Teaching teachers about science

Christine Preston in her office

Lecturer in education at Macquarie University Christine Preston also works with primary teachers in the classroom to help them teach science to kindergarten children.

Preston’s office is play heaven. It’s stuffed with interesting toys in day-glo colours: must-touch furry fish, frogs and turtles. Fluorescent dolphins dangle from the ceiling. A bright red plastic lobster rises up, waves its claws and flaps its tail, singing Doo Wah Diddy Diddy.

It’s easy to see why Preston is a star teacher. She bubbles with energy and enthusiasm. In 2001, she won the NSW Minister for Education and Training and the Australian College of Education NSW Chapter Quality Teaching Award. Earlier, she had received the inaugural Rotary Club of Sydney Award for Innovation and Excellence in the Vocation of Teaching. This enabled her to travel to Ghana to work in curriculum development, and on a 10-year plan for educational reform.

Preston lectures in education at Macquarie University and also teaches primary science to kindergarten children at Sydney’s Abbotsleigh Anglican School for Girls for two hours a week.

“I use a lot of toys in teaching, trying to get the kids to understand that science is all around them, and that it involves what they do all the time,” she says.

She uses work samples from her classroom teaching with her university students. Abbotsleigh has a purpose-built primary science room (not a lab), which allows many different activities.

“Sometimes we’re using computers. Or we might make robots out of Lego and program them to move to music. That means the kids need to get down on the floor and move around with them. Or they might make a jumbo jet out of a drink bottle, so they have to be able to cut and saw and glue,” she says.

All chemicals used can be found in any kitchen cupboard.

Preston explains that primary-trained teachers are often ‘really scared about teaching science’, since they may have taken only one or two courses in it since school. She keeps folders of lesson plans from Kindergarten to Year 6 from the time when she was teaching full-time. She lends these to her students to modify for themselves. They also come into her office to borrow the toys and other resources that cram her shelves and cupboards – and play with them. This is particularly useful when their school doesn’t have resources of its own.

“More and more primary schools are taking on specialist teachers in science, music, languages and art to help out the classroom teacher who might not have the confidence or the background knowledge,” she says.

At Abbotsleigh, Preston mentors classroom teachers in presenting at science conferences, writing journal articles and doing their own research.

“In science, being passionate about the subject is really important,” she says. “You have to be able to face absolutely any question. If you don’t know the answer, you tell them, ‘We’ll look it up together’. The worst thing you can do is make up an answer. And you have to make university students want to teach science.”

She does this by encouraging them to try out new ideas and strategies, to be creative and flexible.

Winning awards for teaching means Preston knows that she’s recognised as both an excellent lecturer and a classroom teacher. She was observed in class and in the lecture room. Judges also spoke to students and colleagues, and she put together a portfolio based on key teaching competencies, a good professional development experience. Now she is encouraging fellow teachers to also apply for awards.

Preston also conducts professional development work in schools to enthuse, inspire and help practicing teachers develop confidence, skills and knowledge.

For further information, contact Christine Preston at christine.preston@mq.edu.au or visit www.aces.mq.edu.au/educ_home.asp

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