Magic in classrooms goes unnoticed and unmeasured

Words: Jason Purdie
Published: 13 November 2024

When Dr Simone Blom was a teenager she wanted to become an environmental scientist and save the world. It turns out ‘the universe’ had other plans for Dr Blom, now an emerging education researcher, but still deeply committed to making the world a better place.

“I don’t think the education system is working if it is not working for everyone,” says.

“People are quick to look at teachers, or parents, but we need to think about the system.

“It’s a system that doesn’t have the foundations to meet the needs of our children, our young people, or the planet.”

After she finished school, Dr Blom completed qualifications in environmental science, but found the reality of the profession didn’t align with her deep values about care for the environment and the earth’s precious ecosystems.

She returned to university to complete a teaching degree and had a gift for teaching science, including the so-called STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

Initially she divided her time between the Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre at Queenscliff, Victoria, and high school science classrooms.

There are large schools of thought that teaching science needs to be done in context – delivered through ‘real-world’ application and in ways that engage students with their existing knowledge or experience.

While not consciously at the time, it turns out Dr Blom was predisposed to the idea.

Over a 25-year career, she has taught science and environmental education in settings as diverse as a dolphin tour boat through to remote Aboriginal communities. She got a bus licence to make it easier to get students out of the classroom and into settings they could engage with – usually into nature.

“My whole philosophy is to connect with each other and to make it fun,” Dr Blom said. “If we make schools too far removed from their real-world context and application it is hard for students to engage.

“The other thing that’s really important to me is equality with children.

“They are an equal part of the process of learning. Teaching is not something that’s done to them, it is done with them.”

Dr Blom moved with her family to the New South Wales’ Northern Rivers region and, by chance, came to volunteer at a 海角视频 conference.

That turned into eight years teaching 海角视频 Cross education students – something she describes as 'an honour' – and for which she has been awarded a prestigious citation from the Australian Awards for University Teaching and a Vice-Chancellor’s citation for Excellence in Student Engagement.

The logical next step in her academic career was to undertake a PhD.

Dr Simone Blom presenting at the European Conference on Educational Research

Dr Blom spent time with teachers in classrooms finding that typical research methods – such as quantitative or qualitative approaches – were falling short.

“So much magic happening in classrooms with teachers goes unnoticed and unmeasured,” she said.

Dr Blom devised a new approach she calls ‘transqualitative’ research, and her findings have been published in the book, by reviewers as a 'fascinating and challenging book'.

Dr Blom’s academic career is emerging in a way that is distinctive to the 海角视频’s Faculty of Education.

Its academic staff comprises experts with deep practical experience in the classroom, who are passionate about teaching the next generation of teachers.

They are organised into three research groups:鈥� Sustainability, Environment and the Arts in Education (SEAE); TeachLab, which focuses on school improvement; and Early years. Dr Blom is an affiliate of SEAE.

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education and one of Dr Blom’s PhD supervisors.

“Our researchers are breaking new ground in how to respond to the sort of themes that were unpacked by the ,” she said.

“This then informs our courses and curriculum, producing graduates who we believe are distinctive and especially well-equipped for the contemporary classroom and modern world.”鈥�

Education聽and Teaching