News Archive

Magdeline Lum is making her mark on chemistry teaching on several fronts. Fresh out of a teaching practicum at Karratha Senior High School, the UWA student has been offered a teaching position at the same school, and she is also the author of an article published in a North American chemistry education magazine.

“This year has been intensely busy,” admitted Magdeline, who has just completed a UWA teaching degree. “There has been a lot to learn, but the lecturers have been more than happy help outside of their teaching time and the Faculty of Education has been wonderfully supportive.”

In addition to usual teaching duties, during her practicum Magdeline participated in extra-curricular activities, including the Solar Car Challenge, Breakfast Club as well as tutoring at school and the Gumala Mirnuwarni Education Project. The school staff were so taken by her teaching activities and her willingness to relocate to a regional area, that she was offered a job as a science teacher while she was still finishing her studies. “It has been fantastic to return to familiar surroundings,” said Magdeline on returning to Karratha. “The students I taught during prac have welcomed me back, and the staff have been great in helping me settle in!”

Magdeline’s achievements in education aren’t limited to her own classroom. Earlier this year the experienced science communicator wrote a blog post on chemistry demonstrations, titled “Chemistry explosions are all bang and no buck”. The editor of Chem 13 News, a chemistry teaching magazine published by the University of Waterloo in Canada, was taken by the post and asked to publish it in the journal.

In the article Magdeline laments the over-reliance on crowd-pleasing explosions over more varied forms of chemistry: “Chemistry is so much more than pyrotechnics and it is an incredible tragedy that this is what it has become to not just people outside of science but also within science.” Instead, Magdeline suggests demonstrations should better reflect the pervasiveness of chemistry in everyday life, and give audiences more opportunities to explore: “Every chemist I talk to has a story of intrigue and mystery about their work, and not just the forensic chemists. Each one of us has a mystery to solve – and who doesn’t love a good detective story?”

Do you have a mystery to solve and a passion for education? Applications for UWA’s teaching courses are currently open click here for more details.

Media references

Magdeline Lum +61 (0)448 880 502

Dr Sanna Peden (Faculty of Education) +61 8 6488 2382 (only Mon to Wed)