University of Queensland
Atomic School Brisbane Workshops will be held in Room D114 of the Duhig Building,
University Drive, University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4067.
An interactive map of UQ campus can be found here.
The Duhig Tower is Building 2 in the map below. There will be an
"Atomic School Holiday Workshops" sign outside the building.
Close Up Map
UQ Parking:
(1) For quick drop-off the closest available location will be University Drive in front of Forgan-Smith Building or on Campbell Rd just next to the Social Sciences Bld.
(2) If, as a parent you, want to join the workshop you can check out the various longer term parking locations on a zoomable PDF here and the UQ fees here. You can ignore the last requirement in this instance as UQ has free parking on weekends. The red, blue and grey zones seem most convenient. Remember to download the Cell-O-Park app onto your phone for easy payment. This is the same app used Brisbane-wide.
(3) Some zones like University Drive are only 1 1/2 hour limit but I am unsure if that applies on weekends when parking is free. Personally, I'm going to risk it.
Tip: Enter "Forgan-Smith Building" or "Duhig Building" into your Google Map or Apple Map to guide you on arrival.
If you are lucky enough to have a weekend workshop then your parking is free.
Research: Evidence-based Program
Dr Carole Haeusler and Dr Jenny Donovan
University of Southern Queensland
Atomic School has been fortunate to collaborate with Dr Jennifer Donovan and Dr Carole Haeusler from the University of Southern Queensland, who designed research and collected data from Year 3 and Year 4 Brisbane primary schools during an intervention that introduced Atomic Theory. In particular, they were interested in finding out whether students could understand Atomic Structure- how atoms are composed of protons, electrons and neutrons- and whether they could meaningfully apply their understanding to the macroscopic world.
Jenny and Carole's findings were:
“Firstly, primary school children aged 8 and 9 years can understand Atomic Theory at a surprisingly high level. In about 10 hours of Atomic Theory instruction, they gain understandings more robust than those reported in the literature for 14-year-old children (when this is taught in the curriculum) and several boasted they helped their Year 9 siblings with their chemistry homework!
Secondly, they love it. Particularly the Periodic Table of the Elements, they are passionate about it and one even said ‘It’s the alphabet of the Universe’. Wow, that amazed us.
Thirdly, in every school, we found at least one little bright spark who already knew a LOT about Atomic Theory that they had found out all by themselves. The depth and breadth of this knowledge also amazed us and their questions put us on the spot to answer them. Teachers, we need to encourage these minds and all the others too. Even children with learning difficulties enjoyed the program and learned a lot."
Research Papers
Haeusler, C., Donovan, J., Venville, G. (2020). Children Versus Curriculum: Who Wins?. In: Donovan, J., Trimmer, K., Flegg, N. (eds) Curriculum, Schooling and Applied Research. Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48822-2_7
Haeusler, C. & Donovan, J. (2017). Challenging the science curriculum paradigm: Teaching primary children atomic-molecular theory. Research in Science Education. doi 10.1007/s11165-017-9679-2 (winner of publication award, 2018)
Donovan, J., & Haeusler, C. (2015). Developing scientific literacy: Introducing primary aged children to atomic-molecular theory. In E. de Silva (Ed.), Cases on research-based teaching methods in science education. (pp. 30-63). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Haeusler, C. & Donovan, J. (2015). AERA Conference 2015 at Chicago USA.New Ways of Learning Atomic Theory for 9 Year Olds: Educational Justice for Elementary Children
Donovan, J., Haeusler, C., & Venville, G. (2015) Making meaning with models. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2(2), available at http://www.virginiaresearchinstitute.org/international-journal-of-multidisciplinary-research-journal-papers/
Further research is underway and the data and analysis are currently undergoing publication.
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Op-Ed paper
Haeusler, C., Donovan, J., & Stuart, I. (2013). The Conversation: Searching For Scientific Mozarts.