Transforming primary teachers' representational practices: effects on students' scientific reasoning and discourse within contemporary sciences. Training teachers to appropriately represent and communicate scientific information is critically important for promoting scientific thinking and learning in students. This research is critical to securing Australia's future interests in developing new and emerging frontier science and technologies through the engagement and retention of students.
Young children in digital society: An Online Tool for service provision . This project aims to identify the practices enacted and shared amongst young children, their families and educators in digital society.The project is significant because in digital society families and educators face new demands ensuring technologies are used in the best interests of young children. Knowledge about practices in digital society informs adult decision-making using technologies with, by and for young children ....Young children in digital society: An Online Tool for service provision . This project aims to identify the practices enacted and shared amongst young children, their families and educators in digital society.The project is significant because in digital society families and educators face new demands ensuring technologies are used in the best interests of young children. Knowledge about practices in digital society informs adult decision-making using technologies with, by and for young children in the early years. The outcome is a new Online Tool for the Partner Organisations to share exemplar practices benefiting Australian children, their families and educators with new resources, materials and programs in areas including: digital media production, cyber-safety education, digital play and digital parenting.
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The online future of Science and Engineering education: The essential elements of laboratory-based learning for remote-access implementation. Laboratory classes are a critical part of science and engineering degree programs, but there has been little research into what actually takes place within them. Remote laboratories, in which students control equipment via the internet, are one potential solution for accommodating rising numbers of students, but the interfaces must be developed to effectiv ....The online future of Science and Engineering education: The essential elements of laboratory-based learning for remote-access implementation. Laboratory classes are a critical part of science and engineering degree programs, but there has been little research into what actually takes place within them. Remote laboratories, in which students control equipment via the internet, are one potential solution for accommodating rising numbers of students, but the interfaces must be developed to effectively support student learning. This project will investigate how students interact with equipment, each other, and with laboratory demonstrators in order to determine the crucial components of effective laboratory learning experiences. It will identify and characterise the interactions of students in laboratory classes, and develop mechanisms to support these interactions remotely.Read moreRead less
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
Images, perceptions and resources: enhancing Australias role in China's English language education. Education, being the third largest export industry, plays an extremely important role in Australia's engagement with the Asia region. Chinese students are by far the largest single group of overseas students studying in Australia. However, there is little evidence regarding Australia's presence in the English language market in China, nor of how Chinese language learning businesses draw on Austral ....Images, perceptions and resources: enhancing Australias role in China's English language education. Education, being the third largest export industry, plays an extremely important role in Australia's engagement with the Asia region. Chinese students are by far the largest single group of overseas students studying in Australia. However, there is little evidence regarding Australia's presence in the English language market in China, nor of how Chinese language learning businesses draw on Australian sources and resources. The association with two premier Chinese language learning and publishing houses through this joint research project will promote Australian content for language learners in China and provide information for Australian language resource developers focusing on the Chinese market.Read moreRead less
Innovative learning environments and teacher change. This project aims to bridge a gap between the educational potential of innovative learning environment designs, and their actual performance. Currently, multi-modal technology-enabled spaces are not producing demonstrable benefits for students. Many teachers resist altering their mindset about how students learn effectively in these spaces and thus how teachers should teach differently. The project aims to work with schools, government and ind ....Innovative learning environments and teacher change. This project aims to bridge a gap between the educational potential of innovative learning environment designs, and their actual performance. Currently, multi-modal technology-enabled spaces are not producing demonstrable benefits for students. Many teachers resist altering their mindset about how students learn effectively in these spaces and thus how teachers should teach differently. The project aims to work with schools, government and industry to analyse the relationships between quality teaching and effective use of innovative learning environments. The new understanding gained through the project is expected to guide developments in pedagogy, policy and design and to produce strategies to improve learning in schools across Australia and New Zealand.Read moreRead less
Fostering school attendance for students in Out-of-Home Care. This project aims to investigate why children and young people in Out-Of-Home-Care in Australia are absent from school far more than their peers. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the reasons for their absences and to develop solutions to improve attendance through: children’s own voices; detailed absence data; policy audit; and case studies of promising practice. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive conceptuali ....Fostering school attendance for students in Out-of-Home Care. This project aims to investigate why children and young people in Out-Of-Home-Care in Australia are absent from school far more than their peers. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the reasons for their absences and to develop solutions to improve attendance through: children’s own voices; detailed absence data; policy audit; and case studies of promising practice. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive conceptualisation of absences including those triggered by schools or the care context; and an evidence-informed, child-centred framework to enable attendance and, thereby, improved educational outcomes. This should provide significant social and economic benefits both for children in care and for the community. Read moreRead less
School retention through alternative schooling: towards a socially just approach to education. This project is concerned with how mainstream schools may become more socially just and inclusive of all young people through an analysis of alternative schools specifically designed for this purpose. Such a concern is critical for lifting school retention rates of marginalised young people and improving practices in all schools.
The digitisation of school health and physical education. While there is growing enthusiasm for using digital technology in school health and physical education (HPE), this is happening in the absence of systematic empirical research. This project aims to describe the forms digital HPE is taking, analyse the commercial and ideological forces shaping it, and discuss its impacts. It aims to provide educational stakeholders with a knowledge base on which to anchor debate, policy and further researc ....The digitisation of school health and physical education. While there is growing enthusiasm for using digital technology in school health and physical education (HPE), this is happening in the absence of systematic empirical research. This project aims to describe the forms digital HPE is taking, analyse the commercial and ideological forces shaping it, and discuss its impacts. It aims to provide educational stakeholders with a knowledge base on which to anchor debate, policy and further research concerning the complex ethical and philosophical issues raised by the digitisation of HPE. As the first HPE research grounded in theories of digital culture, the project also aims to challenge the intellectual foundations of HPE teacher training as well as widely held views about the public health role of schools.Read moreRead less