Rebecca Bull

My research is inter-disciplinary in nature, drawing on methodology, theory, and practice in the fields of education, cognitive science, and psychology. In the area of early childhood development, I am interested how young children think about number and quantity, and how these basic skills (often referred to as number sense) support growth in mathematical skills. As part of this work I also examine how the development of cognitive skills, such as working memory or the ability to self-regulate behaviour, contribute to children’s typical (and atypical) development. I have also conducted research involving children and adults with hearing loss, and am keen to pursue studies examining how synchronous multi-sensory information (or a lack of) impacts on how we represent and activate numerical information.

My research also looks at the important environments in which children are learning and developing – the home environment and the classroom. This has included a focus on the informal numeracy interactions that may happen between children and parents, as well as the pedagogical approaches to numeracy that educators use in day care environments, and the quality of educator-child interactions.

Research findings from these studies have been used to examine early risk indicators of later mathematical difficulties, and have informed the development and implementation of classroom-based intervention.

All of this work falls within my broader interest in early childhood education, and the systemic factors that utlimately impact on the child's development and learning. Currently I am focusing on the well-being on early childhood educators and have been instrumental in bringing together researchers from across the world to form a research alliance looking at the pan-cultural and unique factors associated with educator wellbeing. We currently have representation from Canada, Iceland, Finland, China, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia. Feel free to get in touch if you would be interested in joining us.

EDUC8250 Effective Instruction in Mathematics, Science and Technology

EDST8000/EDUC7000/EDSX8000 Educational Research

EDUC2920 Research Inquiry in Education

I would be happy to hear from students who are interested in undertaking research in any of the following areas:

1. Numerical cognition (experimental studies from a psychological/cognitive science perspective investigating how we represent and activate numerical information).

2. Numeracy in the preschool / early primary classroom (e.g., pedagogical approaches, instructional quality, intervention for low achievers). 

3. Assessment and development of working memory and executive functioning/self regulation in young children.

4. Impact of hearing loss on child development and learning

5. Informal opportunities for learning numeracy and mathematics in the home and classroom environment.

6. Assessment and intervention for children with mathematical learning difficulties.

7. Impact of teacher-child interaction quality (in preschool) on children's longer term learning and development.