Re-engaging Disadvantaged Youth through Science: Developing a Framework of Practice

Abstract

Edmund Rice Education Australia Flexible Learning Centres (EREAFLCs) operate within a social inclusion framework to ‘walk with’ young people who have disengaged from the traditional schooling system. Students attending the centres face multiple stressors in their everyday life as well as significant barriers to achieving success in the classroom environment. Addressing the immediate literacy and numeracy concerns of students as they present at the centres has left little time to develop strategies for engaging students with traditionally ‘difficult’ subjects such as science. In addition, there is very little research material available to assist teachers in the development of teaching and learning strategies for science education that deal with the unique situation of the flexible learning context. The aim of this research is to build a framework for guiding scientific teaching practice in the context of working with students with complex needs and diverse backgrounds. The ‘Re-Engaging Disadvantaged Youth Through Science’ Project originated as a partnership between Edmund Rice Education Australia, James Cook University (Townsville) and the Australian Research Council, who provided funding for the three-year project.