In today’s reader submission, Anam Javed – Master Teacher in Residence for Technologies at the Victorian Academy of Teacher and Leadership – provides an overview of design thinking, including 2 illustrative examples, and shares some misconceptions of the approach.

How many female scientists are mentioned in high school science curricula here in Australia? This question kicks off today’s Teacher Staffroom podcast that highlights some of the key articles, podcasts and infographics we’ve published this month that celebrate women and girls in STEM.

In the latest episode of our podcast series, The Research Files, we spoke with Dr Kathryn Ross about the gender bias evident in Australian high school science curricula. In this article, we speak with primary school STEM teacher Megan Hayes about how she ensures her students learn about the contributions of Australian female scientists in order to improve girls’ participation in STEM.

How many scientists are mentioned in high school science curricula in Australia and how many are women? After discovering that Marie Curie was absent from the radioactivity section of a state Physics syllabus, astrophysicist Dr Kathryn Ross set out to explore if the contributions of other women were being overlooked. She joins us on this episode to share the shocking findings.

The design and implementation of a new whole-school or subject specific curriculum is a big undertaking, and relies on collaboration, consultation, monitoring and evaluation. In today’s article, we catch up with the winning team of the Teacher Awards 2023 in the Excellence in Curriculum Design and Implementation category.

‘Deliberately planning to support students to build and use their vocabulary is critical to ensuring that students can both access the curriculum content and effectively demonstrate their understanding.’ Educational leader Michael Rosenbrock shares what this might look like in practice for maths and science teachers.

Our guest for this episode of The Research Files is Professor Anne Castles. She’s a Keynote speaker at ACER’s Research Conference next month, which is exploring how to improve continuity of learning in the first 12 years of a child’s life. We’ll be discussing some of the research on learning to read, and getting a taster of what delegates can expect from her presentation.

‘One class was a notable illustration of everything we know about quality in play-based learning.’ In this article, ACER Senior Research Fellow Rachel Parker shares the details of a playful STEM class she witnessed in the United States, where students were engaged in a crime scene investigation activity.

Most schools will have students who experience some level of menstrual pain during their schooling years. So, how well are teachers prepared to deliver menstrual health education, and how can they better support students whose education may be impacted by menstrual pain?

How can we support reading aloud in the early years, at school and at home? And how does reading aloud affect our lives in the long term? Today, we’ll be speaking with Professor Emerita Rosemary Johnston AM, who shares some of the research on the benefits and joys of reading aloud and how we can continue to support reading aloud at school and at home.