Program
DOWNLOAD PROGRAM
Join leading primary, secondary and tertiary geoscience educators at Hallett Cove to explore this special location and best practice for field trips.
Get hands-on with workshops dedicated to the highest levels of engagement, with practical exercises to take back to your classroom.
Gather tips, tricks and innovative ideas from international leaders in this space. Join educators and industry leaders to answer the pressing questions at the Big Ideas Day.
Please note: Program times shown are Australian Central Standard Time (ACST). The program overview below is preliminary and subject to change.
Day ONE - Field |
Friday 14 August 2026 |
| 9:30am | Meet near Adelaide
Botanic High School and travel (via bus) to the field location, Hallett Cove |
| 10:30am | Explore the incredible
geology of Hallett Cove while we use this as a model for world-leading field
engagement. Primary, secondary and tertiary focused groups will explore best
practice field engagements, have a go at a range of techniques and share their
own best practice in the field. |
| 12.30pm | Lunch |
| 1:30pm | Continue Hallett Cove Tour |
| 4:30pm | Depart Hallett Cove |
| 5:30pm | Return to Adelaide
Botanic High School for a BBQ dinner with delegates (location TBC) |
Day TWO - Workshops and Interactions |
Saturday 15 August 2026 |
| 9:00am | Opening address | ||
| 9:30 | The Outdoor Learning Environment Join primary, secondary and tertiary groups for facilitated workshops connecting the field experience at Hallett Cove to your context.Explore what make field experiences great and best practice delivery and integration into the classroom. | ||
| 10:30am | Morning tea - posters
available for viewing | ||
| Concurrent Workshops - Earth Systems Education Approach | |||
| 11:00am | WORKSHOP 1 Hands-on Primary Activities Hannah Moore AusEarthEd | WORKSHOP 2 Free, hands-on activities Pete Loader Earth Learning Idea | WORKSHOP 3 Interactive notebooks for geophysics education Professor Stuart Clark UNSW Sydney |
| 11:45am | WORKSHOP 4 Earth Detective Kits Lilly Angel University of New England | WORKSHOP 5 Linking rocks, critical minerals and plate tectonics Phil Gilmore TESEP | WORKSHOP 6 How Geoscience Knowledge Has Been Constructed Dr Jose Selles-Martinez Universidad De Buenos |
| 12:30pm | Lunch - posters
available for viewing | ||
| Concurrent Workshops - Engaging Earth Science Education | |||
| 1.30pm | WORKSHOP 7 CoRE Games Suzy Urbaniak CoRE | WORKSHOP 8 What's Shaking Down Under? Sima Mousavi AuScope | WORKSHOP 9 Geoscience for a Sustainable Future Indrani Mukherjee University of New South Wales |
| 1:55pm | CoRE Games Cont. | WORKSHOP 10 Rock Cycle & Plate Tectonics Dominic Iffland Geoscience Australia | WORKSHOP 11 Low-barrier digital technologies for authentic tertiary geoscience teaching and assessment Melinda McHenry University of Tasmania |
| 2.15pm | WORKSHOP 12 Outback STEM (geology and palaeoenvironments) Leah Lynham EduRock | WORKSHOP 13 From Ediacara to the Cambrian: Interactive Strategies for Teaching Earth's Early Biosphere Gabriel Guy Fort Street HS | WORKSHOP 14 EarthBank in the Classroom Hayden Dalton The University of Melbourne |
| 2.40pm | Outback STEM (geology and palaeoenvironments) Cont. | WORKSHOP 15 Climate Change - using technology to visually communicate Kelly Sharrad Open Access College | WORKSHOP 16 Exploring the Solar System: Interactive Murals for Geosciences - Tertiary Outreach Facson Vargas Liceo Jose Antonio Carvajal |
| 3:00pm | Afternoon tea - posters
available for viewing | ||
| 3:30pm | Engaging Earth Science Education Explore an interactive and engaging showcase of resources, work, ideas, equipment and more from a vast array of educators from around the world. Explore displays, speak with educators and take away classroom ready ideas | ||
| 4:45pm | Enjoy networking with
the option of visiting the poster presentations, now with their authors
standing by to answer your questions. | ||
| 5:30pm | Conference day ends | ||
| 7:00pm | Conference dinner
(details TBC) | ||
Day THREE - The Big Ideas Day |
Sunday 16 August 2026 |
| 9:00am | Welcome to Big Ideas Day – Defining our path to a flourishing future
Join a passionate group of geoscience educators and collaborators for a highly interactive session focused on shaping the future of geoscience education. Using the appreciative inquiry SOAR framework, participants will collectively explore what is already working well, identify opportunities to build momentum, articulate shared aspirations, and define meaningful outcomes for geoscience education |
| 9:15am | Icebreaker BINGO |
| 9:30am | Strengths – What is already working well? Explore the breadth of successful initiatives across geoscience education and reflect on how we know they are working, what supports their success, and what makes them distinctive |
| 10:30am | Morning tea |
| 11:00am | Opportunities – What can we do more of? Identify where existing strengths can be amplified through stronger connections, greater impact, and the scaling of effective practices |
| 12:30pm | Lunch |
| 1:30pm | Aspirations – What do we want to achieve? Articulate a shared vision for an inclusive, connected, and future focused geoscience education ecosystem that equips learners with relevant skills, inspires curiosity, and demonstrates real world value. |
| 3:00pm | Afternoon tea |
| 3:30pm | Results – How will we know we are succeeding? Define clear, shared outcomes that reflect improved engagement, capability development, meaningful pathways into geoscience careers, and a resilient education community committed to continuous learning and improvement. |
| 4:45pm | Networking Drinks |
| 5:30pm | Conference Close |
Post-Conference Field Trips |
Monday 17 August 2026 |
A number of field trips are being planned for the days surrounding the conference, offering delegates the chance to explore some of South Australia's unique regions. Destinations include:
For more information and updates, visit the Field Trips page. |