Learning, cognition and motivation
Learning, cognition, and motivation are key elements in educational development. Learning refers to the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information, knowledge, and behaviour. Cognition refers to forms of knowing and awareness including thought, judgement, expectations, and attitude. Motivation refers to the impetus that gives purpose, energy, and direction to individuals' actions, and activities. Together, learning, cognition, and motivation--as well as the real world contexts in which these occur--are vital to our understanding of how to best promote the sustained and quality acquisition of important skills and attributes in learners; how to address core cognitive processes and thought repertoires to maximise engagement in learning and achievement; and, how to inspire learners to persist and engage with academic tasks in purposeful and well-directed ways.
Researchers in this area include:
| Associate Professor Janette Bobis | Associate Professor, Mathematics Education Keywords: mathematics education, teacher professional development, teacher knowledge, motivation and engagement in mathematics, mental computation |
| Dr Susan Colmar | Program Director, School Counselling/School Psychology MTeach; Acting Associate Dean, Undergraduate/Graduate-entry (Policy & Programs); Senior Lecturer Keywords: language and literacy assessments and interventions |
| Associate Professor David Evans | Associate Professor, Special Education; Course Coordinator, MEd(Special and Inclusive Education); Director, Bachelor of Education Honours Program Keywords: Special education, inclusive education, universal design, literacy, numeracy |
| Dr Paul Ginns | Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology; Research Progress Manager – Division of Doctoral Studies |
| Professor Peter Goodyear | Professor, Education; Co-director, Centre for Research on Computer Supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo Research Centre); Australian Laureate Fellow |
| Professor Michael J. Jacobson | Professor and Chair, Education; Co-director, Centre for Research on Computer Supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo); Deputy Director, Institute for Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education Keywords: design of learning technologies, intelligent agent augmented virtual worlds, learning about complex systems, theoretical & methodological implications of complexity, knowledge transfer, conceptual change, agent-based modeling, computational social science |
| Professor Andrew Martin | Professorial Research Fellow Keywords: motivation, engagement, achievement, quantitative methods |
| Professor Peter Reimann | Professor of Education, CoCo Research Centre |
| Dr Louise Sutherland | Senior Lecturer, Division of Undergraduate and Pre-service Programs; Program Director, MTeach(Secondary); Co-ordinator Science Curriculum K-12 |
| Dr Kate Thompson | Senior Research Associate; Postdoctoral Research Associate |
| Associate Professor Richard Walker | Associate Professor in Educational Psychology; Co-ordinator, Master of Education (Educational Psychology) Keywords: sociocultural, motivation, learning, identity, achievement |
| Dr Jennifer Way | Senior Lecturer, Mathematics Education; Associate Dean Undergraduate & Preservice Programs (Policies & Programs) Keywords: mathematics, primary, technologies, engagement, pedagogy, teacher development |
| Dr Lindy Woodrow | Senior Lecturer in TESOL; Director, China Education Centre; Research Training Manager Keywords: English-language learning, Confucian-heritage learners, second-language motivation, anxiety and self-beliefs, academic writing, international students |
| Mr David Ashe | PhD candidate, CoCo Research Centre; Postgraduate Fellow (CoCo) |
| Ms Polly Lai | Research Associate; PhD candidate |
| Honorary Professor Anne Burns | Honorary Professor |