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This paper arises from research undertaken by educational semioticians and science educators investigating the use of student generated digital artefacts as assessment tasks in pre-service science teacher education. Part of a broader shift toward student-generated media in tertiary science, the use of such tasks is driven by the need to deepen pre-service primary teachers' understandings of content and to foster enthusiasm for teaching science. However, the tasks are challenging as students must demonstrate both content and meta-semiotic knowledge in these brief digital standalone presentations. In the paper, we draw on artefacts, interviews and assessment practices to demonstrate these challenges. We identify what have emerged as key semiotic understandings necessary to complete a successful response to the task, arguing that these include multimodal understandings as well as knowledge of disciplinary specific representational practices. We describe an intervention informed by functional social semiotics and scaffolded literacy approaches with key features including use of an exemplar text for deconstruction and an explicit instructional sequence with a tailored assessment rubric. The paper reports both theoretical and practical insights and seeks to contribute to emerging analytical frameworks as well as multimodal literacy assessment.

A thorough understanding of human physiology and anatomy are pivotal in the preparation of competent nursing students for clinical practice. However, anatomy and physiology are among the most conceptually perplexing subjects that nursing students will encounter throughout the duration of their course. Research in other science-based contexts has demonstrated a positive relationship between student-generated digital media and learning scientific concepts. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore nursing students' experience in learning science concepts through a formative assessment task which was based on making a 'digital explanation'. Our work was guided by semiotic theory and the study design was a mixed method study where 428 first-year nursing students across five campuses volunteered to complete self-reported surveys during the first and last week of the academic session. Students who consented for an interview were invited to attend one of five focus groups. More than half of the participating cohort had prior experience with science (66%), but only 24% had previous experience with making digital media. After completion of the assessment task, two-thirds of the students strongly agreed or agreed that they learned more about science and fewer students agreed that searching for scientific knowledge could be boring. The qualitative findings confirmed the presence of learning about science and four themes were identified: 'learning about science', 'linking knowledge to practice', 'using technology', and 'making it real'. A key point was that the students began to see connections between science knowledge and nursing practice. But many students were challenged by the technology and the fact that the task was ungraded. Although the digital explanation was an overall positive experience for the nursing students, there is a need for a flexible and graded assessment task to achieve its potential benefits as a teaching and learning task in nursing. We conclude t

Mathematics anxiety is common among pre-service primary teachers and many experience higher levels of maths anxiety than other university students. This study asks: What are maths anxious pre-service teachers' perspectives of "doing" mathematics in a whiteboard room? The Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS) was used to identify high, medium and low levels of maths anxiety in a cohort of first-year pre-service teachers (n=196). Semi-structured interviews (n=6) explored perspectives that were analysed through Vygotsky's sociocultural dimensions of the intrapersonal and the interpersonal, as well as the physical environment of the whiteboard room. Results show that doing maths in a whiteboard room was positive and engaging for participants because the room afforded positive interpersonal interactions and fostered an engaging learning environment that served to ease their maths anxiety. The whiteboard pedagogy is thus recommended in pre-service teacher education.

Doctoral education scholars associate doctoral learning with certain threshold concepts, many of which are embedded in the literature review. In considering this, we draw from a literary metaphor of 'joining the conversation' and report on a doctoral writing programme that blended elements of workshops, 'shut-up-and-write' sessions and thesis writing circles in the Faculty of Social Sciences at an Australian university. Findings illustrate conceptual thresholds engendered in the literature review. Study participants reported growing awareness of: the need for a critical voice; the difference between descriptive and critical writing; and, different ways to conduct and structure the literature review. Further, these are capacities and skills that develop iteratively over the candidature. To join the research conversation, gaining an understanding of these aspects of the conceptual threshold is important and, as indicated here, writing programmes that explicitly support this learning are vital to the process of scholarly development.

Assessments in tertiary science subjects typically assess content knowledge, and there is current need to both develop and assess different forms of knowledge and skills, such as communications and digital literacies. A digital explanation is a multimodal artefact created by students to explain science to a specified audience, which is an alternate form of assessment that has potential to develop and assess these other important forms of knowledge and skills. This research draws from perspectives in multimodality, educational semiotics and science education to gain a better understanding of digital explanation as a form of assessment in university science. Data sources include digital artefacts (n = 42), task descriptions and rubrics and pre-/post-interviews (n = 21) with students who created them as a task in a university science subject. Analysis involved identifying the range of media resources used across the data set, seeking patterns in how multiple resources were used and exploring students' perspectives on the task, including their design decisions. A more detailed look at artefacts from three different science learning contexts illustrates that students base their design decisions on the content knowledge being represented, their technical capabilities to generate them and how to engage the audience. Students enjoy this form of assessment and feel that the tasks allowed them to demonstrate different sorts of capabilities than are normally assessed in their subjects. Recommendations for instructors provide guidance for considering this sort of task in tertiary science contexts.

The purpose of this study is to describe the development and validation of a survey that examines science students ’ social media learning behaviours. Inherent in critiques regarding ‘ digital natives ’ is a need to better understand what the current generation of learners actually do in their social media practices for learning . The survey can help us understand how students actually use social media for learning science. Survey development followed an inductive approach [Brinkman, 2013. Qualitative interviewing . Oxford ebook; Mansourian, 2006. Adoption of grounded theory in LIS research. New Library World , 107(9/10), 386 – 402; Strauss & Corbin, 1998. Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and technique (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage], where survey design was informed by results of focus groups with secondary and post-secondary physics students and the survey was iteratively revised after two cycles of administration and validation interviews. The fi nal version of the Social Media and Science Learning Survey can be used by educators and researchers to understand how social media tools can be leveraged in order to allow learning to emerge and to use this knowledge to frame recommendations and methods for integrating these tools into classroom-based environments.

This paper offers an overview of what motivates and challenges Australian supervising teachers to work with preservice teachers in their classrooms. In the contemporary Australian context of new National Professional Standards for Teachers, a new national curriculum and new standards for Initial Teacher Education programs, what motivates and challenges supervising teachers becomes a focus for professional learning through analysis presented in this paper. Data are reported from a national data set that includes 314 responding supervising teachers who took the Mentoring Perspectives Inventory from 2012-2014. TheMPI data are aggregated in this paper to suggest that the wider system of teacher education could benefit from attention at various levels of interest to develop the underlying knowledge base of supervising teachers and our understanding of how they are challenged and motivated in their work with preservice teachers.

Students can now digitally construct their own representations of scientific concepts using a variety of modes including writing, diagrams, 2-D and 3-D models, images or speech, all of which communicate meaning. In this study, final-year chemistry students studying a pharmacology subject created a ''blended media'' digital product as an assignment to summarize an independently prepared technical literature review on a current research topic in pharmacology for a non-expert audience. A blended media is a simplified way for students to combine a variety of modes to complement a narration to explain a concept to others. In this study, the students learned how to create a blended media during a one-hour workshop, and used the technique to create the representation as an assessment task. The research question that guided the study was, ''What are the students' perceptions of making a digital product such as blended media and how did these shape their multimodal awareness?'' We draw from theoretical perspectives in multimodalities, representations and meaning making. Data included interviews at three points of the semester, the literature review and the digital media product. We present three case studies with volunteering students, who demonstrated a strong awareness of effective communications techniques as they attended to the audience. Making a blended media is a creative way for chemistry students to summarize complex scientific information and as a task may help to focus their multimodal awareness and developing communications skills.

In this study, we draw from data gathered at two points of preservice primary teach-ers' B.Ed. program to gain an understanding of how their use of social media for learning sci-ence changed over the degree program. The preservice teachers (PST) completed the Social Media and Science Learning Survey twice, in their first year science methods subject and again during an environmental education subject in the fourth year of the program. We use descriptive statistics and tests of significance to analyse the data set. Results suggest that these science learners use many of the same sorts of social media tools and behaviours in their learning and everyday use. To some extent, they also utilized a wider range of social media tools by the fourth year of their studies. As mobile technologies and social media tools become increasingly ubiquitous, understanding how science learners actually use social media for learning can help teacher educators to better utilize the learning potential offered, particularly in terms of engag-ing with the teaching profession

The aim of this study was to gather university student perspectives on a new type of assessment task requesting them to create "blended media". Blended media is a new form of student-generated multimedia whereby students devise a narration or voiceover to explain a science concept complemented by any combination of visuals such as video, animation or still images that are original or created by others to enhance the explanation. In the assessment task all the students successfully made a blended media product in their own time using their own technology and only requiring one session of media instruction. Surprisingly, the three case students who volunteered to be interviewed stated that they had never made a media product for a science assignment before and enjoyed creating this new form of assignment because they found it engaging and interesting. It also required them to represent content in new ways. Blended media is an innovative way for students to make digital media that engages them with content and as an assessment task could be used in any subject.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a disturbing trend in science in many different countries; declining enrolments in science courses at both high school and university levels (Adamuti-Trache, Bluman &Tiedje, 2013; Goodrum, Druham & Apps, 2012; Rice, Thomas & O'Toole, 2009). This is despite the 'Science for All' mantra from 20 years ago (Mutegi, 2011). The 'leaky pipeline' means that up to 50% fewer students now undertake senior science subjects in undergraduate and high school science relative to 20 years ago. For example, in Australia, high school participation rates are at their lowest point in 20 years (Office of the Chief Scientist, 2014). The leaky pipeline trend continues into post-doctoral research and tenure-track academic positions (US National Research Council, 2009), which are the main pathways to developing the next generation of researchers, technicians, science discipline academics and, of course, science teachers. The reasons for the trend are many, including length of qualification period, perceived difficulty of science and gender bias, at least in some cultural contexts (Handel, Duan, Sutherland & Ziegler, 2014). Davis, Petish and Smithey (2006) blame the commonly used 'stand-and-deliver' science teaching methods; most students find the traditional lecture format to be boring and tedious and they become disengaged when asked to memorise and regurgitate vast quantities of information. There is very little excitement and 'real science' in this way of learning. Becoming disinterested in high school science leads to lack of engagement with the advanced levels (where, arguably, the more interesting science is encountered), resulting in progressively declining science enrolments. At the university level, in the discipline of science, Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman (201 0) noted that while science knowledge continues to grow expansively, university science education has often not utilised contemporary learning or information technologies to become releva

This paper presents a study of two international doctoral students' perspectives on preparing to formally present the thesis proposal, which we conceptualise as a threshold in the PhD journey. They participated in a thesis writing group (TWG) that aimed to support international doctoral students to develop aspects of their scholarship in the early stages of their candidature. The case students reported feeling 'stuck' before joining the TWG run by the authors. After the writing group experience, they reported that they had gained confidence and developed the skills and knowledge required to prepare for their proposal presentation. Their perspectives were gathered through semi-structured interviews that were analysed using the conceptual framework of threshold concepts for doctoral learning. This small-scale study suggests that the collegial support provided by a TWG can be a powerful pedagogy enabling doctoral scholars to confidently negotiate crossing the thesis proposal threshold.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a disturbing trend in science in many different countries; declining enrolments in science courses at both high school and university levels (Adamuti-Trache, Bluman &Tiedje, 2013; Goodrum, Druham & Apps, 2012; Rice, Thomas & O'Toole, 2009). This is despite the 'Science for All' mantra from 20 years ago (Mutegi, 2011). The 'leaky pipeline' means that up to 50% fewer students now undertake senior science subjects in undergraduate and high school science relative to 20 years ago. For example, in Australia, high school participation rates are at their lowest point in 20 years (Office of the Chief Scientist, 2014). The leaky pipeline trend continues into post-doctoral research and tenure-track academic positions (US National Research Council, 2009), which are the main pathways to developing the next generation of researchers, technicians, science discipline academics and, of course, science teachers. The reasons for the trend are many, including length of qualification period, perceived difficulty of science and gender bias, at least in some cultural contexts (Handel, Duan, Sutherland & Ziegler, 2014). Davis, Petish and Smithey (2006) blame the commonly used 'stand-and-deliver' science teaching methods; most students find the traditional lecture format to be boring and tedious and they become disengaged when asked to memorise and regurgitate vast quantities of information. There is very little excitement and 'real science' in this way of learning. Becoming disinterested in high school science leads to lack of engagement with the advanced levels (where, arguably, the more interesting science is encountered), resulting in progressively declining science enrolments. At the university level, in the discipline of science, Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman (201 0) noted that while science knowledge continues to grow expansively, university science education has often not utilised contemporary learning or information technologies to become releva

Drawing on a complexity thinking perspective on learning, the conditions of emergence for complex systems were used as an analytic framework to characterize social media learning behaviours for their potential to promote connectedness. The authors' analysis identifies trends in secondary and tertiary physics students' social media use from focus group interview data and characterizes the nature of these behaviours for their potential to benefit students' understanding of the content of science curricula. While the authors' study focuses on physics learning, they propose implications that extend to other science learning contexts vis-a-vis how to transform connectivity learning behaviours into connectedness learning behaviours.

This research studied a group of three preservice elementary teachers creating a narrated stop-motion animation (Slowmation) from start to finish in 3 hours to explain the challenging concept of "phases of the moon" to elementary school children. The research questions investigated the preservice teachers' learning before and after the construction as well as how the preservice teachers designed the slowmation as a teaching resource. Data collection involved individual interviews immediately before and after the construction in conjunction with analysis of video and audio data collected during the construction process. Before the animation construction, the participants had little understanding of the causes of moon phases and one held an alternative conception. After creating the slowmation all three preservice teachers demonstrated more "elements" of the concept and appeared to resolve an alternative conception. There are two findings from this research: (i) creating a slowmation enabled the preservice teachers to develop more elements to contribute to their understanding of moon phases; (ii) the design of the slowmation was based on breaking the concept into a sequence of sub-concepts that were represented digitally. Designing a digital teaching resource such as a slowmation to explain a concept involves preservice teachers breaking a concept down into coherent parts or "chunks" and representing the concept in multiple ways. This can be done within a science method class and is also a good way for the them to negotiate meanings about a difficult concept.

We report a case study of two highly qualified science teachers as they implemented laptop computers in their Years 9 and 10 science classes at the beginning of the 'Digital Education Revolution,' Australia's national one-to-one laptop program initiated in 2009. When a large-scale investment is made in a significant educational change, it is important to consider teachers perspectives and responses to such change and we draw from sociocultural perspectives for our analysis. Through interviews and classroom observations, our interpretive analysis identified four key tensions and contradictions. These include the following: (1) barriers to innovative science teaching; (2) maintaining classroom and school connectivity; (3) teacher versus student expectations; and (4) changes to classroom management. Analysis leads to implications for the future of this and similar programs. The study shows that while these two teachers were committed to developing and delivering technology-rich science lessons, there were many factors that challenge how the implementation progressed. The findings from this study have implications for the continued engagement of teachers in this and other jurisdictions considering the introduction of one-to-one laptop programs.

There is a multiplicity of factors and actors that come into play to make teacher professional development (TPD) a strategic and powerful scheme for improving teacher practices. This multiplicity is evident in educational practices and theories. Consequently, traditional perspectives that take a simple view of TPD as a single, independent entity in teacher learning in isolation from other factors and actors are problematic. To better understand how TPD can bring about change in teacher practices-transforming teacher learning, there is a need to transcend the linear, causal, deterministic assumption about TPD. Here, in this discussion paper, I argue that powerful TPD is neither determined nor directed, but rather emerges. Powerful TPD emerges from many interconnected agents and these agents interact and combine in different ways depending on the situation, are reciprocal and are always nested, thus TPD is a complex enterprise. In order to showcase the complexity of the enterprise, TPD in the Indonesian context will be scrutinised using the lens of complexity theory.

This case study investigated the nature of the discussions generated when three preservice primary teachers made a narrated stop-motion animation called “Slowmation” to explain the science concept of moon phases. A discourse analysis of the discussion during construction demonstrated that the preservice teachers posed many questions, propositions and ideas facilitated by four affordances of the process: (i) a need to understand the science in order to explain it; (ii) making models; (iii) stopping to check information; and (iv) sharing personal experiences. Slowmation is a simplified way of making animations that has four affordances to promote discussion resulting in scientific reasoning.

This study examined and compared students' understanding of nature of science (NOS) with 521 Grade 8 Canadian and Korean students using a mixed methods approach. The concepts of NOS were measured using a survey that had both quantitative and qualitative elements. Descriptive statistics and one-way multivariate analysis of variances examined the quantitative data while a conceptually clustered matrix classified the open-ended responses. The country effect could explain 3-12 % of the variances of subjectivity, empirical testability and diverse methods, but it was not significant for the concepts of tentativeness and socio-cultural embeddedness of science. The open-ended responses showed that students believed scientific theories change due to errors or discoveries. Students regarded empirical evidence as undeniable and objective although they acknowledged experiments depend on theories or scientists' knowledge. The open responses revealed that national situations and curriculum content affected their views. For our future democratic citizens to gain scientific literacy, science curricula should include currently acknowledged NOS concepts and should be situated within societal and cultural perspectives.

Student teachers consider cooperating teachers to be one of the most important contributors to their teacher preparation program. Therefore, the ways in which cooperating teachers participate in teacher education are significant. This review seeks to move conceptions of that participation beyond commonly held beliefs to empirically supported claims. The analysis draws on Brodie, Cowling, and Nissen's notion of categories of participation to generate 11 different ways that cooperating teachers participate in teacher education: as Providers of Feedback, Gatekeepers of the Profession, Modelers of Practice, Supporters of Reflection, Gleaners of Knowledge, Purveyors of Context, Conveners of Relation, Agents of Socialization, Advocates of the Practical, Abiders of Change, and Teachers of Children. When set against Gaventa's typology of participation, the resultant grid highlights the importance of negotiated or invited spaces for cooperating teacher participation and provides a new way of thinking about, planning professional development for, and working with cooperating teachers.

The Women Writing Women Collective was a collegial and collaborative response to the isolation that is often experienced by women scholars as they pursue their academic careers. For 5 years, a group of women gathered on a monthly basis to share their writing. In doing so, the group members provided a sounding board for each other as they engaged with writing and scholarship through reflective, reciprocal, and responsible critique and curiosity. As a writing collective, we began to recognize and deconstruct specific institutional constraints, practices, and theoretical stances that had influenced our perspectives and experiences of what it means to be women writing in the academy. Within this process of critical reflective practice, our scholarship, our writing, and our sense of community was strengthened. Within this article, we share our experiences of women writing and learning together

School garden and kitchen-based activities have potential as health-promoting school initiatives but lack well-designed evaluation frameworks. This article outlines an evaluation of a national kitchen garden program conducted in Australian primary schools. The aim was to evaluate the implementation and impact of a national garden and kitchen program in Australia, including child and health-related impacts of the program, and program implementation factors. The evaluation was undertaken using a multi-component, hierarchical evaluation framework that incorporated a modified case-control design and mixed methods. A cross-section of initiative (N=28) and comparison (N=14) schools was included.

Students engage with science content when they are asked to explain and communicate their knowledge to others. In particular, encouraging students to create various digital media forms such as videos, podcasts, vodcasts, screencasts, digital stories and animations to explain science is usually engaging, especially if they have ownership of the process and use their own devices such as smartphones, digital cameras and computers. Whilst each digital media form has particular affordances, they can also be integrated or 'blended' to provide a new way for students to explain science using a combination of digital media forms. These can be shared widely to communicate with others by uploading to internet sites.

The goal of this study was to trial the feasibility of using a new assignment in a science methods course for trainee primary teachers focusing on "student-created blended media". This form integrates video with animation and static images, all linked by a narration, that students create to explain a science concept for the purpose of teaching someone. There were 129 students in the course spread across four locations and each was allocated a science topic to explain. Two hours of the course were allocated to teaching students the skills of making blended media and they then used their own technology such as mobile phones, digital still cameras and free movie making software on their own computers. Results showed that all 129 successfully make the blended media in their own time using their own technology. A wide variety of blended media were submitted. Three of the preservice teachers who volunteered to be interviewed to explain their experiences stated that the process helped them to learn science and all enjoyed the experience and preferred this to writing an essay. Further studies will need to be conducted to confirm these findings and to validate the quality of science learning involved.

This research explores preservice science teachers' social media practices as a first step in considering how to better utilize these tools in preservice teacher education. This is an important issue as these teachers will work with the next generation of students, who are likely to be even more connected through technology tools. We report data from a survey called the Social Media and Science Learning Survey that collects information about proficiencies and frequencies of use for a variety of social media tools for learning science. Results are from a cohort of 119 Australian primary teacher-education students in the context of their first year science methods subject. Results suggest social media behavior is different between use for everyday and their science methods subject in preservice teacher education. These differences may offer insight into how to prompt preservice teachers to more effectively utilize social media tools for connected learning and ultimately as instructional technology tools in their own classrooms.

This paper will report on the framework and methods developed to evaluate the implementation and impact of a national garden and kitchen program in Australia.

Many preservice primary teachers have inadequate science knowledge, which often limits their confidence in implementing the subject. This paper proposes a new way for preservice teachers to learn science by designing and making a narrated stop-motion animation as an instructional resource to explain a science concept. In this paper, a simplified way for preservice teachers to design and make an animation called 'slowmation' (abbreviated from 'slow animation') is exemplified. A case study of three preservice primary teachers creating one from start to finish over 2 h was conducted to address the following research question: How do the preservice primary teachers create a slowmation and how does this process influence their science learning? The method of inquiry used a case study design involving pre- and post-individual interviews in conjunction with a discourse analysis of video and audio data recorded as they created a slowmation. The data illustrate how the preservice teachers' science learning was related to their prior knowledge and how they iteratively revisited the content through the construction of five representations as a cumulative semiotic progression: (i) research notes; (ii) storyboard; (iii) models; (iv) digital photographs; culminating in (v) the narrated animation. This progression enabled the preservice teachers to revisit the content in each representation and make decisions about which modes to use and promoted social interaction. Creating a slowmation facilitated the preservice teachers' learning about the life cycle of a ladybird beetle and revised their alternative conceptions.

Since the introduction of laptop computers across Australia for all Year 9 students, teachers have sought to make meaningful use of the learning potential represented by the introduction. This study uses a lens of cultural historical activity theory to explore how teachers have responded to the ubiquitous presence of student laptop computers during the initial implementation. This paper reports a one-year case study of two highly qualified and experienced high school science teachers that considers their efforts to implement laptop computers in Year 9 and Year 10 science classes. The study shows that these teachers are committed to developing and delivering technology-rich lessons and furthering the learning potential represented by the computers in terms of engaging “21st century learners.” There are, however, several tensions and contradictions that represent significant barriers to developing the learning potential and teachers’ continued engagement with this activity system. These include: 1) classroom and school connectivity along with computer durability and availability for classroom activity; 2) student reluctance to engage with the computers as a learning tool amid generally low levels of cognitive engagement; and, 3) unanticipated changes to classroom management due to the laptop introduction. Now, more than two years into the introduction of laptop computers, teachers are still very much in a transition period from “before laptops” to “after laptops.”

Although the term self-study may suggest an individual teacher educator studying his or her own practice, most self-studies involve pairs or small groups of teacher educators working together in what is often called collaborative self-study. An extension of an informal collaboration is to formalize self-study as professional learning for teacher educators. This means that a group of teacher educators and other academics can study their practices over an extended period of time and share experiences as a community. This chapter identifies and explains the nature of a professional learning framework that underpins a group of academics becoming a self-study community. The framework is developed from previous research with teachers in schools and is adapted for self-study of academic teaching practices. The framework is based on the dynamic interaction of three professional learning influences: (1) content, (2) process, and (3) conditions that support such a community. Development of the framework is based on the progress of a group of ten academics, mostly teacher educators, over a 12-month period. Refinement of the framework is supported by case studies of the experiences of two of the participants in the self-study community.

Since the introduction of laptop computers across Australia for all Year 9 students, teachers have sought to make meaningful use of the learning potential represented by the introduction. This study uses a lens of cultural historical activity theory to explore how teachers have responded to the ubiquitous presence of student laptop computers during the initial implementation. This paper reports a one-year case study of two highly qualified and experienced high school science teachers that considers their efforts to implement laptop computers in Year 9 and Year 10 science classes. The study shows that these teachers are committed to developing and delivering technology-rich lessons and furthering the learning potential represented by the computers in terms of engaging “21st century learners.” There are, however, several tensions and contradictions that represent significant barriers to developing the learning potential and teachers’ continued engagement with this activity system. These include: 1) classroom and school connectivity along with computer durability and availability for classroom activity; 2) student reluctance to engage with the computers as a learning tool amid generally low levels of cognitive engagement; and, 3) unanticipated changes to classroom management due to the laptop introduction. Now, more than two years into the introduction of laptop computers, teachers are still very much in a transition period from “before laptops” to “after laptops.”

Although the term self-study may suggest an individual teacher educator studying his or her own practice, most self-studies involve pairs or small groups of teacher educators working together in what is often called collaborative self-study. An extension of an informal collaboration is to formalize self-study as professional learning for teacher educators. This means that a group of teacher educators and other academics can study their practices over an extended period of time and share experiences as a community. This chapter identifies and explains the nature of a professional learning framework that underpins a group of academics becoming a self-study community. The framework is developed from previous research with teachers in schools and is adapted for self-study of academic teaching practices. The framework is based on the dynamic interaction of three professional learning influences: (1) content, (2) process, and (3) conditions that support such a community. Development of the framework is based on the progress of a group of ten academics, mostly teacher educators, over a 12-month period. Refinement of the framework is supported by case studies of the experiences of two of the participants in the self-study community.

Although the term self-study may suggest an individual teacher educator studying his or her own practice, most self-studies involve pairs or small groups of teacher educators working together in what is often called collaborative self-study. An extension of an informal collaboration is to formalize self-study as professional learning for teacher educators. This means that a group of teacher educators and other academics can study their practices over an extended period of time and share experiences as a community. This chapter identifies and explains the nature of a professional learning framework that underpins a group of academics becoming a self-study community. The framework is developed from previous research with teachers in schools and is adapted for self-study of academic teaching practices. The framework is based on the dynamic interaction of three professional learning influences: (1) content, (2) process, and (3) conditions that support such a community. Development of the framework is based on the progress of a group of ten academics, mostly teacher educators, over a 12-month period. Refinement of the framework is supported by case studies of the experiences of two of the participants in the self-study community.

Since the introduction of laptop computers across Australia for all Year 9 students, teachers have sought to make meaningful use of the learning potential represented by the introduction. This study uses a lens of cultural historical activity theory to explore how teachers have responded to the ubiquitous presence of student laptop computers during the initial implementation. This paper reports a one-year case study of two highly qualified and experienced high school science teachers that considers their efforts to implement laptop computers in Year 9 and Year 10 science classes. The study shows that these teachers are committed to developing and delivering technology-rich lessons and furthering the learning potential represented by the computers in terms of engaging “21st century learners.” There are, however, several tensions and contradictions that represent significant barriers to developing the learning potential and teachers’ continued engagement with this activity system. These include: 1) classroom and school connectivity along with computer durability and availability for classroom activity; 2) student reluctance to engage with the computers as a learning tool amid generally low levels of cognitive engagement; and, 3) unanticipated changes to classroom management due to the laptop introduction. Now, more than two years into the introduction of laptop computers, teachers are still very much in a transition period from “before laptops” to “after laptops.”

This article describes an interpretive study that evaluated a new subject in teacher education called 'Education for Sustainable Development'. The study evaluated the subject for its ability to prepare pre-service teachers for their roles as environmental educators. We used perspectives in place-based pedagogy and critical thinking to underpin the subject design and our analysis. Data sources include instructor journals, planning documents, interviews with students and student thinking books. Interpretive analysis of the data corpus was a collaborative process that involved both subject instructors and students who took the subject. Themes that emerged from the research were centred around: (1) how the students built connections between primary school education and environmental education; (2) how students developed action competence through the activities in the subject; (3) how students were challenged to think differently about themselves as educators; and, (4) how the subject design presented its own challenges for both instructors and students.

This paper reports on a study that employed a case study approach to investigate students’ science learning processes in a problem-solving discourse by focusing on the question: how are student selfefficacy, metacognition, learning and analogical communication related? The study engaged high school physics students in solving novel physics problems on a field trip to an amusement park. It demonstrated that those with high potential to engage the monitoring-planning-evaluation aspect of metacognition had the ability to infer meaning of the unknown from understanding of the similar in what is already known or easily understandable, and often understood and expressed their thoughts analogically. In other words, this category of students engaged the constructive connectivity aspect of learning. Thus, during the process of developing solutions to challenging novel problems, it was apparent that the students who were able to argue and express their ideas in analogical terms were also highly metacgnitive and succeeded in developing viable models for solutions to the novel problems.

This paper reports on a study that employed a case study approach to investigate students’ science learning processes in a problem-solving discourse by focusing on the question: how are student selfefficacy, metacognition, learning and analogical communication related? The study engaged high school physics students in solving novel physics problems on a field trip to an amusement park. It demonstrated that those with high potential to engage the monitoring-planning-evaluation aspect of metacognition had the ability to infer meaning of the unknown from understanding of the similar in what is already known or easily understandable, and often understood and expressed their thoughts analogically. In other words, this category of students engaged the constructive connectivity aspect of learning. Thus, during the process of developing solutions to challenging novel problems, it was apparent that the students who were able to argue and express their ideas in analogical terms were also highly metacgnitive and succeeded in developing viable models for solutions to the novel problems.

In this study, a group (N=15) of final year non-Aboriginal pre ervice teachers participated in an elective subject that aimed to raise their awarene s ab ut Aboriginal ways of knowing. A vital aspect of the course was developing the preservice teachers' awareness of "relatedness to country" which is a key belief for Aboriginal people. The non-Aboriginal pre service teachers s lected their own special place and then experienced Aboriginal ways of knowing throughout the course and vi ited local Aboriginal sites to hear and listen to stories shared by an Aboriginal Elder. At the end of the subject, the preservice teachers created their own animated story about their pecial place using an approach called Slowmation (abbreviated from "Slow animation"), which i a narrated stop-m tion animation that is played slowly at 2 photos/ second to tell a story. It is a simplified way for pre service teachers to make animations that integrat 5 a peet of c1aymation, digital storytelling and object animation. To research this approach, the preservice teachers were interviewed at the beginning and end f the course as well as submitting their animation for assessment. Data collected revealed that all the preservice teachers were ab le to make an animated story explaining their relationship to their" pedal place" and mo t d ve10ped a deeper understanding of what a relational approach to country means. Getting the preservice teachers to make animated stories helped them to reflect upon their pedal place and was a creative way to develop their awareness of cultural diversity, especially about Aboriginal ways of knowing.

Research has identified the value of learners using technology to construct their own representations of science concepts. In this study, we investigate how learners, such as preservice elementary teachers, design and make a narrated animation to represent their science knowledge. The type of animation exemplified is called a ‘‘Slowmation’’ (abbreviated from ‘‘Slow Animation’’), which is a simplified way for preservice teachers to make an animation that integrates features from claymation, object animation, and digital storytelling. Drawing on semiotic theory, a case study of three preservice elementary teachers, who were audio and video recorded as they created a slowmation, illustrates how the construction process enabled them to engage with a science concept in multiple ways. Findings suggest that when preservice teachers create a slowmation, they design and make a sequence of five representations, each being a semiotic system with particular affordances that link as a semiotic progression: (i) research notes; (ii) storyboard; (iii) models; and (iv) digital photographs, which culminate in (v) a narrated animation. In this study, the authors present their theoretical framework, explain how the preservice teachers created a slowmation using a sequence of representations to show their science knowledge and discuss the implications of these findings for learners in universities and schools.