Activating teachers’ creativity and moral purpose in science education

Mezzanine M4

Over the last three years, the Scientist in Residence program (a collaboration between the Department of Education and Child Development, and Flinders University) investigated a model of professional learning in science education that capitalised upon teachers’ moral purpose and drove their creativity. Insight into how teachers transformed their science classrooms is provided through examples of activities, work samples and clips of teachers describing how they changed their practice and how that, in turn, changed the engagement and achievement of the children. These resources will serve to illustrate some of the principles of practice that the teachers drew upon. In particular, starting with the Science as a Human Endeavour strand of the curriculum and letting the Science Understandings serve this purpose. Data about the shift in teachers’ perceptions and practice speaks to the characteristics of the professional learning – making time and space for teachers to achieve a closer match between their classroom practice and their professional identity.