EPI∙STEM PODCAST EPISODE 32

In this episode of the EPI·STEM podcast, Geraldine SimmiePhD welcomes Professor Merrilyn Goos as the special guest along with Associate Professor Niamh O’Meara. Professor Goos is currently Professor Emeritus in the Sunshine Coast University in Australia. Merrilyn was a former Director of EPI·STEM The National Centre for STEM Education, where she is now an Adjunct Professor.In this episode, Professor Goos, who grew up in Brisbane inthe mid-eastern coast of Australia shares how her passion and research revolves around supporting teachers in their practices. In a former role, Merrilyn acted as the Course Director of the Professional Diploma in Mathematics forTeaching (PDMT) and published extensively on teacher upskilling programmes. Merrilyn understands that programmes do not seamlessly transport to a differentcountry and that higher level things matter in this regard, such as, the culture of schools and the relationships between a variety of actors. In this episode, Professor Goos shows how critical mathematical thinking has gained in significance in Australia and how this makes sense given that many complex problems encountered today require agility to move between disciplines and to generate new creative and critical solutions. For mathematics teaching this can mean connecting subject matter to real life issues of social justice, such as housing, flood protections, homelessness. Many of these ethical and contemporary issues require skills and competence in mathematics as a vital component of real-world solutions.Professor Merrilyn Goos also completed extensive research,and support of teachers, in relation to numeracy across the curriculum. This involved completing an audit of numeracy across the curriculum while helping teachers to see where numeracy matters in specific subject areas. These border-crossing partnership, including collaborations of mathematics educators and mathematicians, while having a sound theoretical basis can prove challenging in the living contradictions of practice. Merrilyn has recently written timely reviews of STEMeducation - while noting that STEM is included in the Primary Curriculum in Ireland, initial reviews reveal that teachers generally see themselves as subject experts. In addition, there is often no allocated space in the school timetable for STEM in post-primary schools and this thinking has yet to gainthat desired policy momentum.  After serving eight years on the executive of the InternationalConference for Mathematics Instruction (ICMI), Merrilyn is currently President of this prestigious organisation. ICMI works across the global world and especially in developing countries, where teachers of mathematics are often teaching young people without adequate upskilling and more often without resources. ​​The music selection today is by Sarbik Guha, a singersongwriter known by his stage name as Biki, and as Biki and his Buddies. Biki is a 3rd year PhD student in Arts Practice in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at UL. Here Biki sings his first original composition ‘Its High Time You Make Her Believe’, while playing his acoustic guitar.