Conceptual play: foregrounding imagination and cognition during concept formation in early years science education. The National Quality agenda has created the need for better understanding learning in early childhood. This study seeks to find out how the imagination of preschool aged children helps them to learn scientific concepts. The outcomes will help early childhood educators in childcare centres and kindergartens to teach science to young children.
Scientific play-worlds: Researching play, imagination and science teaching. This project aims to investigate how imaginative play, as a pedagogy of science teaching, promotes children’s scientific visualisation and imagination in contexts of contradiction and drama. The project expects to generate new knowledge about teaching science to infants, toddlers and preschoolers in play-based settings. The expected outcome is an evidence-based model of early childhood science teaching and a method for m ....Scientific play-worlds: Researching play, imagination and science teaching. This project aims to investigate how imaginative play, as a pedagogy of science teaching, promotes children’s scientific visualisation and imagination in contexts of contradiction and drama. The project expects to generate new knowledge about teaching science to infants, toddlers and preschoolers in play-based settings. The expected outcome is an evidence-based model of early childhood science teaching and a method for measuring imagination in scientific play. Potential benefits include improved pre-service and in-service education and improved cognitive outcomes young children in their formative years.Read moreRead less
Affective imagination in science education: exploring the emotional nature of scientific and technological learning and engaging children and teachers. Children are born into an increasingly complex world and knowing how to engage with technologies and to think scientifically is central, yet preschool teachers are becoming reluctant to teach science. This project explores the emotional dimension of concept formation, so as to generate methodologies that engage teachers to teach more science.
An investigation into the relations between imaginary situations and scientific abstractions in preschool digital play. Imaginative play is the leading activity of preschoolers. But imagination is also important in scientific work, for example in the work of Niels Bohr and Barbara McClintock. Aided through digital tablet technology to create animations of scientific learning, this study examines how imaginative play helps children to imagine scientific explanations not visibly supported in real ....An investigation into the relations between imaginary situations and scientific abstractions in preschool digital play. Imaginative play is the leading activity of preschoolers. But imagination is also important in scientific work, for example in the work of Niels Bohr and Barbara McClintock. Aided through digital tablet technology to create animations of scientific learning, this study examines how imaginative play helps children to imagine scientific explanations not visibly supported in real life, such as the Earth circling the Sun, or science concepts not directly observable, such as, how sugar dissolves faster in hot water. Studying imagination in play and imagination in science will contribute to new understandings about the nature of science teaching in preschools.Read moreRead less
Developing digital pedagogies in inquiry science through a cloud-based teaching and learning environment. This project will extend innovative, cloud-based teacher planning software in order to develop effective strategies for using digital resources in inquiry science. This project will work with a number of schools to investigate the development of an inquiry based digital pedagogy, and a professional learning approach utilising cloud-based, digital resources.
Using pedagogical reasoning to explicate expert practice that aligns with national teaching standards. Standards and accountability are being used to measure and judge teachers, thus the ability to determine pedagogical expertise is increasingly important. Standards alone give little about the teacher reasoning and expertise required to demonstrate them. This project will research how pedagogical reasoning (PR) can be used to understand expert teachers’ professional knowledge, to offer richer wa ....Using pedagogical reasoning to explicate expert practice that aligns with national teaching standards. Standards and accountability are being used to measure and judge teachers, thus the ability to determine pedagogical expertise is increasingly important. Standards alone give little about the teacher reasoning and expertise required to demonstrate them. This project will research how pedagogical reasoning (PR) can be used to understand expert teachers’ professional knowledge, to offer richer ways of interpreting and using standards in judging expertise in practice. This project intends to map the PR of science teachers whose pedagogy generates deep understandings and high levels of engagement onto the standards and research how to represent the outcomes to provide others with scaffolds and expertise to make the standards meaningful in daily practice.Read moreRead less
Enriching mathematics and science learning: an interdisciplinary approach. This international, longitudinal project aims to investigate the effectiveness of an innovative interdisciplinary learning approach in mathematics and science. Through collaborating primary schools in Australia and the United States of America (USA), it will investigate how students’ invention and transformation of representational systems can connect to support deeper reasoning and learning. The project will form the ba ....Enriching mathematics and science learning: an interdisciplinary approach. This international, longitudinal project aims to investigate the effectiveness of an innovative interdisciplinary learning approach in mathematics and science. Through collaborating primary schools in Australia and the United States of America (USA), it will investigate how students’ invention and transformation of representational systems can connect to support deeper reasoning and learning. The project will form the bases for new curricular designs that leverage students’ representational practices across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to promote more robust and generative knowledge.Read moreRead less
Exploring quality primary education in different cultures: a cross-national study of teaching and learning in primary science classrooms. This project uses video studies of primary science classrooms in Australia, Taiwan, and Germany to explore teaching and learning practices, situated in diverse cultures, which provide opportunities for quality reasoning and learning in science. The findings will inform primary science teacher education to improve student achievement.
Exploring Problem Based Learning in schools . This project investigates the potential contribution of Problem Based Learning to school based Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how the principles defining this PBL approach can support primary and secondary teachers to enhance learning opportunities and build STEM literacy. The project actively positions teachers as researchers interrogating their practice. Expected ....Exploring Problem Based Learning in schools . This project investigates the potential contribution of Problem Based Learning to school based Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how the principles defining this PBL approach can support primary and secondary teachers to enhance learning opportunities and build STEM literacy. The project actively positions teachers as researchers interrogating their practice. Expected project outcomes include a pedagogical framework developed with teachers, and illustrations of practice capturing problem based learning in a range of school settings. Potential benefits include support for teachers, school leadership and sectors seeking to enhance STEM education.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