Secondary Program Day One
Thursday 17 September, 4.30-6.30pm, online
Theme: Depth Studies
Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| 4:30pm – 5:05pm | ||
| 5:05pm – 5:15pm | Tea Break | |
| 5:15pm – 5:45pm | Networking | |
| 5:55pm – 6:30pm | Dr Richard Walding, Griffith University | 2 Concurrent Depth Studies sessions:
Chemistry Depth Studies: Four great pracs that work well. Dr Richard Walding will present several chem pracs in acid-base reactions that work well in addressing the ‘derive trends’ aspect of Band 6 criteria in the 2025 NSW Chemistry syllabus. Schools in rural and remote often struggle with practical aspects of the syllabus if they don’t have adequate resources. Teachers often worry that the new practicals will be manageable but will require buying chemicals that school labs don’t use. However, the experiments Richard is presenting are not overly complex. In fact, they are simple pracs that need little equipment and can be done in any school in the State. The important part is how the collected data can be graphed to show patterns and relationships, and derive trends, so necessary to allow for a good depth of thinking. Richard will show the setup of the pracs and what concentrations, volumes and equipment works best. Teachers will leave with a variety of ready-to-go pracs that lab staff will have little trouble setting up, and that students will understand how to perform them, what to look out for, and the best approaches for analysis of data and its limitations. |
| 5:55pm – 6:30pm | Rob Mahon, MacKillop College Port Macquarie | Diving into Depth Studies
The mandatory depth study components of both the Preliminary and HSC science courses are an intimidating obstacle for many teachers. In an attempt to manage the many moving parts of these, some teachers enforce greatly constricted choices or a specifically mandated topic of depth study for all students to focus on. This restriction of student choice goes against the principles behind the depth study investigation. This workshop looks at ways to open up the bottleneck around student choice in depth study selection. In the preliminary depth study session, we will look at ways to offer a large menu of choices for students to create a physical model with working components and a digital overlay of both curated and created content. In the HSC depth study session, we will look at how to offer a “Blue Sky” range of primary or secondary investigations. In both sessions we will provide marking rubrics which allow for clarity of marking and fair comparison and across a wide range of student choices. |
Secondary Program Day Two
Thursday 8 October, 4.30pm – 6.30pm, onlie
Theme: Depth Studies 2
Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| 4:30pm – 5:05pm |
|
2 Concurrent Depth Studies sessions:
Physics Depth Studies
|
| Sophia McLean, Georges River
Environmental Education Centre |
INS Depth Studies, Not So Fantastic Plastic Plastic is perhaps the greatest environmental catastrophe after climate change. Most of the solutions are sadly greenwashing. In this workshop we will explore what plastic is, the problems with it in the environment and what happens when microplastics enter organisms. We will explore a range of activities suitable for any age group as well as scientific sampling methods for microplastics as conducted by AUSMAP – the Australian Microplastics Assessment Project. Participants will get to sort a microplastic sample from one of the worst hotspots in Sydney. A range of sustainability solutions will be explored from the very simple to ones that require a bit more effort. |
|
| 5:05pm – 5:15pm | Tea Break | |
| 5:15pm – 6:30pm | Biology Depth Studies
|
|
Secondary Program Day Three
Thursday 15 October, 4.30pm – 6.30pm, online
Theme: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives
Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| 4:30pm – 5:05pm | Josh Nicholls, First Nations Education Team Leader Sydney Zoo
|
Transforming Science Teaching Through First Nations Perspectives This virtual session explores how science teachers can authentically address syllabus outcomes while embedding First Nations perspectives. Using the Sydney Zoo workshop “Aboriginal Astronomy” as an example, this session highlights the deep scientific knowledge systems developed by First Nations peoples over tens of thousands of years. |
| 5:05pm – 5:15pm | Tea Break | |
| 5:15pm – 5:45pm | Networking |
|
| 5:15pm – 6:30pm | Integration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and western science constructs: Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives
|
Secondary Program Day Four
Thursday 29 October, 4.30pm – 6.30pm, online
Theme: Data Science
Time |
Speaker |
Topic |
| 4:30pm – 5:05pm | Dr Sarah Digan, University of Wollongong
|
Working with large data: A framework for teaching critical data practices The new NSW Science 7-10 Syllabus (2023) places ethical, evidence-based decision-making with data as a core requirement of the new mandatory Data Science focus areas. Yet what this looks like in a secondary classroom – what practices students need, how those practices connect, and how teachers can facilitate and assess them – is an area where both research and practical guidance remain limited. This workshop offers a research-grounded framework for understanding and teaching critical data practices in secondary science. Drawing on an emerging model of evidentiary data practices (Unshelm et al., 2025; Digan et al., under review), we examine what these practices look like in secondary classrooms and what changes when generative AI becomes part of the process. The framework is illustrated through two publicly available tasks using real occurrence and climate data from the Illawarra and large global poverty datasets. Participants will engage with elements of both tasks, work with the framework as an analytical and design tool, and discuss how to adapt these ideas across their own teaching contexts. Both tasks and supporting materials will be provided to all participants. |
| 5:05pm – 5:15pm | Tea Break | |
| 5:15pm – 5:45pm | Networking |
|
| 5:15pm – 6:30pm | Bridget Murphy, ANSTO | Using statistics to investigate ozone While ozone gas is crucial in the upper atmosphere to block harmful UV, ozone in the air we breathe can irritate our airways and exacerbate chronic conditions like asthma. This data set investigates the relationship between ozone concentration, other pollutant gases, and temperature. Students are introduced to basic statistics, including univariate and bivariate analyses, and concepts such as mean, median, maximum, minimum, standard deviation, quartiles and outliers. |
Secondary Pricing
| Single Day |
Full Series | |
| Individual Secondary Member | $80 | $155 |
| Secondary School Member | $95 | $185 |
| Pre-service Member | $30 | $55 |
| Non-Member | $240 | $475 |
To register, see our Learning & Events Calendar.
Professional Learning Hours
STANSW is a NESA recognised provider. This professional learning may be logged as accredited professional development hours toward proficient teacher accreditation. Standards addressed: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7.