ELSA: STEM in Schools

Our STEM education experts who created The ELSA Schools program have provided professional learning videos to introduce teachers to the key pedagogical frameworks that are used in the program.

You can view them here: https://elsaschools.edu.au/professional-learning-videos/

Professional Learning (PL) Videos View our professional learning (PL) videos for the ELSA: STEM in Schools pilot program available for Foundation, Year 1 & Year 2 teachers.

Centenary Professor Tom Lowrie developed the Experience, Represent, Apply (ERA) framework for use in early learning educational contexts.

ERA supports rich, connected experiences while engaging with digital technology. All on-device experiences are scaffolded in ways that encourage children to represent their ideas in different ways.

Learn more about it on our ELSA Schools website: https://elsaschools.edu.au/frameworks/

Frameworks Learn about the pedagogical frameworks that underpin the ELSA: STEM in Schools Program, such as STEM Practices and the ERA cycle.

ELSA Schools was created with both teacher and student usability forefront of our minds. Teachers have access to ‘How To’ Video’s, which are available in the Teacher Tool and on our website here:

'How To' Videos Watch our 'How To' videos for teachers to learn how to get up and running with the ELSA: STEM in Schools program's digital tools.

Our education research specialists know how important scaffolding is for children to support their learning. One of our Year 2 teachers spoke about this when asked how they found the ELSA Schools program:

The ELSA Schools program is student-friendly throughout. Students log into their account with a personal emoji code containing only 4 characters, which is given to them by their teacher at the beginning of the program. Most teachers print them out for the student’s reference.

The ELSA Schools program helped teachers present engaging lessons throughout the project.

Here’s what a Year 1 teacher had to say:

The Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) Program maps to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), Australian Curriculum for Foundation and your state curriculum.

Our STEM experts have outlined how in our curriculum tool:

Curriculum Tool Use our curriculum tool to see how our Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) program maps to Australian curricula and state-based syllabi.

We were fortunate enough to have hundreds of schools and teachers all around Australia involved in the ELSA Schools Pilot Program in 2024!

Here’s what a Foundation Year teacher had to say about our Program:

What is STEM? Well, our education research experts worked together to provide teachers with this STEM Practices Framework to help students understand practical applications of STEM.

Follow the link to find out more: https://elsaschools.edu.au/frameworks

Frameworks Learn about the pedagogical frameworks that underpin the ELSA: STEM in Schools Program, such as STEM Practices and the ERA cycle.

We think it is important to ensure that families of children participating in the ELSA Schools Program are also able to get involved with STEM learning at home.

Families can access STEM activity ideas to do together at home or out and about on our website! https://athome.elsaschools.edu.au/

ELSA At Home A website for parents and families of students in the ELSA: STEM in Schools program.