ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4917-5720
Current Organisation
The University of Canberra
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Mathematics and numeracy curriculum and pedagogy | Specialist Studies in Education | Learning Sciences | Curriculum and pedagogy | Developmental Psychology and Ageing
Expanding Knowledge in Education | Learner and Learning Processes | Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences |
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-07-2016
DOI: 10.1111/COGS.12388
Abstract: Being able to estimate quantity is important in everyday life and for success in the STEM disciplines. However, people have difficulty reasoning about magnitudes outside of human perception (e.g., nanoseconds, geologic time). This study examines patterns of estimation errors across temporal and spatial magnitudes at large scales. We evaluated the effectiveness of hierarchical alignment in improving estimations, and transfer across dimensions. The activity was successful in increasing accuracy for temporal and spatial magnitudes, and learning transferred to the estimation of numeric magnitudes associated with events and objects. However, there were also a number of informative differences in performance on temporal, spatial, and numeric magnitude measures, suggesting that participants possess different categorical information for these scales. Educational implications are discussed.
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 2012
Publisher: Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID)
Date: 31-03-2023
DOI: 10.5964/JNC.8249
Abstract: There is strong evidence from research conducted in the United States that fraction magnitude understanding supports mathematics achievement. Unfortunately, there has been little research that examines if this relation is present across educational contexts with different approaches to teaching fractions. The current study compared fourth and sixth grade students from two countries which differ in their approach to teaching fractions: Australia and the United States. We gathered data on fraction and decimal magnitude understanding, proportional reasoning, and a standardized mathematics achievement test on whole number computation. Across both countries, reasoning about rational magnitude (either fraction or decimal) was predictive of whole number computation, supporting the central role of rational number learning. However, the precise relation varied, indicating that cross-national differences in rational number instruction can influence the nature of the relation between understanding fraction and decimal magnitude and mathematics achievement. The relation between proportional reasoning and whole number computation was fully mediated by rational magnitude understanding, suggesting that a key mechanism for how reasoning about rational magnitude supports mathematics achievement: proportional reasoning supports the development of an accurate spatial representation of magnitude that can be flexibly and proportionally scaled, which in turn supports children’s mathematics learning. Together, these findings support using measurement models and spatial scaling strategies when teaching fractions and decimals.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2010
DOI: 10.1111/J.1465-3362.2010.00173.X
Abstract: Staff interactions with their clients are an important factor in the quality of care that is provided to people in drug treatment. Yet there is very little research that addresses staff attitudes or clients' perceptions of discrimination and prejudice by staff with regard to treatment outcomes. This research aimed to assess whether perceptions of discrimination by staff predict drug treatment completion. The study used a mixed methods approach. Ninety-two clients in residential rehabilitation facilities in Sydney were administered a series of quantitative measures assessing drug history, severity of drug use, treatment history, perceptions of staff discrimination and treatment motivation. Clients were followed up regularly until an outcome (dropout or completion) was obtained for the full s le. Perceptions of discrimination were a significant predictor of treatment completion, with greater perceived discrimination associated with increased dropout. Qualitative interviews with 13 clients and eight health-care workers from these treatment services were then conducted to gain insight into how perceived discrimination may impact on treatment experiences. Clients and staff discussed how they would address the issue of perceived discrimination during the current treatment experience. Adopting a mixed methods approach facilitated exploration of the impact of perceived discrimination on treatment from both clients' and health-care workers' perspectives. This methodology may also enhance interpretation and utilisation of these findings in drug treatment.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 10-2023
DOI: 10.1037/DEV0001581
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGALCDEP.2009.06.016
Abstract: Despite recognition of the benefits of involving consumers in their own treatment, there is little research on consumer participation in drug treatment. This paper focuses on clients who use illicit substances and the role of consumer participation in their self-reported satisfaction with their drug treatment and sense of goal achievement in that treatment. As part of a secondary analysis, the data from 492 participants who had previously or who were currently engaged in drug treatment were analysed to assess the importance of consumer participation in drug treatment. Participants who had a history of opiate or psychostimulant use were recruited at various treatment services and health care facilities for drug users located in five urban and rural/regional sites in Australia. They were asked to complete an interviewer-assisted questionnaire assessing a range of variables including five questions about consumer participation. Findings from this study illustrate that clients' opportunity to participate in drug treatment is independently associated with greater satisfaction with drug treatment and a greater sense of achievement of treatment goals. This research provides evidence to support the importance of consumer activity in drug treatment and should encourage drug treatment programs to afford clients appropriate levels of consumer participation.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2012
DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2012.656660
Abstract: Attitudes toward people who inject drugs (PWID) and attitudes toward peer workers among a cross-section of 101 Australian hepatitis C health workers were assessed. A survey consisting of Likert-type questions and one open-ended question regarding training was used. Bivariate and regression analyses demonstrated that health workers' attitudes toward peer workers were associated with their attitudes toward PWID, independent of type of organization or time in the hepatitis C sector. Qualitative analysis revealed four training areas suggested by health workers for peer workers. Implications of these findings for staff and peer training are discussed and future research directions suggested.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-04-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S13394-022-00416-Y
Abstract: It is well established that spatial reasoning skills (i) support mathematics achievement, (ii) are malleable, and (iii) can be improved through training. More recently, there has been interest in using spatial training to causally support corresponding improvements in mathematics achievement however, findings so far appear to be mixed. The current study explores the effect of a spatial reasoning intervention on Year 11 students’ spatial reasoning skills and mathematics achievement and considers the role of a pedagogical framework and the multidimensional nature of mathematics and spatial reasoning in the design of the intervention. The Experience-Language-Pictorial-Symbolic-Application (ELPSA) pedagogical framework was used to modify an existing spatial intervention program for delivery by high-school educators to Year 11 students (an important but understudied population). The spatial intervention involved training a range of spatial skills over an extended timeframe. Students were randomly assigned to the intervention condition or to a business-as-usual control ( n = 73). Using a pre- ost-test design, we found the intervention was successful in improving participants’ spatial reasoning skills and performance on measurement and geometry items compared to the control condition but not on number and algebra items. These findings demonstrate that spatial training can support mathematics achievement in certain contexts, highlighting the importance of identifying how in idual spatial skills support specific mathematics tasks. Consideration was given for how to use strong pedagogical techniques to scaffold transfer, finding utility in the ELPSA framework. Implications for how to embed spatial training within real mathematics classrooms, as done in the current study, are discussed.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-08-2023
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2019
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2018
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 05-2016
DOI: 10.1037/DEV0000102
Abstract: Development of fraction number line estimation was assessed longitudinally over 5 time points between 4th and 6th grades. Although students showed positive linear growth overall, latent class growth analyses revealed 3 distinct growth trajectory classes: Students who were highly accurate from the start and became even more accurate (n = 154) students who started inaccurate but showed steep growth (n = 121) and students who started inaccurate and showed minimal growth (n = 197). Younger and minimal growth students typically estimated both proper and improper fractions as being less than 1, failing to base estimates on the relation between the numerator and denominator. Class membership was highly predictive of performance on a statewide-standardized mathematics test as well as on a general fraction knowledge measure at the end of 6th grade, even after controlling for mathematic-specific abilities, domain-general cognitive abilities, and demographic variables. Multiplication fluency, classroom attention, and whole number line estimation acuity at the start of the study predicted class membership. The findings reveal that fraction magnitude understanding is central to mathematical development. (PsycINFO Database Record
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.JECP.2016.08.001
Abstract: The current study investigated the mediating role of number-related skills in the developmental relationship between early cognitive competencies and later fraction knowledge using structural equation modeling. Fifth-grade numerical skills (i.e., whole number line estimation, non-symbolic proportional reasoning, multiplication, and long ision skills) mapped onto two distinct factors: magnitude reasoning and calculation. Controlling for participants' (N=536) demographic characteristics, these two factors fully mediated relationships between third-grade general cognitive competencies (attentive behavior, verbal and nonverbal intellectual abilities, and working memory) and sixth-grade fraction knowledge (concepts and procedures combined). However, specific developmental pathways differed by type of fraction knowledge. Magnitude reasoning ability fully mediated paths from all four cognitive competencies to knowledge of fraction concepts, whereas calculation ability fully mediated paths from attentive behavior and verbal ability to knowledge of fraction procedures (all with medium to large effect sizes). These findings suggest that there are partly overlapping, yet distinct, developmental pathways from cognitive competencies to general fraction knowledge, fraction concepts, and fraction procedures.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.5408/16-210.1
Publisher: American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Date: 2016
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-05-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-03-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-05-2017
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 07-02-2018
DOI: 10.1029/2018EO091643
Abstract: A cycle of prediction, comparison, and feedback supports spatial learning in geoscience.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-02-2013
DOI: 10.1007/S10339-013-0548-2
Abstract: The current study examines the spatial skills employed in different spatial reasoning tasks, by asking how science experts who are practiced in different types of visualizations perform on different spatial tasks. Specifically, the current study examines the varieties of mental transformations. We hypothesize that there may be two broad classes of mental transformations: rigid body mental transformations and non-rigid mental transformations. We focus on the disciplines of geology and organic chemistry because different types of transformations are central to the two disciplines: While geologists and organic chemists may both confront rotation in the practice of their profession, only geologists confront brittle transformations. A new instrument was developed to measure mental brittle transformation (visualizing breaking). Geologists and organic chemists performed similarly on a measure of mental rotation, while geologists outperformed organic chemists on the mental brittle transformation test. The differential pattern of skill on the two tests for the two groups of experts suggests that mental brittle transformation and mental rotation are different spatial skills. The roles of domain general cognitive resources (attentional control, spatial working memory, and perceptual filling in) and strategy in completing mental brittle transformation are discussed. The current study illustrates how ecological and interdisciplinary approaches complement traditional cognitive science to offer a comprehensive approach to understanding the nature of spatial thinking.
Publisher: No publisher found
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1111/COGS.12229
Abstract: Memory for spatial location is typically biased, with errors trending toward the center of a surrounding region. According to the category adjustment model (CAM), this bias reflects the optimal, Bayesian combination of fine-grained and categorical representations of a location. However, there is disagreement about whether categories are malleable. For instance, can categories be redefined based on expert-level conceptual knowledge? Furthermore, if expert knowledge is used, does it dominate other information sources, or is it used adaptively so as to minimize overall error, as predicted by a Bayesian framework? We address these questions using images of geological interest. The participants were experts in structural geology, organic chemistry, or English literature. Our data indicate that expertise-based categories influence estimates of location memory-particularly when these categories better constrain errors than alternative ("novice") categories. Results are discussed with respect to the CAM.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1037/EDU0000309
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-03-2022
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-08-2016
Abstract: The goal of the present article is to synthesize findings to date from the Delaware Longitudinal Study of Fraction Learning. The study followed a large cohort of children ( N = 536) between Grades 3 and 6. The findings showed that many students, especially those with diagnosed learning disabilities, made minimal growth in fraction knowledge and that some showed only a basic grasp of the meaning of a fraction even after several years of instruction. Children with low growth in fraction knowledge during the intermediate grades were much more likely to fail to meet state standards on a broad mathematics measure at the end of Grade 6. Although a range of general and mathematics-specific competencies predicted fraction outcomes, the ability to estimate numerical magnitudes on a number line was a uniquely important marker of fraction success. Many children with mathematics difficulties have deep-seated problems related to whole number magnitude representations that are complicated by the introduction of fractions into the curriculum. Implications for helping students with mathematics difficulties are discussed.
Start Date: 2023
End Date: 12-2025
Amount: $344,687.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2021
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $407,390.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity