About the project

Each university has a number of sites where the school-based teaching occurs. As part of the research project, data including video, audio, images, and text is being collected at some of these sites to create representative case studies.

The project is funded by the Office for Learning and Teaching over 2 years (2013–2014).

Researchers in the STEPS project

The eight researchers in the STEPS Project have expertise in primary science education. They are teacher educators experienced in implementing and managing school-based science education programs at their respective universities.

Universities in the STEPS Project

The universities in the STEPS project come from Victoria and Tasmania and represent urban, regional and rural locations. The school-based teaching occurs in connection with primary science education course/units at each university.

Units/courses included in the STEPS Project

University	Campus	Degree Course /Program	Data collection in 2013
Deakin University	Burwood, Waurn Ponds and Warrnambool Victoria	Bachelor of Education	EES340 Primary Science Education 2 a core unit in the third year of a four year program of study.
The University of Tasmania	Launceston Tasmania	Bachelor of Education	Fourth year elective unit on science education.
Australian Catholic University	Ballarat Victoria	Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Early Childhood and Primary Education	EDST201/EDST261 Science and Technology Education. A core unit in the fourth year of each of the Bachelor programs.
The University of Melbourne	Melbourne Victoria	Masters of Teaching	EDUC 90376 Science and Technology Education. A core second year unit.
RMIT University	Melbourne Victoria	Bachelor of Education	TCHE2332/2305 Science & Technology 2: Investigating in the Sciences. A core third year unit.

Partner schools in the STEPS Project

There are a variety of models of school-based delivery of science education involving school/university partnerships. School-based programs that provide authentic teaching experiences for pre-service teachers depend on strong working relationships between the teacher educators, the pre-service teachers and the staff and children at the schools. The STEPS project is an opportunity to acknowledge and recognise the children and staff at schools as critical members of the partnerships in each of the cases. The STEPS Project will explore the mutual benefits of the partnerships.

Phases of the STEPS Project

There are four phases in the Science Teacher Education Partnership with Schools (STEPS) Project:

1. Sharing of current practice within the team (1 - 6 months)
   1. Generating case studies of current practice
   2. Cross-case analysis
   3. Drafting of principles and an Interpretive Framework.
2. Situating the models into the contemporary literature and practice (3-7 months)
   1. Compilation of an annotated bibliography
3. Analysis of current programs of the research team (5 - 15 months)
   1. Data collection, critique and analysis of current case studies to inform interpretive framework
4. Examination of approaches employed by other universities (16 - 22 months)
   1. Scoping of school-based models used across Australia
   2. Further development of Interpretive Framework informed by data from 1,2,3,4.

The Projected Deliverables of the STEPS Project

The STEPS project will deliver:

• Annotated Bibliography and list of school based science teacher education in Australia
• Case Studies from each of the 7 research project sites
• Presentations of Results - this includes project reports, newsletters, media reports, presentations at academic conferences, and publications in academic journals.
• An Interpretive Framework that informs, develops and supports school-based approaches to pre-service teacher education. This framework will draw on various models of school-based practice.