Researcher biography

Dr Kim Nichols has a PhD in neuroscience and a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Ottawa, Canada. She came to Australia on an International Human Frontier Science Program Fellowship to study at the Centre for Neuroscience at Flinders University in South Australia and then took up a National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowship to work in the Department of Physiology at Adelaide University. As a scientist, Kim developed curriculum for the Australian Science and Mathematics School, a senior secondary school on Flinders University Campus that provides STEM interdisciplinary curriculum using collaborative inquiry- and digital technology-based learning. She transitioned into STEM education at ASMS once she received her teaching accreditation and participated in delivery of innovative curriculum around contemporary topics such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, epidemiology, robotics and sustainability. Kim then took up a position at The University of Queensland as a STEM educator where she explores school STEM education that supports learners’ engagement, higher order thinking and scientific literacy through contemporary STEM topics, computational modelling, collaborative multimodal inquiry, connections to industry professionals and informal learning environments.