Questacon: Elevate your STEM teaching with free workshops
Are you aiming to deliver impactful STEM education for your students this year? Questacon’s Engineering is Elementary program offers free, hands-on professional development to help educators build confidence, capacity and practical skills in STEM. With ready-to-use units and resources, you can immediately bring engaging STEM learning into your classroom.
Empowering Educators Nationwide
Engineering is Elementary provides free, hands-on professional development for educators, offering practical, enjoyable ways to integrate STEM into the classroom. Through themed engineering units and cross-curricular connections, educators build confidence in STEM content and teaching strategies. Workshops provide access to practicing engineers, enabling educators to develop an awareness of engineering careers and problem solving approaches.
The workshops foster a collaborative learning environment where you will gain:
- Practical experience: Engage with real-world STEM activities from our integrated STEM units.
- Enhanced teaching strategies: Learn to deepen student knowledge of STEM content and tailor strategies to meet diverse learning needs.
- Confidence in STEM: Master the Engineering Design Process to seamlessly integrate STEM into your lessons.
Participants receive a resource kit and a flexible unit of work aligned with the curriculum ready to implement in the classroom.
Highlights from Term 2
Educators across Australia joined virtual and in-person workshops to explore engineering concepts and experience design challenges. In NSW, participants explored chemical engineering utilising systems thinking in the A Work in Process: Improving the Playdough Process workshops. In WA the focus was on sustainable engineering in the Now You’re Cooking: Designing Solar Ovens workshops.
Guest engineers from the Royal Australian Navy, Army and the Department of Defence shared how engineering thinking and skills apply in their roles.
Each activity at the workshops encourages problem-solving, imagination, and discovery, supporting you to engage young minds to develop confidence and a love of exploration. Come tinker, test, and let your ideas take shape!
What educators are saying
“The blend of science communication and classroom teaching experience created such a rich and engaging learning environment. I especially appreciated the way you both brought energy, insight, and warmth to the day — it made the experience not only thought-provoking but also genuinely enjoyable.” – workshop participant
“The input of the real-world engineer was amazing! It made me realise the importance of making primary students aware that THIS could be an option for their career. The EDP is a fantastic model from problem solving and so useful to students if they are familiarised with it early on.” – workshop participant
When are we coming to town?
In Term 3, in-person workshops will be held in South Australia and the Northern Territory, alongside national virtual workshops. Questacon welcomes expressions of interest from educators who are interested in attending or hosting workshops in their community.
Ready to elevate your STEM teaching?
Visit questacon.edu.au/about/programs/engineering-elementary or contact [email protected] to learn more. Together, let’s inspire the next generation of STEM thinkers.
Engineering is Elementary is developed by the Museum of Science, Boston, and adapted for Australian educators by Questacon supported by Diamond Partner, Department of Defence.
