STEM Sensemaking Lab

The STEM Sensemaking Lab brings together academics, higher degree research (HDR) students, and collaborators from the University of Queensland School of Education and across UQ. We explore teaching and learning within and across STEM disciplines, with a focus on understanding and responsibly shaping the world. Through research, partnership, and innovation, we seek new ways to strengthen STEM education and create opportunities for learners, educators, and communities to thrive.

We seek to understand how STEM education can empower people to contribute responsibly to their communities and to the future of society. Our research investigates how learners engage with powerful ideas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and how these experiences develop curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving. We envision STEM education as a space for approaching and making sense of complex problems, reasoning with evidence, imagining new possibilities, and developing the confidence to contribute responsibly to our communities and society.

Working in partnership with educators, schools, communities, industry, and policymakers, we investigate the conditions that enable both learners and teachers to thrive. Our research examines how curriculum, assessment, professional learning, educational innovation, teaching resources, and policy can create meaningful, equitable, and engaging opportunities for STEM learning. By connecting research with practice, we generate pathways to strengthen teaching, inform decision-making, and expand opportunities. Together, with our partners and supporters, we contribute to building a future in which STEM education empowers people not only to succeed in a changing world but to shape it for the better.

Staff

HDR Students

Andrew Marks

(J. Visnovska & S. Heimans)

Ilham Phalosa Reswara

(K. Makar & J. Miller)

Shinta Sari

(J. Miller & K. Makar)

Divya Khetarpal

(E. Ross & J. Visnovska)

Murtafia

(K. Makar & J. Visnovska)

Collaborators

Michael Jennings

School of Mathematics and Physics

Fraction as Measure: Teaching fractions in the context of proportionality

We explore and develop an instructional path in which the introduction of fractions and supporting proportional reasoning coincide. In this path, unlike in current curricular approaches, quantitative understanding of fractions and proportional phenomena is the central aim and a resource for subsequent mathematical learning. Key to this approach is the development of number from its’ roots in measurement of continuous quantity (in addition to its’ roots in counting). The project also involves exploring the historical mathematical and pedagogical events with the aim to clarify the reasons and purposes for the current curricular grounding of how mathematical ideas are introduced in classrooms, and the development of resources for teaching that would make the adoption and adaptation of the instructional path viable for teachers.

Teaching primary mathematics in multi-level classrooms

How do teachers deliver quality mathematics education across multi-age classrooms? This research partners directly with educators to design practical curriculum and assessment tools tailored to the real challenges of multi-level teaching. Through sustained professional learning and classroom-based modelling, focused on representations, hands-on materials, and oral language, teachers explore innovative approaches that engage all learners, regardless of age, background, or location. By building collaborative, scalable solutions grounded in everyday classroom realities, the project aims to strengthen teacher practice, improve student outcomes, and advance equitable mathematics education for communities that have too often been left behind.

Learning from Country: Co-Designing STEM and Financial Maths Tasks with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities

Imagine a classroom where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students lead the learning, drawing on generations of knowledge already held by their own communities. This project makes that vision real. Working directly with community knowledge holders, this Indigenous-led project is co-designing culturally relevant learning experiences with Bundjalung Country (Minyungbul/Coodjingburra) and the Torres Strait Island communities. From entrepreneurship to place-based STEM inquiry, the project centres local voices and priorities, with knowledge preservation at its core, to co-design STEM and financial literacy tasks grounded in local wisdom and a place-based framework built to scale. By connecting communities across Queensland and New South Wales, the research highlights both the diversity and shared strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems while supporting meaningful learning for primary students. It's a model that backs what communities already know works, turning cultural strength into stronger outcomes and community voice into lasting change.

Curriculum as Lived Practice: Mathematics Teacher Agency and Decision-Making

Curriculum is not simply implemented; it is interpreted, negotiated, and enacted. This project explores how teachers, as curriculum makers, work alongside school leaders, curriculum developers, and policy actors to interpret, adapt, and shape mathematics curriculum across development, implementation, planning, and classroom enactment. It examines how professional judgment and teacher agency influence curriculum translation, particularly within increasingly prescribed systems and the use of scripted materials. The project investigates the role of teacher agency in mathematics curriculum making and develops a model to support responsive, equitable, and coherent curriculum practices.