In Progress
Please note that this Unit Profile is still in progress. The content below is subject to change.Overview
Young children are curious and active inquirers about their world, including STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and sustainability focussed curiosities. Through play, children investigate, experiment, test hypotheses, imagine and explore ideas. There is growing recognition that education about sustainability supports children’s active role in contributing to a sustainable future. A national focus on both STEM and sustainability in curriculum texts has pedagogical implications for teachers. In this unit, you will consolidate your knowledge in STEM disciplines and identify the pedagogies required to support children’s engagement and participation in STEM, drawing on and making links to relevant curriculum frameworks and policy texts. Drawing on key literature pertaining to sustainability, you will generate strategies that support child participation in building a sustainable, democratic, equitable and just society. The implications for your practice in early childhood contexts will be explicated. Case studies and scenarios from other countries will be included in the unit materials.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
- Synthesise contemporary research pertaining to STEM to explore the importance of teaching it as an integrated suite of disciplines
- Generate possibilities for a STEM focussed inquiry that enables young children to represent and communicate their emerging theories and identify links to the relevant curriculum framework
- Communicate an analysis of the pedagogical implications with consideration given to supporting children to explore and represent their ideas
- Examine the literature to distil strategies to facilitate child participation in building a sustainable, democratic, equitable and just society and articulate reflections on the provocations presented in the literature
- Analyse observations of practice to explicate pedagogies that promote a focus on sustainability
- Implement and document a sustainability focussed project with children which documents their voices and representations and provides reflections on the importance of listening to children.
This unit contributes to meeting the curriculum content requirements outlined by the Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||
| 2 - Portfolio - 50% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||||
| 4 - Research | ||||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||