Source: Government of Queensland
Issued: 25 Sep 2024
Two Queensland teachers have been selected to fly to New York City to bring sustainable and modern design curriculums for state schools to fruition.
The Queensland-Cooper Hewitt Fellowship, funded by the Queensland Government, provides funding each year for a registered Queensland teacher to travel to the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City for 8 to 12 weeks, to gain further knowledge and skills in the field of industry and technology design.
The latest Queensland-Cooper Hewitt Fellows, receiving $26,200 each in funding, are:
- Ms Zoe Keidge, registered teacher Southport State High School, who will travel in 2025.
- Mr Timothy Bateup, registered teacher at Roma State College and Queensland Virtual STEM Academy, who will travel in 2026.
Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Kerrie Wilson said the Queensland-Cooper Hewitt Fellowship supports teachers to think with agility and creativity, empowering them to address barriers to learning and create solutions to better engage design students in Queensland schools.
“Since 2008, 12 Fellows from across Queensland have returned with a wealth of experience and knowledge, which they can apply to their own learning and teaching, and share with their teacher networks,” Professor Wilson said.
“I’m excited to see what Ms Keidge and Mr Bateup will learn about sustainable and virtual design frameworks, and how the knowledge they’ve gained will positively impact the future design students and teachers throughout Queensland.”
Ms Keidge’s project aims to enhance the delivery of design curriculums in state schools by focussing on preferred futures, primarily that of sustainability, to help educators integrate inclusive and socially sustainable practices into their own teaching and learning cycles.
She will work with the museums’ resources to understand how design has historically addressed or failed to address the issues surrounding social sustainability and inclusion to preserve high-quality teaching, refined curriculum development and the promotion of positive societal impact of design.
Mr Bateup’s project aims to develop and implement best practices for delivering design and technology curriculum to middle school students (Grade 5 to 9) in a virtual environment.
He will use the breadth of resources available at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum to study innovative design education models and apply them to a virtual context.
Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States of America (USA) devoted to historical and contemporary design and is the steward of one of the most diverse and comprehensive design collections in the world.