- Mawson Lakes, South Australia
- Monash University, Education, Adjunctadd
INCORPORATING DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT TASKS TO GAUGE STUDENT UNDERSTANDINGS OF PLANETARY PROCESSES Debra Panizzon1, John Pegg1, & Steven McGee2 ... open-response question in terms of the SOLO model (Biggs & Collis, 1982, 1991; Pegg, ...
... analysed. This paper investigates students' understandings of diffusion through the application of a cognitive structural perspective provided by the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome model devised by Biggs and... more
... analysed. This paper investigates students' understandings of diffusion through the application of a cognitive structural perspective provided by the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome model devised by Biggs and Collis. ...
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Panizzon, DL & Bond, T., 2006. Exploring Conceptual Understandings of Diffusion and Osmosis by Senior High School and Undergraduate University Science Students. In Applications of Rasch Measurement in Science Education. Maple Grove,... more
Panizzon, DL & Bond, T., 2006. Exploring Conceptual Understandings of Diffusion and Osmosis by Senior High School and Undergraduate University Science Students. In Applications of Rasch Measurement in Science Education. Maple Grove, Minnesota: Journal of Applied ...
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Australia. s education system has attracted much recognition over the last few years due to the above average achievement of our students when compared to other OECD countries in large-scale international tests in science, numeracy and... more
Australia. s education system has attracted much recognition over the last few years due to the above average achievement of our students when compared to other OECD countries in large-scale international tests in science, numeracy and literacy. However, when these ...
To undertake rigorous research in biology and ecology, students must be able to pose testable hypotheses, design decisive studies, and analyse results using suitable statistics. Yet, few biology students excel in topics involving... more
To undertake rigorous research in biology and ecology, students must be able to pose testable hypotheses, design decisive studies, and analyse results using suitable statistics. Yet, few biology students excel in topics involving statistics and most attempt to evade optional courses in ...
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DESCRIPTION Paper presented at the Australasian Science Education Research Association Annual Conference, (July 2014). Melbourne, Victoria. Abstract In an era of Standards and teacher accountability, the question of how to determine... more
DESCRIPTION Paper presented at the Australasian Science Education Research Association Annual Conference, (July 2014). Melbourne, Victoria. Abstract In an era of Standards and teacher accountability, the question of how to determine pedagogical expertise has become all the more important. Shulman introduced the construct of pedagogical reasoning to describe teachers’ thinking as they plan and reflect on ways of making content material pedagogically powerful. His work is much cited, but rich descriptions and analyses of the pedagogical reasoning of expert (as distinct from merely experienced) teachers are rare. This session reports issues and early data from a new project in this area. The project has had two stages, both involving collaborative teacher research. A pilot project, involving teachers skilled at promoting metacognition, revealed that the teachers’ pedagogical reasoning involved a constant interplay between (at least) four foci, framing and sequencing “big ideas”, genera...
This exploratory study investigated the role and importance of peers in providing personal and academic support for Year 11 female students, enrolled in physics and biology. While these areas of support had been identified in earlier... more
This exploratory study investigated the role and importance of peers in providing personal and academic support for Year 11 female students, enrolled in physics and biology. While these areas of support had been identified in earlier research by Holland and Eisenhart (1981), this study attempted to investigate further their importance within an Australian context. Questionnaires, completed by one hundred female students, were analysed using Principal Components Analysis and MANOVA. The statistical analysis found no significant differences between the six relevant factors and science subjects, however, significant differences emerged in relation to schools and particular factors. Subsequently, six interviews were conducted with selected students to elaborate upon the statistical differences that emerged from these results. The interviews corroborated the findings of the quantitative analysis and provided explanations for these differences. Overall, the results of this study suggest that while the supportive role provided by peers is similar regardless of the science subject undertaken by a female student this role varies between schools.
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... Guest Editorial. The knowledge explosion in science education: Balancing practical and theoretical knowledge. Andrew Boulton 1,* ,; Debra Panizzon 2. Article first published online: 7 DEC 1998. DOI:... more
... Guest Editorial. The knowledge explosion in science education: Balancing practical and theoretical knowledge. Andrew Boulton 1,* ,; Debra Panizzon 2. Article first published online: 7 DEC 1998. DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199805)35:5<475::AID-TEA1>3.0.CO;2-M. ...
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Much of the literature around rural education highlights broader issues and challenges faced by teachers in rural and remote secondary schools with little emphasis on the detail of teacher pedagogical knowledge and classroom practice that... more
Much of the literature around rural education highlights broader issues and challenges faced by teachers in rural and remote secondary schools with little emphasis on the detail of teacher pedagogical knowledge and classroom practice that might be specific to these very different contexts. This is a serious oversight in country like Australia and Canada where the first teaching position for many graduates may be in small rural schools with few “experienced” mentors in their discipline areas. This is most particularly the case in fields such as the physical sciences. While the key components of quality teaching are relevant regardless of context, it is the way in which teachers apply, develop and implement their pedagogical knowledge to meet the needs of particular students that becomes the real craft of teaching. This chapter explores challenges likely to be confronted by secondary science teachers in rural/remote schools in Australia, and pedagogies and practices that are appropriate responses to these challenges. These challenges include engaging students in small senior classes, multigrade teaching, benchmarking practices that enhance student learning, maintaining academic standards (particularly in senior classes), and using contexts to teach science that are relevant to students and meet curriculum requirements. The implications of these experiences are considered in relation to preservice and inservice teacher education.
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Aligned with recent changes to syllabuses in Australia is an assessment regime requiring teachers to identify what their students ‘know’ and ‘can do’ in terms of the quality of understanding demonstrated. This paper describes the... more
Aligned with recent changes to syllabuses in Australia is an assessment regime requiring teachers to identify what their students ‘know’ and ‘can do’ in terms of the quality of understanding demonstrated. This paper describes the experiences of 25 secondary science and mathematics teachers in rural schools in New South Wales as they explore the changing nature of assessment and its implications on their classroom practice. To help reconceptualise these changes, teachers were introduced to a cognitive structural model as a theoretical framework. Throughout the 2-year study, teachers attended a series of professional development sessions and received ongoing consultative support. Each session was taped and transcribed while interviews were conducted with each teacher at the end of both years. Analysis of these data using a grounded theory approach identified seven major components of teacher practice impacted by the study. The core component was questioning while the six contributing components were teachers’ pedagogical practices, attention to cognition, teaching strategies, assessment linked to pedagogy, classroom advantages for students, and classroom advantages for teachers. These findings represent a major shift in teachers’ perceptions of assessment from a focus on the accumulation of students’ marks to one of diagnosis as a means of directing teaching to enhance students’ scientific and mathematical understandings.