It's part of my life: Engaging university and community to enhance science and mathematics education

Abstract

It's part of my life: Engaging university and community to enhance science and mathematics education (IPOML project), establishes the foundations for a 'step' change in the training of science and mathematics teachers that has the potential to profoundly impact on the experience of primary and secondary students in learning science and mathematics. Previous research emphasises the importance of engaging in science and mathematics that is relevant to the everyday world of students, but beginning teachers are reluctant to use these approaches (e.g. Australian Academy of Science, 2015, 2016; Office of the Chief Scientist, 2012; Woolcott, Pfeiffer, et al., 2017; Yeigh, et al., 2016). This project showed that pre-service teachers increased their confidence and competence by collaborating with science, mathematics and pedagogy experts on science and mathematics problems that are part of everyday life, and on reflecting on their teaching through understanding their emotions at critical moments during a lesson. The result is a process that bridges the gap between curriculum design and the understanding of science and mathematics obtained through lived experience in contemporary and technologically empowered regional, rural and peri-urban communities.