News
Scientifically speaking it's a “perfect match”
Excerpt from Xpress, Volume 9, No 7, May 4, 2006.
Teachers and scientists are being ‘twinned’ through a State Government initiative designed to build professional relationships, resources and engage students in science.
The pilot program began in term 3, 2005, and was created by 2004-2005 Adelaide Thinker in Residence Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield.
“One novel way forward to help combat the problems of lacklustre science teaching and hence poor science take-up in schools, is to explore a way of re-empowering science school teachers, making them feel like real scientists,” Susan said.
The Twinning project uses new technologies to put teachers and scientists in touch with each other through informal sessions, based on location and scientific discipline.
Teachers and scientists can register their interest online, with 98 members signing up to be involved this year.
The program was designed to give teachers the opportunity to link the curriculum to current scientific research, and give scientists the chance to communicate with a wider audience and create community awareness about their work.
Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS) interdisciplinary science curriculum coordinator Judy Sara said her twinning had provided her with an invaluable resource.
“It provides links to cutting edge research that I can pass onto the students to assist them in their projects” she said.
Judy, a nanotechnology teacher, paired with Dr David O'Caroll, a scientist at Adelaide University who is studying animal vision to make connections with the human eye.
Through her pairing, Judy watched university students inserting electrodes into flies' eyes to record the responses of nerve cells to visual stimuli.
Members of the vision research group will then use nanotechnology to make motion sensing computer chips that may, in the future, be used in bionic eyes.
Judy said access to innovative research was an excellent resource that kept her informed about scientific progress and helped her engage students.
“I am keen to make more connections, and this is a good way to get familiar with new research. It is a great resource to have someone to talk over issues and also (to get to) interact with university students.”
Judy said professional contact was becoming more accessible to teachers, especially in the nanotechnology field unique to ASMS at a school level.
“It is only when we start talking to scientists that we can make sense of the work that is being carried out” she said.
“It is much better to have that human contact rather than use websites or textbooks. The twinning provides people to call on who can answer questions.”
The project director of the Susan Greenfield initiative, Linda Cooper, said the program would be monitored over the next 12 months and was flexible, required few resources and was driven by the teacher’s needs.
“The program gives teachers real-life experience and direct contact to be able to bring this back to the classroom more effectively” she said.
“It is also about building a continuum between secondary and tertiary education and encouraging students to take up maths and science careers.”
Linda said that once a project was completed, participants were encouraged to give feedback on their experiences, and to twin up again and form a new relationship.