Mr Keith Treschman
Academic Staff
Brisbane Girls Grammar School (Queensland)
Spaceward Bound Australia 2009

I was born in Brisbane, married, have 2 daughters and a son and 4 grandchildren. My initial teaching position was for 2 years in Papua New Guinea, otherwise I have taught 33 years in 7 independent schools in Queensland. I have been Head of Science for 22 years in 7 of those 8 schools.

My academic qualifications are a Bachelor of Science and Diploma of Education from the University of Queensland as my teaching preparation.  Then I secured a Bachelor of Educational Studies and a Bachelor of Arts externally through the same institution. More recently, I completed a Master of Education at Deakin University externally and this year I aim to complete a Master of Science externally via the University of Southern Queensland. My current study is in Astronomy where my focus has been analysing starspots on a young candidate which stands as a proxy to the Sun. I am looking at what our Sun was probably like at the time of Earth’s formation.

In my present teaching position at Brisbane Girls Grammar School I teach Physics and Chemistry in years 11 and 12 and year 10 Science which is a unit about living in space. I also run a chess club and high jumping during athletics season.
I have been an active member in science teaching professional development and student science contests at a local level for many years and am currently a member of Council for the Science Teachers Association of Queensland. I attended the International Astronomical Union conference in Sydney in 2003, was part of a Space Education Tout to Hawaii and spent a week at the Parkes Radiotelescope. My current study has included data gathering at the Anglo-Australian Observatory. I was selected to attend the Australian Government Summer Science School in Adelaide in 2008. In addition to my interest in Astronomy a relevant pursuit to this trip in July has been Geology. I have explored the Galapagos Islands, Great Rift Valley in east Africa, Hawaii, mines and coalfields and in 2008 visited the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

I have set up planetaria in 3 of my schools, purchased telescopes to run field nights and have students working on astronomical software to simulate the sky and the movement of the celestial bodies. I concentrate on the processes of Science rather than recall of information. My lessons are often enquiry based, and I attempt to extend my students with a series of “What if …?” questions.

I am particularly fascinated by the different tectonic forces between the Earth and Mars with an emphasis on hot spot features for the similarities and differences between Mauna Kea and Olympus Mons, that is geology/areology. I am also fascinated by large projects that grab the attention of our species, such as the human exploration of Mars