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Staff Details

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Science

Short Description

I contribute to all areas of the BEd Science programme and Curriculum Studies (both in WAU and Numeracy) from BEd 1 to BEd 4.

My current teaching duties and interests cover the following BEd undergraduate courses:

• Bed 1 - Foundation studies in the Physical Sciences (Primary/Post-Primary).


• BEd 2 - Further Studies in the Physical Sciences (Primary/Post-Primary).


• BEd 3 - Assessment of pedagogical practice of scientific concepts and methodologies.


• BEd 4 - Supervision of Research projects in Mathematics and Science.

Current Research

I am a member of the STEAM Education Research Group at St Mary’s in which I am involved in the following research projects:

• STEM – Learning design informed by analytics (involving the design of metrics to evaluate conceptual understanding).


• STEM – An impact analysis of the efficacy of the “Microbot” (“SMART” technology) project in the development of problem-solving skills of young learners (and correlation of findings to “right-brain” and “left- brain” thinkers).


Other research interests include the following:

The role of computerised algebra packages (specifically GEOGEBRA) in the teaching/learning of Shape and Space at Post-Primary level.

I supervise BEd 4 independent research projects on a wide range of topical issues informing the curriculum content and classroom practice of Numeracy, the World Around Us and Science.

I am generally interested in exploring the reasons for the persistence of certain misconceptions in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences and their influence upon the progression of the learner.

Recent Reports
“Analysis of Foundation and Higher Tier Data as part of GCSE Mathematics Review” (2013). Internal document in collaboration with CCEA (presented to the Department of Education) using item-level data to illuminate gender imbalance and to quantify the effect of social privation on outcomes for GCSE Mathematics. Based upon candidate responses, the report also details which areas of the Mathematics syllabus are best and least understood as part of an ongoing and more in-depth review.

Publications
A full list of my publications can be found under the name ‘Higgins’ in the following peer-reviewed journals:

Proceedings of the Royal Society

Physical Review

Journal of Physics


Profession Services and Societies
I am a member of the Association for Science Education.

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