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Refereed/Peer-reviewed Advances in embodied learning and the use of gesture has gained greater interest amongst educators and researchers in recent years. The emerging evidence supporting the use of physical enactment rather than just auditory modes of instruction remains unresolved. This paper investigates the pedagogical methods used by a science teacher instructing a year 8 science class. One class was taught via the practitioner's usual and standard methods. The second class were taught similarly but were exposed to a set of scripted iconic hand gestures. The study utilised the theoretical underpinnings of Evolutionary Educational Psychology and recent insights of Cognitive Load Theory to measure student cognitive load on learning and achievement. The research findings suggest students who were exposed to teaching using iconic hand gestures scored more highly on achievement and rated the test items as relatively less difficult compared to those taught using traditional methods.

Recent government and industry priorities have led to a call to raise the quality of STEM learning to meet the future needs of industry and workforce skills. In Australia, education jurisdictions have responded to this challenge. Consequently, education is now considered critical in developing the skills required to meet these future needs. However, several significant issues have hindered STEM education’s advancement. These impediments if not resolved may impact Australia’s future STEM workforce and subsequent economic prosperity. This paper seeks to address some of the key impediments identified within the research literature by making a series of recommendations that provide insight into possible improvement to help recalibrate future STEM education initiatives and support Australia’s long-term economic growth Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Preparing students for informed and active citizenship is a core goal of education and schooling in Australia. The ways schools educate and prepare young Australians for citizenship involves a range of processes and initiatives central to the work of schools, including school ethos, mission, extracurricular activities and community-based participation. With regard to the formal curriculum, the recent introduction and implementation of the first ever Federal Australian Curriculum includes provision for a new subject - Civics and Citizenship. Research evidence from other nations suggests that schools understand, approach and enact education for citizenship in a multitude of ways, yet how Australian schools construct this aspect of their work is currently under-researched. In this context, and drawing on data from interviews with school leaders and teachers of Years 6-8 (11-14 year olds) students in a small sample of South Australian primary and secondary schools, we explore perceptions and current approaches to education for citizenship. Our findings suggest (1) that while school leaders and teachers value education for citizenship, they do so for different reasons; (2) that schools place values as central to education for citizenship; and (3) that community involvement is typically understood as occurring within rather than beyond the school. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In late 2013 a new curriculum for Civics and Citizenship education was published by the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority for use in Australian schools. In line with previous curricular initiatives concerning education for citizenship in Australia a key rationale behind the new subject is the education of “active citizens”. Research evidence over the last 25 years paints a mixed picture regarding the extent to which the translation of policy intent has been successfully implemented within Australian schools. Exploring the new subject of Civics and Citizenship in Australia in the context of previous initiatives and existing research evidence, we explore the contested and complex nature of active citizenship around three key issues – the scope and form of action that constitutes citizenship in one’s communities, how young people themselves conceptualize and experience participation, the potential that active citizenship opportunities are interpreted as being synonymous with the use of active teaching and learning methods. On this basis we argue that the new curriculum provides some optimism for those committed to education for citizenship in Australian schools, but that this optimism needs to be tempered with a degree of caution. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Within mathematics teaching, ways to help students resolve proportional reasoning problems remains a topical issue. This study sought to investigate how a simple innovative procedure could be introduced to enhance skill acquisition. In two classroom-based experiments, 12-year-old students were asked to solve proportional reasoning mathematics problems, on four occasions, over a two-week period. On the second occasion, students worked either with or without the benefit of worked examples. The examples demonstrated a unitising strategy in the context of solving proportional reasoning missing value problems. Students exposed to the worked examples improved scores on subsequent tests. The worked example instruction was (a) mediated entirely through booklets, (b) effective with both low- and high-SES students and (c) represents a promising approach to teaching within an area that habitually presents many challenges for the general classroom teacher. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper examines cognitive load theory in online learning. The central idea of the paper is that by identifying instances of cognitive load in online courses, educators can make practical adjustments in the design and teaching of courses in order to minimise the cognitive load experienced by learners and thereby increase the likelihood of successful cognitive processing. The presentation brings together current thinking in cognitive load theory and descriptions of key aspects of contemporary online learning to identify and describe of potential instances of cognitive load experienced by online learners. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

For many educators, the adoption of learning technologies as part of a ‘technology-enhanced’ approach to learning and teaching implies change. Technology takes on a disruptive role. Therefore, it is important to understand the pedagogical commitments associated with current practices in order to better understand any change implied by the use of particular technology ‘enhancements’. This article reports on a case study of the change experienced by one tertiary educator in the shift from successful on campus to flexible online teaching in an undergraduate Numeracy course. The study addresses the question: How do teaching academics translate a robust, proven on-campus course into a successful, flexibly delivered technology-enhanced course? The case employs an autoethnographic approach to recording and analysing the educator’s experiences to highlight comparisons between on-campus (face-to-face) and online teaching practices. The findings support the conclusion that ‘good teaching is good teaching’, based on sound pedagogical principles, regardless of the mode of delivery, but that the enactment of those principles in face-to-face and online learning environments differs in significant ways.

Thesis (PhD(Education))--University of South Australia, 2016. Includes bibliographical references (pages 286-304) This thesis sought to investigate whether an innovative and carefully designed learning procedure may benefit Year 7 students in solving proportional reasoning problems, and whether it could be of any benefit to teachers instructing students undertaking these problems. The learning procedure was based on paired worked examples of proportional reasoning problems adopting a recognised proportional reasoning strategy known as a unitising strategy.

Debates concerning the nature, purpose and importance of Australian values have resurfaced in Australia following the election of the Liberal-led Coalition Government in September 2013. Two dominant discourses on Australian values have emerged within recent government rhetoric and public policy, both of which have included a demand for changes to how Australian values are taught and encountered within Australian education and schooling. In our analysis, we suggest that the two dominant discourses, one focusing on securitisation and one on Westernisation, have to this point operated separately, but have both focused on narrow, fixed and forced understandings of Australian values. Exploring the key themes of these two discourses, some important issues for teacher educators are set out, including the need to mediate these discourses against research evidence which suggests the importance of holistic and co-operative pedagogical relationships based on trust and humility for effective values education. Though our analysis focuses on the Australian context, the arguments made are likely to be of interest elsewhere given current debates about national values in education across a range of jurisdictions. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In this paper we are interested in the connections between Philosophy for Children and character education. In sketching these connections we suggest some areas where the relationship is potentially fruitful, particularly in light of research which suggests that in practice schools and teachers often adopt and mix different approaches to values education. We outline some implications of drawing connections between the two fields for moral education. The arguments made in this article are done so in the hope of encouraging further critical reflection on the potential relationship between Philosophy for Children and character education. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In a school classroom context, 44 12-year-old students solved proportional reasoning mathematics problems on four occasions over a 2 week period. On the second occasion, students worked either with, or without, the benefit of worked examples. The examples demonstrated a unitising strategy in the context of solving missing value problems. Students exposed to the worked examples then improved scores on subsequent tests, and reported higher levels of self-efficacy, as well as lower levels of task difficulty or experienced load, relative to the other students. The worked example instruction was mediated entirely through short booklets, and represents a promising approach to teaching an area of the mathematics curriculum that habitually presents many challenges for the general classroom teacher.

This paper presents the findings of a study concerned with student teachers' perceptions of their role as civic educators. Focusing on student teachers undertaking one-year, pre-service programmes within the secondary age range (11- to 18-years-old) at a large higher education institution in the south of England, the study adopted a mixed methods approach involving a cross-sectional, whole cohort questionnaire and follow-up individual interviews with a small sample of the original cohort. Here we explore the expectations and perceptions of students regarding both preparing pupils for responsible and active citizenship as a general curricular aim, and teaching pupils citizenship education as a statutory subject within the English National Curriculum for secondary schools. The research is presented in the context of a mixed picture (in terms of both policy and practice) in English secondary schools, with evidence suggesting that education for citizenship is often taught by non-specialists and that practice is inconsistent across schools. The findings of our research show that the student teachers perceived their role as civic educators to be important, believed that this was a key part of their role as teachers, and that the strength of both perceptions increased over the course of their programmes. The findings also suggest, however, that the student teachers conceptualised education for citizenship in varied and contrasting ways. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The Mathematical Content Knowledge (MCT) of pre-service teachers has come under the spotlight in recent debates and reform agenda about improving numeracy learning outcomes in schools. This concern is well-placed and timely as it is now widely accepted that there is a direct relationship between a teacher's knowledge of the content of mathematics and the quality of learning experiences that could be provided in the classroom. The present study was undertaken against the above background where we aimed at diagnosing and supporting the development of a rich and well-connected body of mathematical content knowledge for a cohort of pre-service teachers in our primary teacher education program. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Thesis (MEd (Mathematics and Science Education))--University of South Australia, 1996