This program involves a range of innovations in school-industry partnerships, STEM models and exploration of wider notions of interdisciplinary curricula particularly involving futures thinking for Anthropocene challenges.
School Partnerships
The MSET-Ed research group is increasingly active in the area of school and industry partnerships exploring contemporary disciplinary and interdisciplinary STEM practices. MSET-Ed researchers are leading thinking in interdisciplinarity and societal futures through high level policy input at national level and internationally through OECD, UNESCO and European Union involvement. Exploration of partnership processes with industry, STEM researchers and schools have opened up innovative classroom practices. Explorations of STEM work futures underpins a focus on STEM skills development including problem solving, computational thinking, and reasoning about complex systems.
Sustainability and Climate Change Education
MSET-Ed researchers focus on sustainable futures and socio-ecological challenges of the Anthropocene that underpin projects on green chemistry, systems thinking and Climate Change Education. Initiatives that involve a focus on student reasoning and agency through the representation of contemporary scientific practices are central to this program of research. This work is informed by the OECD PISA 2025 Science Framework in which MSET-Ed researchers were involved. The group has led an Australian Climate Change Education summit developing policy recommendations for government.
Exploring Interdisciplinarity
MSET-Ed researchers have been involved in cutting edge explorations of interdisciplinarity involving the STEM disciplines, including major government funded projects supporting schools and teachers, and exploring policy issues around STEM. This has resulted in a number of publications investigating models of interdisciplinarity involving design, mathematics and science, science and mathematics, financial mathematics, and critical and creative thinking involving STEM and art, and aesthetics. These initiatives include exploration of partnerships between teachers and schools and STEM practitioners.
