Education & Training
Steering STEM education development through play
The growing importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for learning at school and beyond is placing increased emphasis on building the framework for their experiences in early childhood. However, designing the learning progressions children experience during this time undervalues a remarkable fact: children’s connection with STEM is intuitive. Chelsea Cutting of the University of South Australia’s Mount Gambier-based […]
Misunderstanding translanguaging in preschoolers
Preschool children have a remarkable ability to embrace and express the dimensions of different languages beyond their socially and politically defined boundaries – this is called translanguaging. It’s especially encouraging for immigrant children in a foreign country and at a time when Europe’s racial and ethnic profile is shifting. Dr Gabrijela Aleksić at the University of Luxembourg and her colleagues […]
How can mathematics research increase effective instruction and student success?
Elementary and middle school students in the US are underachieving in mathematics. Those without adequate understanding of basic mathematical concepts and skills after completing kindergarten go on to struggle throughout their maths education. So how can teaching maths be improved to enable children to learn best? Dr Jonathan Brendefur and colleagues at the Developing Mathematical Thinking Institute (DMTI) have developed […]
Change agents: Professional development for adult educators
How can the professional development of staff be used to bring about lasting change in adult and continuing education (A&CE)? That’s the question behind new research from Canada led by Dr Alexandra Youmans of Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, and Dr Lorraine Godden of Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. They look at how school boards in eastern Ontario have come together to […]
START – addressing underrepresentation in STEM careers
When US neuroscientist Dr Luke H Bradley at the University of Kentucky helped design a STEM education programme for underrepresented students, his bold approach of interdisciplinary collaborations, near-peer mentoring, and teacher coaching promised to reshape a culture of negative reinforcement. The START Program embraces authentic research and training through direct contact between underrepresented students and teachers and a network of […]
Out-of-field teaching: New teachers survive under pressure
It is the nightmare of many early-career teachers: to have to teach a subject that’s not your specialism to a class of students who sense your fear. In newly published research, Dr Susan Caldis from Macquarie University in Australia finds that out-of-field teaching is a major issue which particularly affects teachers as they transition from initial teacher education programmes into […]
Empathic engineering design for accessibility for deaf curling athletes
Deaf curling athletes are particularly disadvantaged as they rely on visual cues for their sweeping commands rather than audible ones. Professor Bob McLeod and Professor Marcia Friesen, from the University of Manitoba in Canada, have developed a team-based engineering design course for computer engineering students, built on the principles of empathic design and design for accessibility. Students form design groups […]
Conceptual change: Learners’ response to contradictory information
Misconceptions can get in the way of teaching efforts and increasingly pose a significant challenge to science teachers. To discern exactly what science education literature can teach us about learners’ response to anomalous data, Professor Patrice Potvin, from the University of Québec in Montréal, Canada, has carried out a critical and systematic review of science education research literature. In this […]
Is there equality for students with disabilities when accessing government grants for post-secondary education?
Higher education can strengthen job opportunities for people with disabilities. Mandy Mou, a PhD candidate within the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, Canada, observed a gap in the literature surrounding equality relating to federal and provincial disability grants for post-secondary education. She undertook a critical discourse analysis, highlighting that in Canada, a neoliberalist culture has led […]
Understanding teaching excellence in STEM subjects
STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, maths – are undeniably important if we are to meet the needs of our increasingly globalised world. So knowing what encourages uptake of these subjects to the highest level is of the utmost importance. Good teaching might be an obvious answer, however we don’t fully understand what constitutes ‘teaching excellence’ in STEM subjects. Dr […]