Research Presentations
Please find below initial information about seminars to be held in Semester 2, 2009. More detailed information on each seminar will appear below this table as each date approaches.
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Dates
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Name
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Topic
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Times
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31 July
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Paula Barrett
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Friends: Updates on research
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12pm-1pm
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9 September
(Wednesday)
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Shelley Dole and Tony Wright
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Making Connections in Mathematics and Science - the MC SAM project
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12pm-1pm
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28 September
(Monday)
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Katie Makar
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Developing teachers’ expertise in teaching mathematics through inquiry: Preliminary findings from a four-year study
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12pm-1pm
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5 October
(Monday)
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Robyn Gillies
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Promoting students discourse, problem-solving and reasoning during small group discussions
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12 pm – 1pm
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23 October
(Friday)
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David Geelan
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Evidence for the learning effectiveness of scientific visualisations
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1 - 2pm
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23 November
(Monday)
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Mary McMahon &
Mark Watson
(Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa)
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Stories of career development across the lifespan
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12-1pm
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30 November
(Monday)
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Monica Cuskelly
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Self-regulation in children with Down syndrome
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2.30pm - 3.30pm
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Dr Monica Cuskelly
School of Education
Self-regulation in children with Down syndrome
Abstract
Self-regulation is a construct that is central to our understanding of children’s development; however, it has been neglected in research of developmental aspects of intellectual disability. Delay of gratification is both an important element of self-regulation as well as being representative of the broader construct. This seminar will present the results of a series of investigations into delay of gratification in individuals with Down syndrome and will raise some dilemmas regarding research with individuals with intellectual disability.
When: Monday, 30 November 2009,
2.30pm – 3.30pm
Where: Room 328, Level 3, Social Sciences Building (24)
Campbell Road, St Lucia campus
Prof. Mark Watson & Dr Mary McMahon
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Head, Psychology Department
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
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School of Education
The University of Queensland
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Stories of career development across the lifespan
Abstract
Career development is a lifespan process subject to many influences. Even young children construct career stories on the basis of their life experiences. First, the traditions and trends of career development research will be briefly overviewed. Second, a series of snapshots related to studies on the career development of children, adolescents and adults conducted in South Africa and Australia will be presented.
When: Monday, 23 November 2009, 12 – 1 pm
Where: Room 328, Level 3, Social Sciences Building (24)
Campbell Road, St Lucia campus
Dr David Geelan
School of Education
Finding Evidence for the Educational Effectiveness of Scientific Visualisations
Abstract
Since the first Greek philosopher drew a diagram in the sand, visual representations of scientific ‘things’ – concepts and processes as well as data and objects – have always been important in both science and science education. Computers have made more complex, interactive, representations available.
Scientists are increasingly using these ‘scientific visualisations’ in their work. Visualisations are also popular in science education, since they are compelling for students, and it is believed that they make complex concepts and phenomena easier for students to grasp.
There have been many studies of the kind ‘I built (or borrowed) this visualisation, used it in my class and my students loved it’. There have been far fewer empirical, quantitative studies designed to test the educational effectiveness of using scientific visualisations in the classroom: do students actually learn scientific concepts better with than without visualisations?
This seminar will report work in progress on an ARC-funded research project in Brisbane Year 11 Chemistry and Physics classrooms that seeks to answer this specific question. A variety of scientific visualisations will be incorporated in the presentation, and the research approach described. Some very preliminary results will be reported.
When: Friday, 23rd October 2009, 1.00 - 2:00pm
Where: Room s502, Level 5, Social Sciences Building (24)
Campbell Road, St Lucia Campus
Prof. Robyn M. Gillies
School of Education
Promoting students discourse, problem-solving and reasoning during small group discussions
Abstract
Teaching children how to dialogue together, to ask and answer questions and provide detailed feedback that can be used by help-seekers requires a concerted effort on the part of teachers to explicitly teach and model these skills during their dialogic exchanges. While there is no doubt that teachers can model ways of talking that facilitate problem solving and reasoning, research shows that it rarely occurs, possibly because many teachers have a propensity to talk and transmit information through didactic teaching rather than engaging students in meaningful discussions. This is a concern because research shows that the cognitive and meta-cognitive levels of group discussions are positively correlated with students’ cognitive and meta-cognitive outcomes. In effect, task-related talk about information, concepts, strategies, and thinking is very important to students’ learning yet it will not emerge unless students are explicitly taught how to exchange ideas, provide explanations and justifications, engage in speculation, make inferences, develop hypotheses, and draw conclusions; characteristics of high level discourse that are known to promote thinking and learning. This seminar provides an overview of five studies that clearly demonstrate the importance of explicitly training teachers to use specific communication strategies to challenge and scaffold students’ thinking, if students, in turn, are to learn to provide more elaborations, reasons, and justifications in their interactions with each other; responses that are critically important in promoting learning.
When: Monday, 5th October, 2009, 12:00 - 1:00pm
Where: Room s303, Level 3, Social Sciences Building (24) Campbell Road,
St Lucia Campus
Dr Katie Makar,
School of Education
Developing teachers’ expertise in teaching mathematics through inquiry: Preliminary findings from a four-year study
Abstract
Mathematics education research and curricular documents have long emphasised the need to incorporate opportunities for students to utilise mathematics in authentic settings. Inquiry-based practices have been slowly taking hold in other content areas, but mathematics is often excluded from this approach. Despite the rhetoric of building students’ generic skills required for mathematical inquiry (e.g., collaboration, argumentation, persistence, independence, communication), there has been little uptake in schools – and little understanding of how to sustain short-term gains. A longitudinal study has focused on understanding processes of teachers’ developing expertise of teaching mathematical inquiry in a supportive environment. Preliminary results emerging from the work suggest that: (1) It takes long-term engagement with a number of support mechanisms (Makar, 2007) for teachers to adopt inquiry-based practices; (2) there are discernable patterns in their development as they gain expertise (Makar, 2008a); and (3) teachers need to embrace change in three ‘pivots of practice’ to develop expertise in teaching mathematical inquiry: envision inquiry processes in their classroom; transform their mathematical knowledge and beliefs towards ‘seeing mathematics’ all around them (Makar, 2008b); and create a culture of inquiry-based practices with their students.
When: Monday, 28th September, 2009, 12:00 - 1:00pm
Where: Room s328, Level 3, Social Sciences Building (24) Campbell Road,
St Lucia Campus
MAKING CONNECTIONS IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE - THE MC SAM PROJECT
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Shelley Dole
The University of Queensland
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Tony Wright
The University of Queensland
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Doug Clarke
Australian Catholic University
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Geoff Hilton
The University of Queensland
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Abstract
A major connecting theme across both mathematics and science is proportional reasoning, underpinning many topics in the middle years’ curriculum, such as scale drawing, surface area, percentages, density, probability, molarity, force and motion, algebra, and fractions. Proportional reasoning refers to the capacity to understand the relationships in proportional situations and to work meaningfully with them (Lesh, Post, & Behr, 1988). For example, determining the better value out of 200 grams for $3 and 250 grams for $4; or understanding why a baby locked in a car on a hot day suffers more than an adult would in the same circumstances, both involve proportional reasoning. In this session, we describe the MC SAM project, the acronym for ‘Making Connections in Science and Mathematics’. The project aimed to take a “conscious, systematic and explicit…. structured and goal-oriented” learning by design approach (Kalantzis & Cope, 2004, p. 39) to support the careful design of an integrated curriculum to promote students’ connected knowledge development across these two disciplines. In this project, researchers and teachers collaboratively developed, implemented and documented innovative, relevant and connected learning in mathematics and science, and hence redefined classroom culture as well as redefining curriculum. This presentation outlines findings of the project and particularly the results of a proportional reasoning test that highlight great variance of proportional reasoning in students across Years 5 to 9, simultaneously underscoring the importance of a more systematic and structured approach to promoting proportional reasoning across mathematics and science.
When: Wednesday, 9th September 2009, 12:00 - 1:00pm
Where: Room s328, Level 3, Social Sciences Building (24),
Campbell Road, St Lucia Campus