Feature Friday: Emma Fazzino
In case you haven’t noticed, we have a whole section on our website dedicated to student profiles – short biographies of where our former students are now after studying science communication with us.
This Feature Friday, I thought I’d introduce you to one of our graduates, Emma Fazzino!
Hi! I’m Emma and I currently work as a Mathematics teacher in WA. I teach predominately Years 7-10 and am passionate about encouraging students to see the value in maths.
I bring a lot of educational research into my classroom on a daily basis. For example, I promote Growth Mindset through discussing effort and failure with students, and I employ strategies from cognitive psychology such as metacognitive skills and social-emotional learning. In my role as a teacher, I also prioritise drawing links between theory in the classroom and real-world practice. Recently, I undertook an investigation with a class where we used maths to analyse the flow of vehicles in a traffic jam. I am hugely passionate about embedding 21st century skills into the classroom to allow students to reach their full potential.
The biggest takeaway from studying Science Communication in my undergraduate degree was that it taught me skills to “make difficult things easy”, which is incredibly important in teaching Mathematics (especially to learners who don’t want to learn!). I also took away knowledge that has helped me to develop professionally, such as building a community on Linkedin, writing blogs, public speaking and using social media for engagement and networking. I now run a professional Instagram account where I share my practice and reflections as a teacher @miss.mathematical.mindset.
Since leaving Unimelb, I have also started a podcast called “The Smart Sister Podcast” which aims to 
share study, career and wellness tips to high school girls through an engaging and relatable platform. Through contrasting my perspectives as a uni-student and teacher with my sister’s experiences in high school, we are able to share a unique perspective and provide advice to those wishing to adopt a more ‘smart’ approach to life.
I couldn’t recommend Jen’s course enough – as it has truly opened my eyes and allowed me to engage and explore science in a way I never had before in any other subject.
Links:
The Smart Sister Podcast on Anchor
The Smart Sister Podcast on Spotify
The Smart Sister Podcast on Instagram
Miss Mathematical Mindset on Instagram
Also check out Emma’s posts on our student blog Scientific Scribbles:
The Skills of the 21st Century
How to study effectively, according to science
How your mindset is dictating your success
If you liked this story, make sure you check out more Student Profiles here.
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