Required texts

Recommended Reading:

Woolcott, G. and Whannell, R. (2018), Teaching Secondary Science: Theory and Practice. Cambridge University Press.

Additional resources will be made available on the unit Canvas site.

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Approval of extenuating circumstances will be dependent upon the production of supporting documentation and at the discretion of the unit convener.

All assessment items required to be submitted online must be submitted via the appropriate Canvas drop box. It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding draft or assessment item to the right submission section. Assignments must be submitted in a format accessible to the assessor(s), as stated on the relevant canvas site. . If the unit convener and/or tutor are unable to access a submission, or if no submission has been made by the due date and time, a standard late penalty of 10% of the total marks possible for the task may be applied per day, for three days, after which the submission will receive a score of ‘0' in keeping with ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø's Assessment Policy.

Special assessment requirements

An aggregate mark of 50% and successful completion of Professional Experience is required to pass the unit.

1. Provision of valid documentation. 2. Lesson Plans

1. Please note that the University takes student conduct very seriously. All documentation provided to University staff must be valid and the provision of fraudulent documentation carries with it potentially serious consequences, including suspension and/or exclusion from the University. Note that all allegations of student misconduct will be referred to the Associate Dean for Education (ADE) as a prescribed authority for investigation.

2. When developing your lesson plans, it is encouraged that you are using your skills in lesson planning and design to create engaging and rich lesson resources. Using materials from commercial sites such as TPT, Twinkl, Sparkle Box etc. is not desirable in this unit. If you adapt resources from commercial sites and sources, please note this in your lesson planning and resource development.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø students have to complete the annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

Readings, online activities and workshops: ~ 90 hours

Collaborative lesson preparation and clinics participation:  ~ 40 hours

Assessment tasks: ~ 170 hours

Participation requirements

rofessional Experience

Successful completion of the professional experience component is critical to success in the whole unit.  Refer to assessment (5a) on the Canvas site for further details. Students must make themselves familiar with the processes and policies of professional experience.

School based clinics

Participation in ‘school based' tutorial classes is a compulsory condition of this unit, and attendance will be recorded. You must participate in 100% of the ‘school based' tutorial classes to pass this unit. In the event that you cannot attend your assigned session due to illness or extreme circumstances, you must provide appropriate documentation to the Unit Convener as soon as possible. In the case of sessions missed due to illness or extreme circumstances, both the academic content and the professional experience component are required to be made up. More than two documented absences may lead to failure of the unit due to non-completion.

*Note: This unit commences with week 1 on campus (see timetable for rooms) and Weeks 2-7 (Secondary) will be school-based to meet accreditation requirements of 3 days (Secondary) professional experience

Unit Engagement

There is a strong correlation between participation and success in higher education. Your participation and engagement with all unit activities will enhance your understanding of this unit's content and therefore the quality of your assessment responses. Lack of participation may result in your inability to satisfactorily pass assessment items. 

Required IT skills

Artificial intelligence services must not to be used for assessment or assessment preparation by students unless explicitly allowed in the assessment instructions for an assessment task published with the assessment task and/or in the unit outline. That is, an artificial intelligence services may only be used if:

• its use is authorised by the unit convener as part of a specified
  assessment task, and
• it is used in the way allowed in the assessment instructions and/or unit outline, and
• its use is appropriately referenced, meaning that students must reference the use of AI in their assessment in the same way as they reference other source material.

In-unit costs

N/A

Work placement, internships or practicums

 A successful professional placement is requisite for to pass this unit. Placements require strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics.  Students must adhere to University policy during their placement, including the Student Conduct Rules 2018, the WIL policy and WIL procedure, and the Assessment policy, and Assessment procedure. School student and staff confidentiality must always be maintained (please see the ACT ED Teachers' Code of Professional Practice and Student Conduct Rules), including for assessment items such as reports or essays. The professional nature of this unit also requires 100% participation at all learning activities (tutorials and placements) for the successful completion of this unit (also see section 6c). If attendance requirements cannot be satisfied (e.g., timetable clash), it is recommended that you contact the Academic Programs Team to discuss re-scheduling this unit.

Students are required to have a current Working with Vulnerable People card in order to participate in this unit. Note that the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act only applies to the ACT. For students undertaking placements in other states or territories, it may be that an alternate Police Check or a Working with Children Check is required. Please refer to the professional experience section on the All Teacher Education Students (ATES) CANVAS site for full information on the Professional Experience requirements. Students need to ensure they have their WWVP, or similar Working with Children check, COVID vaccination status and evidence of PSTR uploaded to InPlace.

Students who are in placement units or in school based units are also required to complete an Acceptable use of ICT resources form in order to access ICT resources in their placement school. A hardcopy of the form will be distributed and collected by your tutor early in each semester.

This unit involves a clinical placement and a professional practicum. Therefore, additional student responsibilities are required in addition to those described in section 6. Workplace learning requires strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics. School student and staff confidentiality must always be maintained (refer policies on ATES - Professional Experience Handbook, ACT ED Teachers' Code of Professional Practice (or equivalent) and Student Conduct Rules), including for assessment items such as reports or essays. This applies to staff and patrons of any outside agency where an internship or other WIL activity is taking place. The professional nature of this unit also requires 100% participation at all learning activities (lectures, workshops, tutorial, practicals etc. as scheduled – see section 3) for the successful completion of this unit (also see section 6c). If attendance requirements cannot be satisfied (e.g., timetable clash), it is recommended that you contact the Academic Programs Team to discuss re-scheduling this unit.

Additional information

Notifications through the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøLearn (Canvas) Announcements Forum or the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøLearn (Canvas) Discussion Forums are deemed to be made to the whole class.  It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they check for announcements on the Unit's ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøLearn (Canvas) website (ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøLearn (Canvas) forum messages are also emailed to student email addresses only).  Students should ensure they check their student email regularly.  The ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøLearn (Canvas) discussion forums will be checked by staff regularly.

Use of student email account

The University Email policy states that "students wishing to contact the University via email regarding administrative or academic matters need to send the email from the University account for identity verification purposes".  Therefore all unit enquiries should be emailed using a student university email account. Students should contact servicedesk@canberra.edu.au if they have any issues accessing their university email account.

In all cases of absence, sickness or personal problems it is the student's responsibility to ensure that the unit Convener is informed. The minimum participation requirement must be met in order to pass the unit (regardless of supporting documentation).

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