Building community capital to support sustainable numeracy education in remote locations. Numeracy for all is a national policy priority. It enables students to make choices that lead to healthy, productive and fulfilling lives for themselves and their communities. Despite some improvements, the gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous achievement on territory-wide assessments of numeracy is growing. Indigenous elders believe their children and grandchildren have less literacy and numeracy ski ....Building community capital to support sustainable numeracy education in remote locations. Numeracy for all is a national policy priority. It enables students to make choices that lead to healthy, productive and fulfilling lives for themselves and their communities. Despite some improvements, the gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous achievement on territory-wide assessments of numeracy is growing. Indigenous elders believe their children and grandchildren have less literacy and numeracy skills than they do. As a consequence, new, more effective, and sustainable ways to improve Indigenous numeracy education are urgently needed. The proposed research will address this need by exploring a model for building community capital to support sustainable numeracy education in remote locations.Read moreRead less
The sociocultural construction of early childhood science learning: Learning of scientific concepts within situated playful encounters in early childhood contexts. As a result of large-scale international and intensive neuroscientific research, it is now widely recognized that the early childhood period is one of the most critical periods of a child's development and education. Quality educational input within the first five years of a child's life has been shown to have sustained long term so ....The sociocultural construction of early childhood science learning: Learning of scientific concepts within situated playful encounters in early childhood contexts. As a result of large-scale international and intensive neuroscientific research, it is now widely recognized that the early childhood period is one of the most critical periods of a child's development and education. Quality educational input within the first five years of a child's life has been shown to have sustained long term social and emotional outcomes, and to result in improved educational opportunities and life chances for all children. Gaining a better understanding about how scientific learning can be organized within playful early childhood contexts would lead to more appropriate models for science teaching for Australian early childhood teachers, more science being taught, and a more scientific literate population. Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354538
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$30,000.00
Summary
Enabling Sciences Education (EnSE) Research Network. The Network aims to ensure the long-term ability of Australians to excel in scientific and technological innovation at all levels of community activity. This will be achieved by establishing significant and ambitious research agendas for improving the teaching and learning of Mathematics, Science and Technology in primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. Of significance will be the productive synergies flowing from uniting, across ....Enabling Sciences Education (EnSE) Research Network. The Network aims to ensure the long-term ability of Australians to excel in scientific and technological innovation at all levels of community activity. This will be achieved by establishing significant and ambitious research agendas for improving the teaching and learning of Mathematics, Science and Technology in primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. Of significance will be the productive synergies flowing from uniting, across the three disciplines, Australia's most outstanding, experienced and dedicated researchers with new and mid-career colleagues. Expected outcomes include a diverse but cohesive and collaborative research community that provides international leadership in helping students achieve their full potential. Read moreRead less
Early years languages learning in Australia. This project aims to investigate early year’s language programs in Australian schools. The project will explore and analyse successful programs in the three states of NSW, Queensland and Victoria, policy, curricula and resources for languages teaching and learning, key stakeholder perspectives, and student progress in new primary language teaching degrees. The project expects to generate new knowledge of linked best practice program types, pedagogies, ....Early years languages learning in Australia. This project aims to investigate early year’s language programs in Australian schools. The project will explore and analyse successful programs in the three states of NSW, Queensland and Victoria, policy, curricula and resources for languages teaching and learning, key stakeholder perspectives, and student progress in new primary language teaching degrees. The project expects to generate new knowledge of linked best practice program types, pedagogies, and teacher requirements, to provide new data and ongoing research opportunities. Intended benefits include the education of more linguistically and culturally competent young Australians who are able to effectively engage in a plurilingual, globalised world.Read moreRead less
Values in mathematics and science education: mapping the relationships between pedagogical practices and student outcomes. Mathematics and science in schools both involve the teaching of values. Some value outcomes are intended by the teachers and are explicitly taught, particularly in science, while other values are only implicitly present in classroom practices, as is typically the case with mathematics. What is not yet known is what values students learn from different teachers and from their ....Values in mathematics and science education: mapping the relationships between pedagogical practices and student outcomes. Mathematics and science in schools both involve the teaching of values. Some value outcomes are intended by the teachers and are explicitly taught, particularly in science, while other values are only implicitly present in classroom practices, as is typically the case with mathematics. What is not yet known is what values students learn from different teachers and from their practices, and how these learned values impact on student engagement with these subjects. This project will explore the relationships between the values embedded in the pedagogical practices of primary and secondary teachers of mathematics and science, and student values outcomes.Read moreRead less
Developing portfolio assessment in Mathematics and English: Insider and outsider perspectives on the implementation of professional teaching standards. In previous parallel SPIRT projects the national subject associations in Mathematics and English/Literacy developed professional standards for excellence in teaching. This research project, with the Victorian Institute of Teaching, will study both the preparation of portfolio items by groups of 'outsider' teachers who played no part in the develo ....Developing portfolio assessment in Mathematics and English: Insider and outsider perspectives on the implementation of professional teaching standards. In previous parallel SPIRT projects the national subject associations in Mathematics and English/Literacy developed professional standards for excellence in teaching. This research project, with the Victorian Institute of Teaching, will study both the preparation of portfolio items by groups of 'outsider' teachers who played no part in the development of the Standards, together with the evaluation of their portfolios by groups of 'insider' assessors from the respective subject associations who helped develop the Standards. Data from this project will contribute to validating the Standards, to clarifying the issues of subject-specific/generic professional standards, and to improving quality in teachers' professional development.Read moreRead less
Learning outcomes in mathematics and science classrooms in Australia, Finland and China: Interrogating the alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Our capacity to promote effective instruction depends upon our ability to recognize and assess useful knowing and to identify the instructional practices through which such knowing is engendered. International achievement tests are impacting educational policy in Australia, with significant attention on top-performing Finland and the cons ....Learning outcomes in mathematics and science classrooms in Australia, Finland and China: Interrogating the alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Our capacity to promote effective instruction depends upon our ability to recognize and assess useful knowing and to identify the instructional practices through which such knowing is engendered. International achievement tests are impacting educational policy in Australia, with significant attention on top-performing Finland and the consistent success of Asian classrooms. Recent research has raised concerns about what forms of knowing (i) find their expression in student test performance, or (ii) remain unrevealed by most available forms of testing (particularly international testing). This project looks closely at classroom practices and learning outcomes in China, Finland and Australia to provide new guidance on these issues.Read moreRead less
Providing the Mathematical Foundation for an Innovative Australia within Reform Based Learning Environments. The focus of this project is the pedagogical change that The Review of Teaching and Teacher Education indicates must take place in order to lay the quantitative foundations for advancing innovation, science, technology, and mathematics, while satisfying the requirements of a reform-based learning environment. Professional learning directed at teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and be ....Providing the Mathematical Foundation for an Innovative Australia within Reform Based Learning Environments. The focus of this project is the pedagogical change that The Review of Teaching and Teacher Education indicates must take place in order to lay the quantitative foundations for advancing innovation, science, technology, and mathematics, while satisfying the requirements of a reform-based learning environment. Professional learning directed at teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and belief structures with respect to mathematics within an environment of curricular change, will be evaluated in evidence-based terms related to teacher change and student outcomes. Significance includes the context, the middle school years in rural district schools, and the influence of technology on pedagogy.Read moreRead less
Mapping and augmenting engagement, learning and cultural belonging for children undertaking ArtPlay workshops. The project's triple focus on engagement, learning and cultural citizenship will benefit arts and culture provision for children. Public and private art partnerships are multiplying rapidly, with provision, programming and training largely unmonitored. The project supports both partners' aims: 'promote creative capacity of children, and increased access and engagement in the arts' (Melb ....Mapping and augmenting engagement, learning and cultural belonging for children undertaking ArtPlay workshops. The project's triple focus on engagement, learning and cultural citizenship will benefit arts and culture provision for children. Public and private art partnerships are multiplying rapidly, with provision, programming and training largely unmonitored. The project supports both partners' aims: 'promote creative capacity of children, and increased access and engagement in the arts' (Melbourne City) and 'improved opportunities in education and the arts through productive links and strengthened partnerships between education and arts' (Australia Council). It is in line with the federal Government's Early Childhood Strategy: 'helping people maximise their potential and achieve good, healthy, lifetime outcomes'Read moreRead less
Conceptual complexity and student engagement with science in secondary school. Research demonstrates that negative student attitudes to school science are associated with the subject's difficulty and its lack of relevance to real-world experience. However, teachers who link learning to students' experience may exacerbate the difficulty of science, because real-world applications of concepts are complex. This study will initially investigate teachers' perceptions of this dilemma, and then focus ....Conceptual complexity and student engagement with science in secondary school. Research demonstrates that negative student attitudes to school science are associated with the subject's difficulty and its lack of relevance to real-world experience. However, teachers who link learning to students' experience may exacerbate the difficulty of science, because real-world applications of concepts are complex. This study will initially investigate teachers' perceptions of this dilemma, and then focus on two classrooms where teachers acknowledge the complexity involved. Using a novel conceptual framework and an innovative data collection technique the study will explore how the students? experiences of complexity shape their attitudes to science. The findings will help improve student engagement with science.Read moreRead less