EDX2260 Teaching Science for Understanding

Other requisites

State law in Queensland (Australia) requires that all adults working/undertaking professional experience/researching with children under the age of 18, in the state of Queensland are required to possess a current suitability card (Blue Card). (See "Other Requirements" for further information.) Also see: http://www.childcomm.qld.gov.au/employment/bluecard/informationSheets.html

Synopsis

The aim of the course is to develop students' understanding of content in science, in parallel with their awareness of ways of transforming this understanding of the content so that what they know and the ways they have come to know it become accessible to the children they teach. Students will have the opportunity to examine their own misconceptions, and to understand how such misconceptions might be avoided. Problem-solving skills will be advocated together with an approach to science that incorporates honesty, open-mindedness and information sharing. Content will include: 1. Selected topics from the science syllabus content strands (earth and beyond, energy and change, life and living, and natural and processed materials). 2. Application of the notion of pedagogical content knowledge to each content area encountered in #1, and the development of suitably transformed content which would be accessible to learners in the appropriate age groups. NOTE: Minimum enrolment numbers apply to this offering. Should enrolments not reach the minimum number required for on-campus study, students may be transferred to the WEB offering and advised of this change before semester commences.

Course offers