Promoting interdisciplinary secondary mathematics and science teaching through real-world tasks: A cross-national study in Australia and Indonesia

Building STEM capacity across the population and increasing teacher capacity and STEM teaching quality are critical. This project will embed real-world tasks and multiple theoretical frameworks to enhance secondary students’ scientific and mathematical literacy. It employs multi-tiered design research and contemporary video-capture to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in mathematics and science in secondary schools in Australia and Indonesia. The project has been extended to include counterparts from Malaysia: Tuanku Bainun Teachers’ Institute funded by Faculty of Arts and Education Small Grant in 2017. The rich data collected from Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia allowed the commonalities and differences in practice that relate to different cultural-historical traditions of these countries to be explored in addition to building stronger international collaboration. The research team and teachers work collaboratively to build capacity, agency and ownership, which is a key to sustained changes in teachers’ practice.

Team members:

• Dr. Wanty Widjaja,
• Associate Professor Peter Hubber,
• Dr. George Arranda

Funding body:  Deakin University REDI Research Development Grant (2016)