STEM

Winning ideas in this year’s Australian STEM Video Game Challenge included a lone spaceship protecting Earth from shooting stars, a solar-powered city built on a sphere around the sun and interstellar golf.

A new report that reveals just under half of Australian students in years 6 and 10 are not meeting expected standards in science, could also point the way to improving engagement with it.

We had the opportunity to talk with Lisa van Beeck, a Research Fellow at ACER and Project Director of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge. Lisa is an expert across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and has a particular passion for this valuable project and the opportunities it offers students around Australia.

Strategies to promote mathematics are central to a new toolkit which could be a gamechanger in schools, and for the wider community.

Children who understand the world with a mind enriched by the habit of scientific inquiry have a gift that keeps on giving, Gayl O’Connor believes. That’s why the former biology teacher is helping educators to ‘tap into children’s natural curiosity’ and set the wheels in motion.

ACER continues to gather evidence to support new and effective approaches to meet the urgent global challenge of transforming learning.