Optimising students’ academic trajectories: The role of growth (‘personal best’) goals. Too many students fail to reach their academic potential and, as a result, they risk being systematically denied a sense of academic ‘success’ and progress. Through a focus on academic growth (and ‘personal bests’), this research project traverses complex terrain to identify the role of growth goals and growth goal setting in students’ academic trajectories. It also tackles methodological challenges that have ....Optimising students’ academic trajectories: The role of growth (‘personal best’) goals. Too many students fail to reach their academic potential and, as a result, they risk being systematically denied a sense of academic ‘success’ and progress. Through a focus on academic growth (and ‘personal bests’), this research project traverses complex terrain to identify the role of growth goals and growth goal setting in students’ academic trajectories. It also tackles methodological challenges that have impeded research progress in this compelling area. Through strategic international and institutional links, the research program will identify innovative approaches to academic growth and growth goals that will significantly assist pedagogy and psychology aimed at optimising students’ academic potential.Read moreRead less
Giving instructional animations a helping hand. Computer-based instructional animations have not produced the positive learning outcomes that might be expected considering the advances in technology. The project will demonstrate that animations can be highly effective when learning about human movement and further enhanced by the inclusion of human gestures. It will directly investigate how learning is supported when humans observe manual actions, make gestures, or both. The project will identif ....Giving instructional animations a helping hand. Computer-based instructional animations have not produced the positive learning outcomes that might be expected considering the advances in technology. The project will demonstrate that animations can be highly effective when learning about human movement and further enhanced by the inclusion of human gestures. It will directly investigate how learning is supported when humans observe manual actions, make gestures, or both. The project will identify some key conditions under which animations may facilitate effective learning of both mechanical and human movement knowledge, and will develop principles for the design of best-practice instructional materials in e-learning environments.Read moreRead less
Learning how people read: Models, brains, big data and maths. Aims: This project aims to understand how people read. We will use novel mathematical methods, experimentation, brain imaging and computational modelling to adjudicate between model predictions.
Significance: This project expects to develop methods to understand and test important aspects of reading.
Expected outcomes: Expected outcomes are the development of novel methods for understanding complex models and the collection of data t ....Learning how people read: Models, brains, big data and maths. Aims: This project aims to understand how people read. We will use novel mathematical methods, experimentation, brain imaging and computational modelling to adjudicate between model predictions.
Significance: This project expects to develop methods to understand and test important aspects of reading.
Expected outcomes: Expected outcomes are the development of novel methods for understanding complex models and the collection of data that can extend and falsify current models of reading.
Benefits: These developments will significantly increase our understanding of how people read and what causes dyslexia. This work will also provide new ways to evaluate complex computational psychological models.Read moreRead less
Improving disadvantaged students’ writing engagement and achievement. Economically disadvantaged students are disproportionally represented among those who fail to attain minimum benchmarks in writing in successive rounds of national testing. Our knowledge, however, is limited on why, how and under what circumstances disadvantaged students engage in or disengage from writing. Addressing this knowledge gap, this project examines how disadvantaged students experience and engage in writing, and ho ....Improving disadvantaged students’ writing engagement and achievement. Economically disadvantaged students are disproportionally represented among those who fail to attain minimum benchmarks in writing in successive rounds of national testing. Our knowledge, however, is limited on why, how and under what circumstances disadvantaged students engage in or disengage from writing. Addressing this knowledge gap, this project examines how disadvantaged students experience and engage in writing, and how their writer identities and knowledge about writing develop, as they participate in writing events in different communities in school, out of school and online. The project promotes writing engagement and enhances achievement by making writing personally meaningful and by developing enabling writing communities.
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David and Goliath - what planets can do to the stars that created them. We used to think that when stars expand during their old age, they would destroy all their close-by planets. Today we know that if a star swallows a Jupiter-like planet it can suffer indigestion. The project will study how star-planet interactions takes place, determine their impact on the lives of stars and glimpse at the future of our own solar system.
Is Maths for me? Understanding and promoting disadvantaged students' academic aspirations for Mathematics. The problem of persistent decline in participation in post-compulsory mathematics in Australian schools and universities has been aggravated when disadvantaged students are taken into consideration. However, know little as to how, why and under what circumstances disadvantaged students make decisions to quit or continue learning advanced Mathematics. To address this national challenge, thre ....Is Maths for me? Understanding and promoting disadvantaged students' academic aspirations for Mathematics. The problem of persistent decline in participation in post-compulsory mathematics in Australian schools and universities has been aggravated when disadvantaged students are taken into consideration. However, know little as to how, why and under what circumstances disadvantaged students make decisions to quit or continue learning advanced Mathematics. To address this national challenge, three related studies will explore systematically disadvantaged students’ academic aspirations during the early and senior secondary periods, track their development within dynamic interplay of individual, social and schooling influences, and explore effective schooling practices capable of sustaining aspirations in advanced Mathematics.Read moreRead less
How many types of reasoning are there and how do they develop? This project will identify the fundamental components of human reasoning and examine how they change during the primary and junior high school years. It lays the foundation for the development of better methods for teaching children and adults how to reason.
The acoustics of reed instruments during transients and vibrato: elements of excellence. In the hands and mouth of an expert player, a woodwind reed instrument (for example, clarinet and oboe) can produce a subtle and beautiful sound. Using techniques only available in this lab, this project will determine the physics of the interactions between a player's vocal tract, the vibrating reed and the instrument bore. The project will determine how an expert player can control the initial, final and s ....The acoustics of reed instruments during transients and vibrato: elements of excellence. In the hands and mouth of an expert player, a woodwind reed instrument (for example, clarinet and oboe) can produce a subtle and beautiful sound. Using techniques only available in this lab, this project will determine the physics of the interactions between a player's vocal tract, the vibrating reed and the instrument bore. The project will determine how an expert player can control the initial, final and slurred transients that give grace, elegance and other desired qualities. The project will also study how sustained notes vary with time, with special attention to timbre vibrato, which gives 'warmth' and a lively, 'glowing' quality to their sound. This study will yield important practical results, which can be converted into advances in music teaching.Read moreRead less
Estimating the population effect of maternal alcohol-use disorders on the educational achievement of children. It is unclear to what extent maternal alcohol-related problems contribute to the increased risk of poor health, academic failure, and times suspended from school in Australian children. This study aims to examine the effect of maternal alcohol-use disorder on infant and child health, development, and educational achievement using education and health data from the Western Australian dat ....Estimating the population effect of maternal alcohol-use disorders on the educational achievement of children. It is unclear to what extent maternal alcohol-related problems contribute to the increased risk of poor health, academic failure, and times suspended from school in Australian children. This study aims to examine the effect of maternal alcohol-use disorder on infant and child health, development, and educational achievement using education and health data from the Western Australian data linkage system. The results will provide new information on the impact of maternal alcohol-related problems on child health and educational achievement and have the potential to inform health and education policies and early identification and targeted intervention strategies. Read moreRead less
Solving the inert knowledge problem. A central goal of education is for students to transfer what they learn to new contexts or problems. Indeed, expert reasoning is often characterised by seeing the deep structural commonalities across seemingly disparate situations. However, the knowledge students acquire is notoriously inert, tied to the specifics of the learning examples. This project aims to move towards solving 'the inert knowledge problem' by investigating how humans learn concepts define ....Solving the inert knowledge problem. A central goal of education is for students to transfer what they learn to new contexts or problems. Indeed, expert reasoning is often characterised by seeing the deep structural commonalities across seemingly disparate situations. However, the knowledge students acquire is notoriously inert, tied to the specifics of the learning examples. This project aims to move towards solving 'the inert knowledge problem' by investigating how humans learn concepts defined by abstract relational structure, and by designing educational applications that enhance the use of relational learning mechanisms in students with a wide range of cognitive abilities.Read moreRead less