Assoc Prof Bruce Waldrip - Researcher Profile

Bruce Waldrip

Address

Monash University
Wellington Road, Clayton

Biography

Professor Bruce Waldrip

Bruce Waldrip is leading a unique approach to education that is generating huge interest around the world. It’s called representational reasoning and assessment, and while it has a strong student focus, it also means student don’t get the answers – at least, not straight away.

It was during doctoral studies in Papua New Guinea that Bruce noticed something different about the way children learn. While some could easily navigate the bush, or remember the names of hundreds of bones in the body, others struggled with a small jigsaw puzzle. This led him to question how people learn and defined his future research. 

Until now, education research has taken the expert’s point of view, but Bruce’s research focuses on the student. Victorian schools in the Gippsland region were the first to benefit from this new approach to science teaching. The feedback so far has been positive.

“If a teacher just gives an answer, students don't know why. But if teachers ask good questions, students can prove how robust their understanding is. It’s not just about saying whether you’re right or wrong, but, about 'What made you say that?' or 'What made you think that?' And we’re getting answers we didn’t even realise they could give.”

In recent trials, it was found that students who apply their logic and reasoning to problems are more engaged. This leads to better learning outcomes, particularly with low-achieving, low-socio-economic children. 

“With representational reasoning, our students do better, understand better and actually learn better. In a typical exam children either write little or nothing, or circle multiple choice. True-or-false tests might give good results but it doesn’t teach problem-solving and children can’t operate outside those parameters.”

Not only is the approach more fine-tuned than today’s standard testing, it also holds great potential in other areas, from preschool to university level. 

“It’s about getting the student involved. So traditionally, Newton’s laws are taught in a short period of time: this is speed and acceleration and here's the formula. With our new approach, probing is very important. We throw a ball in the air and ask, 'What's happened to the speed or acceleration?' It might take three to six periods but it’s amazing what else they learn in the process. “

Bruce says one of the greatest challenges is a lack of incentives for good teachers. But with a little extra investment, it pays off in the long run. 

“Our research shows that children are more ready to listen to the teacher after they have a discussion that links back to their experience. The teachers immediately see the sense in it. It's not just telling them, it's getting them to show their thinking. You have to listen to the kids. You have to make it relevant. We also do role-plays and ask the kids to present their answer to the class. And, many children say they don’t understand until they see someone else explain it.” 

Bruce says it’s important to understand the role of culture in learning and the different ways of learning that come from it. One example is how students in PNG did not ask questions out of respect for the teacher. 

“When I realised this, it caused a huge change in what I was doing and how we approached learning.”

“You don't teach people to think by telling them they're wrong or right. You don't just change people's behaviour by telling them the answer. You've got to get them to think it through.”

Bruce works closely with literacy expert Vaughan Prain. “We started talking and we realised that if you don’t know something, you can’t communicate it. So one thing we do now is to get our students (from preschool to university level) to write the answers and get a lower-level student to circle what they don’t know. Our students have to do more than just say they’re wrong. They have to put things in a way the lower-level students will understand.”

“I’m working with a third-year physics class at university and we’re looking at the Schrödinger equation. It’s all about hydrogen atoms that sometimes produce different number of lines. So my question is, why does the same thing give a different number of lines in the experiment? And how do you explain that to someone else? It took a while but the students came back with an analogy. So, just like a team of soccer players move around positions and pass the ball, the same thing happens with the atoms. Sometimes they have the ball and sometimes not.”

Bruce says this new approach is more interesting to students and builds up broad concepts so when younger students get to primary or secondary school, they are ready to learn

"Our students say that it can be a bit frustrating for a teacher to not give them the answer, but it causes them to think more deeply.”

Bruce has earned a string of Australian Research Council (ARC) research designed to boost science education grants.

Research & Supervision Interests

    science teaching and learning

    assessment

    student reasoning

    primary science

    secondary science

    student generated representations

    innovative use of technology and room use to improve learning

Keywords

science learning and teaching, assessment, culture

Qualifications

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Institution: Curtin University of Technology
Year awarded: 1994
MASTERS OF APPLIED SCIENCE (SCIENCE EDUCATION)
Institution: Curtin University of Technology
Year awarded: 1989
BACHEOR OF EDUCATION
Institution: Brisbane CAE
Year awarded: 1984
BACHELOR OF APPLIED SCIENCE
Institution: Canberra CAE
Year awarded: 1977

Publications

Book Chapters

Waldrip, B.G., Prain, V.R., 2012, Learning from and through representations in science, in Second International Handbook of Science Education Part One, eds Barry J. Fraser, Kenneth G. Tobin and Campbell J. McRobbie, Springer Science+Business Media, Dordrecht Netherlands, pp. 145-155.

She, H., Yore, L., Anderson, J.O., Erduran, S., Graber, W., Jones, A., Klumpers, J., Parker, S., Rollnick, M., Sherwood, R., Waldrip, B.G., 2009, Funding patterns and priorities: an international perspective, in Quality Research in Literacy and Science Education: International Perspectives and Gold Standards, eds Mack C. Shelley II, Larry D. Yore and Brian Hand, Springer, Netherlands, pp. 467-509.

Prain, V.R., Waldrip, B.G., 2009, Representation and learning in science in Australasia, in The World of Science Education: Handbook of Research in Australasia, eds Stephen M. Ritchie, Sense Publishers, The Netherlands, pp. 69-84.

Dorman, J.P., Fisher, D.L., Waldrip, B.G., 2006, Learning environments, students' perceptions of assessment, academic efficacy and attitudes to science: A LISREL analysis, in Contemporary Approaches to Research on Learning Environments, eds Darrell Fisher and Myint Swe Khine, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore, pp. 1-28.

Fisher, D.L., Waldrip, B.G., 2003, Teachers' confidence in primary science and teacher-student interactions, in Science Education Research in the Knowledge-based Society, eds Dimitris Psillos, Petros Kariotoglou, Vassilis Tselfes, Evripides Hatzikraniotis, George Fassoulopoulos and Maria Kallery, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands, pp. 405-413.

Journal Articles

Sutopo, S., Liliasari, D., Waldrip, B.G., Rusdiana, D., 2012, Impact of representational approach on the improvement of students' understanding of acceleration, Journal of Physical Education Indonesia [P], vol 8, issue 2, National Scientific Journals of Unnes, Indonesia, pp. 161-173.

Waldrip, B.G., Prain, V.R., 2012, Reasoning through representing in school science, Teaching Science [P], vol 58, issue 4, Australian Science Teachers Association, Deakin ACT Australia, pp. 14-18.

Waldrip, B., Prain, V., 2011, Developing an understanding of ions in junior secondary school chemistry, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education [E], vol E, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 1-23.

Fisher, D., den Brok, P., Waldrip, B., Dorman, J., 2011, Interpersonal behaviour styles of primary education teachers during science lessons, Learning Environments Research [E], vol 14, issue 3, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 187-204.

Prain, V., Waldrip, B., 2010, Representing science literacies: An introduction, Research in Science Education [P], vol 40, issue 1, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 1-3.

Waldrip, B., Prain, V., Carolan, J., 2010, Using multi-modal representations to improve learning in junior secondary science, Research in Science Education [P], vol 40, issue 1, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 65-80.

Waldrip, B.G., Fisher, D.L., Dorman, J.P., 2009, Identifying exemplary science teachers through students' perceptions of their learning environment, Learning Environments Research [P], vol 12, issue 1, Springer, Netherlands, pp. 1-13.

Waldrip, B.G., Fisher, D.L., Dorman, J.P., 2009, Identifying exemplary science teachers through their students' perceptions of the assessment process, Research in Science and Technology Education [P], vol 27, issue 1, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxon, UK, pp. 117-129.

Knight, B.A., Waldrip, B.G., 2009, Student teachers' perceptions of science learning Licenciados: Las percepciones al aprender ciencia, Journal of Science Education: revista de edicacion en ciencias [P], vol 10, issue 1, Foundation Journal of Science Education, Colombia, pp. 5-9.

Chandrasegaran, A.L., Treagust, D., Waldrip, B.G., Chandrasegaran, A., 2009, Students' dilemmas in reaction stoichiometry problem solving: deducing the limiting reagent in chemical reactions, Chemistry Education Research and Practice [P], vol 10, issue 1, University of Ioannina, Department of Chemistry, Greece, pp. 14-23.

Prain, V.R., Waldrip, B.G., 2008, An exploratory study of teachers' perspectives about using multi-modal representations of concepts to enhance science learning, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education [P], vol 8, issue 1, Routledge, United States, pp. 5-24.

Waldrip, B.G., Reene, P., Fisher, D.L., Dorman, J.P., 2008, Changing primary students' perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviours in science, Research in Science Education [P], vol 38, issue 2, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 213-235.

Carolan, J., Prain, V.R., Waldrip, B.G., 2008, Using representations for teaching and learning in science, Teaching Science [P], vol 54, issue 1, Australian Science Teachers Association, Australia, pp. 18-23.

Dorman, J.P., Waldrip, B.G., Fisher, D.L., 2008, Using the student perceptions of assessment questionnaire (SPAQ) to develop an assessment typology for science classes, Journal of Science Education: revista de edicacion en ciencias [P], vol 9, issue 1, Foundation Journal of Science Education, Colombia, pp. 13-17.

Waldrip, B.G., Timothy, J.T., Wilikai, W., 2007, Pedagogic principles in negotiating cultural conflict: a Melanesian example, International Journal of Science Education [P], vol 29, issue 1, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 101-122.

Waldrip, B.G., Fisher, D.L., 2007, Student perceptions of teacher-student interpersonal behaviour and cultural factors of learning environment in metropolitan and country schools, Education in Rural Australia [P], vol 17, issue 2, Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia, Australia, pp. 37-54.

Dhindsa, H.S., Omar, K., Waldrip, B.G., 2007, Upper secondary Bruneian science students' perceptions of assessment, International Journal of Science Education [P], vol 29, issue 10, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 1261-1280.

Prain, V.R., Waldrip, B.G., 2006, An exploratory study of teachers' and students' use of multi-modal representations of concepts in primary science, International Journal of Science Education [P], vol 28, issue 15, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 1843-1866.

Waldrip, B.G., Vaughan, P.R., 2006, Changing representations to learn primary science concepts, Teaching Science [P], vol 52, issue 4, Australian Science Teachers Association, Australia, pp. 17-21.

Waldrip, B.G., Prain, V.R., Carolan, J., 2006, Learning junior secondary science through multi-modal representations, Electronic Journal of Science Education [E], vol 11, issue 1, Southwestern University, Education Department, United States, pp. 87-107.

Fisher, D.L., Waldrip, B.G., den Brok, P., 2005, Students' perceptions of primary teachers' interpersonal behavior and of cultural dimensions in the classroom environment, International Journal of Educational Research [P], vol 43, issue 1-2, Pergamon, United Kingdom, pp. 25-38.

Pauka, S., Treagust, D., Waldrip, B.G., 2005, Village elders' and secondary school students' explanations of natural phenomena in Papua New Guinea, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education [P], vol 3, issue 2, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 213-238.

Tytler, R., Waldrip, B.G., Griffiths, M., 2004, Windows into practice: constructing effective science teaching and learning in a school change initiative, International Journal of Science Education [P], vol 26, issue 2, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 171-194.

Condren, T., Waldrip, B.G., Knight, B.A., 2003, Being critical of critical literacy teaching, English Leadership Quarterly [P], vol 26, issue 1, National Council of Teachers of English, United States, pp. 13-18.

Waldrip, B.G., Fisher, D.L., 2003, Identifying exemplary science teachers through their classroom interactions with students, Learning Environments Research [P], vol 6, issue 1, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 157-174.

Conference Proceedings

Tytler, R., Hubber, P.J., Johansson, A.M., Wickman, P., Prain, V.R., Carolan, J., Waldrip, B.G., Duschl, R., 2012, Learning science through engaging with its epistemic representational practices, E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2011 Conference, Lyon France, 5 September 2011 to 9 September 2011, European Science Education Research Association, France, pp. 1-15.

Bertram, A., Waldrip, B., 2012, Technology as a tool for teaching and learning:secondary teachers' views, American Educational Research Association 2012 Annual Meeting Program Non Satis Scire To Know Is Not Enough, 13 April 2012 to 17 April 2012, American Educational Research Association, Washington DC USA, p. 273.

Prain, V., Waldrip, B., 2011, Assessment from a representational perspective, Book of Abstracts and Extended Summaries, 30 August 2011 to 3 September 2011, University of Exeter, Exeter United Kingdom, p. 1249.

Abdurrahmann, A., Waldrip, B., Liliasari, D., Rusli, D., 2011, Impact on learning using a representational approach to teaching quantum physics, American Educational Research Association 2011, 8 April 2011 to 12 April 2011, American Educational Research Association, Washington DC USA, pp. 1-11.

Waldrip, B., Prain, V., 2010, The effect of an explicit representational focus on student summative assessment in science, AERA Annual Meeting 2010, 30 April 2010 to 4 May 2010, American Educational Research Association, Washington DC USA, pp. 1-5.

Waldrip, B.G., Fisher, D.L., Dorman, J.P., 2008, Students' perceptions of assessment process: questionnaire development and validation, Sustainable Communities and Sustainable Environments: Beyond Cultural Boundaries, 16-19 January, 2008, Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA Australia, pp. 561-568.

Waldrip, B.G., Prain, V.R., Carolan, J., 2008, Using multi-modal representations to improve learning in junior secondary science, Impact of Science Education Research on Public Policy, March 30, 2008 - April 2, 2008, Routledge, Yorkshire, UK, pp. 1-22.

Waldrip, B.G., Fisher, D.L., Churach, D., 2003, Identifying better primary science teachers using student teacher interactions, Making Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Accessible to All, 15-18 January, 2003, Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA Australia, pp. 549-560.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers? engagement with technology: A Saudi Arabian perspectiv.
Supervisors:
Waldrip, B (Main), Bertram, A (Associate).
Program of Study:
(MASTER'S BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
How the historical development of the fluids concept could offer a different approach for physics.
Supervisors:
Bertram, A (Main), Waldrip, B (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
The effects of student generated representations on student engagement and acheivement.
Supervisors:
Waldrip, B (Main), Plunkett, M (Associate).