Education meets play: a sociological study of how the new compulsory national learning framework for children zero to five years influences educators' practice. New theorising about play and education in early childhood settings has challenged traditional notions of play. This project investigates how educators respond to the requirement for play-based learning by identifying characteristics of successful educators and professional leaders, and strategies and practices that merge education and p ....Education meets play: a sociological study of how the new compulsory national learning framework for children zero to five years influences educators' practice. New theorising about play and education in early childhood settings has challenged traditional notions of play. This project investigates how educators respond to the requirement for play-based learning by identifying characteristics of successful educators and professional leaders, and strategies and practices that merge education and play.Read moreRead less
Naming the world: early years literacy and sustainability learning. The project seeks to produce knowledge about new forms of literacy emerging in sustainability education. For children born in the 21st century, the enmeshing of natural and human forces in the survival of the planet requires conceptual and practical innovation. Early childhood education can be a fundamental driver in this process. This project aims to integrate literacy and sustainability to produce powerful new learning for you ....Naming the world: early years literacy and sustainability learning. The project seeks to produce knowledge about new forms of literacy emerging in sustainability education. For children born in the 21st century, the enmeshing of natural and human forces in the survival of the planet requires conceptual and practical innovation. Early childhood education can be a fundamental driver in this process. This project aims to integrate literacy and sustainability to produce powerful new learning for young children. It plans to theorise new forms of literacy emerging in sustainability education, articulate innovative pedagogies, and inform national and international policy and practice to address 21st century learning imperatives.Read moreRead less
Digital mediation of children’s interactions with the more than human world. This project aims to investigate how children deploy digital devices to interact with the "natural" world and how this influences their literate practices, emotional engagement and identities. The project intends to examine these issues longitudinally across Australia and Finland, and in relation to key contextual issues of social class, material conditions, and pedagogical approach. Expected outcomes include identifyin ....Digital mediation of children’s interactions with the more than human world. This project aims to investigate how children deploy digital devices to interact with the "natural" world and how this influences their literate practices, emotional engagement and identities. The project intends to examine these issues longitudinally across Australia and Finland, and in relation to key contextual issues of social class, material conditions, and pedagogical approach. Expected outcomes include identifying ways of educating students through mobile digital technologies that connect them in emotional, creative and engaging ways with the "natural" world. This should provide significant benefits as children contribute as co-researchers in establishing a set of protocols for using digital technologies to both maximise learning in "nature" and mitigate harm to the environment.Read moreRead less
Observe, Reflect, Improve: a tool to enrich Children’s Learning (ORICL). This project aims to address long-standing concerns about the quality of education and care for children during their critical first two years. It will introduce a promising, future-focused digital tool, co-designed with practitioners and providers of early childhood services, to support infant-toddler educators’ planning and practice. Building on ground-breaking pilot work, we will undertake a national implementation and e ....Observe, Reflect, Improve: a tool to enrich Children’s Learning (ORICL). This project aims to address long-standing concerns about the quality of education and care for children during their critical first two years. It will introduce a promising, future-focused digital tool, co-designed with practitioners and providers of early childhood services, to support infant-toddler educators’ planning and practice. Building on ground-breaking pilot work, we will undertake a national implementation and evaluation of the Observe, Reflect and Improve Children’s Learning (ORICL) tool. Expected outcomes include: enhanced pedagogical practices; enriched learning experiences for children birth-two; effective communication with families; and improved resourcing for providers of early childhood education and care services. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100830
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,071.00
Summary
Supporting children's early mathematics development. This project aims to investigate how implementation of cognitively demanding mathematics tasks in the early years may change number development and mathematics achievement. By focusing on children’s use of strategy, the project seeks to link classroom mathematics with underpinning cognitive processes. It also plans to use eye tracking technology to identify connections between explicit mathematics strategies and intuitive cognitive behaviours. ....Supporting children's early mathematics development. This project aims to investigate how implementation of cognitively demanding mathematics tasks in the early years may change number development and mathematics achievement. By focusing on children’s use of strategy, the project seeks to link classroom mathematics with underpinning cognitive processes. It also plans to use eye tracking technology to identify connections between explicit mathematics strategies and intuitive cognitive behaviours. It is expected this project will have important implications for teaching practice in the early years of school, by providing new understanding of how engaging in demanding tasks influences children’s flexible use of strategy and subsequent achievement. This would inform practitioners and policy-makers about the supports required to establish strong mathematics foundations in children.Read moreRead less
New play pedagogies for teaching and learning in the early years. Traditional play-based learning in early childhood education cannot account for new play: very young children's everyday play with technologies, digital media and popular culture. This project uses a recently developed web-mapping tool to create a pedagogical approach to new play. The pedagogical approach to new play comprises teaching practices and learning outcomes that capitalise on the educational potential of children's every ....New play pedagogies for teaching and learning in the early years. Traditional play-based learning in early childhood education cannot account for new play: very young children's everyday play with technologies, digital media and popular culture. This project uses a recently developed web-mapping tool to create a pedagogical approach to new play. The pedagogical approach to new play comprises teaching practices and learning outcomes that capitalise on the educational potential of children's everyday play with technologies, digital media and popular culture. It aims to enable teachers to work from a theorised and empirically validated perspective for connecting young children's everyday play with technologies, digital media and popular culture artefacts to their 21st century learning needs.Read moreRead less
Building executive function in imaginary play. This project aims to develop a sustainable, play-based program to increase the executive functions of children in the year prior to school. Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that control an individual’s behaviour and cognition and include processes such as working memory, inhibitory control and attention. There is evidence that EF skills are critical to a successful transition to formal learning environments and future academic achiev ....Building executive function in imaginary play. This project aims to develop a sustainable, play-based program to increase the executive functions of children in the year prior to school. Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that control an individual’s behaviour and cognition and include processes such as working memory, inhibitory control and attention. There is evidence that EF skills are critical to a successful transition to formal learning environments and future academic achievement, and that they are amenable to early intervention. Improving children’s EF skills in the year prior to school could produce lasting benefits across the school years, particularly for more vulnerable children. This project intends to inform professional development programs in early childhood education.Read moreRead less
Exemplary early childhood educators at work: A multi-level investigation. Exemplary early childhood educators at work: A multi-level investigation. This project aims to inform strategies to better attract, prepare, recognise, support and retain a high quality workforce, by investigating the complexity of early childhood educators’ work. Seemingly entrenched workforce shortages threaten the objectives that governments and families seek through investment in early childhood education. Popular imag ....Exemplary early childhood educators at work: A multi-level investigation. Exemplary early childhood educators at work: A multi-level investigation. This project aims to inform strategies to better attract, prepare, recognise, support and retain a high quality workforce, by investigating the complexity of early childhood educators’ work. Seemingly entrenched workforce shortages threaten the objectives that governments and families seek through investment in early childhood education. Popular images of work with young children as easy and instinctual, or of teaching as only school based, mislead potential workforce entrants and erode the status of educators, leading to attrition. This project’s audit and description of exemplary educators’ work, across each level of mandated qualification, will inform strategies to sustain a high quality early childhood workforce into the future.Read moreRead less
Quality teaching work and reducing educational inequalities. This project aims to investigate school-based teaching policies and practices using innovative design-based research, to collaboratively develop quality teaching that meets complex, contextual student needs in high poverty communities. Teachers' work in primary schools in high poverty areas is increasingly driven by standards and testing demands. High levels of teacher anxiety and fatigue are apparent in such schools. This project will ....Quality teaching work and reducing educational inequalities. This project aims to investigate school-based teaching policies and practices using innovative design-based research, to collaboratively develop quality teaching that meets complex, contextual student needs in high poverty communities. Teachers' work in primary schools in high poverty areas is increasingly driven by standards and testing demands. High levels of teacher anxiety and fatigue are apparent in such schools. This project will study teaching work in six educationally disadvantaged contexts and identify the different pedagogic approaches that produce sustained increases in student learning. The project intends to develop a collaborative knowledge model that will enhance teacher professionalism and student learning attainment, with highly valuable benefits for the Australian community and economy.Read moreRead less
Learning to write: A socio-material analysis of text production. Contemporary literacy classrooms are places of intense curriculum and technological change. This project will investigate how young children are learning to write as they participate in producing both print and digital texts with a range of tools and technologies. Innovative approaches to teaching writing in early childhood classrooms in four schools situated in low socio-economic communities across two states will be collaborative ....Learning to write: A socio-material analysis of text production. Contemporary literacy classrooms are places of intense curriculum and technological change. This project will investigate how young children are learning to write as they participate in producing both print and digital texts with a range of tools and technologies. Innovative approaches to teaching writing in early childhood classrooms in four schools situated in low socio-economic communities across two states will be collaboratively designed with teachers. The documentation of these classroom design experiments aims to form the basis of innovative practice for other teachers. Employing a socio-material analysis aims to illuminate the affordances of new ways of understanding learning to write in action, in contemporary early childhood classrooms.Read moreRead less