As a coordinated attempt to try and limit the spread of COVID-19, this lecture will be postponed to a later date. We will notify you when the rescheduled date is confirmed.
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Scientia Education Academy Lecture Series
What can we do to help address the shortage of physics trained school teachers?
There is a persistent recognised shortage of discipline-trained high school physics teachers apparent in both Australia and worldwide. Qualified and motivated physics teachers are essential in the secondary education system but are also important if we want more students to engage in STEM subjects at the university level. Currently the number of students choosing to take physics in years 11 and 12 is decreasing. Even more worrying is the decreasing proportion of females within this shrinking cohort. Part of a strategy to reverse this trend is to provide students with positive physics experiences throughout high school.
In this lecture A/Prof Liz Angstmann will discuss three of the ways she is working with secondary teachers to try and reverse this trend. These include the introduction of an online Graduate Certificate in Physics for Science teachers that provide qualified teachers the discipline-based knowledge to effectively teach physics; the introduction of a Visiting Teaching Fellow program where school teachers are seconded to UNSW for a year; and the introduction of SciX, a program to support students doing Science Extension.
