The MSET Ed Research Group was saddened to hear of the passing of colleague Brian!
We wanted to create a tribute to Brian – acknowledging how we valued and loved him. Please help us celebrate Brian’s life by posting your own reflections and thoughts. Together we will create a wonderful celebration of his life and contributions to our fields.
Brian worked for many years in the field of teacher education with a strong commitment to mathematics in primary and early-childhood teaching. Brian was an active member of the STEM research group until his retirement, working and writing with a range of mathematics colleagues at Deakin, especially his partner Susie Groves. and internationally, especially Julian Williams from the University of Manchester. He was active in two ARC projects linking mathematics and science in the early 2000s that involved Russell Tytler and John Cripps Clark as well as Susie, and with a major Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and Australian Academy of Science funded project on inquiry mathematics. The reSolve Modelling Motion sequence arose out of this research (https://resolve.edu.au/v84-sequences/modelling-motion-years-5-and-6). Brian also managed a large Deakin project in Malaysia, focused on teacher education for teaching mathematics and science in English.
Brian’s particular expertise was in early years mathematics. He was an advocate of Freudenthal’s ‘Realistic Maths Education’. He was active in the international mathematics education scene, with strong links to Europe, where he was active in the annual Symposium on Elementary Mathematics Teaching held in Prague and co-edited a book on interdisciplinary mathematics arising from the ICME conference, and Japan where he worked on Japanese Lesson Study with Susie Groves and Wanty Widjaja. He served on the executive of both AARE and MERGA.
Brian was known for his psychometric expertise, particularly in large-scale international assessment programmes such as TIMSS and PISA, developed during his work with ACER on Item Response Theory. His PhD involved exploring a new direction for international testing based on a ‘partial credit model’. When he joined Deakin this expertise in quantitative methods was in constant demand. Colleagues sought his advice and support with design and analysis of surveys, and he gave his time generously, even post retirement. Brian was a regular contributor to the Contemporary Approaches to Research methodology symposia, and at research retreats. He continued to present his research at international conferences after retirement.
His colleagues will miss Brian’s acerbic humour, his care for teachers and teaching, and his impressive knowledge which he would bring to his passionate advocacy on an encyclopaedic range of topics – and his wit and bonhomie.
I first met Brian in 1993 at a Cornell misconceptions conference and immediately recognised him as an amusing and somewhat counter-culture academic who was plain good company. I was delighted, then, when he became a colleague, and with Susie, his partner, and John CC and others, we forged some strong maths science interdisciplinary directions for the group. Brian knew his science, just as he knew his mathematics. We co-supervised, with Susie, PhD projects and that was an experience! Brian loved the cut and thrust of contested ideas – he could hold his ground in an argument. He paid me the honour of inviting me then to supervise his own PhD – I had to be convinced since the idea of a partial credit analysis of TIMSS data seemed beyond my comfort zone, but I agreed on the proviso he needed a critical perspective only. So … that’s where I received some great professional learning in Item Response Theory! There, he occupied a dual role as both my star pupil, and my generous tutor 😊. I know, too, how much he helped so many colleagues with their own survey work and analysis. I remember too his stories of boating and boat construction, and the house at Raymond Island. His back problems over the past few years were triggered, apparently, by some major remodelling of his Hawthorn apartment – fighting with a jackhammer (really?) at height! His political stories were equally individual and uncompromising … but entertaining. My recent interactions with Brian have been through the Christmas events that Susie and he orchestrated, and especially our shared conversations attending Melbourne Theatre Company seasons. He will be missed.
I loved talking with Brian. He always had a perspective to learn with. Together we enjoyed a few great adventures. Here are some I often contemplate…
1: I loved spending afternoon hours exploring his office and the storeroom for great mathematical education tools and wonders!
2: He generously shared mathematical equipment with educators in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
3: Brian wrote and I supported a letter to the VC to implore her to halt all balloon use at Deakin! No balloons is now a Deakin policy!
4: We occasionally enjoyed great food and champagne / wine / beer in great company.
5: Brian collaborated on our Frogs project – Brian gave expertly in our ‘lost’ years… we eventually produced a most wonderful educational resource “Fascinating Frogs – 5 Victorian Frogs”
6: We shared a love for napping during the boring parts of theatre.
7: We shared a love for champagne and hot chips – a perfect pairing… maybe Susie’s influence was strong here!
8: I loved listening to Brian talking about living on Raymond Island and boats.. and boating adventures.
Like all of us, I will miss Brian!
I first met Brian when he and Susie hired me as research assistant for their Practical Mechanics in Primary Mathematics project. He and Susie were responsible for moving me from an unsuccessful classroom teacher to muddling academic. I was introduced into the academic literature and classroom research and spent many happy days at ACER with Brian and his colleagues and in the Cunningham Library having the power of rigorous research and evaluation revealed to my innocent eyes (although I have yet to gain a firm grasp of Rasch Analysis). As I moved into my doctorate, student politics and academic life he has remained the touchstone of a fiercely independent academic with a deep commitment to classroom teaching. I have had the pleasure of his combative conversation ever since, and all the time he made me think rigorously and pushed me to stand up for my ideas. Brian and his legacy will be greatly missed.
DR. SAEED SALIMPOUR:
While I knew Brian only for a short time, I had the joy and pleasure of knowing him!
I learnt so much from Brian, he was immensely generous with his time and patience! And he always had stories and anecdotes about boating, learning Russian, inside stories about the world of psychometric analysis and various other things.
My first meeting with Brian was for the section of my PhD that involved Rasch Modelling. It was Russell who suggested, that we should have a meeting with Brian. And that started a chain of events that led to a paper. Once the paper was published, I got an email from one of the well-known scholars in the field who said he had made the paper required reading for his Rasch Modelling course. That is a testament to Brian’s deep knowledge and experience!
I remember on the first meeting he had changed his background on Zoom to be astronomy-themed knowing my inclinations 🙂 Our meetings were the sort of meetings that really showed his passion for supporting “the next generation”. Even though he was retired and busy, early last year we started to have meetings about passing some of his knowledge on, we had some great conversations.
I will miss his humour, knowledge and conversations, and wherever he is, may he explore the Universe!
I must have first met Brian at the CAR symposium not long after I started my PhD (2012), and then at various get togethers of the science and maths education teams. I did not know Brian well, but he always struck me as someone who made academia better for his presence. Indeed, academia and the world at large would be a more interesting and caring place with more Brians! Alas, Brian was a one-off and he will be sorely missed, but certainly not forgotten. He lives on in spirit!
It is an honour to fondly remember Brian. In 2015, Deakin established alliances with government schools in support of initial teacher education. Brian kindly volunteered to be the academic associated with the Mooroolbark Alliance of which I was the Site Director. It was an absolute pleasure working with Brian. Unassuming, quiet, calm with a dry sense of wit and humour. Brian was extremely supportive of the PSTs, interested in their teaching and student learning, asking pertinent questions, particularly critically questioning pedagogical practice and take-it-for-granted assumptions, rather than providing solutions. Brian was ever-reliant, never in a rush, an interesting conversationalist, with a sharp intellect that often left me with wonderings that remain with me today.
I was pleased to work with Brian, Susie, John and Russell in the reSolve Modelling Motion activities at my secondary school. What a delight to see students outside trying to walk a constant speed, cutting up streamers as graphs, timing marbles rolling down inclines, dropping speed balls and making Newton meters. The students were enthusiastic and engaged and there was much interest sparked from teachers, parents and principal team. Is that really science and maths? Thank you, Brian, for generously sharing your knowledge, expertise, guidance and unwavering support for teaching and learning. Your legacy lives on.
My first memory of meeting Brian was at the PME conference hosted by the University of Melbourne in 2005. I was only in my second year of PhD study then and helped out at the conference as a student volunteer at the conference. After the conference dinner on the request of Kaye Stacey – my PhD supervisor and a good friend of Susie and Brian- Brian kindly gave me a lift me home even though he barely knew me at the time. He would not remember this first encounter anyway but I remember his kindness.
Seven years later when I joined School of Education in 2012 as a lecturer in mathematics education, Brian and Susie helped me in settling in to Australia and inviting me to join the Lesson Study project. Brian also shared a common interest on Realistic Mathematics Education. He had a great connection with Freudenthal Institute colleague Marja van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, whose research is also in early years mathematics education. We have co-published some articles and book chapters as well as co-supervise a PhD student together. He is generous in sharing his knowledge of Item Response Theory with his colleagues and students.
Brian enjoyed good food. We both like chillies and spicy food and almost always asked for extra chillies when we went for dinner with Susie.
Rest in peace Brian, thank you for your kindness. You are missed.
Wanty
From Dr Lei Bao:
I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Brian Doig.
Brian played an important role at the beginning of my PhD journey. As a member of my expert advisory group, he provided invaluable feedback that helped refine my assessment items and strengthen my research. He was also the person who first introduced me to Rasch modelling. Through his guidance and encouragement, I developed a foundational understanding of Rasch analysis, which enabled me to undertake my pilot study with confidence.
What I will remember most about Brian was not only his extensive knowledge and expertise, but also his generosity in sharing that knowledge with others. He was always supportive of emerging researchers, willing to give his time, offer thoughtful advice, and encourage those at the beginning of their academic careers.
Brian’s contributions to mathematics education and educational research will continue to have a lasting impact. He will be remembered with great respect, gratitude, and affection by the many people whose work and lives he influenced.
My sincere condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.
From Dr. John Gough:
I am greatly saddened to hear of Brian’s death. I knew of Brian for many years before I contacted, and later met him. Then I was a friend and colleague at Deakin during the early years of the 2000s, and afterwards in our retirements. I will miss his humour and deep knowledge and frequent help, and extend my sympathies and best wishes to Susie Groves and Brian’s family.
Thinking back over my connections with Brian, there are many strong, fond memories.
Before Brian became a Mathematics Education lecturer at Deakin University (around 2003), I had known his name for many years but rarely met him. (The family name, “Doig”, he once told me, was a Scottish version of “dog”, and alluded to the Doigs as warriors.)
Brian was a regular contributor to the Annual Conferences of the Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV), which is possibly where I first became aware of him. His conference papers in the MAV Proceedings were always fascinating in their blend of education theory and classroom practice and practical research. While I was a staff member (beginning on 1976) at the Burwood campus of the State College of Victoria, Brian was, in a sense, an SCV colleague at Prahran campus. Later, while Brian was working at the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER), occasionally I contacted him for advice and help in obtaining copies of ACER materials, including his excellent Algebra Profiles screening test. I think I also had contacts with Brian while he was Editor of the MAV mathematics education journal for (Secondary) teachers, “Vinculum”, discussing my draft submissions for possible articles.
In these indirect ways, from the start of my work in mathematics education in 1975, I was aware of Brian Doig. He seemed to be familiar with, and active in every topic that interested me.
Then, a few years before Brian began at Burwood, he was a regular contributor to the annual Contemporary Approaches to Research Symposium hosted at Burwood by (variously named) the Mathematics, Science and Environmental Education group, within the Deakin Education Faculty, known as the Centre for Studies in Mathematics, Science and Environmental Education, later referred to as the Centre for Research for Educational Impact. Finally, I saw Brian in action, presenting his own on-going research (he was at ACER initially in these Symposia), a neatly dressed, smiling, confident academic with a striking red beard and an even brighter red bowtie. His Symposia papers always strongly engaged theory and practice, and his questions and comments on other contributor’s work was friendly, professional, constructive and penetrating.
Around this time, Brian’s wide-ranging work in TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study in 1998; and later Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), within ACER, and beyond, and then in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), again, within Australia and far beyond, was groundbreaking.
His on-going research and development in the effective assessment of student performance and achievement seemed to naturally lead to Brian’s longer projects investigating classrooms, and the model of Japanese Lesson Study.
(A complete Bibliography of Brian’s published books, journal articles, conference papers and other materials would be fascinating and extremely large. His professional activities were diverse and remarkably productive, while also having major impacts in Australian schools and curriculum, and internationally.)
Then Brian became a colleague at Deakin around 2003.
I do not think I actually taught with Brian, but we sometimes shared the teaching of units. I saw and heard how much his students valued his expertise and practical grasp of school teaching.
But it is in the occasional conversations in Brian’s office, or when he popped into mine, that I discovered yet another side to a remarkable man and mind. Almost every topic that I ever raised with Brian, he already knew about in far greater depth and breadth of context than I did. I sometimes differed from Brian in point of view on a subject, but I did not disagree. I was always aware that he knew far more about most things than I did. It was a rare moment when I could tell him something that was new for him.
Brian may not have been a Renaissance man, or a polymath, but the diversity of his interests was staggering. Experiencing his engagement and enjoyment of them all was like magic. (Brian, however, only looked like Gandalf, sometimes.)
I also learned more about his experience, and his father’s – a former POW of the Japanese in Changi and (I think) the infamous Burma-Thai Railway, a man who cooked for his family as though he was catering for a platoon or company – and early years in Launceston.
Around 1963 Brian was a Primary student-teacher at Burwood Teachers’ College (which eventually evolved into the Burwood campus of Deakin). At that time, the College functioned as a higher high school, with student uniforms, college assemblies, a college badge and emblem and Latin motto (“Animum Cultum Parabo”: I shall lay the foundation of a well trained mind”) and anthem, concerts and balls and excursions around Australia, and a boarding house for country students.
Brian was proud of being one of the few students who not only completed the standard 2-year Primary Teachers’ Certificate, but also completed a third year of specialist study. He graduated as a fully trained Infant Mistress – the technical term for teachers who had that extra year of study focused on the “infant” grades, Preparatory to Grade 2. Decades later, this made Brian the obvious, and only professionally qualified and experienced Deakin Education Faculty staff member to develop and begin teaching the new Early Learning degree, expanding Deakin’s course offerings beyond Primary, Secondary, and Masters.
Returning to Burwood, about forty years later, Brian roamed the campus, his alma mater, reconnecting with old haunts. He enjoyed the fact that some of the old buildings from the Teachers’ College still existed and were in active use, including the former Boarding House. Many of these original buildings were distinctive in their use of grey masonry concrete veneer-brick, built like the egg-box-like high schools of the 1960s to cater for the post-war Baby Boom. (Brian was a Baby Boomer!) Brian reported his discoveries to the Archives Department of Deakin. The archivists were attempting to preserve the institutional histories of the campuses that had evolved into the expanded multi-campus version of Deakin University which had, itself, begun at Waurn Ponds as an Australian counterpart to Britain’s Open University, teaching by correspondence studies (supported by snail mail and telephone).
Brian was particularly excited to discover the original large formal decorative gates (replacing the early farm gates that had been part of the previous farmland that became Burwood Teachers’ College). Part of the gates was an abstract modernist sculpture based on the College emblem of a growing tree, created for the College by one of the members of the College Art Department, himself a noted sculptor. These gates had been removed from the front access to Burwood Highway, and unceremoniously dumped behind a storage building, Except for Brian, nobody else knew anything about the provenance of these gates. They were doomed to languish in obscurity, unrecognized until the intrinsically valuable artwork was sent to the tip or sold as scrap metal.
Brian also explained some of his love of his cars, especially Volkswagens, and Kombivans. He scorned the similar British cars of that era, pointing out with expert relish that British cars used to rely on cloth-binding for electrical insulation, whereas clever German auto-engineers used sturdy rubber insulation. Cloth-binding may have worked for Michael Faraday in dry laboratories, but was hopeless in cars exposed to the weather. Small nuggets of information such as this sprinkled Brian’s enthusiastic conversation, reported as though, of course, everyone would know this or that fact, however arcane.
Brian was also a keen sailor, and with great boatwright and timber-working skill made some of his own wooden sailing boats.
And he was a keen reader, happily introducing me to the paranoid science fiction challenges of Philip K. Dick, and other authors he loved, with an interest in books that ran far back into literature and obscurity. Amongst other books, I remember he loaned me his biography of Frank Hornby, the inventor of Meccano and Hornby clockwork and electric model trains, knowing I would be as interested as he was in this nostalgic book.
Brian always enjoyed fostering other people’s love of good stories. After I helped track down for him a sprinkle of old hardbacks by Nevil Shute (an author Brian had read exhaustively when he was young), as soon as he discovered a reprint of Shute’s complete works he bought a set to share with his daughters. Similarly, when parody adult versions of Enid Blyton’s “Famous Five” books were published, he bought complete sets of these funny books as Christmas presents for his daughters who had been raised by him on Enid Blyton’s page-turners. (He also found and gave excellent toys and books for his grandsons, remembering what he had been fascinated by as a child. When I offered him a complete set of the classic “Encyclopedias” by Arthur Mee, from the 1930s, Brian told me he had a set of his own. Of course he did!)
Brian’s curiosity was vast. He once told me of a striking book he had serendipitously glimpsed through the window of a closed bookshop somewhere in the Netherlands (Utrecht?) when he was waiting for an international conference to open. He could read enough of the non-English title to know it was about mathematics, and he sensed it would be fascinating. That casual moment of curiosity – looking in a bookshop window for something to do – helped me find Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s remarkable fantasy children’s book, “The Number Devil”.
Brian also collected, and constructed, books and kits of pre-cut press-out cardboard models. He was delighted to tell me that his model of George Stevenson’s “Rocket”, the first working steam locomotive, had cardboard pistons that actually worked (not by steam, but by air-pressure from an inflated balloon).
In our mutual retirements, I remained in occasional e-mail contact with Brian, continuing to rely on him for his expert knowledge, and sharing with him small things I had found, or read, that I thought he might be interested in.
He was the most widely-read, clearest-thinking, enormously curious, and wise person I have known. Could any other Mathematics Education lecturer prop his office door open with a litre of concrete? This was a 10x10x10 cm cube or cobble he had found in roadworks near his home. Recognising its mathematical significance, he had souvenired it, putting it to good use as a door-stop when it wasn’t a rather heavy version of a Dienes’ base-10 Multi-Base Arithmetic Block. Further inside his office – which was like an Aladdin’s cave of artefacts, books and materials – were the carefully collected keyboards and screens of early desktop computers that he hoped to restore to functioning order, alongside the construction kits and D.I.Y. build-your-own computer kit. These were just some of his many fascinations with ideas, gadgets and life.
I know Brian will be greatly missed.
From Jana Visnovska – Senior lecturer in mathematics education – the University of Queensland
I knew Brian through SEMT conferences in Prague, the way one forms a sporadic, yet deeply felt connection around alignment on perspectives, ideas, and ways of being. I miss him already and struggle to believe that we will not have another conversation…
Heartfelt condolences,
From Jana Visnovska – Senior lecturer in mathematics education – the University of Queensland
I knew Brian through SEMT conferences in Prague, the way one forms a sporadic, yet deeply felt connection around alignment on perspectives, ideas, and ways of being. I miss him already and struggle to believe that we will not have another conversation…
Heartfelt condolences,
Jana
From Professor Emeritus Lyn D. English
I was so saddened to learn of Brian’s passing. I had known Brian for many years and frequently caught up with him and his lovely partner Susie at MERGA and other conferences. I always enjoyed meeting up with Brian and Susie—a perfect match. I loved listening to Brian’s tales and enjoyed his quick wit. I learned a lot from his research and was always keen to read anything he published. Brian will be greatly missed. Our maths education community cannot afford to lose such good people. My condolences to Susie and his family.
Lyn English
From Prof Emeritus Kaye Stacey
It is very good to read all these thoughtful tributes to Brian that show so many of the special ways that Brian contributed to maths education and to teacher education. I especially appreciated that Brian was a deep and original thinker, who always offered an interesting and often quirky perspective in a conversation. We first met about 1986 when I became his final M.Ed. supervisor at the end of a very rocky road. Through circumstances outside his control, his initial sample of several hundred students had reduced to just one student at the end of the data collection. Despite this, Brian managed to put together a good thesis and go on to so many better things. Brian was kind, calm, thoughtful and supportive, and an insightful mathematics educator with an eye for great lessons. An admirable partnership with Susie.
Kaye
I enjoyed Brian’s company and found him to be an uncompromising academic and with a dry and subversive wit. He will be missed.