Sue Howarth

Biography

I initially worked in Higher Education, in Memorial University, Newfoundland Canada and  at the Open University in the UK, before I moved into secondary school Science teaching in England for many years.

Whilst Head of Biology in a school in Bath, I received a ‘Teacher of the Year’ Award from the Institute of Biology (now Society of Biology). Other highlights of my school teaching career were: instilling a love of Biology in pupils; running clubs and societies; organising field trips to Malaysia, to work in an elephant sanctuary and to Peru, to study the biodiversity of the Amazon and raising the aspirations of students by encouraging them to enter competitions such as The ‘Young Science Writer of the Year’ which they won. I was also a finalist in the BECTA national award for use of ICT in Teaching.

Since becoming a Science Tutor at the University of Worcester, I have worked as a member of the Science Team to enhance the Science PGCE and School Direct programmes, including making good use of the undergraduate laboratory facilities and the grounds of the university to promote practical work and learning outside the classroom. We invite a good range of external speakers from learned societies and professional bodies, such as the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Society of Biology, the Science Learning Centres etc. to visit and work with our trainee teachers as well as organise visits to places of scientific interest such as the Jenner Museum, Thinktank in Birmingham, @Bristol, Dudley Zoo, the National Space Centre in Leicester etc.

Our trainees now regularly present at the annual Association for Science (ASE) conference each year and are encouraged to become STEM Ambassadors.

Being on the editorial board of School Science Review and The Biologist is an ‘extra’ that I really enjoy, as is judging for the National Science and Engineering Competition at The Big Bang Fair, held in Birmingham at the NEC each year.  I also get a lot out of being on the judging panels of the Society of Biology Book of the Year (postgraduate section) and School Teacher of the Year Awards.

Some of my other ‘hats’ include being the Ethics Coordinator for the Institute of Education and the Research and Knowledge Transfer Representative for the Centre for Secondary and Post-Compulsive Education at Worcester

You can follow me on Twitter: @howarthsg where I tweet mainly about Biology/Science Education news, resources and competitions and sometimes about bees.

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Biology education; science education; STEM; secondary school Science; teacher training

Personal Interests

Natural history; science fiction; children's literature; metal detecting; theatre; reading

Websites

• University of Worcester Science PGCE Biology

Books

Articles