Big History: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Science Education

Marilyn Ahearn is an adjunct lecturer at Southern Cross University, Gold Coast but labels herself as firstly a primary school teacher promoting sustainability. In fact, she only decided to embark on her PhD research when she stumbled across primary students’ excitement in learning Big History. Sadly, while it enthused students, the wider education community saw it merely as an add-on! How to spread the message? Embark on a PhD and continue cycling to keep her sanity! Jump to the present and Marilyn continues to champion a Big History learning framework for primary education as she also begins to turn her thesis into a published book.
This course is told from Marilyn’s perspective, backed up by her extensive classroom experience and her completed PhD research in Big History in a primary classroom setting.

Marisa Colonna first encountered Big History when she was undertaking a BA DipEd at Macquarie University, Sydney. She discovered a class from the ‘father’ of Big History, Professor David Christian, and her way of thinking about the Universe and everything in it was forever altered. She was fortunate to have the opportunity to help develop a Big History program for primary school students which she has been teaching now for 5 years. Teaching Big History, and seeing the wonder and awe it engenders in her students, has been the highlight of her teaching career.

Jarryd Bendall from Cool Australia is your course teacher. He comes from a long line of teachers, so he initially avoided this calling. Jarryd taught primary school for several years before combining his love for writing and education at an Education Specialist role with Cool. This role sees him as a bridge between knowledgeable industry experts and classroom teachers, bringing excellence into the classroom and challenging the average curriculum with innovative and effective ideas.