Rebecca Mola

Senior Lecturer
Master of Education (The University of Notre Dame Australia), Bachelor of Education (Edith Cowan University), Bachelor of Arts Primary Ed K – 7 (Edith Cowan University)

Email: rebecca.mola@nd.edu.au
Phone: 9433 0166

  • Biography

    Rebecca is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and has been a permanent member of staff since July 2017. Rebecca’s responsibilities lie in coordinating Science in Early Childhood, Primary Science and STEM in the Primary Years. She also teaches Creating Learning Environments through Play in an Undergraduate certificate. Rebecca, in her capacity as a Primary School teacher, has significant teaching experience with twenty-two consecutive years of primary teaching and twelve of those years being in the role of Assistant Principal, in addition to Acting Principal experience.  Rebecca has taught and lead in Catholic primary schools where her main role was to coordinate rich curriculum implementation and pedagogy across the school.  She also led and supported staff in their enrichment of their own curriculum development, supported strong teaching practices, carried out administrative duties as well as implemented Religious Education in the primary school.  Rebecca has fulfilled the role as HOPP (Head of Professional Practice) whereby she led, supervised and mentored Pre-service teachers while on practicum.  Rebecca is currently completing a PhD with her research project based on an exploration of nature-based teaching and learning experiences that influence the 21st century capability of creativity development in school children aged four to ten years.

  • Teaching areas

    Rebecca teaches general pedagogy for first year and fourth year pre-service teachers across early childhood, primary and secondary teaching degree programs.  Rebecca’s main teaching expertise is in the area of Science where she teaches and coordinates the courses of Science in Early Childhood, Primary Science where pre-service teachers (both undergraduate and Master program) learn and prepare for teaching science in the primary years. Rebecca also coordinates Environmental Science, Design & Technology which is currently in transition to STEM in the Primary years.  Currently, Rebecca is preparing and updating content to further enrich pre-service teachers understanding, implementation and confidence for planning STEM projects using an inquiry approach and integrating sustainability.

    Undergraduate courses taught

    • EDUC1120 Introduction to teaching and the Curriculum Framework
    • EDUC3025 Science in Early Childhood
    • EDUC3221 Primary Science
    • EDUC1231 Environmental Science, Design & Technology
    • EDUC4133 Professional and Legal Responsibilities of the Teacher

    Postgraduate courses taught (if applicable)

    • EDUC5221 Primary Science
    • EDUC5023 Professional and Legal Responsibilities of the Teacher

  • Research expertise and supervision

    Rebecca is a PhD candidate at (Notre Dame University) and is conducting research regarding an exploration of nature-based teaching and learning experiences that influence the 21st century capability of creativity development in school children aged four to ten years. She is currently being supervised for her PhD under the guidance of Dr Derek Hurrell and Ms Lorraine Day.

    The aim of Rebecca’s research project is to explore how nature-based teaching and learning experiences (nature pedagogy) influence the 21st century capability of creativity in school children aged four to ten years. Rebecca has a keen interest in creativity and how the skill of creativity is pertinent to contemporary living, therefore placing importance of enriching the skill of creativity in the early and primary school years.

    This qualitative study aims to obtain a rich picture to ascertain the efficacy of nature pedagogy being conducive for the development of creativity in children.  The importance of pursuing this topic lies in that there is a paucity of research specifically dedicated to how students develop and enrich their creativity while being immersed in nature pedagogy. This research will add to the developing body of knowledge around this topic. The project outcomes will form a Doctoral thesis and it is also intended for the outcomes to be published in a journal paper, in addition to submission for conference presentations.

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Law-Davis, S., Robinson, C., Fic, J. & Mola, R. (2019).  Godly Play: Pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teaching scripture in primary Religious Education. E-Journal of Catholic Education in Australasia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/ecea/vol3/iss1/11

  • Conference papers

    • Law-Davis, S., Robinson, C., Fic, J., & Mola, R (2018). Pre-service teachers’ perspectives about Godly Play as a strategy for teaching scripture in Religious Education in primary schools. Paper presented at the The Australian Institute of Theological Education, NSW.

  • Professional affiliations

    • Teacher Registration Board of Western Australia
    • International Association of Nature Pedagogy
    • Primary Connections