ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS

Description

Purpose

The project provides an online professional development program to support science teachers embed ICT into their classrooms. It demonstrates a variety of strategies, technologies, and modes and how these can enhance deeper student learning in science. This PD program will be developed around a prepared series of online units for students. In this way, it ensures that teachers are using the online student materials productively. Involvement of a range of schools from metropolitan and rural/regional areas provides the opportunity for teachers to develop networks outside their immediate environment and create a ‘community of scholars’.

Focus

The focus of the project is to provide teachers with concrete examples and ways in which to incorporate ICT into science lessons. This is achieved by providing a professional development program online allowing teachers to access and work through the materials whenever relevant to their teaching context. As this package is designed to link with a series of already developed student units for Years 7-10, both teachers and students will benefit from the project.

The outcomes for teachers will be an opportunity to:

1. Trial a range of PD strategies with their students;

2. Provide feedback to the team developing the PD material; and

3. Engage with other teachers in their own cluster but also across clusters to create a ‘learning community’.

The outcomes for students will be:

1. Opportunity to experience different modes of delivery in science lessons;

2. Greater use of computers and associated technologies to enhance their learning during lessons;

3. Creation of a more engaging learning environment as teachers trial particular ICT strategies in their classrooms.

Click here to download this infosheet.