Connecting and generalising arithmetic into powerful abstract systems: Year 2 to 5 children's cognitive development with respect to algebraic reasoning. Algebra is a fundamental area of mathematical thinking. In spite of the wealth of research at both the national and international level, algebraic thinking still persists as a barrier to secondary and tertiary mathematics. This project will develop new research integrating alegbra and arithmetic at the primary level as a key for access to higher ....Connecting and generalising arithmetic into powerful abstract systems: Year 2 to 5 children's cognitive development with respect to algebraic reasoning. Algebra is a fundamental area of mathematical thinking. In spite of the wealth of research at both the national and international level, algebraic thinking still persists as a barrier to secondary and tertiary mathematics. This project will develop new research integrating alegbra and arithmetic at the primary level as a key for access to higher levels of algebra. The investigators will engage teachers and students from 5 primary schools to construct a model of Year 2 to 5 children's cognitive development with regard to algebraic reasoning and develop instructional strategies and teaching episodes to facilitate this.Read moreRead less
Inquiry Teaching in Mathematics: Accelerating the process of change. Inquiry-based learning in mathematics immerses students in solving authentic, complex problems. As a nation, Australia spends too much time on repetitive, isolated procedural problems which inhibit creativity and higher-order thinking and contribute to the sharp decline in student interest in studying mathematics. Research has shown that teachers require support over time to become proficient in engaging students in inquiry of ....Inquiry Teaching in Mathematics: Accelerating the process of change. Inquiry-based learning in mathematics immerses students in solving authentic, complex problems. As a nation, Australia spends too much time on repetitive, isolated procedural problems which inhibit creativity and higher-order thinking and contribute to the sharp decline in student interest in studying mathematics. Research has shown that teachers require support over time to become proficient in engaging students in inquiry of real-life problems. This study expands successful longitudinal research on teachers' adoption of inquiry methods in mathematics and works to study ways to accelerate the process of developing teachers' confidence and expertise in teaching mathematics with inquiry. Read moreRead less
Elaborating a model of learning to teach mathematical inquiry. Australia's pioneering workforce in scientific and technological innovation requires classrooms which promote creative and flexible thinking, curiosity and persistence, deep disciplinary knowledge, and facility with technology, particularly in mathematics. International comparisons indicate Australia's classrooms teach out-dated procedural knowledge in maths that neglects 21st century needs. Mathematical knowledge developed through i ....Elaborating a model of learning to teach mathematical inquiry. Australia's pioneering workforce in scientific and technological innovation requires classrooms which promote creative and flexible thinking, curiosity and persistence, deep disciplinary knowledge, and facility with technology, particularly in mathematics. International comparisons indicate Australia's classrooms teach out-dated procedural knowledge in maths that neglects 21st century needs. Mathematical knowledge developed through inquiry of authentic problems can provide purpose and deeper understanding as well as to cultivate capacity to grapple with uncertainty and greater complexity. This project is a university-schools partnership committed to the same purpose: promote the teaching of mathematical inquiry.Read moreRead less
Sustainable mathematics education capacity building: Empowering Indigenous teacher aides to enhance rural and remote Indigenous students' numeracy outcomes. Rural/remote Indigenous students perform well below other students in statewide numeracy tests. Because teachers are generally non-Indigenous, inexperienced and stay for less than two years and Indigenous teacher aides have little training in teaching mathematics, schools do not the capacity to affect this outcome. This project will work wit ....Sustainable mathematics education capacity building: Empowering Indigenous teacher aides to enhance rural and remote Indigenous students' numeracy outcomes. Rural/remote Indigenous students perform well below other students in statewide numeracy tests. Because teachers are generally non-Indigenous, inexperienced and stay for less than two years and Indigenous teacher aides have little training in teaching mathematics, schools do not the capacity to affect this outcome. This project will work with eight schools to improve and sustain Years 1-7 mathematics outcomes by enhancing aides' tutoring effectiveness through culturally appropriate mathematics and mathematics pedagogy knowledge. The aim is to develop principles for a professional learning program that can be used with Indigenous aides across Australia to improve Indigenous students' mathematics and therefore employment/life chances.Read moreRead less
Implementation of Future-Oriented Mathematics Experiences in a P-12 College. To increase our international competitiveness in the technological world, we need to enhance the capacity of our schools to provide a challenging 21st century mathematics curriculum. It is imperative that all students have access to the deep ideas and key processes that lead to success beyond school, that is, the types of future-oriented skills and processes that employers are presently calling for but are not finding i ....Implementation of Future-Oriented Mathematics Experiences in a P-12 College. To increase our international competitiveness in the technological world, we need to enhance the capacity of our schools to provide a challenging 21st century mathematics curriculum. It is imperative that all students have access to the deep ideas and key processes that lead to success beyond school, that is, the types of future-oriented skills and processes that employers are presently calling for but are not finding in many of their employees. The investigators will collaborate in developing and implementing such learning experiences across grades 4 to 9. In addition to tracing students' developments, we aim to assist the teachers in developing powerful means of interpreting and supporting their students' ways of thinking mathematically. We also aim to produce a practice-based collaborative professional development model focuses on their designing and implementing complex problem-solving environments for their students.Read moreRead less
ENHANCING SCIENCE LEARNING THROUGH A FOCUS ON MULTIPLE AND MULTI-MODAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CONCEPTS. This project draws on recent theoretical accounts of multiple and multi-modal representations of science understandings to devise, trial and evaluate new approaches to teaching and learning science concepts. These approaches, catering for diverse learning pathways, focus on student understanding that representations of scientific knowledge are multi-modal and interconnected. The project is signifi ....ENHANCING SCIENCE LEARNING THROUGH A FOCUS ON MULTIPLE AND MULTI-MODAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CONCEPTS. This project draws on recent theoretical accounts of multiple and multi-modal representations of science understandings to devise, trial and evaluate new approaches to teaching and learning science concepts. These approaches, catering for diverse learning pathways, focus on student understanding that representations of scientific knowledge are multi-modal and interconnected. The project is significant in providing an innovative way to engage upper primary and junior secondary students in regional and rural Australian contexts in learning science, and is expected to promote more effective learning and more positive student attitudes to the subject.Read moreRead less
Non-indigenous teachers,indigenous teacher aides and local indigenous communities:Relationships that promote enhanced mathematics learning outcomes for rural and remote indigenous students. In rural and remote schools with indigenous students, teachers tend to be non-indigenous, young, inexperienced and transient (they commonly leave after two years). In contrast, teacher-aides are indigenous, older, more experienced and non-transient. Moreover, they tend to have strong commitment and connectio ....Non-indigenous teachers,indigenous teacher aides and local indigenous communities:Relationships that promote enhanced mathematics learning outcomes for rural and remote indigenous students. In rural and remote schools with indigenous students, teachers tend to be non-indigenous, young, inexperienced and transient (they commonly leave after two years). In contrast, teacher-aides are indigenous, older, more experienced and non-transient. Moreover, they tend to have strong commitment and connections to the local community. This project studies the interactions between non-indigenous teachers, indigenous teacher-aides and indigenous students in schools in the Mount Isa region in order to develop knowledge of how classroom practices can be improved to enhance indigenous students' mathematics learning outcomes. Enhanced outcomes may lead to better opportunities for employment and improved life chances.Read moreRead less
Novel injection moulded polymer substrates for solid phase applications. Solid phase organic reactions form the basis of many applications in drug design and development and medical applications. This project proposes the development of novel solid phase materials via control of novel insitu crosslinking and foaming processes and novel process molding control. This will enable more controlled large scale rapid production and detection of materials for biological and medical uses.
Learning by Design: Creating pedagogical frameworks for knowledge building in the 21st century. Our aim is to facilitate and support a generational change of teachers precipitated by the departure of the baby-boomers. The research will investigate the ways in which 'middle-years' teachers design, record and enact their curriculum, searching for evidence of a relationship between pedagogical choices and learner outcomes. From these investigations, and drawing on the theory of Multiliteracies, a t ....Learning by Design: Creating pedagogical frameworks for knowledge building in the 21st century. Our aim is to facilitate and support a generational change of teachers precipitated by the departure of the baby-boomers. The research will investigate the ways in which 'middle-years' teachers design, record and enact their curriculum, searching for evidence of a relationship between pedagogical choices and learner outcomes. From these investigations, and drawing on the theory of Multiliteracies, a tool will be developed to prompt more mindful and context-appropriate pedagogical choices, while encouraging teachers to document and share their practices. This will result in a body of rigorous and shareable knowledge and know-how, potentially improving opportunities and educational outcomes for all Australian students.Read moreRead less
Enhancing mathematical learning for Indigenous students in remote communities: A design research approach. Students attending schools in remote community schools need to have quality learning practices that are sustainable in hard-to-staff regions. Indigenous students are not performing at acceptable levels in many measures of mathematical achievement so the project is of national significance in addressing this social phenomenon. The cultural-mathematical approach of the project is novel and of ....Enhancing mathematical learning for Indigenous students in remote communities: A design research approach. Students attending schools in remote community schools need to have quality learning practices that are sustainable in hard-to-staff regions. Indigenous students are not performing at acceptable levels in many measures of mathematical achievement so the project is of national significance in addressing this social phenomenon. The cultural-mathematical approach of the project is novel and offers new potential for learning. The project takes a holistic approach to this issue to include teachers, students and Aboriginal Education Workers in a partnership of learning mathematics. The principles developed through this project can be applied to learners and learning mathematics in other contexts.Read moreRead less