Rebecca Mola

Biography

Rebecca is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and has been a permanent member of staff since July 2017. Her responsibilities lie in the external accreditation of the School of Education's national programs and in coordinating the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA) for Fremantle. Rebecca has updated and developed courses to further enrich learning for the Pre-service teachers. She coordinates and teaches across a number of courses within the Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary programs with a main emphasis on Early Childhood. Rebecca has significant teaching experience of approximately twenty-two consecutive years in Catholic primary schools. For twelve of those years, Rebecca worked in leadership capacity as Assistant Principal where her role was to coordinate rich curriculum implementation, pedagogy and Religious Education across the school, supporting her fellow colleagues for delivering best practice to the students. 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.

My current research involves completing a doctorate focusing on the teaching and learning experiences offered in nature settings which support the development of creativity in children.

Teaching areas

Undergraduate Certificate:

EDUC1022 Creating environments through play in the early years

Undergraduate courses:

EDUC1028 Teaching & learning in context (new course within the early learning program which incorporates a 10 day placement which Rebecca designed, developed and delivered.
EDUC2068 Scientific & Digital Inquiry in Early Childhood (new course developed by Rebecca)
EDUC3025 Science in early childhood
EDUC1231 STEM in the Primary Years (developed by Rebecca)
EDUC3221 Primary Science
EDUC1120 Introduction to Teaching and Curriculum Frameworks
EDUC4133 Professional, Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of the Teacher

Postgraduate courses

EDUC5023 Professional, Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of the Teacher
EDUC5221 Primary science
EDUC1120 Introduction to teaching and the Curriculum Framework

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 Associate Professor Shane Lavery and Dr Anisah Dickson.

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.

Rebecca is also involved with other research related to Outdoor Education.

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

2020 - 2022 WAIER (Western Australian Institute of Educational Research) Secretary
International Association of Nature Pedagogy
Early Childhood Australia
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership
Accreditation Panel member

Community engagement

Aranmore Catholic Primary School Board 2008 - 2014
Scotch College, Western Australia, Parent Community (Secretary)

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