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St Mary's University College recently hosted its second annual student teacher research conference with the title "STRE@M", an acronym for Student Teacher Research Conference in Education at St Mary's.
Dr Beth Dickson from the University of Glasgow opened the conference with a keynote address entitled: "Why is student teacher enquiry important?"
Fifty BEd undergraduates then presented the findings of their final-year Capstone Projects in three parallel sessions. Capstone Projects were introduced into the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Programmes at St Mary's in 2014 to enable students to pursue their particular areas of interest in educational research and to assist them in developing individual professional identities. The STRE@M Conference now has become embedded in the annual College Calendar of Events.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) generously sponsored the conference, along with the prize for the best project. Eight papers were nominated for this, but given the high standard of presentations, the prize ultimately was awarded to two students: Carla Darragh for her project, "Making Friends with the F Word: The Fear of Failure and Coping Strategies for High-Ability Children", and Aislinn Fitzgerald for a project entitled "Production of a Storytelling Resource to Teach the Topic of Negative Numbers at Key Stage 3".
St Mary's University College STRE@M Conference: Mr Martin Hagan (BEd Programme Coordinator, St Mary's University College),
Dr Beth Dickson (University of Glasgow), Professor Peter Finn (Principal, St Mary's University College), Mr Mark McTaggart (Chairperson, INTO).
Recipients of the INTO Capstone Prize:
Carla Darragh, Aislinn Fitzgerald |
