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 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||||
| 9 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Textbooks
Embedding STEAM in Early Childhood Education and Care
- Edition: 1st ed (2021)
- Authors: Cohrssen, Caroline,; Garvis, Susanne
- Springer International Publishing
- ISBN: 9783030656249; 3030656241
This is an open access book
This is an open access book
Promoting Transformative Practices for Sustainability in Early Childhood Education and Care
- 1st Edition (2025)
- Authors: Edited ByFabio Dovigo, Sule Alici
- outledge
- London London , United Kingdom
- ISBN: 9781003494140
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
No referencing style set.
y.carrizo@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 14 Jul 2025Module/Topic
What is STEM and why is it important- links to policy
Chapter
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/latest-news/blog/embedding-culture-sustainable-ways
https://www.eeec.org.au/sustainability-and-the-eylf/
Davis, J. (2020). Caring for the environment: Towards sustainable futures. In Outdoor Learning Environments (pp. 59-78). Routledge.
Stephenson, T., Fleer, M., Fragkiadaki, G., & Rai, P. (2023). Teaching STEM through play: Conditions created by the conceptual playWorld model for early childhood teachers. Early Years, 43(4-5), 811-827.
Suryani, A., March, S., Fleer., Rai, P. (2024). Contributing to SDGs through conceptual playworlds: Changing the STEM story for children, families and teachers. In Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., & Dwyer, J. (Eds) Early Childhood Voices: Children Families, Professionals. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, 41. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 21 Jul 2025Module/Topic
Pedagogical approaches to teaching STEM (Project based learning, Inquiry Based Learning, Integrated Approaches, problem solving) – Guidance from the EYLF – Science Inquiry Skills, Design and engineering thinking
Chapter
Ärlemalm-Hagsér, E., & Davis, J. (2014). Examining the rhetoric: A comparison of how sustainability and young children’s participation and agency are framed in Australian and Swedish early childhood education curricula. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 15(3), 231–244.
Elliott, S., & Davis, J. (2018). Moving forward from the margins: Education for sustainability in Australian early childhood contexts. In G. Reis & J. Scott (Eds.), International perspectives on theory and practice of environmental education: A reader (pp. 163-178). Springer.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 28 Jul 2025Module/Topic
Play as a rich context for learning STEM
Nature play and the contribution to environmental sustainability
Chapter
Campbell, C., & Speldewinde, C. (2022). Early childhood STEM education for sustainable development. Sustainability, 14(6), 3524.
Davis, J., & Elliott, S. (Eds.). (2023). Young children and the environment: Early education for sustainability. Cambridge University Press.
O’Gorman, L. (2024). “It’s the only world we’ve got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 1-13.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 04 Aug 2025Module/Topic
Innovation in approaches to teaching STEM (STEM Practices – see Larkin & Lowrie and Conceptual PlayWorld)
Chapter
O'Connor, G., & Rosicka, C. (2020). Science in the early years. Paper 2: Science inquiry skills.
Larkin, K., & Lowrie, T. (2022). STEM Education in the Early Years. Singapore: Springer. https://books. google. com. ec/books.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 11 Aug 2025Module/Topic
Drawing on the affordances of technologies to support STEM learning
Chapter
MacDonald, A. & Rafferty. J. (2015). Investigating mathematics, science and technology in early childhood. Oxford University Press.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment Task 1: Exploring possibilities for inquiry
Due date: Week 5 August 16th 2025
Exploring possibilities for inquiry Due: Week 5 Friday (15 Aug 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 18 Aug 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 25 Aug 2025Module/Topic
STEM with infants and toddlers
Chapter
Simoncini, K. & Lasen, M. (2018). Ideas About STEM Among Australian Early Childhood Professionals: How Important is STEM in Early Childhood Education? International Journal of Early Childhood, 50(3), 353–369.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 01 Sep 2025Module/Topic
What is early childhood education for sustainability and why does it matter? United Nations SDG’s
Pedagogical approaches in early childhood education for sustainability
Early learning for sustainability through STEAM
Chapter
Almeida, S. (2020). Alternative worldviews on early childhood education for sustainability: Reviewing and re-examining concepts, images of children, and sustainability. In S. Elliott, E. Arlemalm-Hagser and J. Davis (Eds.), Researching early childhood education for sustainability: Challenging assumptions and orthodoxies, 138-50. Routledge.
Cooke, S., & Baldwin, A. (2023). Healthy and sustainable environments for children and communities in a changing climate. Young Children and the Environment: Early Education for Sustainability, 210.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). (2021). Sustainable development. https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development/what-is- esd/sd#:~:text=There%20are%20four%20dimensions%20to,an%20improved%20quality%20of%20life
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 08 Sep 2025Module/Topic
Including Indigenous perspectives – Indigenous knowledges
Chapter
Hamm, C. (2017). Reimagining narratives of place: Respectfully centring Aboriginal perspectives in early childhood education. In Meaning Making in Early Childhood Research (pp. 85-98). Routledge.
Hamm, C. (2019). Foregrounding indigenous worldviews in early childhood. Journal of Childhood Studies, 1-5.
Blaise, M., & Hamm, C. (2022). Lively emu dialogues: Activating feminist common worlding pedagogies. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 30(4), 473-489.
Hamm, C., Iorio, J. M., Cooper, J., Smith, K., Crowcroft, P., Molloy Murphy, A., ... & Yelland, N. (2025). Learning with place as a catalyst for action. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 33(1), 35-48.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 15 Sep 2025Module/Topic
Listening to children and children's understandings of sustainability matters and documenting using Floorbooks
Chapter
Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., & Dwyer, J. (2024). Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0
O'Gorman, Lyndal (2017). Sustainability, the arts and big numbers: The challenge of researching children's responses to Chris Jordan's images. International Journal of Early Childhood, 49(3), 321-332.
Warden, C. (2015). Talking and thinking Floor books: An approach to consultation, observation, planning and assessment in children’s learning (3rd ed.) Mindstretchers.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment Task: Portfolio
Due date: Week 9 - September 19th 2025
Due: Week 9 Friday (19 Sept 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 10
Begin Date: 22 Sep 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 29 Sep 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 06 Oct 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 13 Oct 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 20 Oct 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Exploring possibilities for inquiry
Assessment Type
Written
Task Description
In this assessment task, you are required to complete the following:
1. You are to examine relevant literature and policy texts to provide a synthesis of the importance of STEM and the importance of teaching it as an integrated suite of disciplines in real-world contexts and ensure alignment with the principles and practices informing early childhood (AGDE, 2022, pp. 14 – 26). 1000 words
2. Select one of the scenarios presented on the Moodle site. You are asked to use the selected scenario as a platform to develop the following:
· Identify the problem or focus for inquiry that the children may investigate and proffer potential questions that may be included in this investigation – think though what the children may ask in relation to the larger problem/inquiry. As young children are curious and want to find out about their world, what might the children be interested in?
· Outline a web of possibilities that this scenario could afford
The previous components asked you to consider possibilities that could be investigated. In the next section, you need to outline the implications for you as a teacher:
· How will you support the children in their investigation/project/inquiry enabling them to develop and test theories?
· What investigative process will you draw on? How will you support children to represent and communicate their ideas/hypotheses? Consider the range of media that support both exploration and representation (clay, drawing, paint, digital technologies and so on)
· Consider how you will scaffold the concepts that appear central to the investigation. What language/concepts are the focus of this investigation? Are there resources that you can draw on (books, digital texts, images etc)
· Consider also the implications for the environment. Remember, the environment is the “third teacher”.
· The final section of this task asks you to make links to the curriculum texts The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (AGDE, 2022) and the General Capability (Critical and Creative Thinking) and to explain how your proposed investigation/inquiry integrates across the STEM disciplines.
Assessment Due Date: 16th August 2025
Weighting
50%
Week 5 Friday (15 Aug 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 8 Friday (12 Sept 2025)
Assessment Criteria
· Synthesise contemporary research pertaining to STEM explicating the importance of teaching it as an integrated suite of disciplines (Assignment 1)
· 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 (Assignment 1)
· Communicate an analysis of the pedagogical implications with consideration given to supporting children to explore and represent their ideas (Assignment 1)
Referencing Style
· American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
No submission method provided.
- 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
2 Portfolio
Assessment Type
Written
Task Description
Sustainability has been identified as a principle in the Early Years Learning Framework. “Sustainability spans environmental, social, and economic dimensions which are intertwined. Environmental sustainability focuses on caring for our natural world and protecting, preserving and improving the environment. Social sustainability is about inclusion and living peacefully, fairly and respectfully together in resilient local and global communities. Economic sustainability refers to practices that support economic development without negatively impacting the other dimensions” (AGDE,2022, p. 17).
This task has 2 components. The components are outlined below:
1. You are to select 4 articles pertaining to sustainability in early childhood (these will be available on the Moodle site). For each article you are to provide a synthesis of the literature and identify implications for your practice in early childhood. Consider also if reading the article raised any questions for you in relation to sustainability and why it is important for early childhood educators and children to have active roles to play in creating and promoting sustainable communities. You need to articulate the questions that the articles have raised in relation to your practice.
2. The second component will be conducted during your placement. This component requires that you complete the following:
· Observe the everyday practices that occur within the setting that demonstrate that sustainability is a focus at the service. Remember, sustainability spans environmental, social, and economic dimension which are intertwined. While you may see greater focus on environmental sustainability, you need to identify how the other dimensions of sustainability (social and economic) are also addressed. For each practice occurring within the setting, you are to make explicit links to the Early Years Learning Framework (AGDE, 2022) and to NQS.
· Children are interested in their world and can engage with “concepts of sustainability” (AGDE, 2022, p. 18). As part of this section of the task, you are to Identify a topic of interest that links to sustainability and develop a small project related to this interest. You will submit a ‘floor book’ (or similar), that documents the thinking of the children. It needs to record their voices, and drawings or collected images. The FloorBook will be accompanied by the following reflection. You are required to reflect on:
· your understandings about the importance of listening to children
· the way you supported children during the project
· the way in which the arts enabled children to represent their views/understandings about the project.
Assessment Due Date: September 19th September 2025
Weighting
50%
Week 9 Friday (19 Sept 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 12 Friday (10 Oct 2025)
· Examine the literature to generate strategies to facilitate child participation in building a sustainable, democratic, equitable and just society and to reflect on provocations presented in the literature (Assignment 2)
· Analyse observations of practice to explicate pedagogies that promote a focus on sustainability (Assignment 2)
· Implement and document a sustainability focussed project with children which documents their voices and representations and your reflections on the importance of listening to children (Assignment 2)
No submission method provided.
- 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.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
