Department of Education

Alison Cullinane

Departmental Lecturer in Science Education

College Affiliation: St Antony's College

Alison is a Departmental Lecturer in Science Education. Her research interests include teacher education, nature of science, practical science and assessment.

After completing her undergraduate in Science Education at the University of Limerick, she taught in Ireland before returning to complete her Masters in Science Education and her PhD in Science Education. Her PhD research examined the development of pre-service teachers’ understanding of the Nature of Science. While at the University of Limerick, she held the position of Project Officer in Biological Sciences at EPI-STEM (formally the NCE-MSTL), the national STEM Education centre. One of the main aspects of her work was to contribute to the development of evidence-based research and programmes of innovation in science teaching and learning. She also collaborated on projects with other partners, such as work carried out with Discover Sensors and the Mallow Project. She has several years of experience teaching in science education lecturing positions across a number of institutions in Ireland and now the UK. In these roles, she taught on science and science education courses to national and international students.

She arrived at the department in 2018, where she was the post-doctoral researcher for Project Calibrate – a project developing high-stakes assessment questions of practical science for GCSE. She is currently still involved this research.

  • Subjects Taught

    MSc in Learning and Teaching

    PGCE - Science

Publications:

  • Book chapters

    • CULLINANE, A, ERDURAN, S, Wooding, SJ (2019) “Assessment of practical chemistry in England: an analysis of scientific methods assessed in high-stakes examinations”, In: M Schultz, S Schmid, GA Lawrie (eds.) Research and Practice in Chemistry Education Advances from the 25th IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education 2018. Singapore: Springer. 135-148
      DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6998-8

    • CULLINANE, A, O' Dwyer, A (2019) “Lesson Resources and Teaching Strategies on Argumentation for Secondary Chemistry Education”, In: S ERDURAN (ed.) Argumentation in Chemistry Education: Research, Policy and Practice. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry. 62-78
      DOI: http://doi.org/10.1039/9781788012645-00062

  • Journal articles

    • Cullinane, A, Erduran, S, Wooding, SJ (2019) “Investigating the diversity of scientific methods in high-stakes chemistry examinations in England”, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCE EDUCATION. 41(16) 2201-2217.
      DOI: http://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2019.1666216

    • Cullinane, A, Liston, M (2016) “Review of the Leaving Certificate biology examination papers (1999–2008) using Bloom’s taxonomy – an investigation of the cognitive demands of the examination”, Irish Educational Studies. 35(3) 249-267.
      DOI: http://doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2016.1192480

    • CULLINANE, A, ERDURAN, S, EL MASRI, Y, Lim-Ng, D “Assessment of Practical Science in High Stakes Examinations: A Qualitative Analysis Focusing on High Performing Countries”, International Journal of Science Education.

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