Literature notes, research ideas and reflections as I develop this research agenda.
Belonging and persistence
What does it mean to sustain participation in STEM?
A reflection on how retention might be understood as an active process involving adaptation, learning, support-seeking and changing pathways over time.
Key question: If we move beyond metrics of persistence (who stays and who leaves) to understand persistence as practice, what would we learn about the conditions that support long-term STEM participation?
Emerging Technologies and Education
Exploring emerging technologies literacy as an emerging domain in STEM education
Initial thoughts on what emerging technologies literacy might mean in secondary and tertiary STEM contexts, and how it differs from traditional IT or computer science curriculum.
Key question: How can we develop emerging technologies literacy in young people without reproducing the same inequities that characterise existing STEM education?
Research ideas
Building a practitioner-research identity
Reflections on navigating the dual identity of educator and researcher, and how this positioning shapes what questions feel important to ask.
Key question: How does the practitioner-researcher positionality change the kinds of knowledge we're able to generate about educational ecosystems?
Literature notes
Notes on ecosystem thinking in education
Reading across systems thinking, actor-network theory and educational partnerships. What can these frameworks offer for understanding STEM ecosystems?
Key question: How can we describe and evaluate STEM education ecosystems in ways that honour complexity without becoming unmeasurable?
PhD preparation
Framing a PhD research proposal
Initial thoughts on research design for a potential PhD, building on Master's research into STEM retention and emerging interests in AI-enabled ecosystems.
Key question: What longitudinal research design would allow us to understand how young people's STEM participation and career thinking changes over time as they encounter AI-enabled learning?
Conference reflections
Key conversations from recent conferences
Reflections on conversations at education and STEM research conferences about pathway development, AI in schools and partnership models.
Key question: What are the key unresolved questions in the field right now about emerging technologies STEM education?
More fieldnotes coming. This is an active research notebook that grows as I read, think and reflect.