Rector will present strategies on how to have students and the public leave your class or outreach effort feeling informed, hopeful, and ready to address the problem.

Come along to play a range of science board games with your family! Deakin Science Educators (and some of our students) are pleased to host this event again! Wednesday 20th April from 6.30 – 8.30pm Burwood Campus – Building M – atrium Link for registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/family-science-games-night-deakin-university-burwood-tickets-318583149777

The Deakin STEM Education Conference has moved to online. Registrations are still open. The conference will continue to feature presentations, workshops, keynotes and some social times to browse trade displays and meet others. Dates: October 18-19, 2021 Cost: $60 ($30 a day) Register here              Conference program                 Conference website  

SMSI provides you the opportunity to gain a fully funded university qualification, Graduate Certificate of Secondary Mathematics or Science, through Deakin University, a leading Australian tertiary institution with recognised expertise in out-of-field teaching. The course is closely aligned to the classroom context and is of 9 months duration during 2022. DET will fully fund the course and provide funding to your school for time release to study. There is additional support offered to all especially those of you who may be returning to study after a while out of university. For further information and expressions of interest please visit: SMSI 2022

Russell Tytler and Vaughan Prain recently argued the misleading nature of the debate between direct and inquiry instruction. “Advocates of inquiry learning claim their approach is more successful, meets the learning demands of this century, and is preferred by students. Yet direct instruction still dominates as a teaching approach, particularly in secondary school. This century-old

David Symington, Adjunct Professor in Science Education and a longstanding member of the STEME research group, passed away yesterday after a very short illness following diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In recent years David has been a regular attendee of the CAR symposium, and has researched and written with a number of us over the last

OOF-TAS Collective Symposium 13-14 September, 2021 Call for Papers The 8th symposium for the OOF-TAS Collective will be held online. The theme for the symposium is: International perspectives on management of teaching out-of-field Online Symposium Powered by Zoom Cost: Free This theme welcomes research and commentary relating to the management of out-of-field teaching by schools, government,

This conference has moved to October 18-19 and will be online.

Expressions of Interest to join the 2021 chemistry cohort of the Deakin Chemistry Education Professional Learning Communities launched

The Deakin STEME team has been successful in a bid to deliver new Graduate Certificates in Secondary Mathematics and in Secondary Science that support teachers without formal qualifications in teaching mathematics/science (‘out of field’ teachers) to gain knowledge and experience of mathematics/science ideas and best practice teaching approaches. The design and delivery of the courses

The 202o CAR Symposium was a success in the online space. We enjoyed three days (long mornings) with sessions of pre-recorded presentations and discussion.  The use of the chat feature meant that we could engage with the presenters and colleagues during the presentations.  A rich and enjoyable conversation developed which was them further explored during

Our colleague and friend, Associate Professor Judy Mousley lost her battle with Parkinson’s disease and passed away on 15 September, 2020. Judy commenced in the Faculty of Education at Deakin in 1982 as a mathematics tutor and, over the years, firmly stamped her own brand of conscientious, responsive teaching on her work with Deakin students. She

The Chemistry Education Association November Lectures will be online and free for all participants this year.

Expressions of interest are due on Friday 2nd October for the 2020 CAR Symposium https://mset-ed-deakin.org.au/event-category/car-symposiums/  Please click this link https://mset-ed-deakin.org.au/event/2020-contemporary-approaches-to-research-in-mathematics-science-health-and-environmental-education-symposium/ and then complete the EOI online form. Please include a statement about the methodological focus of your presentation in addition to a 150 word abstract.  Presentations are for 12 minutes – with rich discussion to

Deakin University – School of Education is excited to announce that we have just nominated as a GOLD Sponsor of the Science Teachers Association of Victoria – STAVCON. Several members of the Science Education team will be presenting on the day – an online event. Professor Russell Tytler Associate Professor Linda Hobbs Dr Seamus Delaney

The upcoming symposium for the OOF-TAS Collective (Out-of-field, Teaching Across Specialisations) will be online this year on August 29-30. Because it is international the Australian times will be 4pm-9pm. The Collective’s website is: http://ooftas-collective.org/ This year’s symposium page is: http://ooftas-collective.org/conference/2020 You can register online – free of course. For more information email l.hobbs@deakin.edu.au

Great representation of the STEME Research Group members presenting at the online ASERA conference. We prerecorded our presentations and they are included here: 2020 Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA) Presentations – online! Introducing Digital Technologies into Play-Based Learning in Early Childhood George Aranda, Joseph Ferguson, Coral Campbell, Chris Speldwinde Exploring Innovative Pedagogies Through Interdisciplinary

Our colleague Maija Aksela (LUMA Centre – Finland) has invited us to join her and her colleague on the 3 – 4th June 2020 for this online symposium. The symposium is free of charge and will be managed at times when it is ok to participate from Australia. Please register – see poster for link

Patricia (Trish) Patrick was coming to Deakin as a Visiting Scholar…. before Covid-19!  She is a Fulbright Scholar researching in Indonesia (we will host a presentation soon where Trish will showcase her research).  She currently resides in the US. We decided that we should go ahead with this workshop anyway…. To be a Theoretical Framework

The Institute of Frontier Materials (IFM) at Deakin University hosts the storEnergy Training Centre. Researchers in the centre focus on a range of issues and development opportunities exploring the circular economy and battery storage. This open/public symposium will showcase six groups of researchers working on issues related to the circular economy and battery energy storage.

The Deakin STEME PL Hub is underway and the first of many PL opportunities is happening ASAP. Watch this site for more details…. Assessing Science Inquiry Skills is the first event and is occurs on Thursday 12th December at the Burwood campus. Check out the Professional Learning tab on this site for details about more

The team from .this (a Deakin media unit) approached Peta who enlisted John and Russell to design a quiz.  The purpose of the quiz was that if you took it and were successful, then your science knowledge and (some) skills might be at about year 10 level…. it was a big ask for a small

STAVCON was held at La Trobe Uni on Friday 29th  November 2019 and Russell and Peta launched the STEME PL Hub to a full room of interested science teachers. With standing room only we showcased the STEME Education Research Group research program depth and breadth and outlined how we research in partnership with schools.  The

Dr Dino Spagnoli (University of Western Australia) is visiting the School of Life & Environmental Sciences to present a Science Education seminar this upcoming Friday 29th November. Seminar title: Preparation, Anxiety and Self-Efficacy: Probing the Affective Domain of Learning within the Chemistry Undergraduate Laboratory.

Monday 18th to Wednesday 20th November saw some members of the STEME Education Research Group hold a research retreat at the Riversdale Golf Club. Highlights included good conversations, focussed meetings, publication completions and convivial collegiality. The venue was beautiful with sunny weather and loads of green lawn and big trees.

Thursday 7th and Friday 8th November saw many of the Deakin STEME Education Research group attend and present at the CAR Symposium. We hosted two excellent keynote speakers: Kathy Nolan form the University of Regina, Canada and Margaret Bearman from CRADLE, Deakin University. There were two full days of stimulating methodologically focussed short presentations followed

Early October 2019 saw Deakin University and the School of Education honour our most recent PhD graduates.  The STEME Research group congratulate Dr. Kathryn Riley who made the trip home to Australia to walk the stage of Costa Hall. Kathryns PhD was a posthumanist exploration of environmental education.  Her title is (Re)Storying Human/Nonhuman Relationships:  Posthumanist