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CSIRO Professionals in Schools
By Amy McDonald
Real world STEM belongs in our classrooms – and real world
practitioners can help put it there!
Australia’s 2017 National Science Statement states student
enrolments in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering,
and maths) are at a 20-year low, despite forecasts that 75% of
the fastest growing occupations will require STEM skills.
Helping to address this gap is CSIRO’s STEM Professionals
in Schools; a program that pairs STEM professionals with
Australian teachers in flexible, ongoing partnerships that bring
the curriculum to life through a variety of co-developed activities
ranging from mentoring to hands-on experiments, guest speaker
presentations, field trips and more. In NSW alone, teachers
from more than 350 schools have joined the program, and are
now working with an industry professional, to the benefit of their
students.
One such partnership sees Dr Edith Chow, a CSIRO chemical
sensing technologies researcher, visit a girls’ high school in
Sydney where she highlights how STEM can apply to the real
world by engaging students in hands-on activities. One example
includes using a nanosensor that is made of chemically-sensitive
gold nanoparticles on a glass microscope slide. The students
breathe on the sensors and observe how the electrical signal
changes in response to the volatiles in their breath. A potential
application of this may one day include disease diagnosis from
a person’s breath.
These symbols relate to the STEM Scientists in
schools program
“My favourite experience is doing hands-on activities with the
students, and seeing them so excited and amazed with what they
can achieve. It’s a superb way to demonstrate that science can
be fun, whilst being creative at the same time!” explains Edith.
Since Edith joined the program in 2011 there has been an
increase in student enrolment in science subjects in the school
where her teacher partner works. Working scientifically is what
STEM professionals do. With a STEM Professionals in Schools
partnership a teacher can gain valuable assistance and insights
from modern workplaces, to help students with the investigation
focus of the new senior science syllabi. This might involve bringing
real life STEM applications into the classroom, helping students
develop skills in formulating a hypothesis, developing evidence-
Edith Chow shares her knowledge with students from Catherine
McAuley College Westmead as part of the STEM Professionals
in schools program
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 67 NO 3