FRIDAY 9 JULY

2.15 PM – PAPER SESSION
PRESENTER: MICHAEL ROBERTS

Attaining Quality in Science Education through a Teaching–Research Nexus

Michael Roberts, Dan McHolm, Caroline McMillen and Pat Buckley, University of Adelaide

Physiology Learning and Teaching Centre, Discipline of Physiology,
School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

Interpretation of what is meant by the teaching–research nexus can be varied, and interacts with whether the issue is being considered in policy or practice terms, and the discipline area(s) under consideration. This paper proposes that an appropriate interpretation for a Faculty of Sciences is that which derives from a consideration of the processes used by graduates in practising their (varied) professions. Consequently, a curriculum which models, explicitly, the processes of scientific research, and where students are assessed on their level of achievement in these attributes, is presented. The measure of the quality of this curriculum is through its fitness of purpose, that is, how well students develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required in their careers.