Cultivating Capability: Explicating Critical Psychosocial Drivers of Educational Outcomes and Wellbeing for High-Ability Aboriginal Students. Despite emphasis worldwide on enabling high-ability students to realise their potential, little is known about drivers that seed success in educational outcomes and wellbeing for high ability Aboriginal students who underachieve, are under identified and are underrepresented in selective settings. Capitalising on interdisciplinary theory and research, a po ....Cultivating Capability: Explicating Critical Psychosocial Drivers of Educational Outcomes and Wellbeing for High-Ability Aboriginal Students. Despite emphasis worldwide on enabling high-ability students to realise their potential, little is known about drivers that seed success in educational outcomes and wellbeing for high ability Aboriginal students who underachieve, are under identified and are underrepresented in selective settings. Capitalising on interdisciplinary theory and research, a powerful multi-method design and state-of-the-art statistics, the project aims to explicate psychosocial determinants of high-ability Aboriginal students' educational outcomes and wellbeing and test the efficacy of novel research-derived interventions. This aims to advance knowledge, policy and practice to enhance the provision of education to high-ability Aboriginal students ensuring they realise their full potential.Read moreRead less
Identifying pedagogical factors enabling success in elite level team sport for Indigenous Australians: Lessons for Closing the Gap. Despite significant social disadvantage and alarming underachievement in educational outcomes, Indigenous Australians achieve remarkable success across a range of high profile sports. Indigenous Australians' achievement in sport is often explained as a result of inherited racial characteristics but, when seen as the result of a process of learning, it demands inquir ....Identifying pedagogical factors enabling success in elite level team sport for Indigenous Australians: Lessons for Closing the Gap. Despite significant social disadvantage and alarming underachievement in educational outcomes, Indigenous Australians achieve remarkable success across a range of high profile sports. Indigenous Australians' achievement in sport is often explained as a result of inherited racial characteristics but, when seen as the result of a process of learning, it demands inquiry into how this learning occurs and what socio-cultural factors facilitate this. This project will identify the socio-cultural and pedagogical factors that encourage and enhance achieving excellence at the highest levels of sport as a process of learning. Read moreRead less
Transforming Lives and Communities: Impact of Quality Indigenous Education. The project aims to advance knowledge, policy and practice by exploring the impact of Indigenous education programs in transforming lives and communities. There is a revolution in Australian education whereby private boarding schools are actively enabling Indigenous students to reap the rewards of a quality education. While there is anecdotal evidence suggesting that these programs have long-term and far-reaching effects ....Transforming Lives and Communities: Impact of Quality Indigenous Education. The project aims to advance knowledge, policy and practice by exploring the impact of Indigenous education programs in transforming lives and communities. There is a revolution in Australian education whereby private boarding schools are actively enabling Indigenous students to reap the rewards of a quality education. While there is anecdotal evidence suggesting that these programs have long-term and far-reaching effects for the students that extend to Indigenous communities, non-Indigenous peers, and the whole-school community, the actual impact of and pathways through which these benefits are achieved is unknown.Read moreRead less
The ecology of trace metal contamination in native Australian mammals. The ecology of trace metal contamination in native Australian mammals . This project aims to evaluate the impacts of mined trace metals on the health and performance of native Australian mammals in a northern tropical ecosystem and to determine how each species’ ecology contributes to their risk of contamination. The research also aims to give local Indigenous Rangers scientifically based strategies to improve wildlife conser ....The ecology of trace metal contamination in native Australian mammals. The ecology of trace metal contamination in native Australian mammals . This project aims to evaluate the impacts of mined trace metals on the health and performance of native Australian mammals in a northern tropical ecosystem and to determine how each species’ ecology contributes to their risk of contamination. The research also aims to give local Indigenous Rangers scientifically based strategies to improve wildlife conservation on their island. Australia’s long-term health relies on its ability to minimise the environmental costs of mining, particularly in areas characterised by high biodiversity, unique native species, or species of cultural or touristic value. Anticipated outcomes are better, more targeted strategies for conservation in mining areas.Read moreRead less
Establishing the provenance of Torres Strait Islander remains: genetics, craniometrics and isotopes. The repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remains has been a focus of Commonwealth and State Governments for over two decades. It remains as a significant social and cultural issue for many Indigenous Australians. One of the main hurdles to repatriation is the fact that hundreds, and possibly thousands of human remains have very little contextual detail associated with them. A num ....Establishing the provenance of Torres Strait Islander remains: genetics, craniometrics and isotopes. The repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remains has been a focus of Commonwealth and State Governments for over two decades. It remains as a significant social and cultural issue for many Indigenous Australians. One of the main hurdles to repatriation is the fact that hundreds, and possibly thousands of human remains have very little contextual detail associated with them. A number of techniques have been developed in the field of biological anthropology to reconstruct the history of individual skeletal remains. This innovative project aims to use advances in the fields of ancient DNA, isotope analysis and craniometrics to resolve the provenance of 113 trophy skulls from the Torres Strait Islands.Read moreRead less
Evaluating and developing music-based strategies for teaching and learning in remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. This project examines music-based teaching and learning employed by Aboriginal stakeholders in their efforts to sustain endangered cultural practices in remote communities in the Kimberley. Community and University-based researchers and teacher/practitioners will develop strategies to improve cultural teaching and learning in a variety of contexts.
Improving numeracy outcomes for young Indigenous children through the Patterns and Early Algebra Preschool (PEAP) professional development program. The study aims to improve mathematics outcomes for young Indigenous children and advance the pedagogical content knowledge of early childhood educators and working towards closing the gap in numeracy achievements for Indigenous children. The study will add to the research literature on early algebraic thinking and mathematical reasoning.
Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Education. This project investigates the prevalence of ‘deficit discourse’ and its influence on Indigenous education. Deficit discourse frames Indigenous identity in a narrative of negativity and deficiency. Recent work indicates that deficit discourse is active in policy, public debate, pedagogy and practice, and its prevalence in Indigenous education influences student performance. By mapping the discursive environment and analysing education programs that reje ....Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Education. This project investigates the prevalence of ‘deficit discourse’ and its influence on Indigenous education. Deficit discourse frames Indigenous identity in a narrative of negativity and deficiency. Recent work indicates that deficit discourse is active in policy, public debate, pedagogy and practice, and its prevalence in Indigenous education influences student performance. By mapping the discursive environment and analysing education programs that reject the deficit model, this project assesses whether its removal improves outcomes for Indigenous students. This project provides an original approach to challenge entrenched perceptions, resulting in tangible benefits for the Australian education system and the communities that it serves.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100047
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,218.00
Summary
Developing the Multimodal Literacy Learning of Indigenous Australian Primary Students through Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Education Action Plan 2010-2014 aims to close the gap in education outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Mainstream educational practices are based on beliefs about knowing and being, which marginalise the literacy learning of Indigenous Australian students. This project will develop a model for multimodal literacy ....Developing the Multimodal Literacy Learning of Indigenous Australian Primary Students through Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Education Action Plan 2010-2014 aims to close the gap in education outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Mainstream educational practices are based on beliefs about knowing and being, which marginalise the literacy learning of Indigenous Australian students. This project will develop a model for multimodal literacy learning based on Indigenous community practices with primary students in Years four and five. The researcher will work with Indigenous elders and the principal and teachers at an independent Indigenous school, and further develop this approach within the broader context of Aboriginal schools.Read moreRead less
Indigenous persistence in formal learning. This project will improve knowledge of the learning experiences of Indigenous students transiting from TAFE to university studies. The results will have significant implications for the ways Indigenous students can be supported in their studies in order to achieve better quality learning experiences as well as learning outcomes.