Dr Peter Fletcher
Lecturer, STEM Education - Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education; School of Education
Phone: +61 2 6773 3904
Email: peter.fletcher@une.edu.au
Biography
Peter Fletcher’s academic research interests centre on exploring the interplay between various pedagogies which promote a learning experience that is student-centred, personalised and grounded in local communities and contexts. He take every opportunity to encourage teachers to explore pedagogies which give students increasing agency and autonomy over their own learning. He believe that when learning is relevant and engaging, students can successfully develop their self-regulation and perseverance skills, which in turn creates an environment to foster deeper learning.
His passion concerns facilitating effective STEM education and technology integration across the curriculum! There is nothing better than seeing students engaged in authentic learning that links science, technology, engineering and mathematics as they support local community projects. Hence, he is a big fan and an advocate for Place-Based STEM education (learning and teaching) across primary and secondary school settings. He is currently a mentor for the NSW Department of Education - New England Online Gifted and Talented program (eGATS) coordinating the Computer Coding module. He also support workshops in STEM and Astronomy education for the NSW Department of Education - Thalgarrah Environmental Education Centre. His educational philosophy is based on the belief that effective teaching, learning and instruction should be interdisciplinary and that students should be challenged to see the world through a variety of lenses - including those of community, ecology, politics, economics, science, culture and social interaction.
His research interests are broad. He is especially captivated by the complex interplay between addressing social-emotional learning, inquiry-based pedagogies, and strategies to address inclusivity and differentiation within our classrooms.
His goal is to engage local communities to boost academic outcomes and increase student and teacher engagement.
He is a qualified K-6 Primary (Generalist) Teacher and 7-12 Secondary (Mathematics, Science, Physics and Computing Studies) Teacher. His school-based experience includes Riverside Girls High School, St Columba Anglican School, Wauchope High School and Melville High School. In the tertiary sector, He has been a Lecturer in Science Education, Lecturer in ICT Education and Lecturer in Physics at the University of New England; Tutor at the University of Sydney; Lecturer in Physics at University of Southern Queensland; and a Research Associate in Physics Education at Kansas State University. He also has sixteen years professional experience in industry including Managing Director of Pure Logic Pty Ltd, Manager Information Technology Services for South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, Information Technology Services Manager Operations for North Coast Institute of TAFE, and Manager Networks, Communications and Desktop for North Coast Institute of TAFE.
