Thursday 20th – Friday 21st November 2025
Blended (online as well as located in-person) Symposium
Register online for the CAR Symposium.
Download flyer here to share with colleagues including HDR students about the Contemporary Approaches to Research Symposium 2024.
The CAR Symposium is a highly successful annual event that is now in its 29th year (starting in 1993 to 2005 and again from 2010 to this year).
We look forward to many more!
Each year the ‘Contemporary approaches to research (CAR) in mathematics, science, health and environmental education’ symposium focuses on practical and theoretical aspects of a range of research methodologies – such as cross-cultural perspectives, activity theory, capturing complexity, classroom video analysis, quantitative methods, and interviewing – which are discussed in a lively, informal setting. The symposium in 2024 will focus on practical and theoretical aspects of research methodology (as usual).
The program will include two keynote speakers and themed sessions with short presentations and longer discussions. We do not host concurrent sessions. We all enjoy rich, friendly discussions about each presentation. In 2025, we are hoping to, once again, host the event in person (located) as well as online. This blended offering will be open to all. Registration is here.
Our Keynote Speakers have been selected to provide challenging perspective on methodology providing insights into new methodological approaches and ontologies. We are pleased to have Professor Sara Tolbert and Dr. Matt Sexton and as our the Keynotes for 2025 CAR Symposium.
The Keynotes
Sara Tolbert
Sara Tolbert (PhD) is Professor of Science and Environmental Education and Associate Dean (Research) at the University of Canterbury in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on critical feminist methodologies and participatory research approaches, her work reimagines science education through ‘education from below’ – collaborating with school, community, and Indigenous partners to explore transdisciplinary and multilogical approaches to science learning. Prior to joining UC’s Faculty of Education in 2019, she was Associate Professor at The University of Arizona, following a decade of teaching science, environmental studies, and ESOL in Mexico, Guatemala, New York, and Atlanta. She earned her PhD in Science Education and Social Contexts from UC-Santa Cruz, MEd from the University of Georgia, and BA in Environmental Studies from UC-Boulder. Sara co-founded Science Educators for Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice (SEEDS), co-directs UC’s Learning for Earth Futures research cluster, and co-leads the Ōtautahi Food Justice Research Collaborative within UC’s Community and Urban Resilience Initiative.
Title: “Emergent strategy” for science, environmental, mathematics, and health education research in precarious times
Abstract: This keynote interrogates how “emergent strategy,” as theorized by adrienne maree brown and rooted in Octavia Butler’s speculative fiction, can reshape education research methodologies in precarious times. As multiple global crises intensify, traditional research paradigms in science, environmental, mathematics, and health education often struggle to address the urgency of social and ecological transformation. By synthesizing brown’s principles of adaptive, relationship-centered change with critical pedagogical frameworks, this talk proposes new directions for education research that explicitly connects knowledge production to community resilience and democratic renewal. The presentation examines how Butler’s themes of adaptability, collective learning, and “shaping change” can inform more dynamic approaches to education research, ones that honor both scholarly rigor and the imperative to build more just and sustainable futures. Through this lens, the keynote explores how researchers across disciplines in science, environmental, mathematics, and health education research can develop methodologies that are simultaneously rigorous, responsive to community needs, and oriented toward concrete social change.
Matt Sexton
Dr. Matt Sexton is a Senior Lecturer at Australian Catholic University (ACU) where he directs the Mathematics Teaching and Learning Centre (MTLC). His research, using qualitative methodologies informed by cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), examines how mathematics leaders in schools lead the development of mathematics education practice. Matt uses CHAT concepts to explain how mathematics leaders engage teachers in pedagogical reasoning as a form of professional practice, and how those leaders contribute to the sustainability of professional development projects. In 2024, Matt won the MERGA Early Career Researcher Award for outstanding conference paper and presentation. Matt partners with several education systems across Australia, supporting school mathematics leaders in their advancement of practice development in mathematics education.
The Symposium
At the symposium will be grouped into sessions of two to five of the presentations with similar methodological foci, designed to promote substantive discussion of a common methodological issue. Presentations might focus on a) details and settings of the application of a methodology in ways that unpack how the methodology can operate in different contexts, or b) a particular methodological issue, problem, or strategic decision that explores or extends a methodology. The methodological issues should be broadly related to mathematics, science, health, or environmental education. The presentations should provide a grounded practitioner’s perspective.
Presentations will be 12 minutes in duration and should briefly outline the research question being addressed and may include the findings or likely outcomes of the research, but should focus mainly on the research methodology. Reports on work in progress are welcome but the focus is on the methodology.
Following each group of presentations, there will be the opportunity for extended discussion of the focus methodological issue, which may explore different approaches within the methodology (in research design, instruments, theoretical framing, or approaches to analysis), or different methodological approaches to a problem (for instance making sense of teacher practice, or tracking change in learners).
The program starts at 9am and concludes at approximately 5pm each of the two days. We will host an informal book launch of the CAR Book Series at the end of the first day. All are welcome. We will also go for a meal (at own expense) at the end of the first day.
We will offer an opportunity to evaluate this symposium. The link to the online survey will be emailed during the last day of the symposium.
Expression of Interest to Present
The closing date for expressions of interest is Friday 10th October 2025.
If you are interested in presenting at this symposium please submit your expression of interest using the form below. All submissions will be acknowledged upon receipt and reviewed by the end of October. Expressions of Interest to Present form
Presentations
Presentations are to be 12 minutes long (please be respectful by keeping to time). They should briefly outline the research question being addressed and may include the findings or likely outcomes of the research, but should focus on the research methodology. Reports on work in progress are welcome.
You may choose to pre-record presentations. This is essential for all online presenters. The links will be included in the program and the recording will be played on the day. During the presentation the chat feature of Zoom can be used to start the conversations. Questions can be addressed by typing in the chat and in the following discussion. A feature of the CAR Symposium program is the rich and collegial discussion that follows the presentations in the session.
Program
The program will be published early November 2025.
Book Series – Contemporary Approaches to Research in STEM Education
All presenters are invited to submit a proposal for a written chapter of 5000 – 7000 words for consideration for publication in the Cambridge Scholars Publishing book series Contemporary Approaches to Research in STEM Education. Proposals for Volume 7 are due on the 7th December 2025. Accepted chapters are due 15th February 2026.
Methodological Approaches to STEM Education Research – Volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be showcased at the 2025 CAR Symposium (Volume 6 will be launched at a special event).
CAR Coordinators
Associate Professor Peta White, Deakin Distinguished Professor Russell Tytler, Dr. Joe Ferguson, Dr. John Cripps Clark, and Associate Professor Jill Brown
Enquiries: please email Peta White (peta.white@deakin.edu.au)
Organised by the MSET Education Research Group in conjunction with Research for Educational Impact (REDI).
Posted Nov 26, 2024
Deakin Downtown and online