The Overseer's Apprentice

Born in 1929 I ushered in the Great Depression which kept my family in relative poverty until after the Second World War in 1945 Nevertheless I was given a good education by my greatly honoured self sacrificing parents to whom I am overwhelmingly thankful Educated at Scotch College Melbourne and at Melbourne and Monash Universities I was privileged to be able to gain two Masters degrees Science and Education and a Doctorate Education by 1979 I hold membership in the Royal Society of Victoria and am a Member of the Australian College of Education As a professional educator I initially worked with High School students in Chemistry Biology and Mathematcs and developed a special interest in Science education for girls at a time when the conventional wisdom was that girls by and large did not possess the mental infrastructure to handle the complex theoretical Sciences Fifteen years in the classroom with boys and girls doing Science convinced me of the folly of such a generalisation In my subsequent University career I was mainly concerned with undergraduate education in the Biological Sciences Cytology Genetics and Biochemistry In the academic world where much time is given to research in one s specific field undergraduate teaching is frequently given short shrift My own field became the academic well being of the students in my own University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Accordingly I was able to research the personal and cultural influences on academic attainment and attitude formation Statistical studies revealed a variety of factors which University administrators could well consider in their endeavours to improve the performance of their students Since retirement my educational interests have turned to the Scientific education of young children In response to media criticism of that area of education in Australia I worked with Primary School teachers in their classrooms to develop Science curricula which are sensitive to t