Teacher quality – what teachers do, how they teach and the way they present information – impacts on student learning (Hattie, 2003; 2009). Effective teaching and learning are multifaceted. There is no one recipe for teaching that will suit every student on all occasions. In your journey as a pre-service teacher, your goal should be to learn as much as you can from your university coursework, your professional experiences, lecturers and tutors, and the school teachers that supervise you, as well as drawing on your background knowledge and experience, so you are prepared with a suite of ideas, strategies, frameworks and theories that will support you to implement effective teaching and learning.

Human health in primary school contexts is a perfect launching pad for integrating STEM as well as health and physical education learning outcomes, and should focus on promoting and sustaining students' emotional, physical and social wellbeing. The environment, lifestyle choices, accidents and disease are significant factors influencing human health, and for primary-aged children it is important that learning opportunities link these areas to their out-of-school lives. Cross-cultural understandings are understood and reinforced when in-school and out-of-school experiences are integrated, and they also provide opportunities for developing students' future decision-making capabilities. This chapter presents some common alternative conceptions associated with human health, and describes three integrated STEM projects linked to current issues in primary school. The F–2 project looks at designing and producing a hat for a pet, the 3–4 project involves an optimal exercise program, and the 5–6 project focuses on developing an online social media platform for tweens.

This chapter is about mathematics and how it is taught in Australian primary schools. Teachers in the current education landscape need to reinvent the wheel by bringing about a change to some existing classroom practices in mathematics, and must make the subject-matter as meaningful to students’ lives as possible. The first section of this chapter presents an overview of mathematics as a discipline and how it is applied in the real world. The second sections deals with mathematics education, with some key details on the intentions and expectations of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. The next section shows the connections between learning theories and how they can be applied to concepts from the Australian Curriculum. The chapter concludes with some ideas on how the curriculum can be applied through a Garden Challenge project.

Science is one of eight learning areas in the Australian Curriculum. In this chapter, the world of scientists and what they do is explained and then explored within the context of Foundation to Year 6 settings. Using Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA, 2019) documents and a science concepts lens, relevant knowledge and understanding, skills and human endeavours for the years F–2, 3–4 and 5–6 are identified and mapped to a range of activities in a Garden Challenge project to provide examples of authentic, engaging learning opportunities for students that reflect how scientists work and think when tackling problems. This chapter takes you through the process of how to work and think as scientists do, and how to apply these strategies in Australian primary school classrooms.

Theory and potential practices learnt during university teacher education degree programs provide pre-service teachers with a foundation for engaging with the teaching profession, teaching practices, students and other key stakeholders, such as parents and community members. Professional experience (sometimes called practicum or work integrated learning) is an opportunity for you, as a pre-service teacher, to apply theory and practices to the classroom context under the guidance of an experienced teacher known as a mentor (also supervising teacher or school-based teacher educator ).

This chapter introduces the concepts of classroom routines and management, and approaches to inclusive practice, through the use of case studies, extracts from theoretical writings and policy documents. The discussion includes consideration of theoretical approaches to classroom management, including discipline and leadership models. The focus on classroom management also considers forms of discipline and legal responsibilities.

Should cars be fuelled by petrol or electricity? Should houses use electricity sourced from a renewable resource such as solar panels, or from a coal-fired power station? Energy is a significant topic from both a global and local perspective, with topical election issues such as these polarising the community. Energy cannot be seen directly – we can only experience its effects as it interacts with living things and materials, In the F–6 energy learnng progression in the Australian Curriculum, there is a focus on sound energy in Years F–2, on heat energy in Years 3–4 and on electrical energy in Years 5–6. Investigating the properties of a range of energy forms such as light, sound, heat, movement and electrical energy, and how they interact with materials, provides students with entry points to identify solutions to real-life issues. This chapter presents some common alternative conceptions associated withenergy, then describes three integrated STEM projects for primary school children.

As a teacher, not only will you be providing a rich context for effective STEM project-based learning, but you will be setting up your students for careers of the future. It is quite a challenge to prepare students for careers that have not yet been invented. This chapter looks at some of the future careers, first considering opportunities to form partnerships and the way they can be developed. It then outlines some of the STEM connections that exist in Australia at three levels: through governments (both federal and state), at the organisational level and at the local level through industry and community groups. STEM informal and formal learning opportunities, activities and events are presented as mini-case studies that fit within these three areas.

We have already explored how students learn both individually and socially, and how teachers draw from a range of learning theories to provide opportunities that motivate and engage students by optimising resources in the learning environment. In this chapter, we drill down into specific teaching approaches and strategies that are aligned with constructivist and sociocultural learning theories. In this chapter, you will undertake the groundwork to prepare you with an array of ideas and tools to be well equipped for teaching. We consider how to foster a classroom environment that supports a rich learning culture, implementing different ways of teaching that used in combination in professional practice you can use with your students to assist them to become effective learners. If you are to foster learning partnerships in the classroom where students have ‘voice and choice’ (Garry, Fodchuk & Hobbs, 2017), you will need to understand how to promote their active participation. The chapter concludes with an examination of frameworks that promote powerful learning, effective teaching and enable students to learn how to learn.

Learning is the fundamental process that teachers are seeking to influence in the classroom. But what is learning? And, how can we, as teachers, help our students to learn effectively? Learning has been a topic of investigation for centuries. Educators have sought to understand learning through philosophy, through observation, through experiments and even through neuroscience. All this thought and research points to one certainty: learning is a complex human behaviour. As a teacher, it is important for you to understand the ways in which your students learn. That means becoming aware of some of the theories people have put forward about how learning works, developing an appreciation for how you can know whether or not learning has occurred in your classroom, and understanding what you can do to maximise the learning possibilities for all of your students.

What is the future of STEM education and how will it be enacted and viewed over the next decade? This chapter uses the 100-plus years of collective STEM education wisdom of the authors to predict the future of STEM in Australian primary schools. The chapter first presents a short historical review of the ascent of STEM from its birth and then maps its current trajectory. Next it discusses careers of the future and the need for both STEM skills and STEM content knowledge, with an emphasis on the former. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are discussed as a context for the globalisation of STEM education, followed by a discussion of future trends spurred by the use of innovative technologies. Lastly, the chapter focuses on how to develop your own STEM identity.

This chapter is about technologies and how this subject area is taught in Australian primary schools. The first section presents an overview of technology as a discipline. Its connections with engineering and other disciplines are also highlighted. Two examples of technologies developed by Australians are presented to demonstrate how ideas are transformed into products in the real world. The second section deals with technology education and the expectations of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies. The third section shows the connections between the theories of constructivism and constructionism, and how they relate to the delivery of the curriculum.

How would you go about identifying and then setting up a successful STEM learning space in a school? Some teachers hold the view that STEM education is complex, difficult and requires a range of expensive resources to be used in a particularly designed STEM learning space. In the first section, we explore the research related to STEM learning environments and the history and design of makerspaces.The chapter then identifies key aspects of STEM learning spaces, and looks at those materials/resources that are essential and those that are optional for supporting STEM activities. The chapter then examines the views of experienced teachers regarding STEM education and considers the mindset required by STEM teachers.

In this chapter, the world of engineers and what they do is explained and then explored within the context of Foundation to Year 6 settings. Using ACARA documents (upon which all state and territory curricula and syllabus documents are based), and an engineering concept lens, relevant knowledge, skills and values for the years F–2, 3–4 and 5–6 are identified and mapped to a range of Garden Challenge activities/projects to provide examples of authentic, engaging learning opportunities for students that reflect how engineers work and think when tackling problems. This chapter takes you through the process of how to work and think as engineers do and how to apply these strategies in Australian primary school classrooms.