University of Tasmania, Australia

UTAS Home | UTAS Staff | UTAS Contacts

Jane Watson

UTAS Home › Faculty of Education › Faculty of Education › Faculty staff contacts  › Jane Watson

Prof Jane Watson

Professor Emerita

"BA, MA, PhD"

Contact Details

Contact Campus Sandy Bay Campus
Building Hytten Hall
Room Reference H502
Telephone +61 3 6226 2570
Fax +61 3 6226 2569
Email Jane.Watson@utas.edu.au

Achievements

Emeritus Professor Jane Watson came to the Australian National University on a Fulbright Scholarship from the University of Oklahoma, later working at the ANU as a Research Assistant.

At the University of Tasmania she began as a tutor in the Mathematics Department. During her time there she completed a PhD in Mathematics Education and joined the Faculty of Education in 1985. She has taught many different courses in mathematics and mathematics education for primary, middle school and high school preservice teachers, as well as masters courses for inservice teachers.

She has supervised 11 PhD students to completion, been involved in 20 professional development programs and consultancies for teachers and education systems, and been a Chief Investigator on 19 large or small research projects funded by the Australian Research Council.

In 2007 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Awards include the inaugural Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia MERGA Career Research Medal in 2010, the Australian Bureau of Statistics NatStats2010 Conference Award for Excellence in the Development and Promotion of Statistical Capability in Education and Training, and the University of Tasmania Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Medal in 2011.

Research

View Jane's research profile on the UTAS Web Access Research Portal (WARP)

Publications

Selected publications since 2006

  • Watson, J.M. (2006). Statistical Literacy at School: Growth and Goals. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. [ISBN 0-8085-5398-7]

  • Watson, J.M. (2006). Assessing the development of important concepts in statistics and probability. In G. F. Burrill (Ed.), Thinking and reasoning with data and chance (pp. 61-75). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

  • Watson, J.M., & Kelly, B.A. (2006). Expectation versus variation: Students decision making in a sampling environment. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 6, 145-166.

  • Watson, J.M. (2007). The role of cognitive conflict in developing students understanding of average. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 65, 21-47.

  • Watson, J.M., Callingham, R.A., & Kelly, B.A. (2007). Students appreciation of expectation and variation as a foundation for statistical understanding. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 9, 83-130.

  • Watson, J.M., & Kelly, B.A. (2007). Assessment of students’ understanding of variation. Teaching Statistics, 29(3), 80-88.

  • Watson, J.M., Fitzallen, N.E., Wilson, K.G., & Creed, J.F. (2008). The representational value of hats. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 14, 4-10.

  • Watson, J.M., & Kelly, B.A. (2009). Development of student understanding of outcomes involving two or more dice. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 7, 25-54.

  • Watson, J.M., & Donne, J. (2009). TinkerPlots as a research tool to explore student understanding. Technology Innovations in Statistics Education, 3(1), 1-35. Available at: http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclastat/cts/tise/vol3/iss1/art1

  • Watson, J.M., & Nathan, E.L. (2010). Approaching the borderlands of statistics and mathematics in the classroom: Qualitative analysis engendering an unexpected journey. Statistics Education Research Journal, 9(2), 69-87.

  • Watson, J.M. (2011). Personal and Professional Numeracy: A unit for pre-service teachers at the University of Tasmania. Numeracy: Advancing Education in Quantitative Literacy, 4(1), Article 2. Available at http://services.bepress.com/numeracy/vol4/iss1/art2

  • Watson, J.M., & Beswick, K. (2011). School pupil change associated with a continuing professional development programme for teachers. Journal of Education for Teaching, 37(1), 63-75.

  • Watson, J.M. (2011). Foundations for improving statistical literacy. Statistical Journal of the International Association of Official Statistics, 27(3/4), 197-204

  • Watson, J., Beswick, K., Brown, N., Callingham, R., Muir, T., & Wright, S. (2011). Digging into Australian data with TinkerPlots. Melbourne: Objective Learning Materials. (374 pp.) [ISBN 978-0-9580025-2-3]

  • Watson, J., Beswick, K., & Brown, N. (2012). Educational research and professional learning in changing times: The MARBLE experience. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers. (341 pp.) [ISBN 978-94-6091-943-5]