Cross-country comparative studies of chemistry education teacher practices

An ongoing collaboration has been established with international chemistry education researchers to develop notable comparative chemistry educational research of direct impact to teaching and learning in schools. The initial iteration of this program has involved researchers from Slovenia, Estonia and Australia undertaking an international comparative analysis of teacher reasoning for, and practice of, demonstrations in the chemistry classroom. A discourse analysis is investigating how teachers in different cultures open up opportunities for students to engage in scientific reasoning, specifically in this case to facilitate the formation of connections between the macro and sub-micro levels of chemistry when observing or participating in chemistry demonstrations, and how these differences are framed by teacher beliefs and particular cultural traditions. Further iterations of the research plan to gather researchers from more countries, to further investigate cross-cultural differences and similarities to teacher practice in the chemistry classroom.

Team members:

• Seamus Delaney,
• Iztok Devetak (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia),
• Professor Ruth Shimmo(Tallinn University, Estonia),
• Ms Katrin Soika (Tallinn University, Estonia).

Funding body: Research grant scheme at Deakin University.