2022 SASTA Annual Conference & Expo

9:30 AM

1 Hour

Science is much more than the wow factor chemistry explosions you see in the lab. Science and STEM are intrinsic to our everyday lives and are part of careers as diverse as retail, food processing and flood control. For a decade, STEM specialist content company Refraction Media has communicated the relevance of STEM to students, parents, government and industry through CareerswithSTEM.com. This website and magazine series uses the narrative of STEM + X, where ‘X’ is another field, world changing goal or other area - like technology + fashion = performance enhancing sporting gear, or more sustainable fabric. Or engineering + health = artificial intelligence that can spot early signs of cancer. In fact, wherever a student’s interests, passions or goals lie, there’s a STEM + X to match. STEM is globally important to many of the biggest issues of today, from climate change, to global poverty and inequity, feeding a growing population sustainably, ensuring adequate healthcare and creating and maintaining a good quality of life. STEM jobs are also growing rapidly and entirely new job sectors are emerging and disappearing as we increasingly shift from an industrial to a digital society. The National Skills Commission predicts that, by May 2024, employment in STEM occupations in Australia would grow by 11.7% (or 301,500 people), compared to 7.5% for non-STEM jobs. And by 2030, it’s predicted Australian workers will spend 77 per cent more time using science and mathematics skills. At the same time, STEM needs to have a diverse range of people involved to fit the evolving needs of our knowledge economy and tech workforce and ensure equity in how we apply STEM moving forwards. In this keynote presentation, Heather will discuss how science is relevant to our most critical societal issues, and how to use interdisciplinary connections to make STEM more accessible for all students.

Presenter: Heather Catchpole

Organisation: CEO & Co-founder, Refraction Media

11:10 AM

1 Hour

As an Art and Design Teacher it is important to develop interdisciplinary skills that transfer to other learning areas such as Science. Divergent thinking in Art and Design helps to build better scientists. The skills learned in illustration allow students to visually model their scientific understandings. Emerging technologies such as 3D design, printing and Augmented Reality have importance in giving students skills in visualising and utilising 3 dimensional tools necessary for scientific innovation. My session would showcase student drawings, 3D designs and literacy related to scientific inquiry. I shall showcase and discuss the use of AR and VR in year 5 and 6 classes in designing Megafauna dig pits, Environmental Science projects and Space exploration devices and tools. It would be targeted for teachers of primary schools.

Presenter: Kate Tyrwhitt

Organisation: St Michael's College

Target Audience: Primary school teachers

11:10 AM

1 Hour

Children who are regularly read to in their first five years are exposed to 1.4 million more words than children who aren't read to. It’s inevitable that it falls to teachers to bridge these gaps and teaching Literacy is a part of every subject including STEAM. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world and thus using picture books in STEAM can lead to fascinating creations and deep learning. This session is based on using picture books both of a scientific nature and ones that are general fiction to create STEAM based challenges, tasks and learning activities that build STEAM skills including creation, observation, problem solving, analysis and refinement. In this workshop you will explore different types of activities, learning outcomes and techniques for designing various challenges based on picture books.

Presenter: Alexandra Fowler

Organisation: Woomera Area School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers

11:10 AM

1 Hour

This workshop will help both Primary and Middle school teachers explore the seemingly massive gap between Primary School general science (often taught only in a classroom) and High School science (taught almost exclusively in a lab environment). What can we do to help our Year 7s meet these new challenges? Is there something we can do at Primary School to close the gap? Workshop participants will play some science vocabulary games, have a look at how Bunsen burner licenses were attained this year, look at some scaffolds for Lab Report writing and have a go at using an online lab equipment drawing tool.

Presenter: Karina Darling

Organisation: St Mark's College, Port Pirie

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Pre-Service Teachers, Primary school teachers

11:10 AM

1 Hour

This workshop will initially focus on developing your understanding of DfE Secondary Science unit construction and arrangement, delving into how science is best taught and learned. Together, we will investigate a Year 9 science unit, taking a deep dive into classroom activities that facilitate the progression of student’s ability to comprehend scientific texts whilst developing awareness of scientific discoveries and societal impacts. We will examine the learning theories (Cognitive and Social Constructivism) embedded in the unit that have been used to inform practice and explore methodologies, such as Visible Thinking Routines, as vehicles to gather evidence for assessment of learning intentions. During this workshop, there will be discussion about application in classroom settings, consideration of extension of the activities and their relevance in building literacy in science into scientific literacy.

Presenter: Denise Rule

Organisation: Department for Education, South Australia

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers

11:10 AM

1 Hour

The world is a beautiful and complex place. It has systems for growth and maintaining itself, from balancing gas mixtures to maintaining the soil. In this workshop we will look at several ways of measuring it. This workshop will use Vernier datalogging equipment to explore topics such as: • Looking at chlorophyl in plants • Investigating plant photosynthesis • Investigating respiration (Both plant and animal) • Abiotic conditions • Water analysis

Presenter: Stuart Lewis

Organisation: Scientrific Pty Ltd

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

11:10 AM

1 Hour

What has a very high impact on student learning? Dialogic activities! Become the student in this workshop and experience 20 classroom activities that put the focus on talking, collaboration, feedback and metacognition for next-level science learning. From chatty hooks to verbal activation of prior knowledge; specific social and dialogic activities to motivating and active learning; cognitive and metacognitive activities through to oral assessment (with not an oral presentation in sight). See how these strategies are used in real classrooms with real students (and not just the "high band" students, but with a complex cohort) and take away a bunch of resources and ideas for talking science in your classroom.

Presenter: Lara Lang & Angeline Buckler

Organisation: ASMS & Aldinga Payinthi College

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

11:10 AM

1 Hour

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the impact of scientific literacy on personal decision-making and action. It exposed a conflict between opinion and evidence, which could be resolved – at least in part – through quality STEM education. For some, the pandemic offered an unprecedented opportunity to marvel at the scientific community. For others, the development and evolution of information was overwhelming, causing them to focus on potential risks. STEM education can develop the knowledge, skills and identities needed to overcome global challenges such as COVID-19 and climate change. Scientific literacy is an urgent and important issue. Why should we care? The answer is simple: our way of life and survival are at stake. Discover resources and strategies to support students’ development and application of scientific literacy. These resources make scientific literacy relevant, but they also inspire and excite your STEM students to challenge concepts using critical thinking and analysis.

Presenter: Claire Hughes

Organisation: RiAus

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

11:10 AM

1 Hour

Problem-based learning (PBL) develops higher order thinking skills. Higher order thinking skills are seldom taught, but should be included as part of any curriculum. PBL learning teaches students to develop thinking skills such as the ability to hypothesise, synthesize, analyse, evaluate, and generalise information rather than simply recall it. By solving real life unstructured problems, students have the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills. Come along to this session to learn how to incorporate PBL into your Science classroom.

Presenter: Caroline Cotton & Brock Herdman

Organisation: BioBrain & Blackwood High School

Target Audience: Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

12:15 PM

1 Hour

In this workshop we will look at how to build the scientific literacy of students using outdoor education in a primary setting (including junior primary). We will look at how we do this at Clarendon Primary as well as explore a range of resources that can help, like those available on the Oliphant Science Awards website. Participants will leave this workshop with resources and the confidence to put this into practice.

Presenter: Kathleen Best

Organisation: Clarendon Primary School

Target Audience: Primary school teachers

12:15 PM

1 Hour

‘What opportunities lie within for me?’, you ask hesitantly whilst peering through heavy gilt doors teetering on their golden hinges. You hope that this threshold could lead to grand rooms of scientific educational splendour but are understandably nervous to nudge them open. The thoughts, ‘What if I fail? and I don't want to be selfish’ plague you. Sarah Todd and Sarah Finney, will give you a glimpse of what joys and opportunities could be waiting for you through the doors. Not only that, they will give you some of the keys to turning the locks so they fit just right. We aim to share the dazzling dance floors and invite you to frolic in the areas of Oliphant Science Awards/Bush Blitz and blogging/STEMX/CONASTA/and State and National Awards. We show you the dazzling joys of experience and some tactics and strategies of application writing. You will get tips and feedback on crafting the perfect submission to enhance your teaching. Because of course.. We’re not selfish.

Presenter: Sarah Finney & Sarah Todd

Organisation: Stirling East Primary School & Coromandel Valley Primary School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

12:15 PM

1 Hour

In this exciting and interactive workshop, discover how to use Virtual Reality to deliver immersive STEM experiences for students of all ages. Discover first-hand how VR dramatically strengthens knowledge retention and supports improved student outcomes, through captivating and engaging personal experiences - stimulating thought in ways not possible with traditional books, pictures, or videos. See how Virtual and Augmented Realities offer unique and unparalleled ways to engage and encourage students, by allowing them to immerse themselves in events, role play areas and interactive displays with technology that inspires and motivates. Uncover how using this technology within the classroom, students have an improved understanding of topics, experience greater concentration, a renewed enthusiasm for learning and provide a better quality of response and engagement. Session participants can enjoy an opportunity to actively experience both VR and AR using headsets and ARCubes.

Presenter: Bianca Cook

Organisation: AR VR EDUCATION

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers

12:15 PM

1 Hour

This session will explore how you might go about writing and structuring tasks in 7-10 to differentiate for different abilities and interests - we will cover practical and assignment based work. We will also look at how to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priorities in some tasks and how this might be differentiated as well. Examples will be given for year levels from 7-10 in the AC and covering a range of topics and sciences.

Presenter: Jason Greenslade

Organisation: Westminster School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

12:15 PM

1 Hour

Are you looking for ways of collecting data related to experiments in the Australian Curriculum – Chemistry (Especially when experimenting at home)? This workshop explores Chemistry using a variety of Vernier Dataloggers and probes. Multiple workstations will be used for participants to experiment with support from our presenter. Some of the topics covered will be: • Chemistry at home • pH and household chemicals • Boyle’s Law • Guy-Lussac’s Law • Beer’s Law • Acid – Base Titrations Ideas for further investigations will also be explored.

Presenter: Stuart Lewis

Organisation: Scientrific Pty Ltd

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

12:15 PM

1 Hour

Tell your students they have a SAT coming up in a Year 12 Science course and as likely as not they start talking about the test. Skills and Applications Tasks (SATs) can be far more than tests and in the Australian Science and Mathematics School’s Stage 2 Physics course we have experimented with getting students talking in SATs. We will share how we have students participate in small group conversations with peers to support them to provide written evidence of their learning even when faced with new and unfamiliar situations including complex real life problems. We will also share a SAT where students produce a multimodal product, relying on spoken language to provide evidence of their learning. Participants will also have the opportunity to talk, discussing how you might get students talking in your classroom to provide evidence of their Science Understanding.

Presenter: Alix Verdon

Organisation: Australian Science and Mathematics School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers, Tertiary educators

12:15 PM

1 Hour

In this workshop we will get hands-on with the rocks and minerals needed to produce clean energy technologies, and provide links to resources for teachers who are interested in building their knowledge of earth science. How much metal do we need to make a Tesla? Where does the lithium for my phone battery come from? How do we find it? This workshop will also highlight and discuss the wide range of earth science resources currently available to teachers. In collaboration with the SA-based Geoscience Pathways Project (GPP) and the CoRE learning foundation, we aim to provide training opportunities to science teachers to enable integrated learning of earth science through contextually set project-based learning. We also have geoscience outreach officers who are available to visit schools to provide specialist curriculum aligned geoscience activities.

Presenter: Richard Lilly

Organisation: University of Adelaide - NExUS

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:25 PM

1 Hour

Learn about how the Nature Education Centre can provide resources to enliven your classroom and stimulate student learning. With this conference's focus on Let's talk Science, NEC's resources can provide an avenue to a range of science literacy outcomes.

Presenter: David LeCornu and Jo Clements

Organisation: Nature Education Centre

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers

3:25 PM

1 Hour

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” Wittgenstien How far is the vocabulary gap an issue in your classroom? What is already working in your classroom? In this workshop we will look at a couple of Alex Quigley’s 7 steps in closing the vocabulary gap. Step 2 Teach academic vocabulary explicitly and clearly, with coherent planning throughout the science curriculum. Step 6 Foster ‘word consciousness’ in our students (e.g. sharing the etymology and morphology of words) We will look at some strategies to further enhance teaching and learning of science to address the vocabulary gap and some literacy techniques to improve students’ reading and writing in science.

Organisation: Department for Education

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:25 PM

1 Hour

The aim for this session is for participants to walk away with achievable (quick, easy), meaningful, and impactful (usable, easy to apply) assessment for learning using the Microsoft Suite and free online tools. These tools will be quick and easy to set up (5-10 mins), quick to implement (can be used as a 5 minute starter, plenary or check in), and subsequently, easy to use to guide your teaching. Aimed specifically for 7-10 classes but can be applied to other year levels with access to technology. Best accessed if participants bring a laptop with the Microsoft Suite.

Presenter: Danielle Lockwood

Organisation: Westminster School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers

3:25 PM

1 Hour

The CoRE Learning Foundation is setting out to modernise education. Our aim is to take learning outside of the textbooks and classrooms and into the real world. To help achieve this goal CoRE has been working on an exciting project we are calling Gamifying Earth Science Learning. Leveraging knowledge and experience of how students best learn in this digital age, we collaborated with the Minerals Council of Australia, BHP and Secret Lab to develop educational computer games that have been created to be used as part of the Australian Earth and Environmental Science curriculum. The goal is to provide students with authentic and purposeful learning experiences, create a greater appreciation of natural resources and the resources industry, and potentially lead students to consider a future career in the industry. This workshop will showcase CoRE’s two games, Resource! Respond! Rescue! and Old as Dirt!

Presenter: Suzy Urbaniak

Organisation: CoRE Learning Foundation

3:25 PM

1 Hour

Are you looking for new ways of collecting data related to experiments in the Australian Curriculum? Multiple workstations will be set up for participants to experiment with support from our presenter. The experiments will include: • Boyle’s Law and chemical reaction rates • Spectroscopy and Beers Law • Newtons laws of motion • Electrical induction and electromagnetism • Human respiration Ideas for further investigations will also be explored.

Presenter: Stuart Lewis

Organisation: Scientrific Pty Ltd

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:25 PM

1 Hour

The chemical and physical properties of soil can be fascinating! It's not just dirt we stand on, it's sooo much more. We're going to explore the life beneath our feet with a hands on workshop. Perfect for primary and secondary teachers as the activity will be able to be expanded on depending of year level.

Presenter: Bianca Warnock

Organisation: Sciren Pty Ltd

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:25 PM

1 Hour

Fine particle air pollution is a significant global problem, contributing to climate change and posing increased risks to human health, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. We will explore activities that take students step-by-step through the development and write up of a scientific investigation about air pollution. Students propose an hypothesis, process and analyse authentic scientific data, create a graph and interpret results, and communicate the process and findings of their investigation in the form of a scientific report. And through the process students will gain new knowledge and understanding about air pollution. This is an interactive workshop where teachers will process and analyse real world data and formulate the same conclusions as the scientists!

Presenter: Julie Mulholland

Organisation: ANSTO

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:25 PM

1 Hour

If you completed high school before the end of the 21st century in South Australia, you were probably never taught functional grammar. ‘Literacy is everyone’s business’ is an adage thrown around leadership and English faculties of many schools. It’s true…but it’s easier said than done if you were never shown the meta-language and strategies yourself. So, having said all this, what options do you have as a teacher of science who wants their students to write more coherently articulately, fluently, precisely? This workshop offers some solutions that have worked (to varying degrees) at the Australian Science and Mathematics School. Hopefully one of them is suitable for your site.

Presenter: Jesse Atkinson

Organisation: Australian Science & Maths School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

9:30 AM

1 Hour

As teachers of science, we strive to support our students in developing scientific knowledge, the processes and ways of ‘thinking scientifically’ (inclusive of SHE), and scientific skills. Forty years of research in science education demonstrates that if we are to engage, interest and help our students construct a solid, longer-term understanding of science, we need to focus on building conceptual understanding. Learning progressions provide an ideal opportunity to describe the more sophisticated reasoning and conceptual sequence to support student learning in science. They are already available in Australia for literacy and numeracy but have actually been used in the US in the teaching of science since the early 2000s. While progressions provide a mechanism for structuring conceptual understanding the important role of language (not literacy or scientific literacy) in concept construction in science is often overlooked. In this presentation the key steps used by researchers to construct a learning progression to assess what students ‘know and can do’ in the Chemical Sciences from Foundation to Year 6 are explored. To ensure a developmental progression of concepts, the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) was used as a theoretical framework. Pivotal to the construction of scientific concepts in the progression was the careful consideration of both the technical and non-technical words in science. In a world where it’s increasingly difficult to identify #fakenews, communicating and telling stories with impact is key! But is it possible to use the science of communication and marketing to share science messages and tell science stories that make people want to save the planet?

Presenter: Associate Professor Debra Panizzon

11:15 AM

1 Hour

Most people imagine archaeology as being done via excavation, but there are many other ways of studying archaeological sites. This presentation will review exciting new research using geophysical techniques and geochemical analysis which are changing how we understand the human story. This includes using remote sensing techniques to map classical Greek cities and to understand the depositional history of caves that contain important records of human evolution. It will also review how isotope and trace element analysis of teeth has helped to understand the hunting capabilities and maternal behavior of early human ancestors. These case studies provide a new pathway for students to develop an interest in chemistry and physics via archaeology.

Presenter: Dr Ian Moffat

Organisation: Flinders University

11:15 AM

1 Hour

"Chronic pain is a debilitating condition affecting 20% of Australians. Opioids - the most common treatment for chronic pain – are highly-problematic due to addiction and reduced efficacy in the long-term. Unfortunately, limited alternatives have led to an overreliance on these drugs, thus new treatments are urgently required. To develop new therapeutics, we need a better understanding of how pain is controlled. In chronic pain, repeated stimulation of pain cells triggers increased excitability. This phenomenon is critical for the onset of long-lasting pain, but the factors that drive this process are poorly defined. My goal is to uncover the key molecules that drive pain sensitisation and to use an experimental system involving cutting-edge microscopy to discover new methods of treating chronic pain. My research uses the C. elegans nematode ‘worm’ - the only animal where connectivity of all neurons in the brain is known. Although the nematode brain is small, containing ~300 cells (vs 100 billion in our brain), its repertoire of pain-associated genes are highly similar to those in humans. My research uses this simple animal to define new paradigms on which to test effective therapeutic strategies that in future can be translated to mammals."

Presenter: Dr Yee Lian Chew

Organisation: Flinders University

11:15 AM

1 Hour

Significant changes in society highlight the need for more flexible and innovative ways of teaching and learning. The recent COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant shift towards blended and online learning in Australian schools and the adoption of a wide range of educational technologies. A by-product of such technologies is a wide range of data about students and their learning activities that can provide insight into student progress and enable the personalisation of learning. Learning analytics, a field focusing on utilising such data for understanding and improving learning and teaching processes, has recently attracted significant attention showing promise in supporting student learning across a wide range of domains. The digital data about students, their aspirations, competencies and learning progress can be effectively used to provide a holistic overview of student learning, measure their learning development and provide information necessary for timely support and intervention. This talk will focus on developing learner profiles, a particular form of learning analytics that allows teachers to measure students’ learning development and provide information necessary for timely support and intervention. The particular focus will be on how learner profiles can support the development of complex skills and competencies necessary for preparing students for the future.

Presenter: Dr Rebecca Marrone

Organisation: University of South Australia

12:20 PM

1 Hour

The Alligator rivers region of Kakadu and Western Arnhem land has some of Australia’s most densely painted and world renown rock art inscribed places. This region also has an incredible history of dramatic climate change, with major landscape altering events. With a history of human occupation of the area exceeding 60 thousand years and limited dating for the art of this region, archaeological interpretation of this art is a major challenge. This research developed new machine learning approaches to better understand the chronology of the art styles and geophysical techniques to reconstruct the environmental phases. These two reconstructions provide new context to interpreting how rock art site placement changed over the long history of artistic creation in this region.

Presenter: Jarrad Kowlessar

Organisation: Flinders University

12:20 PM

1 Hour

This presentation will discuss the process for using and developing ‘serious games’ – computer games that motivate and engage end users, but also deliver health outcomes for people requiring rehabilitation. It will discuss the design journey, developmental stages, clinical trial outcomes, and how a multi-disciplinary team collaborated to produce an award winning and patented serious games system to improve the lives of people with a disability.

Presenter: Dr David Hobbs

Organisation: Flinders University

12:20 PM

1 Hour

This session will introduce participants to the basic science of space weather, different types of space weather phenomena originating from the sun, the effects these events can have on the Earth, and their impacts on a technology dependent society. Participants will then be taken through a tabletop exercise simulating a space weather event to demonstrate the possible and broad ranging effects of a large space weather event. This exercise will demonstrate impacts on various infrastructure, including the social and economic impacts of a large space weather event. The workshop will generate a further appreciation of space weather science across academic disciplines, the complexities of predicting events and coordinating appropriate responses, its impact and relevance to society, and inspire teachers and students to think more broadly about future space industry career options.

Presenter: Roland Wilson

Organisation: National Security and Space Program: Bureau of Meteorology

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers, Tertiary educators

2:10 PM

1 Hour

In this session we will look at how the C.E.R (claim, evidence, reasoning) model can be used to support students to write a scientific summary based on their data and observations.

Presenter: Jenny Woodcock

Organisation: DfE

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers

2:10 PM

1 Hour

This session aims to offer participants the opportunity to see engaging ways of presenting Science ideas using inexpensive and readily available materials and equipment. In particular, some of the concepts related to physical sciences will be showcased.

Presenter: Brayden Pullen & Peter Walwyn

Organisation: Westminster School

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers

2:10 PM

1 Hour

STEM education programs designed for schools can be too piecemeal or expensive and not sufficiently inclusive for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds or living with disabilities. As a result, schools that are not well resourced may find it hard to develop and conduct accessible, well organised STEM activities regularly. A holistic yet affordable program is both necessary and desirable to start a student’s STEM journey. This presentation uses research results and actual experience to support the above argument and suggest a learner-friendly and level-appropriate robotics program that closely connects to science, mathematics, and technology focus areas within the Australian Curriculum, in a structured and engaging way.

Presenter: Thomas Man

Organisation: Neuplex

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers, Tertiary educators

2:10 PM

1 Hour

Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries (EMS) is an incorporated, not-for-profit, non-government organisation that provides safe and professionally supervised ‘hands-on’ experience of our unique and beautiful marine life. Our session will include: · an overview of SA's unique Marine Sanctuaries · immersive VR experience · teaching and learning resources to support your planning · how EMS can support classroom and in-water activities Please join us to explore how EMS can help you to bring your teaching and learning to life - literally - from the classroom to the coast.

Presenter: James Tilly

Organisation: Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

2:10 PM

1 Hour

In this workshop, we will investigate how to implement strategies for Literacy in science, Literacy of science, and Scientific literacy. We will work through some of the strategies in implementing the Australian Curriculum Science and provide you with resources based on current research to improve students' outcomes in science.

Organisation: SA Department for Education

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers

2:10 PM

1 Hour

Humans are not simple. We are a series of complex systems streamed through a conscious brain. This means that there is a lot that can be measured, from bioelectric impulses required to move muscles to an analysis of touch. This workshop will use Vernier datalogging equipment to explore topics such as: • EKG and heart analysis • Muscle analysis and strength • Wavelengths of light that fool the eye • How to tell if a room is well ventilated • Which feels warmer? tactile illusions • How much dye is in foods?

Presenter: Stuart Lewis

Organisation: Scientrific Pty Ltd

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

2:10 PM

1 Hour

Astronomy is a discipline in which real scientific data is freely and easily accessible. This makes it an ideal area for both first hand and second hand student investigations with the potential to undertake engaging and exciting projects. We explore local and international examples of where to access and how to use data to engage and challenge students. Topics from exoplanets, pulsars and galaxy classification are explored and key databases and citizen science tools identified and examined. The possibilities for open-ended student investigations and citizen science are discussed. Upcoming projects and data challenges are highlighted.

Presenter: Robert Hollow

Organisation: CSIRO

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

2:10 PM

1 Hour

Demonstrating the Microsoft Reading tool to improve student reading literacy and subsequently the Insight tool to obtain quantitative data to monitor student and class progress. Later part of the session will be on how to access and use Quizlet with the DfE tier 2 & 3 words.

Presenter: Paul Gavini

Organisation: Modbury High School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

Are you tired of students in your Primary/Middle Science classroom presenting the same old posters and slide presentations year-in-year-out? Do you find yourself mired in a mishmash of adequate information essentially regurgitated (but carefully not plagiarised) from the internet, often designed to impress you by including overly complex diagrams and text that they are unable to explain? Do you wish your students would present you with an information report that was as engaging as something by David Attenborough, Brian Cox, or even Phil McCordic from Science Max? Do some of them wish they could too? By setting explicit Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, drawing on Literacy strategies taught in the English classroom, and using purposeful strategies to increase student agency, a subsequent increase in student engagement can lead to an improvement in learning outcomes and quality of work. This session outlines key strategies and tools that can be used to: increase student agency in the middle and upper Primary Science classroom; develop student skills in research and information synthesis; and encourage the production of creative information reports that demonstrate the depth of student understanding against Learning Intentions and Success Criteria.

Presenter: Miriam Doull

Organisation: Mitcham Primary School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

In 2022, we find ourselves in a time in which film is one of the most powerful and effective mediums used to share science learning. Whether it’s sparking curiosity, teaching a controversial concept, or engaging a student who’s a visual learner; film has a strong impact. Not all video content is created equal. Add to that the volume of videos available, making it difficult to choose what’s relevant. We know your time is precious – so we’re here to help! In this workshop, you'll learn effective practices to engage students in scientific literacy using SCINEMA films and resources, which are all mapped to the Australian National Curriculum. Using these films in classrooms will raise awareness about the impact of scientific understanding on society. They also highlight the importance of STEM careers and disciplines. You will leave this session with a teacher toolkit (new ideas and resources) and the confidence to use these to aid the teaching of more controversial and challenging content.

Presenter: Claire Hughes

Organisation: RiAus

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

CSIRO is a major leader in Australian space initiatives. Specific examples including the Space Roadmap, the CSIRO Centre for Earth Observation, NovaSAR-1, a new radar satellite and the development of CSIROSat-1. CSIRO also provides excellent space tracking and communication through facilities such as the CDSCC operated in conjunction with NASA and the ESA station at New Norcia. The CSIRO Space Future Science Platform funds a diverse range of space projects pushing science and technology in innovative ways. We explore these initiatives in detail, highlighting how they can be incorporated into the curriculum. The role of Earth Observation in addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is discussed. Examples of educational resources and activities are presented.

Presenter: Robert Hollow

Organisation: CSIRO

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

The SA Department for Education has partnered with SA Aboriginal Nations to embed Aboriginal knowledges and ways of knowing into the Science Curriculum. This workshop will showcase examples and provide opportunities to discuss culturally responsive language, terminologies and contexts to support science teachers to confidently facilitate authentic teaching of deep and rich learning experiences for students. The resources for were developed in consultation with Elders and Cultural Consultants nominated by the Kaurna, Narungga and Ngarrindjeri Nations and using referenced resources and materials. Some examples include exploring the geology of stone tools, observing tides and ecosystems. Resources also investigate the motion of spear throwers as levers, making adhesives, exploring transferring energy using skin cloaks and fire starting through friction. These resources bring together the Aboriginal Cultural knowledge with the Science concepts, the pedagogy and the assessment criteria.

Presenter: Caroline Dean

Organisation: Department for Education

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

“Physics is science where you think with your hands” Are you looking for ways of collecting data related to experiments in the Australian Curriculum – Physics (Especially when inertia keeps you at home)? This workshop explores Physics using Vernier Dataloggers. With multiple workstations, and support from our presenter, participants will use dataloggers to explore different physics experiments. Topics will include: • Spectroscopy • Newtons laws of motion • Electrical induction and electromagnetism • Magnetic Fields • Measuring Motion of everyday objects • Friction • Physics at home Ideas for further investigations will also be explored.

Presenter: Stuart Lewis

Organisation: Scientrific Pty Ltd

Target Audience: Lab officers, Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

This workshop will focus on equipping you with a variety of resources and strategies you can use in your Science classes tomorrow. We will be going through how to guide and support students to identify, understand and apply scientific literacy in a range of year level examples.

Presenter: Sylvia Saad & Jack Stewart

Organisation: Adelaide Botanic High School

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

Do you feel the need for speed ...... and some creative ideas for investigation design tasks? The aim of this workshop is to present a variety of possible problems for deconstruction. you will walk away with rsources that include design templates, task sheets and A levels exemplars

Presenter: Vera Dunaiski

Organisation: Westminster School

Target Audience: Senior school (year 10-12) teachers

3:15 PM

1 Hour

At Marden Senior College, we only have students in Years 11 and 12. Each year, approximately 70% of students in our classes are new to the school. That means we haven't been involved in their Literacy development through middle school and we have little knowledge of their abilities. For the last few years we have struggled to find a solution to cater for such an unknown commodity. In mid-2021, I discovered a tool called Scribo that appeared too good to be true. It is an AI-based web tool that helps students learn to write and it is customisable to different subject areas. Having trialled Scribo in a limited number of classes in 2021, we have now rolled out Scribo across the whole school for 2022. The best part is it saves us time. Here, you will be introduced to Scribo and shown how it is helping our students to develop their literacy in Science and other subject areas. We will discuss how it can be used, not just for senior schooling, but middle and junior schooling as well.

Presenter: Keith Gatford

Organisation: Marden Senior College

Target Audience: Middle school (year 6-9) teachers, Primary school teachers, Senior school (year 10-12) teachers