Australian Government Citation for Dr Penny Van Bergen

The Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans, announced the winners of the 2012 Citation Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning on Monday. The Awards are designed to recognise quality teaching practice and outstanding contributions to student learning. Winners will receive their citations at a special ceremony to be held on September 25.

Dr Penny Van Bergen, received her award for 'enhancing pre-service teachers' passion for learning by promoting a positive learning community and developing opportunities for research engagement.'

Congratulations to Dr Penny Van Bergen for her Macquarie Research Development Grant:

Memory scaffolding across the lifespan: Does remembering together across generations protect memory?
Our memories of the past underpin our wellbeing. We share memories socially and use them to establish a sense of self. For older adults, therefore, memory decline is a distressing disruption. This project tests whether remembering with a family member protects older adults' memory. We borrow from developmental research, which shows how parents scaffold young children's developing memory, to look at memory scaffolding (1) between older parents and their now-adult children, (2) across 3 generations of the same families, and (3) in older adults already suffering cognitive decline. This project offers a unique lifespan approach to "memory scaffolding" to inform and ultimately reduce the risk of memory decline in normal ageing and dementia.

Congratulations to Dr Neil Harrison in obtaining the following grants:

• Innovation and Scholarship Program 2012: Teaching on Darug country: using a virtual community to increase the participation of Aboriginal knowledge holders in tertiary teaching ($19,746).
• ARC Discovery Indigenous: Trudgett, Dr Michelle (Indigenous Studies); Page, A/Prof Susan J. (Indigenous Studies); Harrison, Dr Neil (Education), Enhancing the quality of academic supervision provided to Indigenous Australian doctoral students ($109, 000).

Congratulations to Michael Cavanagh

Michael has won the Practical Implications Award for his paper submitted to the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) and will present at next month's conference in Singapore. His paper is titled: 'A Learning Community for Pre-service Secondary Mathematics: Learning With and From Each Other'. It documents how pre-service teachers made fortnightly visits to a local secondary school over one year to observe and teach problem-solving lessons for Year 8 classes.

School of Education and Warawara collaborate on ARC Discovery

 A/Prof Susan Page (Indigenous Studies)

Dr Michelle Trudgett (Indigenous Studies)

and Dr Neil Harrison (Education) were recently awarded an ARC Discovery Indigenous for their project: Enhancing the quality of academic supervision provided to Indigenous Australian doctoral students.

What a year for Dr Linda Graham!

In October, Linda was awarded the prestigious Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (see photo). Following close on the heels of this award, Linda then received the AARE Early Career Researcher Award for her sole-authored conference paper, 'For whose purposes and to what ends? Disproportionate over-representation of Indigenous students in NSW government "Schools for (Very) Specific Purposes"

More Australian Research Council grants for the School of Education

Acclaimed researcher, Associate Professor Joanne Mulligan has won two highly competitive Australian Research Council grants for 2011-2013.

Joanne is principal investigator of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project funded for $165,000; a longitudinal study into transforming children's mathematical and scientific development across Grades 1 to 3. The new project involves two other FoHS academics, Dr Marina Papic, Head of Department, Institute for Early Childhood, and Dr Kerry Hodge, from the Children and Families Research Centre. Additional collaboration is with Professor Lyn English from the Queensland University of Technology

Joanne's second grant, an Australian Research Council Linkages Project for $210,000 on improving numeracy outcomes for young Aboriginal children was won together with Dr Marina Papic (Principal Investigator) and Kate Highfield from Macquarie's Institute of Early Childhood in partnership with Gowrie. The project builds on professional development Dr Papic provided early childhood educators working in Aboriginal-run childcare centres across NSW and ACT over the last four years.

Congratulations to Dr Penny Van Bergen

For being given a citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning through the Dean's Teaching Awards and through the Vice Chancellor's Awards

Congratulations to Dr Matt Bower

For being awarded the Dean's Teaching award for Teaching Excellence

Congratulations to Dr Michael Cavanagh

For being awarded The Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence

Educator recognised for outstanding contribution.

Lecturer Rod Lane receives a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2011, from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council for promoting independent learning and a passion for teaching through an innovative and evidence-based approach to pedagogy and assessment.

Vice Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.

Dr Kerry-Ann O'Sullivan receives her Vice Chancellor's award from the Deputy-Vice Chancellor (Provost), Professor Judyth Sachs. For excellence in supporting English teachers at critical points of professional transitions through the innovative provision of high-quality, engaging and research-led ICT resources.