Teachers
The learning experiences, which built on the teachers’
existing mathematics, science, and technology curricula,
were new to the teachers and their students. The teachers’
involvement in the experiences across the study included
regular briefing and debriefing meetings, before and after
each problem implementation. We studied the teachers’
mathematics, science, and technology programs, discussed
the planning and implementation of activities that targeted
core curricula goals and themes, reviewed the students’
progress, and prepared subsequent activities taking
into account the teachers’ feedback and students’ developments
in the previous experiences. It was explained to the
teachers that their direct intervention in the students’
group work was not desirable. Learning was only facilitated
where necessary, such as responding to a student’s
query by posing a thought-provoking question in return.
Engineers
We also involved practicing engineers from different
fields for as many of the activities as they could attend,
given their work commitments. The engineers were employees
of our state Department of Transport and Main
Roads, who supported our research project. Some engineers
attended more than one school, such as a female
civil engineer who was keen to visit a state and private
school and shared her experiences in road design and
construction. The engineers’ sharing of their occupational
experiences was especially valuable in enriching
the real-world context of the activities. Where possible,
the engineers also observed the students undertake the
activities and we asked them to not directly influence
their responses.