Live Webinars: August 2023

STEM in preschool

How to help all children be future-ready

Event details

This event has now concluded.

We will be holding more live webinars throughout the year.

 

 

 

Today’s preschool children will work in jobs not yet imagined. And they’ll need STEM thinking and skills to thrive in a highly technical and digitised world.

We know that girls, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and students from low socio-economic backgrounds have low STEM participation rates and are less likely to study or work in STEM after school. Students from remote, rural and regional areas are also falling behind in STEM education.

In this 30-minute webinar, we’ll explore the impact of STEM education in preschool and how STEM can capture the imaginations of all children.

You’ll learn:

  • The latest research on STEM education in preschool
  • Simple STEM activities for preschool children
  • The minor changes you can make to your existing activities to engage more flexibly and with more children
  • The role of digital play and how it can support active play

We’ll spend the last 10 minutes of the webinar taking any questions you have.

This is a free webinar brought to you by Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) and a specialist education team from the STEM Education Research Centre (SERC) at the University of Canberra.

Lucy Bennett

Lucy has spent more than 20 years working as a primary school teacher in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. She completed a Master of Education, and now convenes and teaches science and technology units for the University of Canberra’s Education Faculty.

Lucy is passionate about supporting and inspiring the next generation of teachers. She believes that the role of a teacher should underpin values encompassing a sense of hope for students, while fostering and nurturing continuous self-learning. Lucy believes the role of a teacher is to guide students and, in doing so, show them the path for a better future.

Most recently, Lucy was offered a Doctoral Fellowship. Her line of research will explore girls’ and women’s participation in STEM. She will be investigating various models and frameworks to explore the pathway of girls’ and women’s participation in STEM throughout the Primary School setting, and to potentially achieve a joint vision for gender equity in STEM in Australia.

Holly Tootell

Holly Tootell, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer of STEM Education at the University of Canberra in the STEM Education Resource Centre (SERC). She has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and is an expert researcher in the social impact of technology.

Holly is committed to increasing the visibility of women in STEM. As a recent Science and Technology Australia Superstar of STEM (2021–22), she has participated in outreach, media and government events – raising the profile of female researchers. Holly is connected into outreach programs with high school students through Curious Minds and speaking events.

Holly has recently been awarded a 2023 Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship grant to expand and connect existing strengths in women’s STEM and Entrepreneurship (STEM-E) education, participation and leadership in the Illawarra. LIFT will target all stages of the pipeline: inspiring and training STEM pre-service and active teachers, building a diverse STEM-E pipeline, supporting leadership and wider innovation ecosystem participation.