Engaging Students during the Early Years of Secondary School. This project aims to design, test and share sustainable strategies to support teachers and enable students from low socioeconomic communities to achieve success. The greatest decreases in students’ interest and effort occur when they transition into secondary school, with students from low socioeconomic communities at greatest risk of disengagement. What can teachers do to engage their students during this key life transition? This pr ....Engaging Students during the Early Years of Secondary School. This project aims to design, test and share sustainable strategies to support teachers and enable students from low socioeconomic communities to achieve success. The greatest decreases in students’ interest and effort occur when they transition into secondary school, with students from low socioeconomic communities at greatest risk of disengagement. What can teachers do to engage their students during this key life transition? This project plans to identify teacher behaviours that motivate students in their first year at secondary school. Using an experimental design with a representative sample of 150 teachers and 1500 students in low socioeconomic areas across three states, the project plans to test whether an online professional learning program for teachers can improve student engagement and achievement. This cost-effective and scalable intervention is designed for widespread dissemination to Australian teachers.Read moreRead less
Connecting mathematics learning through spatial reasoning. This project aims to create a framework based on spatial reasoning that identifies pathways for mathematics learning, pedagogy and curriculum. Realising Australia’s Innovation and Science Agenda fundamentally rests on transforming the nation's mathematical capacity. Spatial reasoning, an emerging transdisciplinary area, is integral to all human learning, particularly for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Thi ....Connecting mathematics learning through spatial reasoning. This project aims to create a framework based on spatial reasoning that identifies pathways for mathematics learning, pedagogy and curriculum. Realising Australia’s Innovation and Science Agenda fundamentally rests on transforming the nation's mathematical capacity. Spatial reasoning, an emerging transdisciplinary area, is integral to all human learning, particularly for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This project will map the unknown complex systems linking spatial and mathematical concepts, and design, implement and evaluate a longitudinal intervention study of primary students, including tracking of highly able students. This will lead to more highly skilled and adaptive citizens.Read moreRead less
Advancing future primary teachers' engagement in science inquiry learning. Australia's challenges in regard to scientific literacy and growth of student enrolments in science need to be addressed at multiple levels, starting with the preparation of future primary teachers. Promoting children's early interest in inquiry-based science is essential, yet a challenge for many teachers. This project examines the complex and dynamic interplay of cognitive, metacognitive and emotional processes in futur ....Advancing future primary teachers' engagement in science inquiry learning. Australia's challenges in regard to scientific literacy and growth of student enrolments in science need to be addressed at multiple levels, starting with the preparation of future primary teachers. Promoting children's early interest in inquiry-based science is essential, yet a challenge for many teachers. This project examines the complex and dynamic interplay of cognitive, metacognitive and emotional processes in future primary teachers' engagement in collaborative inquiry-based science activities. A comprehensive intervention based on these insights aims to determine how scaffolding productive engagement can improve the quality of primary teachers' preparation for inquiry-based science.Read moreRead less
International collaboration in teaching and learning of Einsteinian physics. Following a previous project that showed that it is possible and beneficial to teach the modern Einsteinian paradigm of space, time, matter, light and gravity to students as young as 8 years old, this project aims to test and evaluate a seamless progression of learning modern physics through primary and secondary school. It will sequence, integrate and test research-informed teaching and learning materials, and assessme ....International collaboration in teaching and learning of Einsteinian physics. Following a previous project that showed that it is possible and beneficial to teach the modern Einsteinian paradigm of space, time, matter, light and gravity to students as young as 8 years old, this project aims to test and evaluate a seamless progression of learning modern physics through primary and secondary school. It will sequence, integrate and test research-informed teaching and learning materials, and assessment instruments developed through a 7-nation collaboration. Research across 24 schools will be reviewed by a panel drawn from professional organisations and curriculum authorities, and learning resources will be widely disseminated, with view to worldwide introduction of Einsteinian science at school.Read moreRead less
Collaborative learning in Australia and China. This project aims to investigate aspects of learning for which “the social” is the most fundamental and useful level of explanation, modelling and instructional intervention. Interactive problem solving and learning are priorities in contemporary education, but have proven difficult to research. This project will use Australian and Chinese research facilities to investigate social interactions and classroom learning by strategically orchestrating co ....Collaborative learning in Australia and China. This project aims to investigate aspects of learning for which “the social” is the most fundamental and useful level of explanation, modelling and instructional intervention. Interactive problem solving and learning are priorities in contemporary education, but have proven difficult to research. This project will use Australian and Chinese research facilities to investigate social interactions and classroom learning by strategically orchestrating conditions for collaborative problem solving and knowledge construction by mathematics students in two very different cultures and pedagogical traditions. Outcomes from this project are expected to identify and optimise the function of social interaction in learning.Read moreRead less
Love Maths, Why Not? Developing Students’ Positive Learning Identities and Engagement in Mathematics. Mathematics is the foremost enabling science that underpins research, development and innovation in every aspect of society. Recent trends in mathematics education show that attitude, confidence and a sense of personal relevance play an influential role in student engagement and achievement. Yet Australian students’ achievement in mathematics has plateaued, and participation in mathematics is st ....Love Maths, Why Not? Developing Students’ Positive Learning Identities and Engagement in Mathematics. Mathematics is the foremost enabling science that underpins research, development and innovation in every aspect of society. Recent trends in mathematics education show that attitude, confidence and a sense of personal relevance play an influential role in student engagement and achievement. Yet Australian students’ achievement in mathematics has plateaued, and participation in mathematics is steadily declining. This study combines innovative pedagogical research in mathematics with research of positive learning identity and engagement to develop knowledge about educational practices that sustain the attention and positive engagement of our nations’ future mathematicians, scientists and mathematically fluent citizenry. Read moreRead less