Centenary of Federation Teaching Award in Chemistry

RACI has established a series of annual awards for the recognition and reward of outstanding excellence in the teaching of chemistry in Australia at both primary and secondary schools. Candidates whose teaching is only partly chemical and teachers of general science (with some chemistry) are also encouraged to apply. There is no RACI membership requirement in this category.

Mr. Peter O’Neill

A passionate and diligent science educator

Mr O’Neill’s students have always found it impossible to ‘slip through the cracks’, as he is diligent about providing the individual attention that is required by each person in his care. From intensive assessment feedback, to a friendly greeting, he creates arapport with his students that endures and sustains them through difficult content, examination stresses and the temptation to coast along rather than striving for greater personal achievement. He is swift to stamp out any threat to the motivation or attention of his students, and maintains a wonderful aura in the classroom that is both productive and yet unhurried. Mr O’Neill has an instinctive feel for when a joke or light-hearted moment is required, or alternatively for when it is time to knuckle down and push through at a smarter pace.

He makes a craft out of guiding young people through the learning experiences he designs to pique their interest and structure their knowledge. He has a very balanced approach to the use of practical and technological resources, intertwining the wonders of new technology with the elegant simplicity of the classroom discussion, while remaining committed to mastery of the traditional tools of the profession. He has a particular gift for setting challenging assessments, and his carefully constructed tasks are able to give the most useful possible feedback on the progress of his students.

Mr. O’Neill has served on the Panel of HSC Examiners for the Chemistry paper, a role which he found both personally and professionally very satisfying.

Ms. Louise Tyson

A dedicated science educator and mentor

Ms Louise Tyson heads a team of 12 science teachers at St Mary Anglican Girls’ School in Western Australia and epitomises generous professionalism and outstanding leadership qualities, always being prepared to support and encourage her staff to develop personally and professionally. She possesses great personal warmth and an incredible work ethic.

In the classroom she is an engaging and highly motivating teacher who strives to extend the strongest students and nurture and support the weaker ones and has consistently achieved outstanding results in all school year groups, from Year 7 to WACE level. She has pioneered a highly successful on-line learning management system for her school that provides students with access to a huge array of support materials that are modern, up to date and relevant to their individual needs.

The tone in her classroom is one of switched-on activity as Ms Tyson melds her energy, warmth and humour with her skills as a teacher, expert chemical knowledge and high expectations of her students.

Mr. Gary Turner

A creative and innovative science educator

Mr Gary Turner has passionately driven the concept of innovative science curriculum design for several years within his school in Queensland and has most recently worked at including these concepts within the National Australian Curriculum.

Mr Turner has developed a number of innovative and integrated learning and assessment tasks to engage students further in ‘real’ science. These learning tasks specifically target either the development of scientific literacy or the scientific process, and allow students to express scientific opinion in a variety of genres. This in turn has generated a higher degree of engagement by students in their learning and assessment tasks.