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Australia’s economic need for innovation has led to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education becoming an essential investment for the future. This study utilised a mixed-methods approach involving a pre-validated quantitative questionnaire together with qualitative semi-structured focus groups with students across four Year 5 classrooms. Students provided their perceptions of their STEM learning environment and their interactions with their teacher to identify factors influencing their engagement for pursuing these disciplines. The questionnaire comprised of scales from three different instruments: Classroom Emotional Climate, Test of Science Related Attitudes, and Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction. Several key factors were identified through student responses, including Student Freedom, Peer Collaboration, Problem Solving, Communication, Time, and Preferred Environments. 33 out of possible 40 correlations between scales were statistically significant, but eta2 values were considered low (0.12–0.37). Overall, the students expressed positive perceptions about their STEM learning environment, with Student Freedom, Peer Collaboration, Problem Solving, Communication and Time appearing to impact their perceptions of STEM education. Three focus groups with a total of 12 students identified suggestions for improving STEM learning environments. Implications from this research include the importance of considering student perceptions when measuring the quality of STEM learning environments, as well as how facets of these environments can impact student attitudes towards STEM.

STEM Education in the Primary School introduces pre-service teachers to the theory, skills and practice of teaching STEM through a project-based learning approach. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are presented as professions, mindsets and practices, and each element of STEM is integrated with the Australian Curriculum through a school garden project case study. Popular STEM topic areas, such as health, shelter and space, are explored using tested and age-appropriate project examples that illustrate the translation of STEM ideas to classroom practice. This textbook connects current research in STEM education to teaching practice through detailed discussion of topics including assessment, learning spaces, community and STEM futures. Encouraging readers to consolidate their knowledge, the text is supported by short-answer and reflection questions, information boxes and real-world scenarios. Suggested activities and downloadable templates in the VitalSource enhanced eBook provide guidance for readers when implementing projects and practices in their classroom.

There is a view that Makerspaces are new designs that have only existed since the creation of the online Hackerspace (Copyright© 2016 London Hackspace Ltd.). While the term is relatively new, the ideas of making and constructing have been developed over generations.

The Makerspace phenomenon has morphed into three readily identifiable types characterised by accessibility: dedicated, distributed, and mobile. The research presented in this paper describes a type of Makerspace that is defined by its purpose: to improve the confidence and ability of primary education students in STEM education. This approach is innovative and timely given the renewed interest and investment of the federal and state governments into STEM education. A new model of professional learning that is currently being validated in an extended, funded project framed this research that involved 9 female teacher education students and 71 schoolgirls in Years 5 and 6. Whilst a large set of qualitative data was collected, this paper reports on the progress and reflections of the teacher education students, and shares insights into their personal learning and development as teachers.

This chapter outlines the implementation of a STEMinist Makerspace Project with a group of female primary pre-service teachers in India. The STEMinist project had previously been enacted in Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, and targeted female pre-service teachers focusing on building their science, technology and mathematical knowledge and engineering process skills, empowering them to become more confident and competent STEM educators. Using a Makerspace Approach pre-service teachers participated in a series of activities: first, as ‘students’ in a Makerspace creating their own artefact supported through a scaffolded approach by their educators; reflecting on their experiences; then taking their artefact and materials to scaffold and support primary school students to create the own artefacts that they were able to take home. It was evident that the pre-service teachers focused on the development of twenty-first century competences, listing collaboration, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving and applying knowledge as valuable to their own learning. Many of them also considered the learning skills that their students would need in the future.

In recent years Makerspace has developed within both online (Hackerspaces) and physical ‘spaces’ (Makerspaces) and provides students with opportunities for more open-ended learning experiences where they can ‘make’ and create. In open making teacher cannot control or direct the learning and with a crowded curriculum of facts and knowledge there is little time for open-ended making in schools. In India there is a strong focus on more traditional ways of teaching and learning including a transmissive approach of instruction from teacher to student. This paper posits that using a ‘directed’ or scaffolded Makerspace Approach to create a carefully defined product enables teachers or facilitators to bridge the gap between highly structured and open-ended pedagogical approaches to embed measurable STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) knowledge and 21st century competencies into their program.. The paper examines how a Makerspace impacts on the learning and engagement of primary school students in India and explores the creating of several artefacts including: Wigglebots, Catapults, and Pipelines. The collected data demonstrated primary students’ engagement in, and enjoyment of, the Makerspace program. This paper develops and trials a STEM theoretical framework which resulted from the comparison of several existing frameworks to incorporate content knowledge and 21st century skills.

The publication date on the print record is 2019. The date associated with the ISBN for this record may appear as 2018 due to an early release.

Digital technology provides access to resources extending beyond the boundaries of the classroom, while offering opportunities for personalised and collaborative learning and innovation and creativity. Off-campus online learning has become a dominant trend in the higher education sector in response to rapid advances in digital technology and increased pressures of rising costs, reduced government support and fierce competition in the global education market. Universities worldwide face the challenge of reinventing themselves to survive the challenges of a changing educational environment in the digital age. However, if digital technologies, redesigned classrooms and off-campus online learning environments are to offer students the opportunity to reach their potential, we need to attain a thorough understanding of the strengths and challenges of digital technologies as pedagogical tools. This chapter presents the initial findings from an ongoing project that aims to enhance the quality of learning outcomes in online teaching and learning situations in tertiary education, by developing and trialling a web-based application for encouraging and mapping student engagement with online content through 360 degree video annotation and data analytics.

Teacher education is in the grip of change. Due to the new Australian Curriculum, no longer is it possible to plan and implement lessons without considering the inclusion of Information and Communication Technologies. Simply knowing about the latest technology gadgets is not enough. Information literacy is essential in today’s information-rich learning and working environment. Students and teachers must be able to engage with diverse learning technologies efficiently and effectively in the search for the “right information” at the “right time” for the “right purpose”. Key information literacy and inquiry skills have been recognised as vital learning goals by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority and the International Society for Technology in Education and are thus critical in science teacher education. This paper examines the overlap of technology, pedagogy and science content in the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and its affordances for science e...

Using data from interviews with 28 older couples in which 1 spouse was diagnosed with diabetes and osteoarthritis, we examined illness perceptions and coping activities as they relate to illness management and relationship resilience. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts revealed categories of data related to perceptions, coping, and cross category comparisons. Findings suggest that couples experience both negative and positive perceptions of their illnesses, indicating a balance between the reality of their illness challenges and an optimistic outlook of the future. Coping activities included a variety of tasks and were performed by individuals, by both spouses in a shared effort, and by individuals and shared couple efforts. Findings highlight the complexity of individual and shared couple illness perception and couple efforts in managing multiple-chronic illnesses.

In this study we examined curriculum integration in new ways by exploring the link between classroom context, the implementation of community-based, integrated science projects, and the subsequent student learning. The literature is inconsistent regarding the benefits of an integrated approach to curriculum. The research design was a multiple case study conducted in two classrooms in different schools. We employed a “worldly interpretive framework” that recognizes and embraces the importance of context in framing curriculum practices and outcomes. We found that similar projects in the two classrooms produced distinctly different (and equally valid) outcomes—focused either on bounded discipline-specific knowledge or, alternatively, on issues and problems that transcended disciplinary boundaries. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 857–880, 2008

In Australia, and internationally, integration is a widely promoted middle school curriculum reform strategy. Integration is claimed to engage students by providing opportunities to work on a few cross-disciplinary objectives, to apply knowledge across the subject boundaries and to work on tasks with meaning and relevance. While these curriculum goals enjoy a certain popularity among middle school reformers and curriculum integration adherents, in practice, the prevalence of integration is patchy and provisional. In this article, we (re) examine two of our studies of middle school integration over the past decade to explore the reasons for this apparent disparity between the rhetoric and the reality. In our re-search for integration, we look back at our data to identify enabling and inhibiting conditions for curriculum reform and develop a list of key program characteristics. Finally, we look forward, drawing on the notion of institutional resilience to speculate on the reasons why some middle school programs seem to flourish while others wither.

This study examined the relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) for one or both members of a romantic couple and perceptions of contempt and defensiveness for self and partner. Data from the Relationship Evaluation (RELATE) were analyzed for 10,061 couples. The findings suggest that when either or both partner(s) has a history of CSA, contempt and defensiveness in the couple relationship are greater than when neither reports a history of CSA. Furthermore, the males’ experience of CSA had a greater impact on their perceptions of self and partner’s contempt and defensiveness than females’ experience of CSA. Explanations of gender differences are offered and implications for future research and practice are suggested. Past research has studied adult outcomes related to childhood sexual abuse (CSA), including adult intimate relationship factors; however, the majority of this research is based solely on the females’ reports of CSA. Little research exists on the effects of CSA on adult relationships when the male reports CSA. Furthermore, fewer studies have examined adult relationships when both partners report histories of CSA. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between a history of CSA for one or both members of a romantic couple and the level of contempt and defensiveness in their relationship. Besides mere presence of CSA, we were interested in how the frequency of the abuse affected each partner’s perception of contempt and defensiveness in their interactions. A unique feature of this research is that we have CSA data and contempt ⁄ defensiveness data from both members of the relationship. Six research questions are addressed. First, do male and female survivors of CSA (this applies to all six research questions) report higher levels of contempt and defensiveness for themselves compared with individuals reporting no history of CSA? Second, do survivors of CSA report higher levels of contempt and defensiveness for their nonabused partners? Third, do partners of CSA survivors report higher levels of contempt and defensiveness for themselves, and fourth, do the partners report higher levels of contempt and defensiveness for the CSA survivors? Fifth, are there significant differences in perceived contempt and defensiveness among couples and between sexes when neither partner reports CSA, when only the female or male reports CSA, and when both partners report CSA? Finally, does the frequency of abuse affect reports of contempt and defensiveness? Our research and conclusions addressed each of these questions as we sought to explore the relationship between CSA and contempt and defensiveness within adult intimate relationships. Explanations for differences between male and female participants are also explored and explanations are offered.

Teachers using interactive whiteboards (IWB) effectively can engage and motivate students with a range of digital resources to explore science's role in making sense of our world and to construct knowledge of key scientific concepts. The case study research described in this paper illustrates how interactive pedagogies in the IWB classroom were used to support whole class substantive discourse about science. A sociocultural framework structured the exploration of the discourse surrounding four teachers and their students' use of IWB technology in their primary science classrooms. Action research methods and a professional learning intervention were used for both exploring and developing teachers' understanding of the interactive technology and its impact on the nature of classroom talk. Comparing video captured lessons with and without the use of the IWB provided some initial evidence of an increase in students' participation in substantive science conversations and exploratory talk. The preliminary analysis of the data summary across the four case studies suggested that the teachers were using more open questions, greater wait time and required greater participation from students. This research suggests that teachers' effective IWB pedagogy impacts positively on the way students talk about science. Seven principles of effective interactive pedagogy focused on enhancing discourse emerged from the action research. It is recommended that these principles be used with IWB technology to scaffold deep substantial science discourse, which is essential in developing students' scientific literacy.