Science and Drama: Contemporary and Creative Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Dr. Peta J White is a science and environmental education senior lecturer at Deakin University. Peta has worked in classrooms, as a curriculum consultant and manager and as a teacher educator in several jurisdictions across Canada and Australia. Peta gained her Ph.D. in Saskatchewan, Canada, where she focused on learning to live sustainably which became a platform from which to educate future teachers. Her interest in initial teacher educator, activist environmental/sustainability and climate change  education, action-orientated methodologies, and ways to infuse school science with contemporary research science and science practice foregrounding socio-scientific drives her current teaching/research scholarship.

Dr. Jo Raphael is senior lecturer in drama education who teaches in graduate and undergraduate education courses at Deakin University. Her teaching experience spans across school, community settings, and within cultural institutionssuch as museums and galleries. She has wide experience in applied drama and theatre with a strong interest in drama for learning across the curriculum, particularly in the areas of science and sustainability. She is also artistic director of an inclusive community-based theatre company. She has won multiple awards for her teaching and has been awarded for her extensive contributions to her professional community. Her publications span the areas of arts curriculum and pedagogy, drama and digital technologies, teacher education, inclusive education and teaching for diversity.

Ms. Kitty van Cuylenburg is a practicing drama and science teacher based on the Bass Coast, a teacher coach for Teach For Australia and a producer of theatre in the great outdoors with In The Park Productions. In 2017, she was the recipient of the Rob Galbraith award for Excellence in Drama Teaching by Drama Victoria. Her professional background is in mine-site geology and hydrogeology; she has worked for an education startup in NYC and has a passion for interdisciplinary practice of science and drama. Kitty's recent research is focussed on how students can make meaning of their lives through this interdisciplinary practice, and how this facilitates deep learning.