The Tasmanian eSchool is the Department of Education’s online learning provider, offering educational programs and online courses for students from Kindergarten to Year 10 (K-10) based on the Australian Curriculum.
The eSchool in partnership with the University of Tasmania’s School of Engineering will design and develop an online course in “Hands-on STEM” in term 1 2013. An eSchool teacher will deliver the course in terms 2, 3 and 4 to students in a variety of schools in isolated and remote areas across Tasmania including students from the eSchool itself.
The course will be developed using the Australian Curriculum framework. The course will be aimed at engaging students using exciting hands-on STEM activities that have direct and explicit connections to real-world application areas. The course will consist of four 10 week units, each based on one of the four sub-strands of the Australian Curriculum Science.
The School of Engineering will contribute to this project through its extensive knowhow in designing and delivering face-to-face hands-on STEM programs in the K-12 school sector. It will also make available to the project team its library of STEM teaching and learning resources.
The project will provide the partners with valuable insight into how best to use NBN facilities and open educational resources to deliver hands-on STEM programs around the state of Tasmania.