Staff Research Interests

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Bio Name Information
view Jennifer Bowes
Current research projects include:

Child Care Choices Extension Project

Child Care Choices of Indigenous Families

Access and Equity in Early Childhood Education

Exploring the Efficacy of an Integrated Child and Family Service Model in a Disadvantaged Area: Child, Parent and Professional Outcomes

A Multi-modal Investigation of Current and Proposed Structures and Processes Determining and Sustaining Quality in Australian Centre-based Child Care

Current research supervision is on the following topics:

·        Socialisation of emotion in Chinese children in Hong Kong.

·        Family-centred practice in early intervention: How do families of young children with special needs experience family-centred practice?

·        Catering for the needs of intellectually gifted children In early childhood settings: Development of successful intervention strategies.

Recent Research Grants

2003         Child Care Choices of Indigenous Families (Bowes, J., Sanson, A., Wise, S., Ungerer, J., Harrison, L., Watson, J, & Simpson, T.) Department of Community Services, NSW ($888,169)

2004           Longitudinal Extension of the Child Care Choices Project (Bowes, J., Sanson, A., Wise, S., Ungerer, J., Harrison, L., & Simpson, T.) Department of Community Services, NSW ($1,304,360)

2004         The Experiences of Young Children and their Families with Multiple Childcare Arrangements: Development of a New Measure for Children and Parents. (Bowes, J. & Ungerer, J.) MacquarieUniversity Research Development Grants Scheme ($16,717).

2005        Early Childhood Education and Indigenous Children, Gifted Children, Children of Recent Arrivals in Australia and Children with Disabilities (Bowes, J.). Department of Education, Science and Training ($750,000)

2008   A Multi-modal Investigation of Current and Proposed Structures and Processes Determining and Sustaining Quality in Australian Centre-based Child Care (Harrison, L., Press, F., Sumsion, J., Bowes, J. M., & Fenech, M.) ARC Discovery Grant ($257,196.00).

2008 Exploring the Efficacy of an Integrated Child and Family Service Model in a Disadvantaged Area: Child, Parent and Professional Outcomes (Bowes, J. M., Grace, R., Gibson, F., McMaugh, A., & Degotardi, S.) Macquarie University External Collaborative Research Grant in partnership with Uniting Care, Burnside ($77,387.00 total funding).

Recent publications

Bowes, J. M. (2005). Emphasizing the family in work-family research: A review of current research and recommendations for future directions. In S. Poelmans (Ed.), International Research on Work and Family. (pp. 415-438). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Diamond, A., Bowes, J., & Robertson, G. (2006). Mothers' safety intervention strategies with toddlers and their relationship to child characteristics. Early Childhood Development and Care, 176 (3&4), 271-284.

Bowes, J., Fleet, A., Maloney, C., & Stamopoulous, E. (2006). Quality assurance of teacher education programs through benchmarking. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 13 (2), 141-150.

Chan, S. M., Bowes, J., & Wyver, S. (in press). Chinese parenting in Hong Kong: Links among goals, beliefs and styles. Early Child Development and Care.

Bowes, J. & Grace, R. (Eds). (in press). Children, Families and Communities, 3^rd edn., Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

view Sheila Degotardi

My research interests revolve around i) understanding children's sociocultural context, including the characteristics and dimensions of this sociocultural context and the ways in which children's sociocultural context supports and facilitates their development; and ii) how children and adults express their social understanding during their interactions with others.

My current research projects incorporate interests in the following topics:

Characteristics and determinants of adult-child interactions and responsive caregiving in both home and early childhood settings.

Approaches and processes related to infant-toddler pedagogy.

Adult beliefs about children and their play.

The nature and developmental potential of children's engagement in play and social interactions.

Publications:

Degotardi, S. (in press). Looking out and looking in: Reflecting on conducting observational research in a long-day-care nursery. The First Years: New Zealand Journal of Infant-Toddler Education.

Degotardi, S. & Pearson, E. (in press). Relationship theory in the nursery: Attachment and beyond. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 10(2).

Degotardi, S., & Davis, B. (2008). Understanding infants: Characteristics of early childhood practitioners' interpretations of infants and their behaviours. Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, 28(3), 221-234.

Degotardi, S. & Torr, J. (2007). A longitudinal investigation of mothers' mind-related to talk to their 12 to 24-month-old infants. Early Child Development and Care, 177(6-7), 767-780.

Degotardi, S (2006). Book Review: Infants' sense of people: Precursors to a theory of mind. Educational Psychology, 26(6), 853-854

Degotardi, S (2005). Exploring children's play: Development and contexts. In A. Talay-Ongan and E.A. Ap (Eds.) Child development and teaching young children. Sydney, Thomson.

Degotardi, S (2005). Mothers' beliefs, mothers' talk, and their children's theory of mind. Unpublished PhD Thesis, MacquarieUniversity.

Degotardi, S. (2003). Getting to know what they're doing: Observing children's use of their understanding of mind. In C. Tan-Niam, S. Degotardi, and S. Dockett (Eds.) Minds at play: Intersubjectivity, theory of mind and social competence in children's interactions. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University

Degotardi, S & Cross, A (1999). Children's expression of their understanding of mental states: More than speaking their mind. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 1, 46-59.

Dockett, S., Szarkowicz, D., Petrovski, P., Degotardi, S., & Rovers, F. (1999). "I annoy him and he hits me": Interactions of popular, neutral and unpopular children. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 1, 59-71.

Dockett, S. & Degotardi, S. (1997). Some implications of popularity at age four. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood, 1, 21-30.

view Frances Gibson Frances Gibson's research has focused on children born at high risl and children with developmental difficulties, including family adjustment.
view Rosalind Kitson
Rosalind's research interests include transitions, starting school and education in the first years of school. She is interested in practicum and fieldwork experiences of students and the professional pathways of graduate teachers. Research undertaken for her PhD investigated starting school and the program for the first year of school in Brunei Darussalam South East Asia. This was undertaken when she was a lecturer in the department of early childhood at the University Brunei Darussalam.

Much of Rosalind's reseach is framed around cross cultural issues and Indigenous early childhood education, from the perpsectives of children and families as well as the professional pathways and experiences of Indigenous early childhood teachers.

Her current research is focused on Indigenous education and her research interests have reviewed the   Professional Pathways of Indigenous Early Childhood Teachers. This study was funded by Department of Education Science and Training.

The Child Care Choices of Indigenous Families project funded by Department of Community Services is being initiated by research team from two universities, Macquarie University and Charles Sturt Univiersity. This research is exploring Indigenous families prefererences for early childhood education and care.

An area of interest is the visual arts and Rosalind has a Masters degree of art education from the College of Fine Arts, Univeristy of NSW. She is interested in ways to enhance and enrich children's art experiences to extend their interest, understanding and creativity.

view Susan Roberts
Susan's research interests include visual language and literacy in early childhood, young children's understanding of new media technologies and images of the child in visual language. She is currently working on a longitudinal project which uses systemic functional multimodal theory to explore how young children develop their understanding of computer software. She is supervising several PhD students whose research topics include children and media harm, and using computers in early childhood settings.

                                      SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Roberts, S., Djonov, E. &Torr, J. (2008). "The mouse is not a toy": Young children's interactions with e-games. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy. In press.

Tennant, M., & Roberts, S. (2007). Agreeing to supervise. In C. Denholm & T. Evans (Eds.), Supervising doctorates downunder: Keys to effective supervision in Australia and New Zealand. pp.20-27). Melbourne: ACER Press.

Gibbs, D. & Roberts, S. (2006). A jump-start in learning?: Young children's use of CD-ROM technology.. In D. Gibbs & K.-L. Krause (Eds.), Cyberlines 2.0: Languages and cultures of the internet, (pp.219-237).Melbourne: James Nicholas.

Roberts, S . & Philip, R. (2006). The grammar of visual design. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 22 (2), 209-228.

Roberts, S . & Howard, S. (2005). Watching Teletubbies: Television and its very young audience. In J. Marsh (Ed.), Popular culture, new media and digital literacy in early childhood. (pp.91-107). London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Lee-Thomas, K., Sumsion, J. & Roberts, S. (2005). Teacher understandings of and commitment to gender equity in the early childhood setting. Australian Journal of Early Childhood,30 (1), 21-28.

Howard, S. & Roberts, S. (2002). Winning hearts and minds: Television and its very young audience. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 3 (3), 315-337.

Howard, S., and Roberts, S. (1999). Teletubbies downunder: the Australian experience. Televizion 12, 21-27.

Fleet, A., Roberts, S., Robertson, J., and Stevenson, C., (1998). Greeting card imagery of childhood Metro Education 14, 20-24.

Roberts, S ., Robertson, J., Stevenson, C., and Fleet, A. (1997). Representations of children and childhood: furthering the debate. Every Child, 3, 4.

Roberts, S. (1996). Quality children's television: the case of 'Lift Off'. In W. Schiller (Ed), Issues in Expressive Arts: curriculum for early childhood. Gordon and Breach: Amsterdam.

Roberts, S ., and Schiller, W. (1995). The role of play and playthings in early childhood development. In Biggins, B. et al (Eds) Marketing toys: it's child's play. New College, UNSW.

Roberts , S. (1989). Violence on television - how are children affected? Rattler, 11, 16.18.

Tennant , S. (1983). Interactive cable TV in Japan. Media International Australia, 29, 21-26.

view Jane Torr
I am interested in all aspects of early childhood language and literacy development. My research has explored the role of language in children's learning, including the nature of adult-child talk and how this talk affects current and later academic achievement. I am especially interested in children's picture books, and their qualities as multimodal works of art. I have explored how young children interpret the relationship between the written text and the pictures. Another area of interest is the beliefs of mothers and early childhood teachers about children's literacy development.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles (C1)

Torr, J. (2008). Mothers' beliefs about literacy development: Indigenous and Anglo-Australian mothers from different educational backgrounds. Alberta Journal of Educational Research 54(1), 65-82.

Degotardi, S., Torr, J. & Cross, T. (2008). "He's got a mind of his own": The development of a framework for determining mothers' beliefs about their infants' minds. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 259-271.

Bio	Name	Information
view	Jennifer Bowes	Current research projects include: Child Care Choices Extension Project Child Care Choices of Indigenous Families Access and Equity in Early Childhood Education Exploring the Efficacy of an Integrated Child and Family Service Model in a Disadvantaged Area: Child, Parent and Professional Outcomes A Multi-modal Investigation of Current and Proposed Structures and Processes Determining and Sustaining Quality in Australian Centre-based Child Care Current research supervision is on the following topics: · Socialisation of emotion in Chinese children in Hong Kong. · Family-centred practice in early intervention: How do families of young children with special needs experience family-centred practice? · Catering for the needs of intellectually gifted children In early childhood settings: Development of successful intervention strategies. Recent Research Grants 2003 Child Care Choices of Indigenous Families (Bowes, J., Sanson, A., Wise, S., Ungerer, J., Harrison, L., Watson, J, & Simpson, T.) Department of Community Services, NSW ($888,169) 2004 Longitudinal Extension of the Child Care Choices Project (Bowes, J., Sanson, A., Wise, S., Ungerer, J., Harrison, L., & Simpson, T.) Department of Community Services, NSW ($1,304,360) 2004 The Experiences of Young Children and their Families with Multiple Childcare Arrangements: Development of a New Measure for Children and Parents. (Bowes, J. & Ungerer, J.) MacquarieUniversity Research Development Grants Scheme ($16,717). 2005 Early Childhood Education and Indigenous Children, Gifted Children, Children of Recent Arrivals in Australia and Children with Disabilities (Bowes, J.). Department of Education, Science and Training ($750,000) 2008 A Multi-modal Investigation of Current and Proposed Structures and Processes Determining and Sustaining Quality in Australian Centre-based Child Care (Harrison, L., Press, F., Sumsion, J., Bowes, J. M., & Fenech, M.) ARC Discovery Grant ($257,196.00). 2008 Exploring the Efficacy of an Integrated Child and Family Service Model in a Disadvantaged Area: Child, Parent and Professional Outcomes (Bowes, J. M., Grace, R., Gibson, F., McMaugh, A., & Degotardi, S.) Macquarie University External Collaborative Research Grant in partnership with Uniting Care, Burnside ($77,387.00 total funding). Recent publications Bowes, J. M. (2005). Emphasizing the family in work-family research: A review of current research and recommendations for future directions. In S. Poelmans (Ed.), International Research on Work and Family. (pp. 415-438). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Diamond, A., Bowes, J., & Robertson, G. (2006). Mothers' safety intervention strategies with toddlers and their relationship to child characteristics. Early Childhood Development and Care, 176 (3&4), 271-284. Bowes, J., Fleet, A., Maloney, C., & Stamopoulous, E. (2006). Quality assurance of teacher education programs through benchmarking. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 13 (2), 141-150. Chan, S. M., Bowes, J., & Wyver, S. (in press). Chinese parenting in Hong Kong: Links among goals, beliefs and styles. Early Child Development and Care. Bowes, J. & Grace, R. (Eds). (in press). Children, Families and Communities, 3^rd edn., Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
view	Sheila Degotardi	My research interests revolve around i) understanding children's sociocultural context, including the characteristics and dimensions of this sociocultural context and the ways in which children's sociocultural context supports and facilitates their development; and ii) how children and adults express their social understanding during their interactions with others. My current research projects incorporate interests in the following topics: Characteristics and determinants of adult-child interactions and responsive caregiving in both home and early childhood settings. Approaches and processes related to infant-toddler pedagogy. Adult beliefs about children and their play. The nature and developmental potential of children's engagement in play and social interactions. Publications: Degotardi, S. (in press). Looking out and looking in: Reflecting on conducting observational research in a long-day-care nursery. The First Years: New Zealand Journal of Infant-Toddler Education. Degotardi, S. & Pearson, E. (in press). Relationship theory in the nursery: Attachment and beyond. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 10(2). Degotardi, S., & Davis, B. (2008). Understanding infants: Characteristics of early childhood practitioners' interpretations of infants and their behaviours. Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, 28(3), 221-234. Degotardi, S. & Torr, J. (2007). A longitudinal investigation of mothers' mind-related to talk to their 12 to 24-month-old infants. Early Child Development and Care, 177(6-7), 767-780. Degotardi, S (2006). Book Review: Infants' sense of people: Precursors to a theory of mind. Educational Psychology, 26(6), 853-854 Degotardi, S (2005). Exploring children's play: Development and contexts. In A. Talay-Ongan and E.A. Ap (Eds.) Child development and teaching young children. Sydney, Thomson. Degotardi, S (2005). Mothers' beliefs, mothers' talk, and their children's theory of mind. Unpublished PhD Thesis, MacquarieUniversity. Degotardi, S. (2003). Getting to know what they're doing: Observing children's use of their understanding of mind. In C. Tan-Niam, S. Degotardi, and S. Dockett (Eds.) Minds at play: Intersubjectivity, theory of mind and social competence in children's interactions. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University Degotardi, S & Cross, A (1999). Children's expression of their understanding of mental states: More than speaking their mind. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 1, 46-59. Dockett, S., Szarkowicz, D., Petrovski, P., Degotardi, S., & Rovers, F. (1999). "I annoy him and he hits me": Interactions of popular, neutral and unpopular children. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 1, 59-71. Dockett, S. & Degotardi, S. (1997). Some implications of popularity at age four. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood, 1, 21-30.
view	Frances Gibson	Frances Gibson's research has focused on children born at high risl and children with developmental difficulties, including family adjustment.
view	Rosalind Kitson	Rosalind's research interests include transitions, starting school and education in the first years of school. She is interested in practicum and fieldwork experiences of students and the professional pathways of graduate teachers. Research undertaken for her PhD investigated starting school and the program for the first year of school in Brunei Darussalam South East Asia. This was undertaken when she was a lecturer in the department of early childhood at the University Brunei Darussalam. Much of Rosalind's reseach is framed around cross cultural issues and Indigenous early childhood education, from the perpsectives of children and families as well as the professional pathways and experiences of Indigenous early childhood teachers. Her current research is focused on Indigenous education and her research interests have reviewed the Professional Pathways of Indigenous Early Childhood Teachers. This study was funded by Department of Education Science and Training. The Child Care Choices of Indigenous Families project funded by Department of Community Services is being initiated by research team from two universities, Macquarie University and Charles Sturt Univiersity. This research is exploring Indigenous families prefererences for early childhood education and care. An area of interest is the visual arts and Rosalind has a Masters degree of art education from the College of Fine Arts, Univeristy of NSW. She is interested in ways to enhance and enrich children's art experiences to extend their interest, understanding and creativity.
view	Susan Roberts	Susan's research interests include visual language and literacy in early childhood, young children's understanding of new media technologies and images of the child in visual language. She is currently working on a longitudinal project which uses systemic functional multimodal theory to explore how young children develop their understanding of computer software. She is supervising several PhD students whose research topics include children and media harm, and using computers in early childhood settings. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Roberts, S., Djonov, E. &Torr, J. (2008). "The mouse is not a toy": Young children's interactions with e-games. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy. In press. Tennant, M., & Roberts, S. (2007). Agreeing to supervise. In C. Denholm & T. Evans (Eds.), Supervising doctorates downunder: Keys to effective supervision in Australia and New Zealand. pp.20-27). Melbourne: ACER Press. Gibbs, D. & Roberts, S. (2006). A jump-start in learning?: Young children's use of CD-ROM technology.. In D. Gibbs & K.-L. Krause (Eds.), Cyberlines 2.0: Languages and cultures of the internet, (pp.219-237).Melbourne: James Nicholas. Roberts, S . & Philip, R. (2006). The grammar of visual design. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 22 (2), 209-228. Roberts, S . & Howard, S. (2005). Watching Teletubbies: Television and its very young audience. In J. Marsh (Ed.), Popular culture, new media and digital literacy in early childhood. (pp.91-107). London: RoutledgeFalmer. Lee-Thomas, K., Sumsion, J. & Roberts, S. (2005). Teacher understandings of and commitment to gender equity in the early childhood setting. Australian Journal of Early Childhood,30 (1), 21-28. Howard, S. & Roberts, S. (2002). Winning hearts and minds: Television and its very young audience. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 3 (3), 315-337. Howard, S., and Roberts, S. (1999). Teletubbies downunder: the Australian experience. Televizion 12, 21-27. Fleet, A., Roberts, S., Robertson, J., and Stevenson, C., (1998). Greeting card imagery of childhood Metro Education 14, 20-24. Roberts, S ., Robertson, J., Stevenson, C., and Fleet, A. (1997). Representations of children and childhood: furthering the debate. Every Child, 3, 4. Roberts, S. (1996). Quality children's television: the case of 'Lift Off'. In W. Schiller (Ed), Issues in Expressive Arts: curriculum for early childhood. Gordon and Breach: Amsterdam. Roberts, S ., and Schiller, W. (1995). The role of play and playthings in early childhood development. In Biggins, B. et al (Eds) Marketing toys: it's child's play. New College, UNSW. Roberts , S. (1989). Violence on television - how are children affected? Rattler, 11, 16.18. Tennant , S. (1983). Interactive cable TV in Japan. Media International Australia, 29, 21-26.
view	Jane Torr	I am interested in all aspects of early childhood language and literacy development. My research has explored the role of language in children's learning, including the nature of adult-child talk and how this talk affects current and later academic achievement. I am especially interested in children's picture books, and their qualities as multimodal works of art. I have explored how young children interpret the relationship between the written text and the pictures. Another area of interest is the beliefs of mothers and early childhood teachers about children's literacy development. RECENT PUBLICATIONS Journal Articles (C1) Torr, J. (2008). Mothers' beliefs about literacy development: Indigenous and Anglo-Australian mothers from different educational backgrounds. Alberta Journal of Educational Research 54(1), 65-82. Degotardi, S., Torr, J. & Cross, T. (2008). "He's got a mind of his own": The development of a framework for determining mothers' beliefs about their infants' minds. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 259-271.