ABSTRACT
The recent expansion of the science of learning has extended the understanding of how learning occurs. Progress on translating that research into educational practice, however, has been slow, with large scale studies such as that described in Chapter 12 being rare. Indeed, established educational environments are highly resilient, as acknowledged in both the previous and following chapters, and research and design partnerships, have a poor history of achieving scalable and sustainable change. This chapter reports on the pilot phase of a program seeking to achieve lasting change in mathematics education through co-design. The pilot took place in a regional South Australian community where mathematics success has been challenging, and involved the local high school and its feeder schools. It sought to improve “school-maths,” but to also improve students' ability to adapt their mathematics to unrehearsed situations. The program established a co-design process around simple design principles drawn from the science of learning research in which program officers – teachers seconded for the purpose – worked with teachers over a five-year timeframe. The foremost of these principles was that children's thinking, and particularly their executive functioning, was to be at the centre of mathematics learning. The co-design process was guided by a central goal of achieving a “fidelity of principle” that allowed for variations in implementation. The pilot study demonstrates that co-design takes time, benefits from boundary-crossing structures, and needs to engage the complexities of teacher practice. Acknowledging the project was expensive, the challenge for policymakers and school leaders is in making further roll-out economically viable. Teachers who are able to make effective use of the science of learning, and able to influence the discourses, cultures, values, and beliefs of teacher practice, will be critical to the sustained and scaled translation of research outcomes.
