Redefining ‘Real-World’ Science in Schools

At Park Ridge State High School, science classes look a whole lot different than they did just a few years ago. The teachers, pioneering in STEM education, have created a space where students can learn about the environment around them and use what they know to solve real world issues.

Working with teachSTEM through our State of the Environment project, teachers created an authentic learning experience that connected curriculum with environmental issues students could investigate within their own school and community.

All it took was giving Year 9 students the freedom to learn, understand, and ideate how different parts of their environment interacted within their school ecosystem. As a result, these students became citizen scientists and active changemakers within their community.

From using drones to soil testing kits, students were able to collect data and analyse it in their science classes. They wrote reports on the state of their local environment and how they could improve it.

They learned how to understand the world around them.

Using the data they collected and exploring examples of environmental advocacy, the students wrote persuasive arguments about what changes they wanted to see in the local environment in their English classes.

They learned how to advocate for their environment around them.

Last but not least, the students were given the opportunity to present their findings with community members, council representatives, and industry stakeholders. Their evidence didn’t stay in the classroom. It contributed to action, including the planting of trees in areas students had identified as experiencing high heat stress.

They learned how to make real change around them.

Most importantly, through repeated analyse of their environment and creating solutions on how to improve it, they became stewards of their local environment. While at most schools, students couldn’t tell you if the nature strip in front of their science class was healthy, the students at Park Ridge State High School now can, and they have the numbers to back it up.

Park Ridge State High School is a leader in innovative STEM education because its students are the ones influencing decision-making within the Logan region. But their story doesn’t have to be one of a kind. Incorporating citizen science in schools creates opportunities for students to design authentic projects that allow them to create change in the ‘real-world’ around them.

Our curriculum-aligned State of the Environment project shows what can happen when schools, community organisations, industry and government create opportunities for students to work on problems that actually matter to the places where they live. It is an approach that can be adapted to different schools, communities and environmental challenges, while keeping students at the centre of collecting evidence, developing solutions and contributing to decisions.

If we want a generation to know, understand, and protect nature, the first step is to take them outside. The second is to spark their curiosity and watch the magic unfold.