A new pre-service teacher curriculum
How ORS modules are being included in teacher education
Using ORS modulesThis suite of twenty-five modules covers mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, and earth and environmental science.
Here you can find more information about each module, and links to online content available for that topic.
These multidisciplinary topics bring together knowledge from across different fields.
Discipline: All
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-12
Module leader and lead university: Tracy Sullivan (Macquarie University Faculty of Arts)
Team members: Professor Joanne Mulligan (Macquarie School of Education), Professor David Christian (Macquarie Department of Modern History), Adjunct Professor Quentin Parker (Macquarie Department of Physics and Astronomy), Professor John Hedberg (Macquarie School of Education), Ming Ming Diao (Macquarie School of Education).
Module summary: Discovering Real Science through Big History is the 'gateway' module that will take you on a journey from the beginning of the universe to today's interconnected global societies.
Discipline: Chemistry, Indigenous science, environmental science
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-12
Module leader and lead university: Joanne Jamie (Macquarie University)
Team members: Ian Jamie, Dr Kathy Stewart (Macquarie University)
Module summary: Science in the community enables you to plan and conduct your own exciting science activities for events such as Science Week and community-based science investigations and events inspiring you to engage in real chemistry activities.
Discipline: Biology, arts
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-8
Module leader and lead university: Dr Kathy Stewart (Macquarie University)
Team members: Professor Helmut Pretchl, Dr Michael Burkhart (Potsdam University, Germany) Hye-Eun Chu (Macquarie University), Cathie Howe (Macquarie University), Bronwen Wade-Leeuwen (Macquarie University)
Module summary: Inspired by plants focuses on the amazing variety of structures in leaves, fruits, flowers and cones. Art and science intersect when you practice the science skills of close observation to create a model, drawing or digital representation of a plant or plant part.
Discipline: ICT, education
Target audience: pre-service teachers 9-12
Module leader and lead university: Rob Fitzgerald, Simon Leonard (University of Canberra)
Team members: Dr Matt Bower (Macquarie University), Dr Kate Highfield (Macquarie University), Cathie Howe (Macquarie University ICT)
Module summary: Intelligent or 'smart' materials change their properties in response to changes in their environment. Could our use of these materials change our society?
Discipline: All
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-12
Module leader and lead university: Associate Professor Helen Pask (Macquarie University)
Team members: Nada Zaitoun (Macquarie University)
Module summary: Frontiers of Real Science puts you in touch with real scientists and their cutting-edge research.
These modules explore diverse aspects of how our planet works.
Discipline: Earth and environmental science, geography
Target audience: pre-service teachers 5-10
Module leader and lead university: Dr Rod Lane (Macquarie School of Education)
Team members: Ming Ming Diao (Macquarie School of Education), Dr John de Nobile (Macquarie School of Education), Dr Kevin Cheung (Macquarie Department of Environmental Sciences)
Module summary: Have you ever wondered how the weather works? Using tropical cyclones as an example, you will learn the key principles for understanding weather such as air pressure and the causes of wind and cloud formation.
Discipline: Earth science
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-8
Module leader and lead university: Ed Saunders Macquarie University
Team members: Dr Helen Pask (Macquarie University), Scarlet An (Macquarie University)
Module summary: Clocks in rocks reveals the geology all around us. Every resource we have is either farmed or mined, and both are related to geology. Geologists are historians and detectives, using the other branches of science as a toolkit to look for clues.
Discipline: Earth Science
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-12
Module leader and lead university: Dr Kathy Stewart (Macquarie University)
Team members: Frances Bodkin, Liz Date-Huxtable (University of Western Sydney)
Module summary: Can our impact be moderated or altered to deliver positive outcomes for other species inhabiting our world? Every species has an impact on their local environment. However human impact can be detected in every environment.
These modules study and combine the disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology in exciting ways.
Discipline: Physics, biology
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-8
Module leader and lead university: Associate Professir Helen Pask (Macquarie University Faculty of Science and Engineering)
Team members: Dr Judith Dawes (Macquarie University Faculty of Science), Chris Sutton (Macquarie School of Education), Dr Kathy Stewart (Macquarie School of Education), Ming Ming Diao (Macquarie School of Education)
Module summary: Discover how sound is created, how it travels, how sounds differ and how we describe sound. You will build your understanding of sound by conducting your own experiments.
Discipline: Physics
Target audience: pre-service teachers 5-8
Module leader and lead university: Associate Professor Helen Pask (Macquarie University Faculty of Science and Engineering, Dr Judith Dawes (Macquarie University Faculty of Science)
Team members: Dr Kathy Stewart (MQ School of Education), Blake Entwisle (MQ School of Education)
Module summary: Light is something we often take for granted. We explore the science of light and build an awareness of how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health.
Discipline: Chemistry
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-8
Module leader and lead university: Roy Tasker (University of Western Sydney)
Team members: Joanne Jamie, Ian Jamie, Dr Kathy Stewart (Macquarie University), Dr Ming Ming Diao (Macquarie University)
Module summary: Consumer Chemistry engages you with the process of scientific inquiry in real chemistry so you see the relevance of chemistry in everyday life packaged with chemistry concepts.
Discipline: Biology
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-8
Module leader and lead university: Dr Kathy Stewart (Macquarie University)
Team members: Professor Helmut Pretchl, Dr Michael Burkhart (Potsdam University, Germany)
Module Summary: Gardens are living laboratories for scientists researching plant growth, habitat restoration, developing plants for agriculture and the horticulture industry. You too can be a scientist with your own living laboratory.
Discipline: Biology, physics and chemistry
Target audience: pre-service teachers 9-12
Module leader and lead university: Professor Mariella Heberstein (Macquarie University)
Team members: Julian May
Module summary: Bioluminescence is a complex natural phenomenon exhibited by several life forms which perform a biochemical reaction to produce light, which may be used for a distinct biological purpose such as communication and predation.
Explore the universe with these specialist astronomy modules.
Discipline: Astronomy
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-8
Module leader and lead university: Professor David McKinnon (Edith Cowan University)
Team members: Michael Fitzgerald (Edith Cowan University), Dr Heath Jones (Macquarie University), Scarlet An (Macquarie School of Education)
Module summary: Primary astronomy explores the basics of solar system astronomy. We challenge the common astronomical misconceptions about how the sun, moon and planets work and the phases of the moon.
Discipline: Astronomy
Target audience: pre-service teachers 7-10
Module leader and lead university: Professor David McKinnon (Edith Cowan University)
Team members: Michael Fitzgerald (Edith Cowan University), Dr Heath Jones (Macquarie University), Lena Danaia (Charles Sturt Univerity), Rob Hollow (CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science), Andrew Hopkins (Australian Astronomical Observatory), Scarlet An (Macquarie School of Education)
Module summary: Telescopes, colour and the cosmos provides an introduction to fundamental aspects of modern astronomy required to build an observational understanding of the cosmos.
Discipline: Astronomy
Target audience: pre-service teachers 7-1
Module leader and lead university: Professor David McKinnon (Edith Cowan University)
Team members: Michael Fitzgerald (Edith Cowan University), Lena Danaia (Charles Sturt University), Rob Hollow (CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science), Scarlet An (Macquarie School of Education)
Module summary: Tracing the life cycle of stars develops an understanding of the main phases of the lifecycle of stars, their observable properties and their fundamental nature, by exploring concepts presented in Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams and Colour-Magnitude Diagrams.
Discipline: Astronomy
Target audience: pre-service teachers 11-12
Module leader and lead university: Quentin Parker (Macquarie University)
Team members: Dr Heath Jones (Macquarie University), Dr Ming Ming Diao (Macquarie University)
Module summary: Life and death of stars takes you on a journey exploring the differences between stars and the way they live, evolve and eventually die. You will develop as a confident teacher of scientific material to students of all ages using authentic scientific process.
These modules span primary and secondary levels, using mathematics in exciting and practical ways.
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-8
Module leader and lead university: Leigh Wood (Macquarie University)
Team members: Dorian Stoilescu (Western Sydney University), Carolyn Kennett (Macquarie University) Ayse Bilgin (Macquarie University), Michael Cavanagh (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Module summary: Gateway to Numeracy deals with 'real life' problem solving using mathematics and integrating aspects of number and algebra, measurement and geography and statistics and probability.
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-6
Module leader and lead university: Damian Bridge (Macquarie University)
Team members: Leigh Wood (Macquarie University), Scarlet An (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Module summary: Smart budgeting – primary looks at the practical preparation of budgets for a person or student. You will apply mathematics principles to effectively manage budgets across multiple domains either personal, organisational or government budgets by working through cases and activities in real world scenarios.
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers 7-10
Module leader and lead university: Damian Bridge (Macquarie University)
Team members: Leigh Wood (Macquarie University), Scarlet An (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Module summary: Smart budgeting – secondary guides you through mathematics principles to effectively manage budgets across multiple domains; personal, organisational or government budgets by working through case studies and real world scenarios.
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers 7-10
Module leader and lead university: Damian Bridge (Macquarie University)
Team members: Leigh Wood (Macquarie University), Scarlet An (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Module summary: Investing and protecting guides you through mathematics principles to financial management concepts including investing, superannuation, credit and protection through insurance. You will work through real world scenarios, case studies and activities.
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers K-6
Module leader and lead university: Carmel Coady (Western Sydney University)
Team members: Vince Geiger (Australian Catholic University), Peter Petocz (Macquarie University), Michael Cavanagh (Macquarie University), Joanne Mulligan (Macquarie University), Ayse Bilgin (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Module summary: Statistical literacy – primary guides you through the everyday use of numbers and comparisons of numbers to justify the decisions that we make. Statistics is a way of making sense of factors or variables.
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers 7-10
Module leader and lead university: Carmel Coady (WSU)
Team members: Vince Geiger (Australian Catholic University), Peter Petocz (Macquarie University), Michael Cavanagh (Macquarie University), Joanne Mulligan (Macquarie University), Ayse Bilgin (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Module summary: Statistical literacy – secondary shows you how to add rigor to numerical claims and comparisons and how to examine other people's claims using statistical evidence and reasoning.
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers 9-12
Module leader and lead university: Carmel Coady (Western Sydney University)
Team members: Michael Cavanagh (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Discipline: Mathematics
Target audience: pre-service teachers 9-12
Module leader and lead university: Vince Geiger (Australian Catholic University)
Team members: Marie Herberstein (Macquarie University), Julian May (Macquarie University), Ian Wright (Western Sydney University), Rehez Ahlip (Western Sydney University), Heath Jones (Macquarie University), Liz Date-Huxtable (Western Sydney University)
Module summary: Modelling the present – predicting the future explores the use of mathematical modelling to understand real world problems. You will delve into big data using case studies to explore recent advances in the treatment of disease, management of water pollution, measurement of light emissions of stars and predicting the price of commodities.