Veronica Morcom
Murdoch University (Western Australia) – Australia
Thesis: Motivation as negotiated participation in a collaborative classroom: A sociocultural perspective.
Research supervisor: Associate professors Dr Judy MacCallum (primary supervisor) and Dr Wendy Cumming-Potvin
I have recently been awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Education (2013) which I completed by publication. I am currently an honorary research associate, Murdoch University (Western Australia) and a fulltime classroom primary teacher, employed by the Western Australian Education Department. I am interested in further publications that use sociocultural theory to frame the findings of the qualitative data I have collected from classroom based projects that I have conducted over the last ten years. I am presently working on conceptualizing ‘whole-class’ scaffolding of social and emotional learning in the context of a primary classroom. To date I have written articles that reflect my varied research and teaching interests in: values education; creating an inclusive classroom; the role of emotions in learning (affective zones of proximal development); addressing bullying issues and developing a collaborative classroom.
I believe that this type of conference, and the networking opportunities, will provide a unique opportunity that is not available in Australia, to develop in-depth understandings about Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. This will support my efforts in the future to analyze data from a sociocultural perspective. I would appreciate the opportunity to spend dedicated time to further understand Vygotsky’s theory with the intention of future publications that may assist pre-service teachers. I have listed my research publications in my CV and a list of some of the preservice teachers and teacher assistants I have mentored over the last 10 years.
My previous PhD supervisor, Associate Professor Judy MacCallum (Murdoch University) has written a letter of support which is attached to this application. I have written articles with Professor Judy MacCallum and co-presented at educational conferences in Australia and overseas since 2006.
Presentation “Motivation as negotiated participation in a collaborative community of practice: A sociocultural perspective”
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