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Karen Skilling

Honorary Norham Fellow | St Antony's College

karen.skilling@education.ox.ac.uk

About me

Dr Karen Skilling is an Associate Professor in Mathematics Education.

Karen’s research interests include: student engagement and motivation in mathematics; integrated STEM learning and project-based STEM activities; and vignette methods. Karen currently sits on the Executive Committee of BSRLM, and is a journal Editor for the Teaching Education Journal (TEJ) and Research in Mathematics Education (RME). Karen has also been co-Editor for several special issues, and a topic study co-lead at the Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME). Karen is a Visiting Fellow at King’s College London and been an HEA Fellow since 2016.

Awards include: Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) (APAI): funded PhD role attached to MYTEAM Project awarded by Australian Research Council (2008 –2012); Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Department of Education, University of Oxford (2013-14); and nominations for Most Outstanding Contribution to Student Experience at King’s College London (2015, 2016, 2017).

Research

Books

Kuntze, S., Fernández, C., Friesen, M., Ivars, P., Krummenauer, J., Llinares, S., Samková, L., Skilling, K., Healy, L., Bernabeu, M., & Schwaderer, F. (2022).Cartoon vignettes for connecting mathematics education theory and practice – Supporting teacher education and professional development through collaborative reflection on mathematics classrooms. [Book preprint available online at http://www.coreflect.eu/download/book-preprint-io3.pdf]

Book chapters

Maguire, M., Gibbons, S., Glackin, M., Pepper, D. & Skilling, K. (Eds). (2018). Becoming a Teacher (5th Edition), Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.

Journal articles

Skilling, K. (2023). Managing classroom behaviour and engaging students in learning. In Gibbons, S., Brock, R., Glackin, M., Rushton, E, & Towers, E. (Eds.) Becoming a Teacher (6th Edition), Chapter 18. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.

In preparation

Skilling, K. (2018). Engaged in learning: Learning to engage. In Maguire, M., Gibbons, S., Glackin, M., Pepper, D. & Skilling, K. (Eds). Becoming a Teacher (5th Edition), Chapter 11. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.

Conference papers and presentations (selected)

Skilling, K. (2020). Shifting and shaping student beliefs about STEM education, pathways and engagement through integrated project experiences. In Y. Li & J. Anderson (Eds). Integrated approaches to STEM education: An international perspective: Springer.

Subjects Taught

MSc in Learning and Teaching (Motivation and Mathematics)
MSc in Medical Education (Motivation)
PGCE (Mathematics)
DPhil in Education

Current Doctoral Students

Doctoral Applications

Karen is keen to communicate with UK and international academic colleagues and welcomes potential PhD students interested in researching:

motivation and engagement (and connected theories)
integrated subject and mathematics learning as well as integrated STEM education and learning
vignettes and other innovative research methods relevant to teachers and for the benefits of all learners.

Funded Research Projects

SEMPER Project - Self-Efficacy in Mathematics, Pathways in Education and Research Project (CI)

Research Council of Norway (NOK10m/£840,000)

Sept 2023 - Aug 2027

GEM Project Learning: Enhancing Geography and Mathematics Teaching Through Integrated Learning Experiences (PI)

Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford Teaching Development and Enhancement Project (£6000)

Feb 2023 - Jan 2024

CoReflect@maths Project - Erasmus + Strategic Partnership (CI)

Nationale Agentur fur EU: NA-DAAD (€350,000)

Sept 2019 - Aug 2022

Observing, Recording & Reporting Student Engagement & Motivation in Mathematics (ORRSEMM) Project (PI)

John Fell Funding (£9123)

Sept 2020 - July 2022

Teacher Appraisal of Student Engagement and Motivation in Mathematics Project (PI)

Faculty of Social Science and School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London, £5300

Sept 2018 - June 2019

Investigating secondary school transdisciplinary STEM projects (PI)

School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London, £3000, PI

July 2017 - July 2018

An intervention study to enhance pupil engagement in Mathematics and Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) (Co-PI)

School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London, £3000

March 2016 - Jan 2017

Investigating and framing cognitive engagement in mathematics

Department of Education, University of Oxford, Post-doctoral fellowship

Sept 2013 - Sept 2014

MYTEAM: Middle Years Transition, Engagement and Achievement in Mathematics Project

Australian Research Council, Linkage Project, AUD$350 000 (£200 000). PhD Scholarship

Feb 2008 - Dec 2011