Engagement with schooling: Influences of motivation processes on the development and application of independent thinking skills. Motivation and flexible thinking skills are critical outcomes of schooling if adolescents are to become life-long learners. This collaborative project employs innovative methodology to investigate students? developing capacity to apply thinking skills to novel problems and how motivational processes contribute to these outcomes. Measurement of real-time sequences of re ....Engagement with schooling: Influences of motivation processes on the development and application of independent thinking skills. Motivation and flexible thinking skills are critical outcomes of schooling if adolescents are to become life-long learners. This collaborative project employs innovative methodology to investigate students? developing capacity to apply thinking skills to novel problems and how motivational processes contribute to these outcomes. Measurement of real-time sequences of reactions and decisions provide direct access to on-task processes not available from existing methods. Problem tasks developed in collaboration with teachers will be used with Year 7, 8 and 9 students in a cohort-sequential design. Findings will inform future innovations designed to engage and challenge educational achievement in adolescents.Read moreRead less
Effects of training teachers in communication skills during cooperative learning on classroom discourse, social inclusion, and learning among middle-year students. Helping children work together, communicate effectively, and think constructively are critically important if children are to engage in learning, develop self-efficacy as learners, and respect for the unique contributions of others to their learning experiences. Teachers play a key role in creating leaning environments that are conduc ....Effects of training teachers in communication skills during cooperative learning on classroom discourse, social inclusion, and learning among middle-year students. Helping children work together, communicate effectively, and think constructively are critically important if children are to engage in learning, develop self-efficacy as learners, and respect for the unique contributions of others to their learning experiences. Teachers play a key role in creating leaning environments that are conducive to learning, responsive to children's needs, and supportive of their endeavours. This project will help teachers enhance children's strategic and metacognitive thinking and learning through the promotion of interactions and relationships that are inclusive of all children regardless of their diverse learning needs and social and ethnic identities.Read moreRead less
Comparative effectiveness of two strategic and meta-cognitive questioning approaches on children's explanatory behaviour, problem-solving, and learning during cooperative, inquiry-based learning. Teaching children to ask and answer questions is critically important if they are to engage effectively in reasoned argumentation, a cornerstone of inquiry-based learning. Unfortunately, in many schools, students are not consistently taught to pose and answer questions that challenge others' perspective ....Comparative effectiveness of two strategic and meta-cognitive questioning approaches on children's explanatory behaviour, problem-solving, and learning during cooperative, inquiry-based learning. Teaching children to ask and answer questions is critically important if they are to engage effectively in reasoned argumentation, a cornerstone of inquiry-based learning. Unfortunately, in many schools, students are not consistently taught to pose and answer questions that challenge others' perspectives, understandings, and learning, nor are they taught to simultaneously monitor, regulate, and evaluate their own thinking and learning. This project builds on the benefits widely attributed to promoting higher-level thinking by helping teachers to enhance students' use of strategic and metacognitive questioning and the development of explanatory discourse during inquiry-based learning.
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Internationalisation of higher education:Sociocultural dynamics of group learning. A better understanding of the challenges created by social and cultural diversity in the context of internationalisation of higher education will lead to educational and social benefits. The research will provide a conceptual basis for the development of innovative teaching practices, which address these challenges and capitalise on diversity to enrich the learning of both international and local students. It dire ....Internationalisation of higher education:Sociocultural dynamics of group learning. A better understanding of the challenges created by social and cultural diversity in the context of internationalisation of higher education will lead to educational and social benefits. The research will provide a conceptual basis for the development of innovative teaching practices, which address these challenges and capitalise on diversity to enrich the learning of both international and local students. It directly addresses the national research priority of enhancing Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment, through greater reciprocal understanding of the interface of diverse cultures and societies.Read moreRead less
The effects of teacher and student dialogues during cooperative learning on students' discourse, problem-solving, and learning. Teaching students to dialogue effectively together is critically important if they are to think and reason constructively and develop new understandings and learning. While cooperative learning experiences provide students with opportunities to interact with others, research clearly indicates that discourse can be enhanced when students are taught how to dialogue togeth ....The effects of teacher and student dialogues during cooperative learning on students' discourse, problem-solving, and learning. Teaching students to dialogue effectively together is critically important if they are to think and reason constructively and develop new understandings and learning. While cooperative learning experiences provide students with opportunities to interact with others, research clearly indicates that discourse can be enhanced when students are taught how to dialogue together so they learn to seek and answer thought provoking questions to construct new understandings and learning. This project builds on the benefits widely attributed to cooperative learning by helping teachers to enhance students' strategic and metacognitive thinking and facilitative communication patterns.
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Productive co-regulation of learning at university: A situative approach. Fostering graduates' capacity to learn productively from and with professional peers is of educational and economic significance for professional education and for the workplace. The research will establish how learning from clinical cases in interactions with a group of peers at university can be enhanced, with direct benefits for conceptual understanding and professional practice. Social benefits are also expected from b ....Productive co-regulation of learning at university: A situative approach. Fostering graduates' capacity to learn productively from and with professional peers is of educational and economic significance for professional education and for the workplace. The research will establish how learning from clinical cases in interactions with a group of peers at university can be enhanced, with direct benefits for conceptual understanding and professional practice. Social benefits are also expected from broadening individual approaches to study to include preparation for the social nature of work. Read moreRead less
Blended learning in schools, TAFE and universities: experience, principles, patterns and practice. Effective use of technology in education depends upon the teacher's understanding of good ways to support learning. New uses of technology to improve learning are emerging constantly: the challenge is to share good practice. This project focuses on investigating the quality of blended learning experiences and using the outcomes to identify and share good practice using a format called a 'design pa ....Blended learning in schools, TAFE and universities: experience, principles, patterns and practice. Effective use of technology in education depends upon the teacher's understanding of good ways to support learning. New uses of technology to improve learning are emerging constantly: the challenge is to share good practice. This project focuses on investigating the quality of blended learning experiences and using the outcomes to identify and share good practice using a format called a 'design pattern'. Design patterns combine research-based evidence and the knowledge of experienced practitioners in a format which is relatively easy to communicate, learn and apply. They are not yet used in teaching with technology. We will generate and test design patterns for learning through discussion in technology-based and other classroom settings.Read moreRead less
Academic Buoyancy and Academic Resilience: New Approaches to Examining and Understanding Adversity and Setback in the Academic Domain. Although Federal & State/Territory governments inject millions of dollars into schools, multitudes of students fall short of their academic potential due to an inability to deal with academic adversity. Essentially, these students are not academically buoyant or resilient. This diminishes their personal capacity through life & ultimately Australia's capacity to c ....Academic Buoyancy and Academic Resilience: New Approaches to Examining and Understanding Adversity and Setback in the Academic Domain. Although Federal & State/Territory governments inject millions of dollars into schools, multitudes of students fall short of their academic potential due to an inability to deal with academic adversity. Essentially, these students are not academically buoyant or resilient. This diminishes their personal capacity through life & ultimately Australia's capacity to compete globally. The proposed Research Program conducts a comprehensive analysis of academic buoyancy & resilience & the attributes pivotal to them. In so doing, it seeks to promote & maintain young people's good academic health. According to Australian authorities (eg. Australian Bureau of Statistics, The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs), young people's academic health is vital to our nation's economic, cultural, & social success.Read moreRead less
Fostering the development of intercultural confidence as an integral part of university education. A better understanding of the opportunities created by social and cultural diversity in the context of internationalisation of higher education can lead to substantial educational and social benefits. The research will provide a conceptual basis for the development of innovative teaching practices, which capitalise on diversity to enhance all students', international and domestic, preparation for p ....Fostering the development of intercultural confidence as an integral part of university education. A better understanding of the opportunities created by social and cultural diversity in the context of internationalisation of higher education can lead to substantial educational and social benefits. The research will provide a conceptual basis for the development of innovative teaching practices, which capitalise on diversity to enhance all students', international and domestic, preparation for professional practice. It directly addresses the national research priority of enhancing Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment, through greater reciprocal understanding of the interface of diverse cultures and societies.Read moreRead less
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