Adjunct Professor
Terry Lyons
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Teacher Education & Leadership
Biography
Dr Lyons has been involved in science education for more than 40 years. After working as a high school science teacher for 15 years, he completed his PhD thesis in 2002 on students’ classroom experiences and decisions about participating in science. His areas of research include national and international STEM enrolment trends, student engagement with science, and STEM education in developing countries and rural and remote regions. He has co-authored three reports of national significance: The SiMERR National Survey of Rural and Regional Education (2006); Choosing Science (2010); and Starting Out in STEM (2012). He has worked as an educator and consultant in a number of developed and developing countries and has been engaged by the European Commission and UNICEF. Dr Lyons was Chair of the International Organization for Science and Technology Education (IOSTE) from 2006-2010, and a member of the Australian Chief Scientist’s STEM Education Advisory Group (2013-2016). In 2015 he established the QUT STEM Education Research Group.Personal details
Positions
- Adjunct Associate Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Teacher Education & Leadership
Keywords
Science education, STEM participation and enrolment trends, Out of Field Teaching in STEM, Science teacher education, STEM Outreach Program evaluation, Gender and STEM, Attitudes to school science, Engaging young people in STEM, Science education in rural contexts, Innovative ICTs in science education
Research field
Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies in Education
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD in Science Education (University of New England)
Professional memberships and associations
STEM Education Research Group, International Organization for Science and Technology Education (IOSTE), European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) Returned Volunteer – Australian Volunteers International (AVI) Science Teachers Association of Queensland (STAQ)
Teaching
Secondary science curriculum; primary science education; STEM Education.
Experience
Current and past roles:
Vice Chair, European Commission Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programme evaluations (2020 - ongoing);
Leader, QUT STEM Education Research Group (2015-2017);
Australian Chief Scientist’s STEM Education Advisory Group (2013-2016);
Expert Evaluator, European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-);
Past Chair, International Organization for Science and Technology Education (2006-2010);
Executive Board member, International Organization for Science and Technology Education (2004-2012);
Associate Director (Science Education) SiMERR National Research Centre, UNE (2007-2013);
Expert Evaluator, European Commission FP7 research proposals – Science in Society (2008-2013);
Panel member, CSIRO Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) scholarships program (2011-2014);
Chair, Scientific Committee for the XIV IOSTE Symposium, Bled, Slovenia, (2010);
Co-Chair, Scientific Committee, International Symposia for Innovation in Rural Education (ISFIRE) (2009 & 2011);
Chair, Scientific Committee for the XIII IOSTE Symposium, Kusadasi, Turkey, (2008)
Research Projects
Project Title: Out-of-field teaching: Sustaining quality practices across subjects (2015-2018). Project Team: Deakin University, University of New England, Queensland University of Technology, Name of Program and Granting Body: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant.
Project Title: Building Teacher Capability Using STEM Partnership Models (2016). Project Team: Terry Lyons, Donna King, QUT Faculty of Education, Les Dawes QUT Science and Engineering Faculty, Tanya Doyle, JCS. Granting Body: Queensland Department of Education and Training.
Project Title: Inspiring Science and Mathematics Education (ISME). (2015 – 2017). Project Team: Southern Cross University, University of Wollongong, Charles Darwin University, Academy of Technological Sciences, Stile Education, QUT. Name of Program and Granting Body: Australian Mathematics and Science Partnership Program, Commonwealth Department of Education.
Project Title: Step up! Transforming mathematics and science pre-service secondary teacher education in Queensland (2014 – 2016) Project Team: Queensland University of Technology, Australian Catholic University, Department of Education, Training and Employment Queensland, Griffith University, James Cook University, The University of Queensland Name of Program and Granting Body: Enhancing the Training of Mathematics and Science Teachers Program, Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT).
Project Title: Building teacher capacity and student achievement in STEM within school-university partnerships (2013 – 2015) Project Team: Federation University, Deakin University, Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University. Name of Granting Body: Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT)
Project Title: Interest and Recruitment in Science (IRIS) (2011-2012) Project Team: UNE, JCU, Deakin, UTas, Curtin, ACU Name of Granting Bodies: Office of the Australian Chief Scientist; SiMERR National Research Centre;
Project Title: Teaching Science Teachers for the Future (2011) Project Team: Terry Lyons, Frances Quinn & Helen Doyle, UNE Name of Granting Body: Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).
Project Title: Choosing Science: Understanding the declines in senior high school science enrolments (2007-2009) Project Team: Terry Lyons & Frances Quinn, UNE Name of Granting Body: SiMERR National Research Centre.
Project Title: Attracting and retaining suitably qualified professionals to specialist teaching and non-teaching roles in Queensland State Schools (2008) Project Team: B. Miles, L. Greer, K. Purnell, D. Akbar, M. Dawson, & T. Lyons. Name of Granting Body: Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts.
Project Title: Evaluation of ASISTM project ‘Enhancing Senior High School Science for Tertiary Success’ (2008) Consultancy Name of Granting Body: Curriculum Corporation.
Project Title: Australian Government Summer Schools for Science and Mathematics Teachers (2007) Project Team: J. Pegg, T. Lyons, G. McPhan (UNE) & B. Conway (Flinders) Name of Granting Body: Commonwealth Department of Education, Science & Training (DEST)
Project Title: Science, ICT and Mathematics Education in Rural and Urban New South Wales: A disaggregation of data from the SiMERR National Survey (2006) Project Team: J. Pegg, T. Lyons & R. Cooksey (UNE). Name of Granting Body: NSW Department of Education and Training
Project Title: Case studies of rural and remote teachers in New South Wales (2005) Project Team: T. Lyons, P. Merrotsy, D. Paterson, K. Afamasaga-Fuatai & H. Smith (UNE). Name of Granting Body: University of New England
Project Title: Issues in Teaching and Learning Science, ICT, and Mathematics in Rural and Regional Australia: The SiMERR National Survey. (2005 – 2006) Project Team: J. Pegg, T. Lyons, D. Panizzon, & A. Parnell (UNE) Name of Granting Body: Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Training (DEST).
Project Title: Technical Assistance for the Design of In-Service Teacher Professional Development in the Punjab, Pakistan. (2005). Consultancy Project Team: J. Pegg, T. Lyons, & D. Laird (UNE) Name of Granting Body: UNICEF
Publications
- Lyons, T., (2020). Seeing through the acronym to the nature of STEM. Curriculum Perspectives, 40(2), 225–231. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208665
- Kennedy, J., Quinn, F. & Lyons, T. (2020). The keys to STEM: Australian Year 7 students' attitudes and intentions towards science, mathematics and technology courses. Research in Science Education, 50(5). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/122151
- Kennedy, J., Quinn, F. & Lyons, T. (2018). Australian enrolment trends in technology and engineering: putting the T and E back into school STEM. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 28(2), 553–571. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/222964
- Lyons, T. & Quinn, F. (2015). Understanding declining science participation in Australia: A systemic perspective. In J. Ryder, J. Dillon & E. Henriksen (Eds.), Understanding student participation and choice in science and technology education (pp. 153–168). Springer. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77856
- Kennedy, J., Lyons, T. & Quinn, F. (2014). The continuing decline of science and mathematics enrolments in Australian high schools. Teaching Science, 60(2), 34–46. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/73153
- Lyons, T., Quinn, F., Rizk, N., Anderson, N., Hubber, P., Kenny, J., Sparrow, L., west, J. & Wilson, S. (2012). Starting out in STEM : a study of young men and women in first year science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68314
- Boe, M., Henriksen, E., Lyons, T. & Schreiner, C. (2011). Participation in science and technology : young people's achievement-related choices in late modern societies. Studies in Science Education, 47(1), 37–72. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68248
- Lyons, T. & Quinn, F. (2010). Choosing science : understanding the declines in senior high school science enrolments. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68725
- Lyons, T., (2006). Choosing physical science courses: The importance of cultural and social capital in the enrolment decisions of high achieving students. In R. Janiuk & E. Samonek-Miciuk (Eds.), Science and technology education for a diverse world: dilemmas, needs and partnerships (pp. 369–384). Marie Curie-Sklodowska University Press. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/92906
- Lyons, T., (2006). Different Countries, Same Science Classes: Students' experiences of school science in their own words. International Journal of Science Education, 28(6), 591–613. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/92707
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Terry, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).