Course Coordinator:Amy Strachan (astrachan@usc.edu.au) School:School of Education and Tertiary Access
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
During this course you will explore and evaluate scientific concepts to build your scientific literacy and proficiency as a primary school science teacher. Throughout the course you will plan & take part in hands-on activities & investigations to explore science concepts and model the pedagogy of science. You will deepen your knowledge of the Australian Curriculum: Science by exploring and researching links between the syllabus, Big Ideas in chemical and physical sciences, and primary science activities and pedagogies.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Learning materials – You are required to engage and interact with asynchronous materials and activities accessed through Canvas modules, course readings and required texts. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 9 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – You are required to attend weekly tutorial/workshop activities on campus. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
700 Level (Specialised)
12 units
Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Mapping Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | Professional Standard Mapping * Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership | |
1 | Build strong personal scientific literacy and content knowledge through engagement with Big Ideas in science in a range of learning and investigative contexts. Develop skills for promoting scientific literacy and integration of literacy and numeracy skills. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
2.1, 2.5, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 |
2 | Synthesise links between science discipline content, the Australian Curriculum Science (ACS), literacy and numeracy capabilities, and learning theory and teaching strategies that contribute to planning science education activities. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.4, 5.1 |
3 | Apply deeply innovative and adaptive science education design, including use of physical resources, ICT, ethics and risk management protocols, and application of literacy and numeracy strategies to promote scientific literacy, and to plan science activities and events that facilitate student engagement and achievement. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered |
1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.4, 4.5, 6.2, 6.3 |
4 | Develop proficient and responsible use of digital devices and other resources to support your science teaching, further learning and professional advancement. Explore literacy and numeracy strategies to promote scientific literacy. |
Engaged Sustainability-focussed |
2.1, 2.5, 2.6, 3.2, 4.5, 6.2, 6.3 |
CODE | COMPETENCY |
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership | |
1.2 | Understand how students learn: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching. |
2.1 | Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area |
2.2 | Content selection and organisation: Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence. |
2.3 | Curriculum, assessment and reporting: Use curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans. |
2.5 | Literacy and numeracy strategies: Know and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas. |
2.6 | Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students. |
3.1 | Establish challenging learning goals: Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics. |
3.2 | Plan, structure and sequence learning programs: Plan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies. |
3.3 | Use teaching strategies: Include a range of teaching strategies. |
3.4 | Select and use resources: Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning. |
4.4 | Maintain student safety: Describe strategies that support students’ wellbeing and safety working within school and/or system, curriculum and legislative requirements. |
4.5 | Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically: Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues and the strategies available to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching. |
5.1 | Assess student learning: Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning. |
6.2 | Engage in professional learning and improve practice: Understand the relevant and appropriate sources of professional learning for teachers |
6.3 | Engage with colleagues and improve practice: Seek and apply constructive feedback from supervisors and teachers to improve teaching practices. |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Enrolled in Program ED707
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Early feedback is provided as part of task 1a.This course will provide feedback during the first three weeks of tutorial investigations that lead to the assessment task.
Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
All | 1a | Quiz/zes | Individual | 15% | 30 minutes |
Week 4 | In Class |
All | 1b | Quiz/zes | Individual | 15% | 30 Minutes |
Week 10 | In Class |
All | 2 | Plan | Individual | 35% | 2 x lesson plans (2 x 1000 words) and rationale (500 words) |
Week 6 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Plan | Individual | 35% | 1000-word lesson plan, 10-minute teaching segment and 500-word reflection |
Week 8 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All - Assessment Task 1a:Chemical Science Quiz | ||||||||||
Goal: | The goal of this task is to demonstrate science content knowledge and curriculum understanding aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Science (Chemical Sciences) for primary school teachers. |
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Product: | Quiz/zes | |||||||||
Format: | Online Quiz completed in tutorial: closed book, multiple choice and short answer |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 1b:Physical Science Quiz | ||||||||||
Goal: | The goal of this task is to demonstrate science content knowledge and curriculum understanding aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Science (Physical Sciences) for primary school teachers. |
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Product: | Quiz/zes | |||||||||
Format: | Online Quiz completed in tutorial: closed book, multiple choice and short answer |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 2:Chemical Science Planning | ||||||||||||||||
Goal: | The goal of this task is to demonstrate an understanding of Chemical Science, the Australian Curriculum: Science and appropriate pedagogy to develop a scientific investigation lesson sequence. |
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Product: | Plan | |||||||||||||||
Format: | Contemporary science teaching and learning develops students’ ability to follow an inquiry approach by creating and completing investigations in science. This course will teach you how to create an investigation suitable for primary aged students. You will design a teaching sequence of two complete lesson plans as an individual task. Details about the two lesson plans will be discussed in tutorials. A template will be provided and must not be modified. Your lessons should align with the Australian Curriculum: Science – Chemical Sciences sub-strand using developmentally appropriate teaching and learning pedagogies. The lesson plans will indicate assessment opportunities and resources that will meet the needs of a diverse classroom and be equivalent to 2 x 60-minute lessons of science. They should demonstrate inquiry-based learning and teaching. In your 500 word rationale, you are asked to elaborate on the pedagogical choices that you have made in your lesson sequence, supported by relevant academic literature. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Physical Science Teaching Segment and Lesson Plan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | The goal of this task is to create and deliver a teaching segment and provide a written lesson plan to demonstrate knowledge of the Australian Curriculum: Science - Physical Sciences. |
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Product: | Plan | |||||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Lesson Plan: You will create a written lesson plan using the template provided on Canvas. The lesson plan will use an inquiry-based approach to develop a concept from the Physical Sciences Sub-strand. Like Task One, the lesson plan is to demonstrate developmentally appropriate science pedagogy through student investigation. (Submit: Week 8). Teaching segment: You will individually teach one of the activities (from the lesson plan) to the tutorial for approximately 10 minutes. You will need to locate materials and resources related to the concept you plan to teach, model the teaching of the selected concept by incorporating suitable teaching pedagogy and age-appropriate language and demonstrate good questioning and communication skills (verbal and non-verbal) while you are teaching. The micro-teaching segment should be taught as though the tutorial is your primary-aged science class. Teaching segments will be conducted during Week 8 and 9 tutorials. Reflection: You will critically evaluate your teaching segment providing recommendations for areas you believe were successful and areas for further development, supported by relevant academic literature. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Required | Peter Loxley,Lyn Dawes,Linda Nicholls,Babs Dore | 2017 | Teaching Primary Science, 3rd Edition | n/a | Routledge |
Recommended | Michael Allen | 2014 | Misconceptions in Primary Science | n/a | McGraw-Hill Education (UK) |
It is your responsibility to attend tutorials/workshops to obtain the course topics and seek clarification. It will be necessary to spend time outside of class preparing for the content exam. There are two weeks in which a laptop will be required for the tutorial. If you don't have one, please make arrangements to share with another student.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct
Late submission of assessment tasks may be penalised at the following maximum rate: - 5% (of the assessment task's identified value) per day for the first two days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - 10% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the third day - 20% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the fourth day and subsequent days up to and including seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - A result of zero is awarded for an assessment task submitted after seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. Weekdays and weekends are included in the calculation of days late. To request an extension you must contact your course coordinator to negotiate an outcome.
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For help with course-specific advice, for example what information to include in your assessment, you should first contact your tutor, then your course coordinator, if needed.
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