Mrs
Melinda KirkProfile page
Casual Research Assistant
Faculty of Arts and Education/School of Education
Orcid identifier0000-0002-0058-6289
- Casual Research AssistantFaculty of Arts and Education/School of Education
- Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125
BIO
Research Assistant and Sessional Lecturer
Melinda's experience in education, primary school teaching, research and
teacher education extends over 25 years. Her research focuses on how critical
and creative thinking and collaboration can be meaningfully enacted and
supported within an interdisciplinary (STEAM), guided inquiry, semiotics-
grounded approach. She advocates for contextual responsive and situated
learning within a community of inquiry (CoI) and learning (CoL), with
attention to student voice and agency and enabling pedagogy and learning
design. A registered teacher in three states of Australia, her school
experience includes regional, metro, public and private systems as a primary
science specialist, class teacher, creative arts teacher and Gifted Education
Mentor (GEM). Melinda is currently a sessional lecturer, casual research
assistant and PhD candidate. In 2017, she completed her Master of Education
(Leadership) at UOW, where she was awarded the Outstanding Postgraduate
Achievement Award (Education) and Education Alumni Award, recognising her
contribution to education research and university partnerships. Since 2018,
she has been an Education Research Assistant, including the Australian
Research Commissioned (ARC) Interdisciplinary Maths and Science (IMS) Learning
Project. Melinda's methodological interests include Design Based Research,
student voice methodologies and bibliometric literature tool utilisation. Her
research interests include student voice and agency, critical and creative
thinking, pedagogy, interdisciplinarity (STEAM), and classroom culture,
particularly within the primary school context.
Melinda's experience in education, primary school teaching, research and
teacher education extends over 25 years. Her research focuses on how critical
and creative thinking and collaboration can be meaningfully enacted and
supported within an interdisciplinary (STEAM), guided inquiry, semiotics-
grounded approach. She advocates for contextual responsive and situated
learning within a community of inquiry (CoI) and learning (CoL), with
attention to student voice and agency and enabling pedagogy and learning
design. A registered teacher in three states of Australia, her school
experience includes regional, metro, public and private systems as a primary
science specialist, class teacher, creative arts teacher and Gifted Education
Mentor (GEM). Melinda is currently a sessional lecturer, casual research
assistant and PhD candidate. In 2017, she completed her Master of Education
(Leadership) at UOW, where she was awarded the Outstanding Postgraduate
Achievement Award (Education) and Education Alumni Award, recognising her
contribution to education research and university partnerships. Since 2018,
she has been an Education Research Assistant, including the Australian
Research Commissioned (ARC) Interdisciplinary Maths and Science (IMS) Learning
Project. Melinda's methodological interests include Design Based Research,
student voice methodologies and bibliometric literature tool utilisation. Her
research interests include student voice and agency, critical and creative
thinking, pedagogy, interdisciplinarity (STEAM), and classroom culture,
particularly within the primary school context.
DEAKIN UNIVERSITY CURRENT APPOINTMENT
- Casual Research AssistantDeakin University, School of Education
AREA/FACULTY
- Faculty of Arts and Education
DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE
- School of Education