Raising the literacy bar for economically-disadvantaged students. This project aims to promote higher order literacy skills among economically-disadvantaged students. Higher order literacy is critical for productive engagement in academic, economic and personal spheres of life in literacy-rich knowledge economies. Opportunities for disadvantaged students to develop advanced literacy skills are limited if schools serving these students focus predominantly on basic skills training. This project ....Raising the literacy bar for economically-disadvantaged students. This project aims to promote higher order literacy skills among economically-disadvantaged students. Higher order literacy is critical for productive engagement in academic, economic and personal spheres of life in literacy-rich knowledge economies. Opportunities for disadvantaged students to develop advanced literacy skills are limited if schools serving these students focus predominantly on basic skills training. This project will investigate contradictions in policies and practices in Australia and Hong Kong to understand why and how disadvantaged students are supported or unsupported to learn higher-order literacy skills. It also explores successful practices that promote such learning, alongside basic skills, for disadvantaged students. This will provide significant benefits such as providing new conceptual understandings of the policy-practice interface and empirical evidence to inform the design of effective practices that promote higher-order literacy skills, alongside basic skills, for economically-disadvantaged students in Australia and Hong Kong.Read moreRead less
Indigenous persistence in formal learning. This project will improve knowledge of the learning experiences of Indigenous students transiting from TAFE to university studies. The results will have significant implications for the ways Indigenous students can be supported in their studies in order to achieve better quality learning experiences as well as learning outcomes.
Faster, cheaper, safer: how to accelerate rail driver training and avert the looming skills shortage. The Australian rail industry is growing rapidly and needs to double the number of drivers trained in order to meet demand. This project will bring together Australia's leading hi-tech simulator company and Australia's leading rail human factors research team to 'reinvent' driver training technologies and techniques for the 21st century.
Modelling with data: Advancing STEM in the primary curriculum. Improving the nation's skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) remains a continuing concern, especially given the decline in international test results. The project aims to introduce a new approach to promoting this learning across grades 3-6 through modelling with data. With a focus on inquiry processes involving data variation and uncertainty within STEM-based contexts, the project aims to develop the imp ....Modelling with data: Advancing STEM in the primary curriculum. Improving the nation's skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) remains a continuing concern, especially given the decline in international test results. The project aims to introduce a new approach to promoting this learning across grades 3-6 through modelling with data. With a focus on inquiry processes involving data variation and uncertainty within STEM-based contexts, the project aims to develop the important mathematical and statistical literacies needed for lifting student achievements. In advancing both theory and practice, the project aims to contribute to knowledge of primary students' capabilities for STEM problem solving and ways of enhancing implementation of the Australian Curriculum.Read moreRead less
Emotional learning in socioscientific issues for enhancement of scientific literacy. This project will aim to address international concerns about waning student interest and participation in science by engaging middle school students imaginatively in socioscientific issues. Expected outcomes will enhance students' scientific literacy, and the production of positive emotional energy and the classroom emotional climate.
Love Maths, Why Not? Developing Students’ Positive Learning Identities and Engagement in Mathematics. Mathematics is the foremost enabling science that underpins research, development and innovation in every aspect of society. Recent trends in mathematics education show that attitude, confidence and a sense of personal relevance play an influential role in student engagement and achievement. Yet Australian students’ achievement in mathematics has plateaued, and participation in mathematics is st ....Love Maths, Why Not? Developing Students’ Positive Learning Identities and Engagement in Mathematics. Mathematics is the foremost enabling science that underpins research, development and innovation in every aspect of society. Recent trends in mathematics education show that attitude, confidence and a sense of personal relevance play an influential role in student engagement and achievement. Yet Australian students’ achievement in mathematics has plateaued, and participation in mathematics is steadily declining. This study combines innovative pedagogical research in mathematics with research of positive learning identity and engagement to develop knowledge about educational practices that sustain the attention and positive engagement of our nations’ future mathematicians, scientists and mathematically fluent citizenry. Read moreRead less
Community-based STEM professional learning for teachers of middle years. This project aims to develop a novel community-based program that focuses on a museum-based, teacher professional development program which is based awareness and performance of middle year students in School Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Improving STEM workforce readiness is critical to producing a more creative society and a leading, dynamic economy. Building STEM education capacity th ....Community-based STEM professional learning for teachers of middle years. This project aims to develop a novel community-based program that focuses on a museum-based, teacher professional development program which is based awareness and performance of middle year students in School Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Improving STEM workforce readiness is critical to producing a more creative society and a leading, dynamic economy. Building STEM education capacity through access to professional learning and museum and STEM professional community resources is critically important for improving students’ proficiencies, attitudes, and interest in STEM. The project outcome will be to develop a STEM professional learning model that can be used to create a more skilled and educated STEM workforce. Read moreRead less
Global childhoods: Life-worlds and educational success in Australia and Asia. This project aims to investigate how everyday life-worlds of year four students (nine-ten years of age) in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore shape children’s orientations to educational success. Situated in the global cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, the study explores connections between policy contexts, school experiences and everyday activities of children growing up in the Asian Century. Findi ....Global childhoods: Life-worlds and educational success in Australia and Asia. This project aims to investigate how everyday life-worlds of year four students (nine-ten years of age) in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore shape children’s orientations to educational success. Situated in the global cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, the study explores connections between policy contexts, school experiences and everyday activities of children growing up in the Asian Century. Findings will advance knowledge of factors that contribute to children’s understandings of how their experiences in and out of school prepare them for futures in a global world. This will enable policy-makers, educators and parents to provide improved learning opportunities in children’s lives.Read moreRead less
School-wide approaches for developing social and emotional wellbeing: New understandings of positive identities, emotions and learning in adolescents. School disengagement, suspensions, and emotional problems among adolescents have increased steadily. The Australian Government’s strategic research priority of maximising social and economic participation, therefore, is an urgent need. In partnership with the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment, this project aims to test ho ....School-wide approaches for developing social and emotional wellbeing: New understandings of positive identities, emotions and learning in adolescents. School disengagement, suspensions, and emotional problems among adolescents have increased steadily. The Australian Government’s strategic research priority of maximising social and economic participation, therefore, is an urgent need. In partnership with the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment, this project aims to test how embedding social and emotional wellbeing into school-wide policies, classroom practices, and self and social strategies of students enhances learning, behavioural, and social outcomes. Implementing whole of school approaches to enhance social participation and wellbeing will build resilient youth and ultimately the social and academic capacity of Australia’s young people.Read moreRead less
Building executive function in imaginary play. This project aims to develop a sustainable, play-based program to increase the executive functions of children in the year prior to school. Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that control an individual’s behaviour and cognition and include processes such as working memory, inhibitory control and attention. There is evidence that EF skills are critical to a successful transition to formal learning environments and future academic achiev ....Building executive function in imaginary play. This project aims to develop a sustainable, play-based program to increase the executive functions of children in the year prior to school. Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that control an individual’s behaviour and cognition and include processes such as working memory, inhibitory control and attention. There is evidence that EF skills are critical to a successful transition to formal learning environments and future academic achievement, and that they are amenable to early intervention. Improving children’s EF skills in the year prior to school could produce lasting benefits across the school years, particularly for more vulnerable children. This project intends to inform professional development programs in early childhood education.Read moreRead less