Graduate Certificate in Science Education (Years 7-10) (GC-SCIED10)

THIS COURSE IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR ADMISSIONS

The Graduate Certificate in Science Education (Years 7-10) is structured around four subjects which encompass the content strands in the Victorian Curriculum for Science:

1. Teaching and Learning in Science
2. Inquiry and Literacy in Science
3. Social Issues in Science Education
4. Beyond Siloed Approaches to Science

The audience for this certificate is qualified secondary teachers who would be called upon to teach science across the Years 7-10 grades ‘out-of-field’, without having a background in science pedagogy. This certificate will develop participants’ capacity to plan effective lessons and units of work, design and interpret classroom assessment, use resources effectively, use appropriate models, integrate effective questions in lessons and plan a balanced curriculum. Through this approach, participants’ content and pedagogical content knowledge will be improved and the course will also focus on developing participants’ dispositions and confidence to be effective teachers of Years 7-10 Science. 

Each subject centres around one sub-strand from the Science Understanding Strand in the Victorian Curriculum, namely Years 7-10 Biological Sciences, Years 7-10 Chemical Sciences, 7 -10 Physical Sciences and 7 – 10 Earth and Space Sciences. Alongside this science content focus, each subject will have a particular pedagogical or curricula emphasis. In this way each subject has a strong focus on exposure to specific science content through the lens of important pedagogical, curricular and social concepts and issues. For example, in the subject Inquiry and literacy tools in science classrooms, participants will consider a range of literacy tools that will enhance the learning of the Chemical Sciences topic Balancing Chemical Equations.

A range of Overarching Pedagogical Principles will be considered across the graduate certificate and will be addressed throughout the four subjects. These Overarching Pedagogical Principles are considered essential to an informed teaching of science and include, for example, an understanding of identifying and addressing common science misconceptions and formative and summative assessment techniques. Also included in these Overarching Principles is the Science Inquiry Skills Strand and the fifth sub-strand from Science Understanding, Science as a Human Endeavour. These two aspects of the Victorian Curriculum will be integrated throughout the four subjects so that participants develop a strong understanding and appreciation of the nature of science and how science is undertaken and incorporated in everyday life.