High schools: Interested in using Connected Classrooms more frequently?  Perhaps you've had some training but are looking for a chance to use the technology in your classroom?  

This year, Bridges to Higher Education will be presenting four videoconference sessions for years 7-10, open to selected schools including all Compass partner schools.  The sessions are designed to increase awareness and interest in university study, but can also provide academic enrichment. Each session will be facilitated by university academic faculty and will address the following areas: 

April: Science
June: English
September: History
November: Mathematics

What to do: When planning for the year, keep an eye on the months above and see if a videoconference session might fit into your curriculum. Dialling in with your class is an easy way to add some variety to a module, as well as affording more chance to practice using Connected Classrooms.   

More information on the content of each session will be sent out closer to the dates, but you can register via email now, or send enquiries to the same address.

Your top-scoring physics students in Years 11 and 12 may be eligible for scholarhsips to the International Science School.  

The 2013 Professor Harry Messel International Science School (ISS2013) at the University of Sydney will run from 30 June to 13 July and has the theme of Nanoscience.

The program will bring together top international and Australian nanoscience experts - along with leaders from the breadth of science, including keynote speaker and Nobel prize-winning cosmologist Professor Brian Schmidt. 

In an effort to encourage and enthuse talented indigenous students with an interest in science, the ISS2013 Indigenous Scholars Program reserves a quantity of the ISS scholarships specifically for indigenous students.

Applications are open to year 11 and 12 students in 2013 and close on 28th February. For more information about the program and how to apply (including the application criteria) visit the ISS website at sydney.edu.au/science/iss2013.

Click here to see a video about the Science School. 

*Applications involve a teacher's and principal's recommendation letter as well as grades - so read the website carefully!

There are relatively few differences in problem solving, mathematics and science achievement between immigrant students and non-immigrant students after accounting for socio-economic status, literacy, recency of arrival and language spoken at home, a major study by researchers and the University of Sydney and Hong Kong Institute of Education has found.

Led by Professor Andrew Martin from the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, the research involved 113,767 15 to 16 year-old students from 17 OECD countries (including more than 12,000 Australians).

Professor Martin said the significant effects of socio-demographic and settlement factors suggest it is not immigrant status per se that explains lower achievement and problem-solving skill, but various factors that are embedded within and associated with immigrant status that make a substantial difference.

Professor Martin said the significant effects of socio-demographic and settlement factors suggest it is not immigrant status per se that explains lower achievement and problem-solving skill, but various factors that are embedded within and associated with immigrant status that make a substantial difference.

"Importantly," Professor Martin said, "this counters 'deficit' perspectives on immigrants (deficit views are that immigrants are inherently less capable) - instead, there is a constellation of circumstances and factors in immigrant students' lives that affect their academic outcomes."

Major factors affecting immigrant students' achievement were low socio-economic status, not speaking the 'local' language at home, poor reading proficiency, and recent arrival.

"Schools that address some of these factors by intensively assisting literacy development and providing additional logistic support, such as after-hours homework group, access to computers, breakfast club, fundamental materials (books), exposure to extra-curricular activity and so on, are laying a better foundation for positive outcomes for immigrants."


Key findings

• There were few differences in problem-solving, mathematics, and science achievement between immigrant students and non-immigrant students after accounting for socio-economic status, literacy, recency of arrival, and language spoken at home. Thus, immigrant students can perform well in problem solving, mathematics, and science - but for them to do so it is important to address socio-economic, settlement, language/literacy, and school factors.
• Second-generation immigrants tended to perform better than first-generation immigrants, indicating that educational differences largely iron out over successive generations of immigrants.
• There were significant differences between countries in how immigrants performed in mathematics, science and problem solving. In Australia, for example, after controlling for socio-economic and settlement factors, immigrants performed better than non-immigrant students in science and mathematics. Thus, in Australia, compared with non-immigrant students of similar socio-economic background and other relevant attributes, immigrants performed slightly better.
• There were significant differences between schools in how well immigrant students performed in problem solving, science and mathematics achievement. Thus, some schools do a very good job of assisting immigrant students' achievement - and other schools don't do such a good job.