Researchers Rob Raven, David O. Reynolds, Jo Lindsay and Ruth Lane tell us what they know about making a low-waste household more convenient. Australian households produce about 12 million tonnes of waste every year. That puts the sector almost on par with manufacturing or construction. But it...
The first two books reviewed are mostly based on stories from WWII. The stories are believably woven around snippets of true stories to illustrate particular historical events. Running with Ivan by Susanne Leal, pub. by HarperCollins. P/B RRP$17.99 Ages 10+ Leo’s mother is dead, and his father...
Leslie Loble looks at why we should all value the opportunities EdTech can provide and learn to understand it as a learning tool ChatGPT and its powerful capacity to generate original text has taken the education sector by surprise. Not only are universities hurrying to adapt...
Kelly-Ann Allen looks at the special place schools have in the process of belonging. Every March, in every corner of Australia, schools, workplaces and communities gather in various ways to celebrate Harmony Week*, and whether it’s through shared food, music, songs or stories, this is a...
Early literacy doesn’t always equal an easy path at school, as Judith Ware’s son found to his detriment. No-one could have been prouder than I was when my son began to recognise his alphabet. I took it for granted, this being my first child, that this...
Learning grammar is just as important as it always was but the way we teach it has changed, writes John Munro Many students returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit...
Educators Graham Parr, Fleur Diamond, Anne Keary and Kylie Bradfield look for some answers The recent report by the Australian Educational Research Organisation (AERO), Writing development: What does a decade of NAPLAN data reveal? , has caused quite a stir in Australian news...
If a child draws a scientist, what do they draw? asks Professor Moira O'Bryan If your answer is a young woman in a high-vis vest and hard hat, looking for dark matter in a cavernous physics laboratory one kilometre down a gold mine, then that is...
Australian schools are starting to provide food, but we need to think carefully before we ‘ditch the lunchbox’, report Brittany Johnson, Alexandra Manson and Rebecca Golley State Liberal leader Matthew Guy has promised a trial to provide free lunches in Victorian public schools if elected...
A push to raise the school starting age to 6 sounds like good news for parents, write Amanda Niland and Marianne Fenech. But there’s a catch The decision about whether to send a child to school “early” or “hold them back” can be a tortuous one...
