Teaching Context
As a Primary Science Educator my role is to guide and support my students to join the science education community of practioners. I began my teaching career in a secondary science classroom after graduating with a science degree in 1990. In 2005 I completed a PhD and subsequently balanced parenting with part-time teaching in a number of Western Australian Universities until my full-time appointment to the Curtin staff in January 2012. Since arriving at Curtin I have enjoyed the challenge of teaching on all platforms (online and internally), creating new science units and being instrumental in doubling the amount of science taught in the Bachelor of Education. I designed and then enacted the common first year unit and second year unit in primary as unit coordinator for internal and regional students and for the Open University cohort as unit champion*.
|
My teaching experience within the School of Education and my 2014 teaching awards are listed in my Curriculum Vitae . Currently I am embracing the scholarship of teaching, researching in my tertiary classrooms using the collected data to inform my practice, this has encouraged me to become a more reflective practitioner. In 2015 I participated as an Open Door teacher and in the Peer Review Programme forming communities of practice within the University. Finally my tertiary practice has informed my research in school communities with the first year inquiry unit adapted into a secondary inquiry unit in four Year 7 classes and into a primary school with a different context but still with a focus on inquiry and technology.
|
My focus into the future is on meeting the needs of the 21st Century learners. These learners especially those at Universities need new and flexible learning platforms to meet their needs which include shifting and processing vast amounts of information, being continually in touch with their colleagues and peers, who want to learn what they ‘need to know for right now’, who juggle multiple commitments in increasingly noisy and frenetic lives. Moving from working within the frame of pedagogy, which considers the skills and strategies of children learners to addressing the needs of our University students as they transition into adults learners known as andragogy.
My love of science, teaching and research is perhaps best summed up by a comment from one of my students:
OMG. obsessed with science, enthusiasm, resourceful, quick response to questions, has her fingers on the science pulse, great use of ICT and current trends. Need one in all Uni subjects! (Student eVALUate, 225 2013)
Digital Portfolio
This digital portfolio is part of the movement to the creation of a conscious professional digital footprint. We are supporting our students in the creation of a professional portfolio to showcase their identity and prepare them for the workplace, therefore we must lead by example. The photos and other evidence are embedded into the pages for visual impact, evidence is also attached through hyperlinks in the text and through the button on each page. With each piece of evidence I have sought to explain exactly how the evidence links to my criterion,
This digital portfolio is part of the movement to the creation of a conscious professional digital footprint. We are supporting our students in the creation of a professional portfolio to showcase their identity and prepare them for the workplace, therefore we must lead by example. The photos and other evidence are embedded into the pages for visual impact, evidence is also attached through hyperlinks in the text and through the button on each page. With each piece of evidence I have sought to explain exactly how the evidence links to my criterion,
*The unit champion oversees the implementation of the unit to ensure all iterations of the units across all learning platforms are consistent.