As part of the Future Makers program, 120 regional Queensland teachers have up-skilled their STEM knowledge at 10 free workshops as part of the.
Partnering with Queensland Museum Network and Shell’s QGC business, the program aims to increase teacher’s confidence in teaching STEM activities in the classroom.
The workshops are facilitated by specialist learning officers from the Queensland Museum Network.
Due to the STEM teacher shortages and mounting pressure in rural and remote schools, the workshops received a high level of interest in 2021.
Clinton State School teacher Corinne Wright said she found the program highly beneficial to her teaching.
“The resources provided are highly relevant to the subjects I teach to my Year 6 class. I use them often and have seen students become more engaged in their learning as a result,” Wright said.
“It’s an added bonus that the learning materials are linked to Queensland themes, helping students find understanding in their local areas.”
Wright said the program also greatly assisted her students.
“Due to a high level of student engagement with the hands-on and inquiry based-learning resources provided by Future Makers, I’ve found that students draw upon their learning far more in assessment tasks,” she said.
“The results have been much higher across the class in both scientific knowledge and reasoning.”
The forward-looking approach of the program was also beneficial for students’ futures, Wright added.
“Students’ ability to be real-world problem solvers and inquiry thinkers is an essential skill for the 21st century,” she said.
“The Future Makers program is essentially equipping our students with the skills to be life-long learners.”
In-person professional development workshops will restart in early 2022.
For more information visit the Future Makers website.
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