Dorit Maor

Science inquiry has been at the forefront of science learning and teaching theory for over half a century and is considered fundamental to the science curriculum in many countries, including Australia. Despite government strategies to improve student attainment and engagement, and support for teachers in facilitating effective inquiry-based pedagogy, there is still much to learn about how inquiry is enacted in science classrooms. This qualitative study combined teacher surveys, observations, and interviews to investigate how primary and secondary teachers enacted science inquiry in 56 observed lessons, and the reasons behind their chosen inquiry pedagogies. Classroom observations revealed that primary teachers predominantly used guided inquiry, while secondary teachers mainly used structured inquiry. Although teachers implemented all essential features of science inquiry, these features were spread across multiple lessons, limiting students' exposure to the complete inquiry process and the opportunity to understand how the features work together during an investigation. Interviews with teachers provided insights into their reasoning for their practice. These findings contribute to a better understanding of current science inquiry implementation in classrooms and have implications for informing teachers' pedagogy and sharing best practices.

For over 50 years science inquiry has been positively associated with student achievement. Recently, the role of science inquiry as a means of effective science teaching has come under increased scrutiny after analyses of international large scale assessments found an overall negative association between science inquiry and student achievement. Unclear in the research is how teachers are enacting science inquiry in the standard classroom, as previous research was based on classroom interventions and student reports. This mixed methods research describes upper primary and lower secondary teachers' science inquiry enactment in 56 science lessons using a two-dimensional model of science inquiry. The findings show primary teachers enacted more inquiry than secondary teachers, and used predominantly guided inquiry, while secondary teachers used mainly closed inquiry. Although primary and secondary teachers enacted all the essential features of science inquiry, students did not experience science inquiry in its entirety. Further, students' exposure to the nature of scientific knowledge was limited. This research provides a contemporary and multifaceted account of how teachers enacted science inquiry in their science lessons. The findings can be used by educational researchers and policy-makers to make informed decisions when seeking to improve science education.

Despite decades of sustained national focus in several countries (e.g., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and USA) recent trends in students’ course-taking and career choices suggest proportionally fewer students pursuing STEM-related study. Consequently, to address this trend, it is important to better understand factors currently related to students’ engagement, literacy and attainment in STEM subjects and vocations. Our own recent research has examined students’ science literacy and engagement in association with formal (school-based) and informal (outside of school, home-related) factors, using retrospective analysis of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. In this study we purposefully recruited several female students enrolled in late-secondary school Physics. This selection meant that all participants were engaged in school science and likely to be considering post-secondary study in STEM, and possibly STEM-related careers. Our purpose was to hear from this select group of female science students, their stories of influences in the development of their engagement and literacy in science. In particular, we were interested in juxtaposing their stories against the explanatory regression models we had previously developed. In this way, our purpose was to test the nomothetic explanations previously offered using idiographic stories of factors related to the engagement of girls in science.

There is a need to improve supervision of higher degree students to increase completion rates, reduce attrition and improve quality. This discussion paper explores the contribution that technology can make to higher degree research supervision. It focuses on research studies that support supervision through the application of digital technology. In reviewing current research, I discuss whether web-based tools can influence the training of Higher Degree Research (HDR) students, are effective in supporting students, and can reduce breakdowns in supervisory relationships. A major trend in higher education is the re-purposing of Web 2.0 systems, not only to access knowledge collaboratively, but also to create and sustain communities of learners. In critically reviewing current research-based papers, I was able to assess the impact of web-based tools on the training and support of doctoral students. The longer-term aim of this research project is to create a digital platform that can assist postgraduate students and their supervisors.

This paper reflects on the use of the TPACK model in e-learning courses to enhance students’ ability to use technology in their learning and later in their professions and to introduce the concept of digital pedagogies . To maximize students’ learning, this model was disseminated in the design of the course, the learning activities and the assessment. The aim was to encourage students to become reflective learners and to create knowledge collaboratively. Different technological tools such as iPads, ePortfolio together with digital pedagogies were used to enhance the students’ learning experience and obtain students’ reflections and feedback on the unit. Digital pedagogies refer to teaching – learning approaches in which new technologies change the way we teach. From the thirty postgraduate students in the unit, there were different responses to digital pedagogies. Some felt it transformed their learning while others resisted and did not participate in the interactive spirit of the class.

e-Portfolios have the potential not only to act as repositories for student artefacts, but to provide a powerful tool for reflection in learning. This paper details a study within a doctoral project that investigated the use of an ePortfolio to increase engagement of pre-service teachers in the process of reflection. The learning environment utilized the PebblePad ePortfolio platform to facilitate the Enculturation Teaching Model specifically by providing exemplars of good practice, opportunities to interact with other students, and activities designed to improve reflective skills. This paper examines the reported engagement of the students with the exemplar and activity prompts used within the ePortfolio platform to facilitate reflection, and how students engaged with the ePortfolio as technology. Issues that arose throughout the implementation are also discussed. The paper concludes with recommended revisions and refinements for future iterations of similar learning environments.

In this presentation I will describe the initial stages of an OLT project which aims to investigate how the use of Web2.0 technologies can enable a more participatory process to support higher degree research supervision and bring reform to this field. According to the Grattan Institute Report, Mapping Australian Higher Education, most Australian universities are not ranked in the top 50 in the world for research, although they have been improving their standing over time (Norton, 2012, p. 7). One way to improve research outcomes in the higher education system is by dramatically changing training for higher degree research in universities. There is a strong need to improve supervision of higher degree research students in order to increase completion rates, reduce the high level of dropouts and improve low levels of completion within the time limits. The project team will take an innovative approach to this issue by using technology to facilitate the process of training higher degree research students. With a seed grant, this project will involve trialling existing technologies to support supervisors and students in two universities and conducting a feasibility study.

A key challenge for university professionals is to identify how to construct more interactive, engaging and student-centred environments that promote 21st century skills and encourage selfdirected learning. Existing research suggests the use of real-life tasks supported by new technologies, together with access to the vast array of open educational resources on the Internet, have the potential to improve the quality of online learning. This paper describes how an authentic online professional development course for higher education practitioners was designed and implemented using a learning management system (LMS) and an open companion website. It also briefly discusses how the initial iteration was evaluated and identifies recommendations for improving future iterations of the course