Leading the way in science education

Dean of the Faculty of Education Professor John Loughran, recently delivered a keynote at the ‘Celebrating Leadership and Learning in Catholic Schools’ ceremony held at the new Catholic Education Centre. 

Professor Loughran was invited to launch the outstanding science education publication Teaching and Learning Science through Cases.  He was joined by the Victorian Minister for Education, the Hon Martin Dixon who presented certificates to the participants of this flagship science professional learning initiative.

The publication is a result of the Science Teaching and Learning program (STaL). The STaL program has been organised and run in collaboration with the Catholic Education Office Melbourne (CEOM) for a number of years.  

The over-arching purpose of the program is based on the idea that teachers need to be at the centre of their own professional learning, and that encountering challenging (sometimes confronting) learning situations can be important catalysts for change in practice.

The STaL program is spaced over five days throughout the year and includes residential workshops, follow up school visits and a writing day for the teachers to reflect on their practice and new approaches to pedagogy.  It was developed by the Science Education Research group in the Faculty of Education to support science teachers to focus on the complexity of student learning as a way to offer insights into their practice. 

“The key strengths of the STaL program is the opportunity for interaction, engagement, collaboration and intellectual discussion”, Professor Loughran said.

The CEOM have received good response from the teachers in the program.  Simon Lindsay of CEOM Learning and Teaching department said science teachers in the STaL program have the opportunity to slow down and pay attention to students and describe their actual learning,

“The STaL is often the turning point in a teacher’s awareness of the centrality of students’ learning within their own teaching practice,” Mr Lindsay said.

The Teaching and Learning Science through Cases publication includes 35 cases from teachers who participated in the STaL program and was edited by researches from the Faculty of Education.