Monday 8 August 2016

One in five Australian 15-year-old students was found to be failing to achieve what the OECD describes as a basic level of mathematical literacy to enable students to actively participate in 21st century life. In many cases, these students are also unmotivated and disengaged with schooling, perceive their school experience in a negative light, and have low aspirations for the future. In a disproportionate number of cases, low-achieving students come from low socio-economic backgrounds, have an Indigenous background, and live in rural areas. This paper investigates the relationship of these and other demographic and educational background variables with being a low achiever, using data from PISA 2012. Lifting achievement in mathematics may also improve motivation and engagement.

This case study research is designed to examine the ways in which teachers are bringing gameful practices into their classrooms as part of a STEM learning agenda. It is hypothesised that one of the best persons to inform or improve the practice of novices is a near novice; someone who was most recently themselves a novice. In many case study programs, we hold up exemplary practitioners as models, but these experts may be too far removed in their levels of expertise to impact the practice of true novices. Experts and evangelists might be useful in creating vision for change, but the actual steps toward change in practice might lie with educators ‘more like ourselves’. This research sets out to examine the work of educators starting out in various forms of gameful practices in teaching and learning. Telling the stories of these near novices has the potential to support, influence and impact the next wave of innovators, those beyond the early adopters. This is a work in progress and will report on the case studies collected and nascent feedback on their impact early in 2017.

Sufficient numbers of people with science and mathematics qualifications are needed for continuing growth in productivity and industry innovation. The Australian Industry Group (2015, p. 5) cautioned, ‘the pipeline of STEM skills to the workforce remains perilous’ because participation in sciences and advanced mathematics at school and university is in decline, participation is not comparable with other nations, and our students underperform in major international studies. Gender differences in enrolments and career plans continue to fuel the concern of researchers with interest in gender equity. Many have argued girls prematurely restrict their options by discontinuing particular STEM subjects in adolescence, which has ramifications for women’s later wellbeing from economic and psychological perspectives. Much research has concentrated on whether and how girls/boys are differently motivated in particular learning domains, towards different career aspirations, and how features of the learning environment can promote or diminish their motivations. In the STEPS Study (http://www. stepsstudy.org), I have been following longitudinal samples of youth over the past two decades using these frames to examine boys’/girls’ motivations in particular subjects; how motivations matter differently for girls/boys; in directing them towards particular purposes and aspirations; and as they are influenced by features of their learning environments. STEM participation is an issue in Australia, as in the US and many countries of the OECD. There have been two main arguments put forward as to why we should care.

Scientists, mathematicians and engineers draw and model to create knowledge. This presentation will describe a guided inquiry approach to teaching and learning science that involves students actively creating visual and other representations to reason and explain as they explore the material world. The approach has been successfully used in a number of major professional learning initiatives in Victoria and NSW. Evidence will be presented of increased student engagement and quality learning flowing from the approach, which aligns classroom processes more authentically with processes of imaginative scientific discovery. Examples of activities and student drawings and model construction will be used to unpack the relationship between representation, reasoning and learning. Video evidence including that generated in the Science of Learning Research Centre (SLRC) classroom at the University of Melbourne, equipped with sophisticated video capture facilities, will be drawn on to explore ways in which drawing, gesture and talk are coordinated to imaginatively respond to material challenges. The presentation will explore the alignment of these sociocultural analyses to recent findings from neuroscience. Evidence will be presented that the creation of representations is central to quality learning across the STEM disciplines and for interdisciplinary STEM challenges.

Achievement disparities between Indigenous students and their non-Indigenous peers in education continue to be documented across the globe. Over the past three decades, there has been a significant amount of writing on Indigenous methodologies, epistemology and, to a lesser extent, pedagogies. All are crucial in the lifelong process of teaching and learning – the nature of knowledge, how it is gained, and the transmission of it. However, much of this work is contested or seen as inappropriate or irrelevant in STEM education. Indigenous students do not perceive STEM subjects as being welcoming. As STEM educators, we need to take a broader perspective that encompasses the complex interaction of family, social, cultural, educational, economic and political contexts, and to take into account the nature of knowledge and the importance of cultural identity to Indigenous communities. PISA data shows that Indigenous students have an interest in science that is equal to that of their non-Indigenous peers. So the questions we need to ask are: Why have STEM educators and schools not been able to capitalise on this interest? What makes for effective STEM teaching for Indigenous students? What makes for quality STEM teaching for Indigenous students? What makes for successful learning for Indigenous students in STEM subjects? This presentation will debate current approaches and ask what more needs to be done.

Mathematics is the foundational enabling discipline that underpins STEM and its other constituent disciplines of science, technology and engineering. Central to Australia’s mathematical vitality is universal access to high-quality mathematics education. Without this, young people are at risk of early school leaving, low participation in post-school education and training, poor employment outcomes, and social isolation (COAG, 2008; Parsons & Bynner, 2005). But Australia faces significant problems in ensuring that all young people are successfully engaged in learning mathematics at school, and in providing them with teachers who can inspire their learning. This paper explores approaches to addressing two problems that continue to challenge researchers, practitioners, and policy makers: (1) raising students’ mathematical aspirations and (2) enhancing mathematical literacy across the school curriculum. It draws on the findings from two current research projects. The first project is developing case studies of schools that have increased student participation in higher-level mathematics in the senior secondary school years. The second project builds on a long term research program for embedding numeracy across the curriculum by creating a suite of online videos illustrating what numeracy looks like in real classrooms in different school subjects.