International Community for Classroom Research (ICCR) Hub

The ICCR Hub brings together researchers investigating classroom teaching and learning in both the physical and virtual space.

The Research Hub builds on the international network established by the late Professor David Clarke, which consists of researchers from more than 20 countries involved in video-based classroom research. Through a supportive and collegial community involving scholarly exchanges and activities, the Hub works to develop the research capacity of its affiliates.

News and events

The ICCR Hub will hold a range of activities including research group meetings, lectures, reciprocal institutional visits, joint symposia and joint grant applications.

People

Professor Jan Van Driel
+61 3 83446736
j.vandriel@unimelb.edu.au

BSci, MSci, PhD
Jan van Driel is a Professor of Science Education and leader of the Mathematics, Science & Technology Education Group in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include science teacher knowledge, teacher education and professional learning, and interdisciplinary science and STEM education. Currently, he is co-editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Science Education and a member of the Education Committee of Council of the Australian Academy of Science.
Dr Esther Chan
mc.chan@unimelb.edu.au

BA (Psych. and Crim.), GradDipSci (Psych.), MEdPsych, PhD
Esther Chan is a registered psychologist who specialises in learning theories, assessment, and classroom research methodology. She is particularly interested in the knowledge construction process involved in student learning, in teaching, and in research. She is currently lecturing for the Master of Educational Psychology programs and managing two international research projects at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education: The Social Unit of Learning, and the Learning from Lessons projects. She was awarded the Endeavour Research Fellowship in 2015 by the Australian Government and was hosted six months by the University of California, Berkeley.
Mrs Carmel Mesiti
cmesiti@unimelb.edu.au

BA (Mathematics), DipEd, MEd, PhD candidate
Carmel Mesiti is a Research Fellow and Lecturer in Mathematics Education in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Carmel began her career in government schools as a secondary school mathematics teacher and held significant leadership positions including Head of the Mathematics Faculty. Her research has centred on exploring, through international video-based research, the nature of teaching and learning in mathematics classrooms. Carmel is project manager of the International Classroom Lexicon Project, which explores the differences in pedagogical lexicons of 11 education communities worldwide. In 2017 Carmel was awarded the MGSE Research Leadership Excellence Award in recognition of outstanding contribution to a program of internationally significant research.

Contact us

Email: mgse-iccr@unimelb.edu.au

If you would like to be updated on our news and activities, please email the leadership team on the email address above to be added to the mailing list.

Address

International Community for Classroom Research (ICCR) Hub
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
100 Leicester Street
The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia

Below are some example research projects that the ICCR Hub community is currently involved in.

Project title	Project description
Primary teachers' adaptive expertise in interdisciplinary maths and science	Jan van Driel is a Chief Investigator on a new Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP210101171) titled Primary teachers' adaptive expertise in interdisciplinary maths and science. The other CIs are Amanda Berry, Colleen Vale (Monash University), Lihua Xu and Wanty Widjaja (Deakin University). This project will start in the second half of 2021 and aims to investigate the development of primary teachers’ adaptive expertise in interdisciplinary mathematics and science. As a critical component of quality teaching, adaptive expertise is essential for teachers to innovate their teaching to enhance student learning and interest, yet little is known about its development. The project aims to explore how adaptive expertise can be fostered through classroom innovations purposefully codesigned by teachers and researchers in the context of interdisciplinary mathematics and science. Expected outcomes include a better theoretical understanding of adaptive expertise in the context of interdisciplinary mathematics and science to benefit teacher learning and improve student outcomes.
	Different communities, speaking different languages, employ different naming systems to describe the events, actions, and interactions of the mathematics classroom. The International Classroom Lexicon Project documented the professional vocabulary available to middle-school mathematics teachers in Australia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United States. National teams of researchers and experienced teachers used a common set of classroom videos to stimulate recognition of familiar terms describing aspects of the mathematics classroom. The national lexicons are now available: Teachers Talking about their Classrooms: Learning from the Professional Lexicons of Mathematics Teachers Around the World (https://www.routledge.com/Teachers-Talking-about-their-Classrooms-Learning-from-the-Professional/Mesiti-Artigue-Hollingsworth-Cao-Clarke/p/book/9780367376932). This book details the existing professional vocabulary in each international community by which mathematics teachers conceptualise their practice, and explores the characteristics, structures, and distinctive features of each national lexicon. This book has the potential to enrich the professional vocabulary of mathematics teachers around the world by providing access to sophisticated classroom practices named by teachers in different countries.
	Dr Esther Chan is the Project Manager of two international research projects, the Learning from Lessons and the Social Unit of Learning projects. The Learning from Lessons project is an international project which investigates the structure and construction of mathematics teacher knowledge in Australia, China, and Germany. The project aims to understand mathematics teachers’ thinking processes during lesson planning, teaching, and reflection.
	The Social Unit of Learning project is an innovative experimental study of student social interaction during the completion of mathematics tasks undertaken in individual, pair, small group and whole class social units. The aim of the project is to investigate the social interactions that characterise learning processes in a mathematics classroom.