Science engagement in Australia is trapped in the 20th century. It operates under an outdated model that aims to promote and celebrate science, rather than encouraging the public to participate in, and…
Australia is faced with the choice of falling behind or taking steps to keep pace with others.
Marco Crupi Visual Artist
Australia punches above its weight in terms of global research, producing more than we might expect given our small population. At least … that’s the line we’ve been fed for years – but is it true? A cracking…
Women are underrepresented in science, but are programs like those run by L'Oreal the answer?
dno1967b
Each year, L’Oreal’s Australian and international women in science programs contribute significant sums of money to support research and encourage girls to enter careers in science, technology and engineering…
Experts say early childhood experiences with maths are critical for uptake at later stages.
Judy Baxter
Girls are losing ground in mathematics and science education in NSW, with the number of female students studying no maths for their HSC more than doubling in ten years, according to a new report from the…
Two new international reports on school performance should be put into perspective.
Education image from www.shutterstock.com
The recent release of Australia’s performance in the TIMMS (2011) and PIRLS (2011) test results has sparked much media comment about what this means for the quality of Australian education. The focus so…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants Australia to improve its international standing in education performance, setting a goal to be in the top 5 by 2025.
AAP
Two new education performance reports released by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) have painted a bleak picture of Australia’s student literacy and science and mathematics achievement…
The latest results of international testing in maths, science and reading means Australia’s education outlook does not look good.
Test image from www.shutterstock.com
Sue Thomson, Australian Council for Educational Research
Prime Minister Julia Gillard in September set an ambitious goal for Australian education: to be ranked as a top-five country in reading, mathematics and science by 2025. Clearly she is hoping to lift Australia…
We’re underestimating what primary school students can understand in science.
Formula image from www.shutterstock.com
School students today are taught physics based on obsolete theories and outmoded ways of thinking. Instead of the truth, most learn a naive simplification - the 300 year-old Newtonian physics, itself based…
Looking to Asian schools is exactly what we shouldn’t be doing.
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It was fun while it lasted Finland, but we’re going cold on you. We thought your schools had the secret but our new infatuation is with Asian school systems. The Prime Minister seems to agree. The government…
A more “authentic” science curriculum can be achieved for schools.
aDecorusUniversitas
Is science being taught badly? In the broadest sense, yes. Most Australian school science curriculum documents I see today seem to be about teaching students how different science is from the rest of society…
A passion for science can be contagious.
Discover Science & Engineering
Today marks the end of National Science Week, an annual celebration of Australian science. It’s always a fun week in which scientists get to share their research with the public, where museums and universities…
The focus on mathematics and other enabling sciences is diminishing in Australia.
Flickr/eriwst
Australian science is “generally in good health”, but faces major challenges in the form of falling science participation and literacy in high schools, mostly stagnant enrolments at universities, and diminishing…
Chief Scientist Ian Chubb’s report, released today, presents some serious concerns for the future of Australian science.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Chief Scientist Ian Chubb’s Health of Australian Science report, launched today at the National Press Club, starts on an optimistic note. Australian science is generally in good health: school students…
The days of ‘sit down, shut up and do your science’ are over. Today’s students ask hard questions.
University of Iowa
Two recently published books suggest that the public - and school children in particular - are being fed lies about environmental issues such as climate change. The books - “How to Get Expelled from School…
A $23-million “efficiency dividend” on administrative costs at CSIRO will inevitably affect the quality of scientific research at Australia’s national science agency, staff association president Michael…
Australia’s Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb, released a worrying report earlier this year. Unhealthy Science? University Natural and Physical Sciences 2002 - 2009/10 revealed the number of students studying…
The level of political discourse is descending to new lows … but why?
Garrettc
Given the importance of science and technology to modern life, particularly in developed nations, why don’t we see more scientists in leading governmental positions? This dearth is particularly stark in…
The Gonski review on school funding is made public on Monday. But how does the division of resources between the government, independent and Catholic sectors affect how students learn in the practical…
Watch your maths: an Australian Academy of Science report looks to be based around mistaken use or interpretation of numbers. Flickr/emdot.
The Federal Department of Education says it advised the Australian Academy of Science’s authors of a break in the series of student-numbers when it supplied the data. The lead author, Professor Denis Goodrum…
Ian Plimer says kids are being taught activism, not science.
woodleywonderworks
The forces of climate science denial have geared down a level. Having failed in their attempt to confuse adults and stop the parliament adopting a timid first step in response to climate change, they are…