Education Commons^™

Pre-Service Teachers' Use Of Ict To Collaborate To Complete Assessment Tasks, Eileen V. Slater, Donna Barwood, Zina Cordery

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This research explored the use of ICT products by n = 123 pre-service teachers to complete collaborative assessments. Students responded to a questionnaire relating to the use, benefits and limitations, and what would better enable the use of ICT for collaborative assessment purposes. The ICT products favoured by students did not support some key elements necessary for online collaboration, through either student use or product functionality. Poor Internet access was a commonly cited limitation with the effect of reducing access to available ICT skills training. Suggestions for changes to course structure and content and further research are made.

2022 Finance Calendar, Amanda Christensen, Melanie Jewkes, Andrea Schmutz, Vincenza Vicari-Bentley, Kristilyn Wilkinson

All Current Publications

Check off each small step monthly and see the drastic impact of improved personal finances over the course of the year. These short, actionable tips and related resources will have you in the driver’s seat with your money.

Imposter Phenomenon And Ces Doctoral Students, Michael Drane

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The aim of the study was to explore the lived experience of counselor education and supervision students who reported experiencing symptoms of imposter phenomenon (IP). The population included counselor education and supervision students in their first year of their program, with a sample of convenience (N = 4). The method used in this study was an interoperative phenomenological analysis. Data analysis revealed four major themes: (a) counselor education students express self-doubt, lack of confidence and concern about competence, (b) students rate different levels of competence in counselor education and supervision roles, (c) instructor feedback impacts student perceptions of competence, and …

Identifying Misconceptions About Evolution Relative To Science Curriculum Exposure At The Secondary Level, Rachel Carney

Graduate Research Papers

Evolution is the foundation of the biological sciences. Addressing misconceptions related to biological evolution ensures students have a solid understanding of evolution so that they can become scientifically literate members of society. While studies have identified misconceptions about evolution, there is much less research on the degree to which specific biology curricula address these misconceptions. The goal of this study is to determine how exposure to the SEPUP biology curriculum affects the misconceptions about evolutionary theory held by 10th grade students.

This study took place at a moderately-sized school located in the Midwest. Students respond with their agreeability to a …

High School Earth Science Students Evaluating Agricultural Solutions, Jaclyn Citlali Sanchez Erickson

Graduate Research Papers

With the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) implementation it is imperative to include three-dimensional learning in any curriculum designed. In addition, NGSS lends itself well to inquiry based and project based learning.

I chose to focus my curriculum project on developing a project-based learning (PBL) piece targeting NGSS ESSS 3-4: Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems. The PBL was designed for ninth-grade earth science students at a rural school. This project was designed with 5 E-learning in mind to help organize the end product, a presentation. It was developed using an …

Pleasure Reading Workshop: Meeting Sel Competencies Based On Sustained (And Maybe Not So Silent) Reading, Lora Sink

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the benefits pleasure reading had on students' understanding of social emotional learning and the Teacher Librarian’s (TL) foundational role for providing an environment for pleasure reading that fostered social emotional learning (SEL) at the middle school level. The participants included one language arts class of 14 seventh graders at a private K-8 school located in the Midwest. Students were given ample class time to read, and their writing, discussions, and evaluations centered around social and emotional learning. Results in 6 themes showed that using pleasure reading as a base, teachers …

Unstacking The Matryoshka Nesting Doll: A Self-Study Of Playful Language Instruction For Adult Second Language Learners, Marine Pepanyan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In the recent three decades teaching second language (L2) vocabulary has expanded from sentence-level morphosyntactic features and pragmatics to the promotion and advancement of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Nevertheless, the L2 instructors are constantly seeking alternative strategies for vocabulary teaching and assessment due to a superficial level of vocabulary memorization and lack of student engagement. As an instructor-practitioner, I undertook a self-study of the process of implementing Playful Language Instruction (PLI) of L2 vocabulary in an Intensive English Program. In this self-study I combined conceptual lenses of theories of play, CLT, and the Adult Learning Theory to examine how playful …

Educational Experiences Of First Generation Black African Students With And Without Dis/Abilities, Shehreen Iqtadar

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Several studies have focused on the disproportionate representation of students from historically multiply marginalized communities in special education (Artiles, 2011, 2013; Artiles et al., 2005; Brayboy et al., 2007; Cavendish et al., 2018; Cooc & Kiru, 2018; Dunn, 1968; Hosp & Reschly, 2004; O’Connor & Fernandez, 2006; Voulgarides et al., 2017). Only recently, researchers have begun to explore the connections between immigrant and refugee students and special education (Migliarini, 2017; Song, 2018; Qing, 2018). Missing in this literature are the critical accounts of students and (a) their perspectives about the nature of dis/ability and their placement within special education and …

Rethinking Arts-Based Research Methods In Education: Enhanced Participant Engagement Processes To Increase Research Credibility And Knowledge Translation, Julia E. Morris, Lisa Francesca Paris

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Arts-based research is a participatory research practice that is well established in the qualitative field. However, while arts-based research has been defined as the creation of art to generate, interpret or communicate research knowledge, there is exiguous literature on the creation of art to establish trustworthiness in qualitative inquiry. This pilot case study specifically addresses this gap in the exploration of arts-based research practices to determine credibility and dependability. The context of the research was the impact of a Digital Sabbath practice on early career teachers, as teachers within their first five years of teaching are among the most vulnerable …

Hyper-Performativity And Early Career Teachers: Interrogating Teacher Subjectivities In Neoliberal Educational Assemblages, Kirsten Lambert, Christina Gray

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper explores the hyper-performative expectations of early career teachers (ECTs) in the context of neoliberal education assemblages. The need to support and retain beginning teachers is a salient issue in the context of troubling rates of teacher attrition. The study explores how ECTs perceive teacher identities in response to national standards. Our research revealed that ECTs held concerning conceptions of ‘quality teaching’ that are largely constructed through discourses of competition and job insecurity. ECT subjectivities were heavily influenced excessive extra-curricular hours, high-stress environments, and performative school cultures. This paper concludes that hyper-performative expectations of ECTs and insecure patterns of …

Mixed-Ability Grouping In Physical Education: Investigating Ability And Inclusivity In Pedagogic Practice, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In the United Kingdom (UK) particularly, grouping strategies in secondary education have attracted considerable political attention. While setting students by ability is frequently adopted in mathematics, English and science, mixed-ability grouping is common in other subjects, including physical education (PE). Educational research exploring grouping has highlighted the need for research to extend understanding of the pedagogical assumptions, challenges and/or opportunities associated with the use of mixed-ability grouping in various subject and school settings. This case study research sought to examine mixed-ability grouping with a particular focus on how this grouping strategy was enacted in Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 …

Mindfulness, Recovery-Stress Balance, And Well-Being Among University Dance Students, Peta Blevins, Gene Moyle, Shona Erskine, Luke Hopper

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Dance students face many physical and psychological stressors in their training and daily lives, therefore methods for coping with stress are essential for performance enhancement and general wellbeing. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between mindfulness, stress, recovery, and wellbeing among university level vocational dance students. Seventy-two dance students at two Australian universities completed online self-report measures of mindfulness, recovery-stress states, and affect. Correlation coefficients indicated a significant positive relationship between mindfulness and positive affect, and significant negative relationships between mindfulness and stress, and mindfulness and negative affect. MANOVA revealed differences between high mindfulness and low mindfulness groups on …

Understanding, Promoting And Supporting Lgbtqi+ Diversity In Legal Education, Aidan Ricciardo, Shane L. Rogers, Stephen D. Puttick, Natalie Skead, Stella Tarrant, Melville Thomas

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Australian law schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Yet, there is very little quantitative or qualitative data on diversity in law schools and even less research examining how students’ diverse backgrounds and social identities–including their sexual orientation and gender identity–affect their law student experience. This article begins to fill this gap in the literature by reporting the findings from a study examining the law school experiences of LGBTQI+ students at all law schools within a single Australian state. The study reveals that much of the law school experience is similar for both LGBTQI+ and non-LGBTQI+ students, and that LGBTQI+ law students …

Children’S Digital Citizenship Project: Your Perspectives: A Report For Children, Harrison See, Kylie Stevenson, Emma Jayakumar, Phoebe Zeng

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This report talks about a teamwork project between the LEGO Group, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child (Digital Child) and Edith Cowan University (ECU).

In 2022, the LEGO Group, ECU and Digital Child researchers teamed up to ask children and adults in India, Korea and Australia about digital citizenship. We collected all this information together and compared our results, and then made some suggestions about how we can all do things better to help kids be safer, smarter, and happier online.

Children’S Perspectives Of Digital Citizenship In India, Korea And Australia: Report Of Findings From Children’S Digital Citizenship And Safety Roundtables, Kylie Stevenson, Emma Jayakumar, Harrison See, Yeonghwi Ryu, Shruti Das

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This report presents data and findings from Phase Two of the research project Digital Safety and Citizenship Roundtables. In this phase, which focuses on children’s perspectives of digital safety and digital citizenship, three child-focused, play-based roundtables were held in Seoul (Korea), Delhi (India) and Perth (Australia) respectively in the months of June and July 2022, with 48 children in total contributing their perspectives. Qualitative data was collected from these child participants through 90-minute play-based roundtables featuring three sections: a short introductory drawing activity using prompt cards; a discussion regarding the children’s understanding of digital citizenship; and a LEGO play activity …

Contexts For Children’S Digital Citizenship In India, Korea And Australia: A Literature Review, Kylie Stevenson, Emma Jayakumar, Viet Tho Le, Yeonghwi Ryu, Harrison See

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Children’s digital citizenship today: In an increasingly digitised and technically mediated world, an individual’s digital citizenship, or “ability to use digital technology and media in safe, responsible and ethical ways” (DQ Institute, 2019) has never been more relevant, particularly when it concerns our youngest digital citizens. Navigating online spaces safely and confidently are skills fundamental to a modern individual’s social and emotional development, education, work and play. A digital citizen’s abilities, however, are greatly impacted by notions of access; not just physical access, but also access mediated culturally and socio-economically. Less is known about very young children’s experiences of digital …

Kindytxt: A Free Text Messaging Program For Kindergarten Children And Families, Lennie Barblett, Nicola Johnson, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Susan Hill

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

• This project focused on developing, delivering and evaluating a literacy text-messaging program for parents / carers with a child at kindergarten in WA.
• Texts were delivered weekly over 30 weeks, in collaboration with Better Beginnings. Families were invited to participate through a flyer in the book gifting bag delivered by local librarians to families attending kindergarten across Western Australia.
• Kindergarten teachers and librarians from 16 LGAs attended workshops to establish kindergarten-family library partnerships, along with the production and evaluation of a partnership framework and implementation materials.
• Evaluation involved all participants, with in-depth data collected from participants in six communities.

Cyber Security Curriculum In Western Australian Primary And Secondary Schools: Interim Report: Curriculum Mapping, Nicola Johnson, Ahmed Ibrahim, Leslie Sikos, Cheryl Glowrey

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Cyber-crime poses a significant threat to Australians—think of, for example, how scams take advantage of vulnerable people and systems. There is a need to educate people from an early age to protect them from cyberthreats.

Consistent with the increasing prevalence of cyberthreats to individuals and organisations in Australia, the national Australian curriculum has been updated (version 9.0) to include specific content for cyber security for primary and secondary students up to Year 10. Endorsed by Education Ministers in April 2022, the Western Australian School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) completed a detailed audit of the endorsed Australian Curriculum version 9.0 …

Designing And Using Innovative Learning Spaces: What Teachers Have To Say, Julia E. Morris, Wesley Imms

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

There is no universal definition of what constitutes an innovative learning environment, because each school is unique. Plans to Pedagogy, developed by the University of Melbourne’s Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN) team, is exploring issues schools identify as they transition to and use innovative learning environments. Embedded in a range of schools across Australia and New Zealand, each school is assigned an academic who works with them to co-design a project targeting the school’s identified spatial challenge. This paper overviews the eight current Plans to Pedagogy projects to give a sense of the issues faced by teachers in terms …

Rethinking The Classification Of Games And Sports In Physical Education: A Response To Changes In Sport And Participation, Justen O'Connor, Laura Alfrey, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background Through changing the way games are represented, classification systems have increased possibilities for teaching game forms beyond structured adult and singular official versions of popular sports. At the time of inception, the four-game form approach to classification (target, net/wall, striking/fielding, and invasion games) enabled modified, small sided conditioned games to be adapted to suit individual attributes, whilst reinforcing a core set of tactical and technical elements for transfer. With global shifts in patterns of sport participation, it is timely to review this dominant classification frame and the role it plays within physical education (PE). Purpose This paper proposes changes …

The Role Of Early Childhood Pedagogical Leaders In Schools: Leading Change For Ongoing Improvement, Amie Fabry, Lennie Barblett, Marianne Knaus

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Early childhood pedagogical practice in primary schools is often challenged by academic demands, debate about best practice and ongoing change through new policy initiatives. This paper reports an investigation of how early childhood pedagogical leaders assist early years teachers in schools to embrace change and embed early childhood pedagogy. Framed within a constructivist epistemology, this paper reports on findings from three case studies drawn from a larger mixed-methods study from Perth, Western Australia. Data collected through shadowing pedagogical leaders, undertaking contextual interviews and analysing school documents revealed that pedagogical change was promoted, encouraged and sustained through a number of strategies. …

Beyond Reflective Practice: Blogging-With Place As A Diffractive Practice For (Re)Imagining Place-Based Education, Karen Nociti

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article proposes the diffractive practice of blogging-with Place as an alternative to a reflective journal. Reflective practice is a priority for teachers, with reflective journaling often employed as a method for documenting a teacher's experiences and knowledge about sites that are intended for place-based teaching and learning. However, when implemented for the purpose of improving place-based approaches, reflective journaling is limited by its grounding in an epistemology that values knowledge as leading to mastery and control over the environment. In response to calls for a radical reimagining of place-based approaches, the diffractive practice of blogging-with Place offers an opening …

How Can We Address The Wicked Problem Of University Student Attrition? A Bed (Early Childhood) Case Study, Gillian Kirk

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Student retention in education courses is a political imperative. This research examined the wicked problem of attrition in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Studies) course, drawing on the experiences of three different groups of students studying early childhood. The participants from each study represented different student groups within the course, which included all female (n = 20), all male (n = 6) and all mid-year entry students (n = 10). A qualitative methodology was employed to capture students’ university experiences and their perceptions of events at university. The research generated a unique theoretical framework examining the intersection between student …

Educators’ Perspectives About Teaching And Supporting Students With Learning Difficulties In Reading, Tanya Serry, Pam Snow, Lorraine Hammond, Emina Mclean, Jane Mccormack

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

We explored the perspectives of school-based educators located in Victoria, Australia, regarding their support of students who have reading difficulties. An anonymous survey was completed by 523 participants, including educators, educational leaders and Student Support Services staff. Results revealed multiple areas of concern related to their capacity to work on reading intervention with these students. Although participants reported that students with reading difficulties were present in most classes, confidence to work effectively with these students was mixed. They described feeling poorly prepared by preservice programs and indicated that insufficient time and mentorship prevented them from serving these students optimally. As …

How To Develop A Structural Conception Of Algebra In School Students, Vesife Hatisaru

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Algebra plays a pivotal role in school students’ mathematics learning. Students, however, have serious difficulties especially with ‘seeing’ the algebraic structures and expressing generality with algebraic symbols. These skills are not gained accidently; developing them in students takes continuous, sustained, and focused effort from both students themselves and teachers. As teachers of mathematics, what kind of classroom experience could we provide our students to prepare them for using algebra successfully? How could we assist them to develop structural conceptions of algebra? In this paper, I describe an approach based on the Mathematical Habits of Mind framework (Cuoco et al., 1996) …

Stt Kadesi’S Disrupting The Teaching And Learning Process During Covid-19, Muner Daliman, Hana Suparti, Jonathan D. James, Eudia Anggelia Ika Agustin, Hengky Wijaya

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In this paper we report on a pilot study of the teaching and learning at Sekolah Tinggi Teologi KADESI (STTK), a tertiary theological institution in Yogyakarta, during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Our methods for collecting data were to survey the 40 students and conduct one-to-one interviews with the 10 lecturers at STTK. The analysis of data drew on two theoretical constructs: Donald Schön’s reflection-in-action and the notion of empowerment in an educational context. We found challenges and difficulties to do with the logistics of teaching and the barriers to communication between instructors and students. And on the positive side, …

International Professional Skills: Interdisciplinary Project Work, Thomas Mejtoft, Helen Cripps, Christopher Blöcker

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Higher education should provide learning situations that prepare students for a future profession and make them world-ready. This paper reports insights from an international interdisciplinary collaborative project aiming to create learning experiences that are close to a professional situation. The collaboration setup simulates a setting of a digital agency with a development team in Sweden and a marketing team in Australia working together to solve a task. The collaborative project has been active since 2017, completing its fifth iteration in 2021. Postcourse survey results show that the students felt that a real situation was created with a high level of …

Curriculum Reform In Wales: Physical Education Teacher Educators' Negotiation Of Policy Positions, David Aldous, Victoria Evans, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper reports on research that explored the experiences of secondary Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) professionals' simultaneous negotiation and implementation of the new Curriculum for Wales (CfW) Health and Well-Being (HWB) Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE) and policies focused on the transformation of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Wales. The study was an exploratory case study of PETE professionals working within one university's ITE programme. Data were generated through documentary analysis of PETE and ITE programme materials and semi-structured interviews with staff involved in programme management and delivery. Data analysis employed Ball and colleagues' conceptualisation of policy actors …

Integrating Indigenous Perspectives In The Drama Class: Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions And Attitudes, Elisa M. Williams, Julia Morris

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Currently, educational bodies are recognising the importance of integrating Australian Indigenous cultures in education to promote intercultural understanding and improve outcomes for Indigenous students. In drama, learning about Indigenous perspectives can be integrated through sharing cultural stories, with this integration mandated by the Australian curriculum. However, teachers are struggling to achieve this directive due to a lack of knowledge in Indigenous content and concerns surrounding permission and cultural appropriation. This qualitative study used a focus group interview to determine non-Indigenous pre-service drama teachers' perceptions about integrating Indigenous perspectives in their praxis. Inductive analysis of the data revealed participants strongly believed …

Mathematical Connections Established In The Teaching Of Functions, Vesife Hatisaru

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study explores the types of mathematical connections established in the classroom in the teaching of functions. An extended model for mathematical connections (different representations (DR), procedural (PC), if-then (I-T), part-whole connections (PWC), feature/property (F/P), analogies, and instruction-oriented connections (IOC)) is used as the analytical framework. The context for the study is classroom observations of two secondary mathematics teachers teaching functions to Grade 9 students. The strength of teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) the concept of function is different: one has stronger MKT, while the other has weaker MKT. A total of 485 connections are identified in a sample …