Much of the education conversation in the media recently has focused on an area in the school curriculum known as STEM. For the uninitiated, that is Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. The Office of the Chief Scientist has forecast that 75 per cent of the fastest-growing occupations in Australian society now require STEM skills and knowledge.
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Beginning that skill and knowledge development in STEM with students in the very early years at school seems pressing. By all reports, it is too late once they have reached high school. Who was it who said "give me a child until they are seven and I will show you the … person"? Piquing the curiosity of children in primary schools is where interest and skill development in STEM subjects must commence.
At Sydney's Epping West Public School earlier this year I worked with a team of eight kindergarten teachers in an in-school professional development project. The project aimed to support teachers to understand more about technology-enhanced learning using a new design-based framework known as High Possibility Classrooms.
As well, the project required the teaching team to experiment and program content with the new NSW K-10 Science syllabus and elements of the Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) syllabus documents.
Students' learning in the project was conducted within an inquiry approach, a method recommended by the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment Reporting Authority. The unit was all about how things move in the natural and built environment.
Students looked at moving objects in the classroom, around their school playground and at home. Various toys were brought in and really scrutinised by the students with assistance from their teachers on "what makes toys move". For example, that small "happy" wound-up toy from a well-known restaurant chain … what causes it to bounce across the table? Can we pull it apart to see what's inside? Students were engrossed.
Kindergarten teacher Lisa Powell from the school explains: "The project was very explicit in that we focused on two new Australian curriculums with technology playing a big role in delivering highly engaging content for students to explore and further inquire into with the support of individual teachers. The students loved it".
Only a few of the kindergarten teachers had used mobile devices with students this young before and were initially quite sceptical with how much time it would take. Upskilling students to be able to take "a good photo" was one thing but requiring them to use various apps to present what they were learning was another.
It wasn't long before what I saw, and the teachers marvelled at, were high-quality photographs of moving objects on mobile devices that were presented in creative electronic collages with annotations. Other students painted images of what they were finding out about the natural and built environment in the form of imaginative "recycling warriors".
They animated these "talking puppets" with the help of various apps on the mobile devices they used – choosing apps suitable for students just learning to read and write is important.
Rachel Allen, another teacher from the kindergarten team said: "Technology allows students to easily record, revisit and organise their reactions and thinking. We moved into those higher-order thinking skills, increasing the chance of the concepts embedding into their long-term memory. Technology allows this to be easy and its personal."
Students like to have an audience for their work beyond their teacher. If others see what they are doing then there is palpable compunction to make it better.
Mindful of the High Possibility Classrooms framework that comes from research on exemplary teachers' knowledge of technology integration in classrooms in NSW public schools, the kindergarten teachers at Epping West Public School were keen to reinvigorate their understandings of science and geography concepts.
Amanda Dippenaar, team leader for the group, suggested: "Professional development projects like this – using new curriculum documents means we have had success in more than one area … we have built on the knowledge and skills of staff and students and we are working towards High Possibility Classrooms using 21st century skills focused on STEM."
If Australia is to achieve the kind of interest and success in STEM as a country that our political leaders, the Office of the Chief Scientist, company chiefs, university heads and captains of industry are demanding, then teacher professional development will need to be properly funded.
Hardware and software resources will require upgrading in all public schools and parents too must take their part in positively valuing and encouraging the study of STEM subjects at all levels of their child's education.
Dr Jane Hunter is a specialist in curriculum, pedagogy, technology integration in learning at the School of Education, University of Western Sydney.
