Dear subscriber,

NEWSLETTER August 2019

We are in the middle of conference time which is exciting.

The conference of science education leaders held last month was a great success, and the topics of equity, work integrated learning and active learning were very timely given the new performance based funding introduced by the government. ACSME is now just around the corner.

The recently released report on the changing nature of academic work in the sciences is also timely  as it aligns with the current ACDS project on education focused roles led by Susan Rowland, and it complements the work of the ACDS inaugural fellows. There will be more news about these projects in future newsletters.

Best wishes

Cristina Varsavsky

Science Teaching and Learning leaders met in Newcastle

The ACDS annual conference for associate deans (Teaching & Learning) and other leaders in science education was held this year at Newcastle University on 18 and 19 July 2019 with delegates from 31 universities.  The program, based on the theme of equity in science, was truly inspiring and the event provided another great networking opportunity. Thank you to all who attended as well as Andrew Kepert and his team for their hospitality and for doing an excellent job in putting the program together!

The conference also included a presentation on the 2019 ACDS Fellowship along with an inspiring presentation regarding new Bachelor of Science models to facilitate active learning.  Further information about the conference including the presentations are now available here.

ACSME is around the corner - make sure you register now

The 2019 Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education will be hosted by The University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney on 2, 3 and 4 October 2019.

This year the conference will have a specific focus on the student experience and student stories. We are well into the 4th Industrial Revolution and in higher education we are at a point of inflexion. We can either choose business as usual and slip behind the others, or we can choose to partner with our students to provide them with the opportunities to build their capabilities to ensure that they can make significant and meaningful contributions to Australia and the world.

The conference program is now available and poster sessions will be announced shortly.

Check out the full program details on the conference website 

The Changing Nature of the Academic Role in Science - final project report now published 

Congratulations to Professor Pauline Ross who has presented the final report of her Office for Learning and Teaching Fellowship. The final report is now available and it shows that in STEM the challenge for an education-focused academic is to retain expertise and research currency. To address many of the challenges facing the academic workforce in science, a productive partnership between education and research-focused academics and education researchers was proposed, among other solutions. 

Find our more about the project here.

When Science meets the Arts: Bridging the subjective-objective divide

A special issue of the International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education is out: When Science meets the Arts: Bridging the subjective-objective divide.  

Covering the disciplines of biomedical science, botany, chemistry, mathematics, microbiology, physics, psychology and zoology the papers selected for this special Issue focus on the scholarly, personal and scientific value of creative works generated formally within the curriculum, and informally.

The papers showcase examples of how our colleagues across science and mathematics have blurred disciplinary boundaries to better support student learning. 

It is exciting to see the broad range of educational situations where this is occurring so have a read through the articles in this two part Special Issue.  You can find these here: Part 1 and Part 2.