About

About me

My name is Mr. Barlow and I am a high school science teacher living in Melbourne, Australia. Having spent eight years working as a scientist I have now been an educator for significantly longer than that. I have a passion for science education. I believe that as the pace of scientific research accelerates, the average citizen will be faced increasingly with having to grapple with matters of science in their everyday life. I feel that the science education students receive is vitally important for their future success and happiness.

I also think learning is important:

About this blog

The accessibility of information has changed dramatically since the introduction of the World Wide Web. Unfortunately, teaching strategies have struggled to keep pace. The focus on knowledge acquisition through printed texts, handouts, and lecturing no longer develops the skills students will need for their futures. The information is all there, online, free and easily accessible to everyone. As such, teachers no longer need to simply transmit information, they need to impart a desire to question, seek, source and explore. This blog is my attempt to help students, wherever in the world they may be, learn about real, interesting science and technology in the information age.

Welcome to ‘A Bunch of Interesting Stuff‘.

Papers & Presentations

Barlow, T., Building a Cyber Security Stronghold for Better Defence, ICT Schools Summit VIC, Melbourne 2023.

Barlow, T., Strategically enhancing STEM learning from K-12, 6th Annual STEM Education Conference, Sydney 2019.

Barlow, T., Rollout Success and Success After Rollout, Schoolbox Annual Meetup, Melbourne (MCG) 2019.

Barlow, T., Continuous Reporting, Schoolbox User Group Meeting and Schoolbox Annual Meetup, Melbourne 2017.

Barlow, T., Fleming, B., 2016, A science classroom that’s more than a game, Teaching Science, Volume 62, Number 2, p.31-37.

Barlow, T., ‘Gamifying the Classroom‘, August 2015, Apple iBooks Store.

Barlow, T., ‘A journey of pedagogical change‘, ELH SchoolTech 2014, Lorne 2014.

Barlow, T., ‘Luddites to eLearning Leaders in six months – One school’s remarkable turnaround‘, ELH SchoolTech 2013, Lorne 2013. Video.

Barlow, T., 2012, The end of ‘Chalk and Talk’, Teaching Science, Volume 58, Number 1, p.54-57.

Barlow, T., Hill, B., Keeping up with the kids: using current technologies to engage our students, The Australian College of Educators Digital Fair – Word of Mouse, Geelong Grammar 2009.

Barlow, T., Experiencing Learning – The CUE Program, Middle Years of Schooling Association Conference, Melbourne 2008.

Barlow, T., Enhancing Learning with Web 2.0, Middle Years of Schooling Association Conference, Melbourne 2008.

Barlow, T., 2008, Web 2.0: Creating a classroom without walls, Teaching Science, Volume 54, Number 1, p.46-48.

Barlow, T., Ward, W., Ewen-White, K., Forrest, S. Microsatellite Genotyping By Capillary Electrophoresis; Comparison With Flat Bed Gel Electrophoresis, International Congress of Genetics, Melbourne 2003.

In the media

Cyber Security Training and Awareness That Works, TrustedImpact Cyber Security Leadership Series, presented by The Reboot Show, 24 November 2021.

Computer Literacy Begins With Grammar, The Age, 23 April 2017.

School BYO tablet policy easy to take, The Age, 11 April 2013 (scanned article).

St Leonard’s takes the BYOD route, Education Today, 2013 Vol 13 (2) Term 2.

Other

The Educator Magazine ‘Hot List’ 2017.

Australia’s 10 Most Influential Educational Leaders, 2019 (link)

Apple Distinguished Educator
Recognized by Apple as a distinguished educator for innovation, leadership, and educational excellence. Learn more at ade.apple.com.

About my online teaching

In an attempt to make learning easier and more motivating for my students I sometimes create online learning spaces:

• One is obviously this blog, ‘A Bunch of Interesting Stuff‘, designed to keep students interested in, and motivated to learn more about the world around them.
• ‘A Bunch of Interesting Stuff’ the blog is complemented by a podcast, same goals, different delivery medium.
• My senior Biology classes are complemented by my VCE Biology podcast. A way to enable senior students to learn the course material anytime, anywhere.
• My senior Biology students are also some of the first in the world to have access to iOS (iPhone/iPod Touch) apps designed specifically for their course. That is Unit 1 Biology, Unit 2 Biology, Unit 3 Biology and Unit 4 Biology.
• My Year 6 students have access to my amazing electronic book called ‘Year 6 Science‘.
• My Year 9 students have access to two amazing electronic books ‘Year 9 Science’ and ‘Year 9 Science Gamified’.
• My Year 9 Science classes are complemented by my Year 9 Science Podcast. A way to enable middle school students to learn the course material anytime, anywhere.
• ‘reACTION‘ is a Chemistry / Video creation unit of work aimed at late middle school students. The entire course including, notes, homework and assessment details can be found online.
• ‘Life Long Learning‘ is another online Science unit of work. It is a ‘big question’, student directed, research based course.
• Another year 9 unit focussing on forensics can be found here.
• CUE radio is the CUE Program podcast. This is authored by students for their peers to listen to.
• I also take part in a three week Big Experience for year 9 students. The Big Experience blog is a site I developed that informs the school community of the adventures of the students as they experience the world.

As you can tell, I think technology and education go together nicely 😀