Prime Minister’s Science Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching

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Prime Minister’s Science Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching


Here are this year’s winners of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching

Yesterday, the science community got together to celebrate some of the awesome people working in scientific fields, including some amazing teachers.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the awards, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that from this year, more money will be available for the teaching prizes so the winners receive the same amount as the other categories.

So who are the winners of the teaching prizes, and how can we learn from them when it comes to teaching STEM?

Winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools

Alice Leung – Concord High School, NSW

Alice is passionate about promoting STEM to students from a range of backgrounds, creating programs that make technical language accessible to students (especially to the 70% of students at Concord High School who are from non-English speaking backgrounds).

Alice says she has always loved science, inspiring her to become a teacher and make science as fun as possible.

“One of the best things about teaching is when you inspire your students to become teachers themselves, especially science teachers.

“One of my main inspirations to become a science teacher was my own teacher in high school.”

Over 20 years, Alice has taught subjects across each of the STEM fields, drawing upon real-life issues to teach complicated ideas.

To make learning fun and accessible, Alice brings the student’s cultural context into the forefront. Such as when she teaches astronomy to students who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

“We integrate their history and knowledge in terms of how they’ve used the stars to navigate the skies, which is different to Western science.”

Alice also takes pride in encouraging girls to pursue STEM through a couple of different projects.

“We run a Minecraft Club to allow female students to explore coding for game design and understand how mathematical concepts are represented in a digital environment.”

She also runs a solar car project that was funded by a 2022 STELR grant from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE).

Alice says winning the prize is “a wonderful opportunity to promote the importance of science teaching”.

“Without teachers, we wouldn’t have our next generation of scientists.”

For any teachers in NSW, Alice has an established Facebook page for STEM teachers to connect called Awesome NSW Science Teachers.

Winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools

Daniel Edwards – Montello Primary School, TAS

Daniel comes from Burnie, which he says “is known as the ‘city of makers’.”

He is absolutely a maker of opportunities for his students to engage in STEM, including creating a digital technologies program that has unprecedented engagement and achievement for his students.

He’s also the CEO of GreenSTEM Education, Tasmania’s first STEM-focused education charity.

Its goal is to make STEM education access more equitable for those in the wider community and from underrepresented backgrounds.

“I strongly believe that all young people deserve equal access to an excellent education. I want to help students realise that they can achieve anything and inspire them to be the best version of themselves.

“One of the most encouraging pieces of feedback I’ve ever received was a note from a student who said I help make things come true that they didn’t even realise were possible.”

Daniel also runs STEM Unlimited, a free after-school club hosted at the Burnie Community House, Tasmania. This is a GreenSTEM Education initiative, open to all students across the region.

GreenSTEM’s flagship program is Greenpower, which challenges students to build and race a single-seater electric vehicle.

“I aim to empower my students to apply their learning to solve relevant problems, create projects they’re passionate about, and connect to their experiences.”

Daniel also mentors local educators and participates in international study tours about effective STEM teaching and learning practices.

He says winning the prize “is [a] wonderful recognition of the amazing teaching and learning happening in Tasmania. I hope it inspires other educators, especially in regional Australia”.

Related:

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