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Dr. Aibhin Bray
Assistant Professor, Education

Biography

Dr Aibhín Bray is an Assistant Professor in Mathematics Education at the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin.

She previously worked as the co-ordinator of research for Trinity's widening participation programme: Trinity Access. She holds a B.A. (Int) in Mathematics and Italian and an M.Sc. in Computer Science from University College Dublin, and a H.Dip. in Education and a Ph.D. in Technology and Mathematics Education from Trinity College Dublin.

Aibhín has experience in the design and validation of research instruments as well as in large-scale (quantitative and qualitative) data collection and analysis. She is a former teacher of Mathematics and has worked with teachers at national and international levels through a variety of Irish and EU projects.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Aibhín Bray, Emma Berry, Anette Bagger, Brendan Tangney, Supporting Mathematics Teachers in Areas of Educational Disadvantage: A Systematic Literature Review and Implications for Practice, European Conference on Educational Research, Cyprus, August 2024, 2024 Conference Paper, 2024

Eilís Ní Chorcora, Aibhín Bray, Joanne Banks, A Systematic Review of Widening Participation - Exploring the Effectiveness of Outreach Programmes for Students in Second-level Schools, Review of Education, 2023, p36 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Derek Maher & Aibhín Bray, `Please don't forget me!' Transition Year Mathematics - the forgotten middle child? A Delphi Study., Proceedings of the Thirteenth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME13), Thirteenth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, Budapest, Hungary, 10 - 14 July 2023, 2023, pp8 Conference Paper, 2023

Brendan Tangney, Carina Girvan, Eilís Ni Chorcora, Aibhín Bray, Overcoming Barriers to Teaching 21C Skills: The Bridge21 Approach, IRISH EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, 2023, p25 Journal Article, 2023

Aibhín Bray, Carina Girvan, Eilís Ní Chorcora, Students' Perceptions of Pedagogy for 21st Century Learning Instrument (S-POP-21): Concept, Validation, and Initial Results, Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2023, p20 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Brendan Tangney, Carina Girvan, Eilís Ní Chorcora & Aibhín Bray, Overcoming barriers to teaching 21C skills: the Bridge21 approach, Irish Educational Studies, 2023 Journal Article, 2023 DOI

Bray, Aibhin, Devitt, Ann, Banks, Joanne, Sanchez Fuentes, Sergio, Sandoval, Marta, Riviou, Katerina, Byrne, Darren, Flood, Margaret, Reale, Jean, Terrenzio, Silvia, What next for Universal Design for Learning? A Systematic Literature Review of Technology in UDL Implementations at Second Level, British Journal of Educational Technology, 2023, p1 - 26, p22 Journal Article, 2023 URL DOI

Elizabeth Oldham & Aibhín Bray, Innovative experiential practice(s) in teacher education: A case study in an Irish university, The Mathematics Education for the Future Project Symposium: Innovative teaching practices, Oxford, England, August 14-18 2023, edited by Janina Morska & Alan Rogerson , WTM-Verlag, 2023, pp174 - 180 Conference Paper, 2023 DOI

Quantitative Research Methods in, editor(s)Fahie, Declan, Bergin, Shane , Doing Research in Education: A Beginner's Guide, Dublin, Ireland, UCD Press, 2022, [Bray, Aibhín, Banks, Joanne, Devitt, Ann] Book Chapter, 2022 URL

Aibhín Bray & Elizabeth Oldham, An exploration of the use of structured reflection tasks to surface prospective teachers' awareness of TPACK, Twelfth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME12), Bolzano, Italy [online], 2-5 February 2022, edited by Hodgen, J., Geraniou, E., Bolondi,G. & Ferretti, F. , Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and ERME, 2022, pp2514 - 2516 Conference Paper, 2022

Aibhín Bray, Learning Loss in Mathematics: Irish Teachers' Perspectives on the Effects of the Pandemic, Irish Mathematics Teachers' Association Annual Newsletter, (120), 2022, p86 - 94 Journal Article, 2022 URL

Aibhín Bray, Cliona Hannon, Brendan Tangney, Large-scale, design-based research facilitating iterative change in Irish schools - the Trinity Access Approach, Irish Educational Studies, 2022, p1 - 21 Journal Article, 2022 TARA - Full Text DOI

Elizabeth Oldham & Aibhín Bray, Undergraduate mathematics students' reflections on school mathematics curricula after a major curriculum change in Ireland, Building on the Past to Prepare for the Future, 16th International Conference of The Mathematics Education for the Future Project, Cambridge, England, 8-13 August 2022, edited by Janina Morska & Alan Rogerson , WTM Verlag für wissenschaftliche Texte und Medien, Münster, 2022, pp378 - 383 Conference Paper, 2022 DOI

N Bresnihan, A Bray, L Fisher, G Strong, R Millwood, B Tangney, Parental involvement in computer science education and computing attitudes and behaviours in the home: Model and scale development, ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGSCE) 2022, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, March 2-7, 2022, ACM SIGSCE Invited Talk, 2022 URL

Bray, Aibhín, Banks, Joanne, Devitt, Ann and Ní Chorcora, Eilís, Connection before content: using multiple perspectives to examine student engagement during Covid-19 school closures in Ireland, Irish Educational Studies, 40, (2), 2021, p431 - 441 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Nina Bresnihan, Aibhín Bray, Lorraine Fisher, Glenn Strong, Richard Millwood, Brendan Tangney, Parental Involvement in Computer Science Education and Computing Attitudes and Behaviours in the Home: Model and Scale Development, ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 21, (3), 2021, p1 - 24 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Elizabeth Oldham, Aibhín Bray, Melanie Ní Dhuinn, & Jennifer Liston, An analysis of undergraduate mathematicians' reactions and reflections about issues in mathematics education, ATEE Annual Conference 2020/2021: Re-imagining and remaking teacher education, Warsaw [online], 9-11 September 2021, 2021 Conference Paper, 2021

Sullivan K., Bray A., & Tangney B., Developing twenty-first-century skills in out-of-school education: The Bridge21 Transition Year programme, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 30, (4), 2021, p525 - 541 Journal Article, 2021 DOI

Emma Berry, Aibhín Bray, and Elizabeth Oldham, Reflection on Project Maths after Ten Years: To What Extent Have Teaching Methods Changed?, Eighth Conference on Research in Mathematics Education in Ireland : MEI8, Dublin City University [online}, 15-16 October 2021, edited by Mary Kingston and Paul Grimes , DCU Institute of Education, 2021, pp133 - 140 Conference Paper, 2021 DOI TARA - Full Text

Bray, A., Byrne, J. R., Tangney, B., & Oldham, E. , The Bridge21 framework: Impact on teachers and implications for equitable, inclusive classrooms, ATEE Spring Conference 2020-2021, Florence, Italy [online], 28-29 October 2021, edited by Maria Ranieri, Laura Menichetti, Stefano Cuomo, Davide Parmigiani, and Marta Pellegrini , Firenze University Press, 2021, pp151 - 153 Conference Paper, 2021 DOI

Aibhin Bray, Philip Byrne, Michelle O'Kelly, A Short Instrument for Measuring Students' Confidence with Key Skills (SICKS): Development, Validation and Initial Results, Thinking Skills and Creativity, 37, 2020, p1 - 14 Journal Article, 2020 TARA - Full Text

Bray, Aibhín, Ní Chorcora, Eilís, Maguire Donohue, Jen, Banks, Joanne and Devitt, Ann, Post-primary Student Perspectives on Teaching and Learning During Covid-19 School Closures: Lessons learned from Irish Students from schools in a Widening Participation Programme, Trinity College Dublin, August, 2020 Report, 2020 URL TARA - Full Text

STEM CPD For 21st Century Teaching & Learning - The Bridge21 Approach in, editor(s)Leite, L., Oldham, E., Afonso, A.S., Viseu, F., Dourado, L. & Martinho, M.H. , Science and mathematics education for 21st century citizens: challenges and ways forwards, New York, Nova Science Publishers, 2020, pp3 - 23, [Bray A., Byrne J.R., & Tangney B.] Book Chapter, 2020

Aoife Harrison, Aibhín Bray, Brendan Tangney , An Exploration of the effect of Bray's Activity Design Heuristics on Students' Learning of Transformation Geometry, Proceedings of the Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME) 11, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 6th - 9th Feb, 2019, edited by Jankvist, U. T., Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., & Veldhuis, M , Utrecht University and ERME, 2020, pp2846 - 2847 Conference Paper, 2020

Devitt, Ann, Bray, Aibhin, Banks, Joanne and Ní Chorcora, Eilís, Teaching and Learning During School Closures: Lessons Learned. Irish Second-Level Teacher Perspectives, Trinity College Dublin, July, 2020, p1 - 93 Report, 2020 URL TARA - Full Text

Devitt, Ann, Ross, Colm, Bray, Aibhín and Banks, Joanne, Parent Perspectives on Teaching and Learning During Covid-19 School Closures: Lessons Learned from Irish Primary Schools, Trinity College Dublin, July, 2020 Report, 2020 TARA - Full Text URL

Ann Devitt, Colman Ross, Aibhín Bray, Joanne Banks, Parent Perspectives on Teaching and Learning During Covid-19 School Closures: Lessons Learned from Irish Primary Schools, Dublin, Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, July, 2020 Report, 2020 URL

Aibhín Bray, Elizabeth Oldham and Ciarán Bauer, Mathematics & Science Teaching in the Contemporary Classroom: Current Perspectives and Suggestions for Professional Development, 2017 ATEE Annual Conference: Conference Proceedings - Changing Perspectives and Approaches in Contemporary Teaching, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 23-25 October 2017, edited by Marija Sablić, Alma kugor, Ivana Đurđević Babić , 2018, pp1 - 18 Conference Paper, 2018 URL

Mark Prendergast, Cormac Breen, Aibhin Bray, Fiona Faulkner, Brian Carroll, Dominic Quinn and Michael Carr, Investigating secondary students beliefs about mathematicalproblem-solving, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 49, (8), 2018, p1203 - 1218 Journal Article, 2018

Aibhin Bray, Brendan Tangney, Technology usage in mathematics education research - A systematic review of recent trends, Computers & Education, 2017, p255 - 273 Journal Article, 2017 TARA - Full Text

Aibhín Bray, Elizabeth Oldham and Katriona O'Sullivan, A Study of Readiness for the Integration of 21st Century Practices in the Mathematics Classrooms, 10th Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME10), Dublin, 1-5 February 2017, edited by Therese Dooley & Ghislaine Gueudet , DCU Institute of Education and ERME, 2017, pp3217 - 3218 Conference Paper, 2017 URL

Aibhin Bray, Brendan Tangney, Enhancing student engagement through the affordances of mobile technology: a 21st century learning perspective on Realistic Mathematics Education, Mathematics Education Research Journal, 28, (1), 2016, p173 - 197 Journal Article, 2016

The Bridge21 Model of 21st Century Learning in the Mathematics Classroom - Teachers' Perspectives in, editor(s)Costagliola, G. Uhomoibhi, J. Zvacek, S. McLaren B. M. , Computers Supported Education , Cham, Switzerland, Springer, 2016, pp476 - 496, [Aibhin Bray] Book Chapter, 2016

Aibhin Bray, Teachers' Experiences of the Integration of 21st Century Learning in the Mathematics Classroom - The Bridge21 Model in Action, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2016), Rome, Italy, April 2016, edited by James Uhomoibhi, Gennaro Costagliola, Susan Zvacek, Bruce M. McLaren , 2, SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, 2016, pp219 - 230 Conference Paper, 2016

Realistic Mathematics Education, Mobile Technology & The Bridge21 Model For 21st Century Learning - A Perfect Storm in, editor(s)H. Crompton & J. Traxler , Mobile Learning and Mathematics: Foundations, Design, and Case Studies, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Routledge, 2015, pp96 - 105, [B. Tangney, A. Bray & E. Oldham] Book Chapter, 2015

Aibhin Bray, Brendan Tangney, Barbie Bungee Jumping, Technology and Contextualised Learning of Mathematics, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2014), Barcelona, Spain, April, 2014, edited by Susan Zvacek, Maria Teresa Restivo, James Uhomoibhi and Markus Helfert , 3, SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, 2014, pp206 - 213 Conference Paper, 2014

Bray, A., & Tangney, B., Barbie Bungee Jumping, Technology and Contextual Learning of Mathematics., 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2014), 2014, pp206 - 213 Conference Paper, 2014 TARA - Full Text

Aibhin Bray, Brendan Tangney, Mathematics, Technology Interventions and Pedagogy- Seeing the Wood From the Trees, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2013), Aachen, Germany, May, 2013, SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, 2013, pp57 - 63 Conference Paper, 2013 TARA - Full Text DOI

Aibhin Bray, Elizabeth Oldham, Brendan Tangney, THE HUMAN CATAPULT AND OTHER STORIES - ADVENTURES WITH TECHNOLOGY IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching ICTMT 11, 11th International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching (ICTMT11), Bari, Italy, July, 2013, edited by Eleonora Faggiano, Antonella Montone , University of Bari, 2013, pp77 - 84 Conference Paper, 2013 TARA - Full Text

Brendan Tangney, Aibhín Bray, Mobile Technology, Maths Education & 21C Learning, Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning, 2th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2013), Doha, Qatar, 2013, (3), Hamad bin Khalifa University Press, 2013, pp20 - 27 Conference Paper, 2013

Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tangney, Brendan, Bray, Aibhín, Devitt, Ann, Girvan, Carina, Ní Chorcora, Eilís, Maguire Donohoe, Jen, Banks, Joanne, Sullivan, Keane, Lisa, Byrne, Philip, Smith, Rónán and Hannon, Cliona, Trinity Access - Project Overview, Trinity Access, Trinity College Dublin, December, 2021 Report, 2021 DOI TARA - Full Text

Aibhin Bray, Philip Byrne, Trinity Access: School Data 2019, Dublin, Ireland, Trinity Access, Trinity College Dublin, August, 2019 Report, 2019 URL TARA - Full Text

Aibhin Bray & Philip Byrne, Trinity Access Teacher Data 2019, TARA, 2019 Report, 2019 TARA - Full Text

Aibhin Bray, Ciarán Bauer, TfT Survey Report on 21st Century Practices in EU Classrooms, Dublin, Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and Erasmus+, November, 2017, 16 Report, 2017

Research Expertise

Description

My research is at the frontier and intersection of disciplines (mathematics education, innovative and inclusive pedagogies, and widening participation), a core principle of Trinity's Research Charter (Principle 4). My original field of research, mathematics education, broadened into a wider interest in pedagogy, with a particular focus on the relationship between student engagement and innovative, "21st Century" (21C) pedagogies. My involvement in Trinity Access Programmes - Trinity's widening participation programme - has further developed this, with my research exploring the impact of 21C pedagogies on the engagement of students who attend schools with traditionally low progression to post-secondary education. My research demonstrates leadership and scholarship by: 1. developing new research areas at the interface of mathematics education, technology, and innovative pedagogies which have been successful in the spread of scholarly ideas, demonstrated by my publications in highly ranked journals (Computers & Education; Mathematics Education Research Journal); 2. developing international research collaborations (University of Madrid: UDL-BOE project, 2021-2023); 3. broadening the impact of my research nationally and internationally (Research Charter Principles 5 and 6) by engaging with a. policy makers: Center for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD (invited panelist); Department of Education and Skills, b. education support services: Professional Development Services for Teachers; Junior Cycle for Teachers (guest speaker), c. practitioners: Irish Maths Teachers" Association; National Adult Literacy Agency (invited speaker, keynote speaker); 4. securing highly competitive research funding (732,330 EUR: including two Erasmus+ grants as PI); 5. attracting and developing research talent (Research Charter Principle 3). My work demonstrates innovative, high-quality communication with educational stakeholders (Research Charter Principle 6), e.g., my research activities during the Covid-19 school closures (research reports and webinars, targeted at parents, teachers, principals and policy makers, reached ~14,000 people). These activities received significant attention in national media (Irish Times, Irish Independent, Business Post, FM-104, RTE radio 'Drivetime').

Projects

  • Title
    • LEARNTECH-21C - Keeping pace with evidence-informed LEARNing TECHnologies for 21st Century skills: A sustainable testbed approach
  • Summary
    • The LEARNTECH-21C consortium will research the systemic and practical challenges faced by primary and secondary school teachers in Europe in the collective effort to help them keep pace with the pedagogical uses of emerging technologies aiming to foster learners' 21st century skills. Adopting a design-based methodological approach, involving co-design with teachers, teacher educators and technology developers, the consortium will innovate to create three evidence-informed results: . a set of teacher professional learning processes (involving classroom-based testing) . a digital product (a knowledge hub and digital testbed process) that can be scaled to diverse pre- and inservice teacher education settings . and an EdTech network to support wider stakeholder engagement and communications during the project and for 5 years hence. R&I will be initiated in Belgium, Ireland, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom and will involve teachers (and their learners), teacher educators, emerging technology developers, and Europe-wide policy makers, who will collaborate on the co design and development of the innovation. The consortium will leverage its strong connections with both the Europe-wide technology sector and the national teacher professional organisations to ensure wide and diverse representation of participants. The final phase of the project will seek to validate the LEARNTECH-21C innovation in a wider set of EU countries that will have been strategically selected during the dissemination, exploitation, and communication activities. A promising exploitation opportunity will be to directly link the LEARNTECH-21C results to the EC-developed SELFIE and SELFIE for Teachers self-reflection tools, which will in turn support the Europe wide pathways to impact for both tools. Policy results will include: industry guidelines for the safe and ethical use of educational data generated by emerging technologies; and guidelines for innovative pre- and in-service teacher education programmes. The LEARNTECH-21C consortium's innovation lies in flipping the current technology-first mindset in which teachers serve the needs of industry by providing relevant environments (the classroom testbed) to a teacher-first approach in which emerging technology developers work to serve the needs of teachers. This will enable teachers to pilot first lessons with emerging technologies that have been supported by appropriate evidence-informed guidelines and testbed methods that have been co-designed with teachers. However, research is needed to determine the extent to which the latter approach can be digitized and scaled widely across Europe (and globally). Moving to the educational focus for this call - the fostering of 21st century skills (21CS), to include communication, collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, design thinking and creativity - there is a critical gap in research knowledge regarding the development and assessment of these skills, particularly within technology-enhanced environments (Care & Kim, 2017; Oliveri & Mislevy, 2019) Most importantly, and in contrast to the abundant research evidence of the teaching and learning of basic skills (Hattie, 20082), there is a lack of alternative methodologies (Delgado et al, 20153) and systematic implementations (Barton, 20214) that could provide more convincing evidence of the causal mechanisms that explain why particular technologies work, when, and for whom.
  • Funding Agency
    • European Comission
  • Date From
    • TBC (est. Sept 2022)
  • Date To
    • TBC (est. Sept 2025)
  • Title
    • Blended Learning in Schools: A Universal Design Approach (UDL-BOE)
  • Summary
    • In Spring 2020, schools around Europe closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Research reports published during this time identified several issues experienced by teachers during the rapid move to online teaching. A survey of 720 Irish, second-level teachers conducted by the TCD team reported that students' engagement with education decreased significantly during this time. The findings also highlight an associated decline in teaching and learning practices that focus on the development of key skills and competences such as collaboration and communication. This, and other research across the EU, highlights the increased risk of disengagement in schools that serve underrepresented communities, in which existing socio-economic disadvantage is further exacerbated by "digital poverty" among students. Stemming from these research findings, the purpose of this project is to empower teachers to develop pedagogical competences for establishing effective and engaging learning experiences in a digital space, whether as part of a blended experience or wholly online. The project aims to address two key areas: inclusion and digital pedagogical competences, with the main target group being second-level teachers. The approach will be based on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework (Cast.org), an inclusive approach to teaching and learning that offers all students an equal opportunity to fulfil their potential. This framework offers students different options for accessing, building and internalising learning. It guides teachers to provide multiple means for students to: a) engage with; b) represent; and c) action/express their learning.
  • Funding Agency
    • European Comission
  • Date From
    • 2021-05-01
  • Date To
    • 2023-04-30
  • Title
    • Collaborative and Reflective Environments (CaRE) in Schools
  • Summary
    • There is a significant body of research that points to the need for methods of teaching and learning that are innovative, competency-based and student-centred, but despite moves to change the curricular focus, a traditional model of schooling is still prevalent. Teachers are the agents of change in the reform process but can also be inflexible and can resist change unless they understand and agree with the reasoning behind a reform, its implications for their classroom practice, and consequences for their students. An objective of this project is to support and enhance the development of collaborative and reflective environments (CaRE) in schools. We will mirror the development of key skills and competences that are generally advocated for students, within the whole-school environment by encouraging teachers to work increasingly collaboratively, and by providing structures in which sharing, communicating and critically reflecting on practice becomes the norm. Through collaboration with our partners across Europe, we aim to establish a set of guidelines to support teachers to come together to communicate and share good practice and creative approaches, and to critically evaluate and reflect. In order to facilitate this, one of the project objectives is to develop resources for reflection at whole-school level. Our aim is to develop tools and procedures that assist in the identification of common goals as well as resources for planning and assessing progress towards them. A total of 42 participants will take part in this project, made up of 6 teachers from each of the 7 partner schools. Thanks to the transnational nature of the project, and the choice of partners with clusters as well as individual schools, we have been able to establish a project structure that reflects three levels of CaRE: within schools, between schools, and online. Throughout the project, the partners will develop and promote processes and resources to support CaREs in their school, within their cluster, and at project level. The theory that will be used to underpin the activities is drawn from research into Communities of Practice, with particular emphasis on the "TeachMeet" approach for teachers to share good practice, practical innovations and personal insights into teaching. An overarching Theory of Change (ToC) methodology will be employed. This is an innovative and holistic method that can be used to assess the progress of the project in terms of meeting its overarching goals, individual activity aims, and to guide the project partners and participants in evaluating their own progress. Within the ToC framework, mixed-methods, involving qualitative and quantitative indicators, will be employed to monitor the progress, quality and achievements of the project and its activities. By working with schools in a variety of countries and contexts, we hope to develop a robust, but flexible set of guidelines and resources that will be pragmatic and adaptable. It is expected that this project will have a positive impact at local, regional, national, European and potentially international levels. In fact, the structure of the project will support such impact at each of these levels through the development of CaRE in Schools, CaRE Clusters and CaRE online, with each level growing from and building on the previous. Through the LTTs and development of outputs, our intention is to abstract the fundamental structures and supports required in order to successfully develop CaREs at each of these levels, in order to create resources that can be used to inform other institutions' development in this way. In addition to this, the modules and resources developed through the project will support these burgeoning CaRE communities at European/international levels.
  • Funding Agency
    • European Comission
  • Date From
    • Sept 2020
  • Date To
    • Aug 2023
  • Title
    • Teaching for Tomorrow (TfT)
  • Summary
    • This focus of this project is the development of a European model of teaching and learning that will help to address the need for students to become effective problem-solvers and self-directed learners. Our overall is twofold: to develop a coherent model for the integration of an inquiry-based approach to 21CL in order to scaffold the development of these skills; and to simultaneously create a related model of CPD in order to support teachers with its implementation. Our rationale is echoed in the OECD/PISA documentation that measures students' abilities to apply "their knowledge to real-life situations and be equipped for full participation in society". The PISA report (2012) highlights the need for prioritisation of opportunities for students to develop the habits and reasoning skills that will permit them to become effective problem-solvers and self-directed learners. We argue that a structured combination of IBL and 21CL forms a valid model to address this need. A combination of IBL and 21CL can be seen as addressing some of the issues raised in the PISA report, however, the PRIMAS report (2013) has highlighted that although many practitioners wish to impart these skills to their students and to include them in their teaching practice, they are hampered by factors relating to curriculum and assessment, classroom management/orchestration, and resources, including CPD. In particular, teachers often do not feel confident redefining their role in the classroom from initiator and controller to guide and facilitator. Bridge21 is an education programme that has been developed in TCD. It offers a new pedagogic model, and supports an innovative learning environment within schools that is team-based, technology-mediated, project-based, and cross-curricular. Bridge21 offers a structured vehicle for the delivery of IBL/21CL in the classroom. It has also proven to be a successful model for CPD in the areas of information literacy, contextual mathematics and computer programming. It thus clearly addresses a number of the barriers to running effective IBL in the classroom. Our primary target group will consist of the group of secondary school teachers directly participating in the project. As the integration of IBL in the classroom is highly dependent on teacher attitudes and beliefs, part of our research will measure changes in teacher attitudes and beliefs before and after exposure to the Bridge21 model. A hoped for alteration in teacher beliefs during the CPD cycle will add weight to our argument for the power of the emerging model as highly relevant for both CPD and classroom orchestration. Thus, the aims of the projects are the following: 1. to analyse the teacher beliefs of the target audiences toward CPD, teaching and learning both before and after CPD interventions. 2. to develop workshops that will address the needs of the target group informed by the Bridge21 Model of CPD; 3. to create the specific educational tools that will be used in these workshops, and developed from these workshops; 4. to run pilot workshops in all the partner countries, and to instigate a cycle of lesson design with participating schools; 5. to transform the Bridge21 model, through international collaboration, into a robust, European model of 21CL 6. to disseminate the materials to relevant educational institutions in all involved countries and beyond.
  • Funding Agency
    • European Comission
  • Date From
    • Sept 2015
  • Date To
    • Aug 2018

Keywords

21C Teaching and learning; Higher education access; Innovative Pedagogy; Mathematics Education; PEDAGOGY; Widening Participation

Recognition

Representations

Co-Organiser and Chair for the NALA Numeracy Conference 2020: In collaboration with a colleague in NALA, I organised and chaired this National conference. It was attended by approximately 100 delegates with national and international speakers. 2020

Reviewer for Educational Studies in Mathematics 2021-2022

Reviewer for the British Journal of Educational Technology 2020 - 2021

Reviewer for Computers and Education 2019 - 2022

Reviewer for the International journal of science and maths education 2020-2022

Reviewer for HEYLION 2023

Reviewer for Irish Educational Studies 2023

PATH 2 and 3 Leinster Pillar 1 Evaluation: In my capacity as Theory of Change consultant, I was commissioned to evaluate the contribution of the Leinster Pillar of the Programme for Access to Higher Education strands 2 and 3. This involved engaging with various stakeholders from five HE institutions (UCD, TCD, MEI, NCAD and IADT) in three Theory of Change workshops, followed by a group interview and a review of institutional PATH reports. 2019-2020

Member of Board of Management, Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School 2017 - 2019

Reviewer for the International Journal of Mathematical education in Science and Technology 2020

Reviewer for EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2018

Reviewer for Multimodal Technologies and Interaction Journal 2020

Reviewer for MDPI - Sustainability 2021

Organising Committee Member for Constructionism 2020 Conference 2020

Awards and Honours

Winner of Trinity Excellence in Teaching Award 2024 2024

TRiSS Academic Research Fellowship for 2024/25 2024

TCD Covid-19 Rapid Response Initiative 2020

Telecommunications Graduate Initiative Postgraduate Scholarship 2012 - 2015

Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) Scholarship 2002 - 2004

Postgraduate Scholarship, University College Dublin 2000 - 2002

2nd Year Arts Academic Award, University College Dublin 1997

1st Year Arts Academic Award, University College Dublin 1996

Memberships

European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (ERME) 2012 – To date

Irish Maths Teachers' Association (IMTA) 2019 – To date

Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) 2020 – To date

European Educational Research Association 2024 – To date