Australia-wide consensus was reached on seven core concepts of physiology, which included homeostasis, a fundamental concept for students to understand as they develop their basic knowledge of physiological regulatory mechanisms. The term homeostasis is most commonly used to describe how the internal environment of mammalian systems maintains…

Few would argue the value of learning progressions in providing useful structures for selecting and sequencing in a developmental manner the key components of an 'intended curriculum'. Yet, there are pervading issues around what is meant by a developmental sequence, along with how they are used to assess what learners know, understand and can do.…

While interdisciplinary approaches in the STEM subjects are widely advocated there are concerns that disciplinary learning can be compromised, especially in mathematics. The Interdisciplinary Mathematics and Science (IMS) project is a three-year longitudinal study in four Victorian primary schools that has developed a pedagogical approach to…

Hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) is a potentially fatal condition caused by a Rhesus (Rh) antigen incompatibility between a mother and fetus. As a result, determining the Rh status of expectant parents is a routine clinical assessment. Both the physiological and immunological basis of this condition are taught to undergraduate students. At…

Among a sample of 2,071 Australian high school students nested within 188 science classrooms, the present study explored the role of science teachers' "load reduction instruction" (LRI; instruction that seeks to reduce cognitive load by appropriately balancing explicit instruction with guided autonomy) in student- and classroom-level…

Australia has a National Numeracy Learning Progression (NNLP) that is strongly aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. This article examines how a sub-element within this progression could be impacting students' learning of Science. This sub-element is firmly based on Mathematics education research as to how students build their…

Learning to teach science out-of-field (OOF)--teaching science without the required qualifications or specializations--raises a number of challenges for teachers. This paper uses a spatial-temporal lens to examine teachers' experiences of learning to teaching science subjects OOF over time. The analysis draws on longitudinal interviews with OOF…

One of the major factors affecting student learning is feedback. Although the importance of feedback has been recognized in educational institutions, dramatic changes--such as bigger class sizes and a more diverse student population--challenged the provision of effective feedback. In light of these changes, educators have increasingly been using…

Systematic changes to higher education curriculum typically occur within the extended timeframes of formal curriculum review processes. Programmes need to be reviewed periodically for internal and external accountability or to determine whether the curriculum has lost its coherence due to the accumulative effect of continual small-scale changes.…

The aim of this article is to foster dialogue between proponents of Alexander's notion of dialogic teaching and those working with educational linguistics--in particular those working with systemic functional theory. To this end, the article begins by highlighting important points of alignment between dialogic teaching and systemic theory: their…

This paper reports multi-layered analyses of student learning in a science classroom using the theoretical lens of Distributed Cognition (Hollan et al. 1999; Hutchins 1995). Building on the insights generated from previous research employing Distributed Cognition, the particular focus of this study has been placed on the "public space of…

This research-based volume presents a substantive, panoramic view of ways in which Australia and countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America engage in educational programs and practices to transform the learning processes and outcomes of their students. It reveals and analyzes national and global trajectories in key areas of…

This paper investigates various approaches to learning and their effect on performance of a cohort of international students in two different pedagogical environments. The effect of approaches to learning on performance was determined by using Cohen's "d" with Hedges "g" correction. Coe's spread sheet was used for the purpose.…

This study aims to add to the growing research related to the implementation of non-traditional writing tasks in classrooms to encourage science literacy. A secondary reanalysis methodology was employed to review student interviews collected as a part of several individual studies during a ten year research program. This method established an…

In this article, we articulate five principles of curriculum design and illustrate their application in a third-year undergraduate course for environmental and ecological scientists. In this way, we provide a practical framework for others wishing to enhance their students' learning. To apply the five principles, we created a learning environment…