Education Teacher Professional Learning
Last updated:29 May 2024
Geoscience Australia knows that helping teachers to better understand and teach the Earth sciences will lead to better experiences for budding science and geography students. Throughout the year Geoscience Australia hosts Earth science related programs and events for teachers. These initiatives focus on the skills and knowledge needed to teach geoscience topics within the Australian National Curriculum, with particular attention to engaging girls in STEM.
Virtual professional learning sessions – Term 3
By popular demand we are re-running our free, online data portal teacher professional learning sessions in Term 3. Join us to explore how to access and interpret our freely available map data and historical satellite imagery to support numerous topics in geography and science.
Session 1: Earthquakes
Explore historic earthquake data and how they inform us about plate tectonics.
Wednesday 28 August 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm AEST
Session 2: Natural Hazards
Use the power of satellite imagery to understand the impact of past Australian natural hazards.
Thursday 29 August 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm AEST
Session 3: Critical Minerals; how, where, and why?
Use map data to understand how Australia’s geology and geography influence the presence of critical minerals.
Tuesday 3 September 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm AEST
Session 4: Change over time using satellite imagery
Examine models containing historic satellite imagery and data interpretation to track changes to natural and urban landscapes.
Thursday 5 September 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm AEST
Teachers investigating the depth of earthquakes during a professional learning session.
Teaching Secondary Earth Science
Plate tectonics misconceptions Part 1
This session of "Can I Fall Down the Cracks?" focuses on common misconceptions that are encountered when teaching plate tectonics.
Plate tectonics misconceptions Part 2
This session of "Can I Fall Down the Cracks?" focuses on common misconceptions that are encountered when teaching about hazards associated with plate tectonics.
Teaching Primary Earth Science
The accompanying PowerPoint presentations from the sessions are available on our website.
Earth Science professional learning session
This session focuses on teaching 'Earth's surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity'. The presenters introduce slow changes to the surface and show hands-on investigations of weathering and erosion processes.
Earth Science professional learning session
This session focuses on teaching 'sudden geological changes and extreme weather events that can affect Earth's surface'. Geohazards (earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis) are the main topics considered and the presenters show hands-on demonstrations and inquiry activities to support student understanding.
All our videos are available on our YouTube channel.
TESEP
The Teacher Earth Science Education Programme (TESEP) runs professional learning sessions across the country. For further information about programmes in your state visit https://tesep.org.au.
In Western Australia similar sessions are available from Earth Science Western Australia (ESWA). Australian Earth Science Education is the national entity to ESWA and also runs professional learning sessions, particularly for senior secondary.