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Articles 1 - 27 of 27
Full-Text Articles in Education
Conceptual Development: How Do Early Educators And Teachers Support Children's Early Thinking In Stem?, Marilyn Fleer
Conceptual Development: How Do Early Educators And Teachers Support Children's Early Thinking In Stem?, Marilyn Fleer
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
As national and state-based reforms in early education roll-out across Australia, concern for building a well-qualified workforce to meet growing demand has intensified. In parallel with the reforms, teachers and educators are reminded by the recently released 2022 Early Years Learning Framework to design programs that support intentionality in play-based learning. However, the literature shows that despite the concept of intentional teaching being around since 2009, difficulties with how to do this remains. This presentation takes up this challenge, by 1) sharing the collective findings of 6 Australian Research Council-funded research projects into play and learning in STEM; and 2) …
Mathematical Mindsets: Fostering Student Engagement And Positive Mindsets Through The Use Of Challenging Tasks, Alison Hall
Mathematical Mindsets: Fostering Student Engagement And Positive Mindsets Through The Use Of Challenging Tasks, Alison Hall
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
This paper explores the planned use of challenging mathematical tasks. These tasks provide the opportunity for students to improve mathematical thinking by working on problems that they do not yet know how to answer. This research involved a heterogeneous class of year 3 students from a Catholic parish primary school in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. A rubric was also developed to use in conjunction with these tasks, to support discussions with students, broaden their strategies in finding solutions and thereby improve their conceptual understanding. These pedagogical approaches were found to support the improvement of both students’ conceptual understanding in …
Bringing Learning Progressions Down To 2-Year-Olds In Reading And Mathematics, Prue Anderson
Bringing Learning Progressions Down To 2-Year-Olds In Reading And Mathematics, Prue Anderson
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
ACER’s learning progressions in reading and mathematics describe growth that is mainly focused on skills students demonstrate at and beyond school. These progressions have recently been extended down to describe earlier levels of growth so we now have seamless progressions from skills and understandings toddlers might demonstrate up to highly sophisticated skills and concepts. This presentation briefly outlines ACER’s work and identifies key implications for educators. The pathways that support early reading development were described in progressions for listening comprehension and sounds and letters. Along with an early mathematics progression, these were conceptualised as embedded in an oral language progression. …
Themes, Resources And Uptake Of Acer’S Science In The Early Years Suite, Gayl O'Connor
Themes, Resources And Uptake Of Acer’S Science In The Early Years Suite, Gayl O'Connor
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
The Science in the early years series was developed to assist preschool and Foundation to year 2 primary educators to incorporate the latest research in science learning into their programs and teaching practice. This paper focuses on the educator resources developed to support early years educators implement activities to assist children to develop science concepts and inquiry skills. The activities are underpinned by evidence-based research that revealed 4 themes in the early years’ science literature.
Transdisciplinary Stem Enactment: An Exploratory Case Study In The Queensland Context, Kristie Schulz
Transdisciplinary Stem Enactment: An Exploratory Case Study In The Queensland Context, Kristie Schulz
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Enacting STEM education in Australian schools is an ambitious task, in a climate of unclear definitions and little implementation advice. Should STEM education simply refer to an umbrella-term of subjects that Australian students need to improve in, or could a cross-disciplinary pedagogy that engages students in authentic problem-solving be realised? This poster outlines a project in which Parklands Christian College designed and enacted a transdisciplinary student-centred ideology of STEM education in 2017. The program has continually evolved using a transdisciplinary pedagogical framework.
Supporting Science Teaching Practice With Learning Progressions, Erin Furtak
Supporting Science Teaching Practice With Learning Progressions, Erin Furtak
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Learning progressions are often used as foundations for curriculum and assessment. At the same time, as representations of the development of student ideas and practices, they can also serve as maps to support teachers during instruction. This paper describes a program of research in which my colleagues and I have investigated how learning progressions can support high school science teachers in cycles of co-designing formative assessments.
Accountable Assessment, Richard Lehrer
Accountable Assessment, Richard Lehrer
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
There is widespread agreement about the importance of accounting for the extent to which educational systems advance student learning. Yet, the forms and formats of accountable assessments often ill serve students and teachers; the summative judgements of student performance that are typically employed to indicate proficiencies on benchmarks of student learning commonly fail to capture student performance in ways that are specific and actionable for teachers. Timing is another key barrier to the utility of summative assessment. In the US, summative evaluations occur at the end of the school year and may serve future students, but do not help teachers …
Karmel Oration: Excellent Progress For All: A Function Of Year-Level Curriculum Or Evidenced-Based Learning Progressions?, Dianne Siemon
Karmel Oration: Excellent Progress For All: A Function Of Year-Level Curriculum Or Evidenced-Based Learning Progressions?, Dianne Siemon
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Excellent progress for all students is an ambitious but necessary goal if we are to improve the life choices of all students. At the moment, we are not serving all our students well despite the best efforts of teachers. We need to look further afield to the curriculum and assessment regimes that drive current practice. Grouping students by ability and offering a watered-down curriculum for some is not the answer. Evidenced-based learning progressions that point to what is important in ensuring all students build a deep, well-connected understanding of mathematics over time is what is needed to support reform at …
A Model For How Students Choose Or Reject Subjects At School And What It Means For Science, Tracey-Ann Palmer
A Model For How Students Choose Or Reject Subjects At School And What It Means For Science, Tracey-Ann Palmer
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
There has been concern expressed by educators, researchers and policymakers that too few students are choosing science in their final years of school. Science study at school has been linked to the supply of a scientifically skilled and literate workforce necessary for Australia’s prosperity into the 21st century. This study breaks new ground in exploring how students choose subjects for their final years of school and applying this to the choice of science. Specific strategies are suggested to encourage students to continue studying science at the time subjects are chosen.
Evaluating I2s2: An Inquiry-Based Indigenous Science Program For Years 5 To 9, Caja Gilbert
Evaluating I2s2: An Inquiry-Based Indigenous Science Program For Years 5 To 9, Caja Gilbert
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
The Indigenous STEM Education Project, funded by BHP Billiton and implemented by CSIRO, aims to increase participation and achievement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and career pathways. It consists of six programs that cater to the diversity of students as they progress through primary, secondary and tertiary education and into employment. One of these programs is I2S2 (Inquiry for Indigenous Science Students). I2S2 is an inquiry-based science program for Years 5 to 9 that has involved over 7600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and 1154 teachers since 2016. It …
Coding In The Curriculum : Fad Or Foundational?, Leon Sterling
Coding In The Curriculum : Fad Or Foundational?, Leon Sterling
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
There has been an unprecedented push to revitalise interest in STEM education. Much of the discussion of the ’T’ in STEM education has been whether coding should be a central element of school education. This talk investigates the arguments for and against ‘coding in the curriculum.’ No sensible person thinks that teaching coding in the classroom will produce master programmers’, any more than teaching music in the school curriculum will produce master musicians. However the teaching of music can encourage some students to become musicians and the same would be true for coding. The issue is more what concepts are …
Why Is A Steam Curriculum Perspective Crucial To The 21st Century?, Peter Charles Taylor
Why Is A Steam Curriculum Perspective Crucial To The 21st Century?, Peter Charles Taylor
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Well-recognised as a powerful driver of national economic growth, STEM lies at the heart of calls worldwide for educational reform. In Australia, Chief Scientists are calling for STEM education to better engage students on STEM-related career pathways. In the USA, STEM educators are being urged to produce graduates with creative and innovative abilities required of an increasingly high-tech workforce. However, an equally important challenge for STEM education is to prepare young people with general capabilities for active participation in community and professional forums for addressing ethical issues associated with the global impact of science and technology. Education for sustainable development …
Activating Teachers’ Creativity And Moral Purpose In Science Education, Martin Westwell, Sonia Cooke
Activating Teachers’ Creativity And Moral Purpose In Science Education, Martin Westwell, Sonia Cooke
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Over the last three years, the Scientist in Residence program (a collaboration between the Department of Education and Child Development, and Flinders University) investigated a model of professional learning in science education that capitalised upon teachers’ moral purpose and drove their creativity. Insight into how teachers transformed their science classrooms is provided through examples of activities, work samples and clips of teachers describing how they changed their practice and how that, in turn, changed the engagement and achievement of the children. These resources will serve to illustrate some of the principles of practice that the teachers drew upon. In particular, …
Addressing The Stem Challenge Through Targeted Teaching : What’S The Evidence?, Dianne Siemon
Addressing The Stem Challenge Through Targeted Teaching : What’S The Evidence?, Dianne Siemon
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Numerous public reports are pointing to the critical importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to Australia’s future, but the number of students studying STEM subjects in senior years is declining, and many students in the primary and middle years of schooling do not have access to the ways of thinking and learning needed to succeed in school mathematics. Research over the past 10 years has established the critical role of multiplicative thinking in building student knowledge and confidence at this level of schooling, but there is a need for an expanded, evidence-based learning and teaching framework to support …
Are Australian Mathematical Foundations Solid Enough For The 21st Century?, Ross Turner, Dave Tout
Are Australian Mathematical Foundations Solid Enough For The 21st Century?, Ross Turner, Dave Tout
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
This presentation will look at some key messages from the Australian results of both the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). PISA assesses the mathematical literacy of 15-year-old students around Australia, whilst PIAAC assesses the numeracy proficiency of adults aged 15–74. What do the two surveys assess and are they telling a similar story? How solid are Australia’s mathematical foundations and what do they say about teaching and learning? How do Australia’s results compare internationally with those leading the field? What are some of the research outcomes and implications …
Enhancing Students’ Mathematical Aspirations And Mathematical Literacy As The Foundation For Improving Stem Learning, Merrilyn Goos
Enhancing Students’ Mathematical Aspirations And Mathematical Literacy As The Foundation For Improving Stem Learning, Merrilyn Goos
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Mathematics is the foundational enabling discipline that underpins STEM and its other constituent disciplines of science, technology and engineering. Central to Australia’s mathematical vitality is universal access to high-quality mathematics education. Without this, young people are at risk of early school leaving, low participation in post-school education and training, poor employment outcomes, and social isolation (COAG, 2008; Parsons & Bynner, 2005). But Australia faces significant problems in ensuring that all young people are successfully engaged in learning mathematics at school, and in providing them with teachers who can inspire their learning. This paper explores approaches to addressing two problems that …
Stem And Indigenous Learners, Elizabeth Mckinley
Stem And Indigenous Learners, Elizabeth Mckinley
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Achievement disparities between Indigenous students and their non-Indigenous peers in education continue to be documented across the globe. Over the past three decades, there has been a significant amount of writing on Indigenous methodologies, epistemology and, to a lesser extent, pedagogies. All are crucial in the lifelong process of teaching and learning – the nature of knowledge, how it is gained, and the transmission of it. However, much of this work is contested or seen as inappropriate or irrelevant in STEM education. Indigenous students do not perceive STEM subjects as being welcoming. As STEM educators, we need to take a …
The Stem Teacher Enrichment Academy : Evaluating Teachers’ Approaches To Implementing Stem Education In Secondary School Contexts, Judy Anderson
The Stem Teacher Enrichment Academy : Evaluating Teachers’ Approaches To Implementing Stem Education In Secondary School Contexts, Judy Anderson
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Amidst calls for a greater focus on STEM education in schools, attention is inevitably drawn to the quality of teaching and to appropriate means of supporting the teaching workforce so that more young people are engaged and interested in STEM subjects. This presentation describes the development and implementation of a STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy at the University of Sydney, and presents some of the outcomes from teachers’ efforts to implement STEM education across a variety of school systems. The findings draw on survey and interview data from two cohorts of participant teachers and their STEM mentors as they progressed through …
Lifting Australian Performance In Mathematics, Sue Thomson
Lifting Australian Performance In Mathematics, Sue Thomson
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
One in five Australian 15-year-old students was found to be failing to achieve what the OECD describes as a basic level of mathematical literacy to enable students to actively participate in 21st century life. In many cases, these students are also unmotivated and disengaged with schooling, perceive their school experience in a negative light, and have low aspirations for the future. In a disproportionate number of cases, low-achieving students come from low socio-economic backgrounds, have an Indigenous background, and live in rural areas. This paper investigates the relationship of these and other demographic and educational background variables with being a …
Drawing To Learn In Stem, Russell Tytler
Drawing To Learn In Stem, Russell Tytler
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Scientists, mathematicians and engineers draw and model to create knowledge. This presentation will describe a guided inquiry approach to teaching and learning science that involves students actively creating visual and other representations to reason and explain as they explore the material world. The approach has been successfully used in a number of major professional learning initiatives in Victoria and NSW. Evidence will be presented of increased student engagement and quality learning flowing from the approach, which aligns classroom processes more authentically with processes of imaginative scientific discovery. Examples of activities and student drawings and model construction will be used to …
Must Try Harder : An Evaluation Of The Uk Government’S Policy Directions In Stem Education, Pauline Hoyle
Must Try Harder : An Evaluation Of The Uk Government’S Policy Directions In Stem Education, Pauline Hoyle
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
There is a common issue across Europe and the UK that vexes governments, employers and educationalists: the need for more young people to choose to study STEM subjects, become graduates in STEM subjects and then take up STEM careers. In addition, there is an urgent need for more STEM skills in the total workforce. For decades, the UK government has been committed to addressing this issue with a range of activities and strategies. Since the influential UK Government report conducted by Sir Gareth Roberts (2002), there have been policy and funding commitments by the various UK governments to improve outcomes …
Acer Research Conference Proceedings (2016), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)
Acer Research Conference Proceedings (2016), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
The focus of ACER’s Research Conference 2016 will be on what we are learning from research about ways of improving levels of STEM learning. Australia faces significant challenges in promoting improved science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in our schools. Research Conference 2016 will showcase research into what it will take to address these challenges, which include: the decline in Australian students’ mathematical and scientific ‘literacy’; the decline in STEM study in senior school; a shortage of highly qualified STEM subject teachers, and curriculum challenges. You will hear from researchers who work with teachers to engage students in studying …
Stealth Assessment In Video Games, Val Shute
Stealth Assessment In Video Games, Val Shute
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Games can be powerful vehicles to support learning, but their success in education hinges on getting the assessment part right. In this presentation, I will explore how games can use stealth assessment to measure and support the learning of competencies critical for the future. I will discuss what stealth assessment is, why it is important, and how to develop and accomplish it. I will also provide examples within the context of a game called Physics Playground that I designed and developed with my team. I’ll share what has been learned by recent research on stealth assessments in games, including: Does …
Measuring What Matters: Challenges And Opportunities In Assessing Science Proficiency, James W. Pellegrino
Measuring What Matters: Challenges And Opportunities In Assessing Science Proficiency, James W. Pellegrino
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
A key challenge in shaping science learning for the future will be to develop new measures of learning that take into account what it means to be proficient in science (Pellegrino, 2013). The emergent view on proficiency, grounded in learning sciences research, emphasises using and applying knowledge in the context of disciplinary practice. Referred to as knowledge-in-use, this perspective on science proficiency is a centrepiece of the United States’ National Research Council’s (NRC) Framework for K–12 Science Education (NRC, 2012), embodied in the new US national standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) and emphasised in the recently released NRC report on …
Pisa: Behind The Headlines And Past The Rankings, Sue Thomson, Chris Wardlaw
Pisa: Behind The Headlines And Past The Rankings, Sue Thomson, Chris Wardlaw
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Whenever the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are announced, media headlines are full of reports about rankings, about how many countries Australia is outperformed by and outperforms. In early rounds of PISA, Australia ranked among the top 10 countries across all three education domains assessed. However, over time Australia’s position has declined, rather than improved, and Australia no longer sits in the top 10 of any of the assessed domains. This presentation will go behind the headlines and past the rankings, to look at where Australia has declined, and look at how we can improve outcomes …
Gender And Mathematics: Quality And Equity, Sue Thomson
Gender And Mathematics: Quality And Equity, Sue Thomson
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Over the past two decades, there have been no gender differences in mathematics achievement in Australia in large-scale international surveys such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Similarly, when mathematical literacy was measured in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003, there were no gender differences. However, PISA 2012 found that, while average scores in mathematics had declined in Australia, males in Australia were significantly outperforming females, and females had significantly higher average levels of anxiety about and significantly lower levels of confidence in mathematics. In light of the recent report of the Australian …
Learning And Fearing Mathematics : Insights From Psychology And Neuroscience, Sarah Buckley, Kate Reid
Learning And Fearing Mathematics : Insights From Psychology And Neuroscience, Sarah Buckley, Kate Reid
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Concurrent Session Block 2