Barbara joined the Faculty of Education in July 1998. Her first teaching degree and public school experiences were in art education. These were followed by BSc and MSc degrees in botany and mycology, respectively, and a PhD focused on the relationship between planned and enacted curricula in school science and the development of children’s conceptual understanding. Her current research interests include the influence of visits to a pond habitat on kindergarten children’s place awareness and attitude to nature, the impact on Indigenous and non-Indigenous students’ interest and success in school science of holistic curricula that integrate local, cultural, and traditional knowledge, the effect of culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy on student learning and confidence as learners, units of study for grades 5-9 science that effectively integrate student inquiry and historical and contemporary case-based learning, and the consequence for human well-being of globally failing to develop and foster an ecocentric ethic.

Contextual approaches to science curriculum development, Culturally relevant/responsive teaching, Eco-ethical consciousness, Place awareness and pro-environmental behaviour