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Two professors of education were talking about having fun with kids, playing in mud and climbing trees.

Winthrop Professor Grady Venville and Associate Professor Christine Howitt from the Graduate School of Education weren't chatting about the weekend but discussing science education.

Professor Venville is involved in turning graduates into high school teachers while Professor Howitt's focus is on training graduates to be primary and early childhood teachers.

As Australia celebrated National Science Week, the science components of the Masters in Teaching programs were under the spotlight.

Children in Australia have been identified as having a ‘nature deficit disorder' with only one child in four reported as regularly playing outside.

"So there is a move to nature-based education for children in their early years," Professor Howitt said. The movement started in Scotland five years ago where early childhood educator Claire Warden ran a kindergarten at which the children spent at least 80 per cent of their time outside.

"In Scotland they just dress appropriately for the cold weather," Professor Howitt said. "If they can do it in Scotland, we have no excuse here in Australia."

She said young children were competent learners. "Watch them climb trees. They will only climb as high as they feel comfortable. Sadly, many children are not allowed to climb trees at all. And parents seem to have an aversion to their children getting dirty.

"Yet exploring the world is how young children learn. They have a natural curiosity which makes them wonderful young scientists. Early childhood education is taught in an integrated fashion where we don't have to label science classes. Lessons can flow from maths to science, then become art.

"Science is everywhere. It is not labelled in real life, only at school."

Professor Venville agreed. "You can't look at a science topic such as climate change without branching out into geography, economics and social studies.

"It's very difficult to cross the disciplines in upper secondary school where exams are the focus and the students need specialist teachers. But in middle school, say years 7 to 10, it is an ideal time to break down the walls of the classrooms and take a multi-disciplinary approach to issues that concern teenagers, such as drug abuse, alcohol and the environment.

"That's teaching science."

Both teachers agreed that one of their biggest challenges was to turn their students' fear or dislike of science, as they were taught it at school, it into a love of science.

"Just as young children should spend a lot of time both inside and outside discovering things for themselves, teenagers should be taken on excursions and allowed to actually DO science, rather than memorise facts," Professor Venville said.

"I tell my trainee teachers that they don't have to be in control all the time. They don't have to know all the answers. Encourage their students to ask questions and to fi nd the answers themselves.

"There is a shortage of science and maths teachers in high schools and we're hoping that our programs will instil a love of science in our students when they see it can be hands-on and a lot of fun," Professor Venville said. "In difficult economic times, there will always be jobs for science and maths teachers!"

Both educators said that lovers of science who also loved children should consider how rewarding a science teaching job could be.

"Those persons with a nurturing nature make excellent early childhood teachers." Professor Howitt said. Professor Venville suggested that graduates who were considering a teaching career should do some babysitting and tutoring and see how they liked working with children and teenagers.

There is a national shift in teacher training from the one-year Diploma of Education (after a Bachelor's degree) to a two-year Masters degree, which is what UWA is currently offering.

Published in UWA News , 5 September 2011