Professor Mike Watts

Interview with Professor Mike Watts, Professor of Education at Brunel University, London

Consultancy

Learning for life

Science for school, for citizenship and for society

Services include

• Research – audits, surveys, interviews, evaluation and monitoring, analysis and assessment
• Policy – design and editorial advice, strategic planning
• Training – awareness, professional development and implementation workshops
• Advocacy – presentations, discussion papers, responses to government documents

Services can be tailored to the needs of individual clients or offered on a generic basis for al types of staff or volunteers, from school or professional agencies up to chief executive level. Services can be delivered on or off-site.

If you would like to arrange a workshop or discuss any of the services listed then please contact Professor Mike Watts for further information.

Previous clients

• Allied Lyons Ltd
• British Association for the Advancement of Science
• British Nuclear Fuels
• Centre for Masters in Education, University of South Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Tubarao, Brazil
• Centre for Maths and Science Education, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
• CREST Awards Scheme
• David Fulton Press
• Education Secretariat of Santa Catarina, Brazil
• Espresso for Schools
• European Business Communications
• Exscitec
• Ford Motor Company
• Greenwich Observatory
• National Physical Laboratories
• Oracle Plc
• Pedagogic Institute of Cyprus
• Roehampton University
• UNESCO
• University of Aveiro, Portugal
• University College Cork
• Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET)
• University of Leicester
• The World Bank

Fees

Fees are negotiable but include labour costs for each staff member employed, project costs, travel and subsistence, + VAT at 17.5%

Journal citations

• British Educational Research Journal
• Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
• Chemistry Education: Research and Practice in Europe
• Early Child Development and Care
• Education in Science
• Educational Psychology
• Educational Research and Evaluation
• Education and Training
• International Journal of Children’s Spirituality
• International Journal of E-Literacy
• International Journal of Science Education
• Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
• Journal of Curriculum Studies
• Journal of Educational Television
• Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Papers in STSE Education
• Oxford Review of Education
• Physics Education
• Research in Education
• Research in Science and Technology Education
• School Science Review
• Science Education
• The Curriculum Journal

Mike is Chair in Education in the School of Sport and Education at Brunel University, London. He is Subject Leader for Education responsible for developing teaching, research and consultancy education at Brunel, with a special emphasis on Professional and Pedagogic Education. His own areas of research interest lie in the learning and teaching of science, in schools and beyond.

After qualifying as a teacher at Doncaster College of Education he taught physics and science in Hackney, London and Kingston, Jamaica before entering educational research at University of Surrey, where he led a project investigating young people’s understanding of physics. He left Surrey having established a successful project and completed his doctorate, to join the Schools Council’s Secondary Science Curriculum Review as Project Officer. In 1986 Mike joined Roehampton University as lecturer and, in the following years moved to Senior Lecturer, Reader, Professor, Dean of School, Federal Professor and then Principal of Froebel College.

Mike has carried out major studies of classroom interactions often, but not always, concerning the learning of science. His recent work has looked at the ways in which learner’s own questions can be used as a basis for inquiry-based teaching, the ways in which feelings and emotions shape learning, and ways in which classroom technologies can be used to enhance learning processes.

In 2003 he was awarded a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship for his excellence in teaching, and has used the award to further research and scholarship into teaching and learning in higher education. In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. He is an honorary visiting Professor at Dublin City University, and University of Aveiro in Portugal, and an external examiner for University College Cork.

Mike has published widely in his field of science education through his books, journal articles and many conference papers. He is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Science Education, the Research in Science and Technology Education and for Research in Education. He is keen to teach and contributes to programmes at post-graduate, masters and doctoral level within the School. He currently has eight PhD students at various stages of their work, and has been external examiner at a number of universities both national and international.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2013) Pedrosa de Jesus, MH., Moreira, AC., da Silva Lopes, B. and Watts, DM., So much more than just a list: Exploring the nature of critical questioning in undergraduate sciences, International Journal of Science Education Forthcoming

(2013) Kanhadilok, P. and Watts, DM., Western science and local Thai wisdom: Using museum toys to develop bi-gnosis, Canadian Journal for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Forthcoming

(2013) Watts, DM. and Crowe, N., Editorial, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth Forthcoming

(2012) Kanhadilok, P. and Watts, DM., Family play-learning: Some learning outcomes from make-and-play activities with toys at a science museum, Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal 1 (2)

(2012) Crowe, N. and Watts, DM., "When I click 'OK' I become Sassy - I become a girl” Young people and gender identity: Subverting the 'body' in massively multi-player on-line role playing games, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth ForthcomingiFirst article

(2012) Pedrosa de Jesus, MH. and Watts, DM., Managing the affect of learners’ questions in undergraduate chemistry, Studies in Higher Education Forthcoming 1- 15

(2012) Pedrosa-de-Jesus, H., da Silva Lopes, B., Moreira, A. and Watts, M., Contexts for questioning: Two zones of teaching and learning in undergraduate science, Higher Education 64 (4) : 557- 571

(2010) Barker, J., Alldred, P., Watts, M. and Dodman, H., Pupils or prisoners? Institutional geographies and internal exclusion in UK secondary schools, Area 42 (3) : 378- 386

(2009) Coole, H. and Watts, M., Communal e-learning styles in the online classroom, Research in Education (82) : 13- 27

(2008) Almeida, P., Pedrosa de Jesus, HM. and Watts, D., Developing mini-projects: Students’ questions and learning styles, The Psychology of Education Review 32 (1) : 6- 17

(2007) Mallick, J. and Watts, M., 'Drugsbridge': A humanistic approach to drug education, Research in Education (78) : 110- 128

(2007) Mallick, J. and Watts, M., Personal construct theory and constructivist drug education, Drug and Alcohol Review 26 (6) : 595- 603

(2005) Watts, M., Almeida, P. and Pedrosa de Jesus, H., Orchestrating learning and teaching in inter-disciplinary chemistry, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education 5 (1) : 71- 84

(2004) Barbosa, R., Jófili, Z. and Watts, M., Cooperating in constructing knowledge: case studies from chemistry and citizenship, International Journal of Science Education 26 (8) : 935- 949

(2004) Pedrosa de Jesus, H., Almeida, P. and Watts, M., Questioning styles and students' learning: Four case studies, Educational Psychology 24 (4) : 531- 548

(2003) Alsop, S. and Watts, M., Science education and affect, International Journal of Science Education 25 (9) : 1043- 1047

(2001) Watts, M., Science and poetry: passion v. prescription in school science?, International Journal of Science Education 23 (2) : 197- 208

(2001) Watts, M., The PLUS factors of family science, International Journal of Science Education 23 (1) : 83- 95

(1998) Watts, M. and Jofili, Z., Towards critical constructivist teaching, International Journal of Science Education 20 (2) : 173- 185

(1997) Watts, M., Alsop, S., Gould, G. and Walsh, A., Prompting teachers' constructive reflection: Pupils' questions as critical incidents, International Journal of Science Education 19 (9) : 1025- 1037

(1997) Watts, M., Alsop, S. and Zylbersztajn, A., 'Event-centred-learning': An approach to teaching science technology and societal issues in two countries, International Journal of Science Education 19 (3) : 341- 351

(1996) Watts, M., A review of Driver, R. Leach, J; Millar, R, and Scott, P. (1996) Young People’s Images of Science, British Council Science Education Newsletter 26- 27

(1996) Vaz, A. and Watts, M., A clash of cultures: Physics and the primary scientist, Early Child Development and Care 117 (1) : 99- 112

(1996) Watts, M. and Taber, K., An explanatory gestalt of essence: Students’ conceptions of the ‘natural’ in physical phenomena, International Journal of Science Education 18 (8) : 939- 954

(1996) Taber, K. and Watts, M., The secret life of the chemical bond: students’ anthropomorphic and animistic references to bonding, International Journal of Science Education 18 (5) : 557- 568

(1994) Watts, M. and Bentley, D., Humanizing and feminizing school science - reviving anthropomorphic and animistic thinking in constructivist science-education, International Journal of Science Education 16 (1) : 83- 97

(1988) Watts, M. and Ebbutt, D., 6th-formers views of their science-education, 11-16, International Journal of Science Education 10 (2) : 211- 219

(1987) Watts, DM. and Bentley, D., What makes good science-education television, Journal of Educational Television 13 (3) : 201- 215

Conference Papers

(2012) Kanhadilok, P. and Watts, DM., Zones of play-learning: Teaching science through traditional toys within the National Science Museum, Thailand, Geographies of Education Conference

(2012) Pedrosa de Jesus, MH. and Watts, DM., Learning styles and questioning styles, 17th Annual Conference of European Learning Styles Information Network (ELSIN)

(2012) Kanhadilok, P. and Watts, DM., Toy make-and-play activities and science learning outcomes, International Ireland Conference on Education (IICE)

(2011) Karim, BW., Toplis, TT. and Watts, DM., Preliminary investigations of primary pre-service teachers professional problem solving styles, 16th Annual Conference of the European Learning Styles Information Network

(2009) Pedrosa de Jesus, MH., da Silva Lopes, B. and Watts, D., The interplay of preferential teaching approaches and classroom questioning in higher education: Two case studies, 14th ELSIN Conference

(2008) Almeida, P., Pedrosa de Jesus, H. and Watts, D., Learning styles: A review of research presented at ELSIN conferences, 13th Annual Conference of the European Learning Styles Information Network: Style and cultural differences: how can organisations, regions and countries take advantages of style differences?

(2008) Pedrosa de Jesus, MH., Watts, D. and Almeida, P., The snowball effects of students’ questions: Contributions of mini-projects, IASK International Conference - Teaching and Learning

(2009) Pedrosa de Jesus, MH., Watts, D. and da Silva Lopes, B., Teaching approaches in higher education: The role of classroom questioning, London Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 7th International Conference

(2008) Neri de Souza, F., Watts, D. and Moreira, A., E-questioning tutorial, IASK Conference

(1996) Watts, M. and Vaz, A., Freire meets Kelly: Using constructs to generate themes in science education, European Personal Construct Association Conference

(1996) Watts, M. and Alsop, S., The QUESTCUP Project: A study of pupils’ questions for conceptual understanding, American Educational Research Association

Book Chapters

(2013) Watts, DM., Foreword. In: Roffey-Barentsen, J. and Malthouse, R. eds. Reflective practice in the lifelong learning sector. London : Learning Matters

(2011) Sharda, M. and Watts, DM., Health and sex education in India: The collapse of a policy. In: Taylor, N., Quinn, F., Littledyke, M. and Coll, RK. eds. Health education in context: An international perspective on the development of health education in schools and local communities. Sense Publications

(2011) Almeida, P., Pedrosa de Jesus, MH. and Watts, DM., Kolb’s learning styles and approaches to learning through the use of students’ critical questions. In: Rayner, SA. and Cools, E. eds. International perspectives on style differences in human performance: Leading edge research, theory and practice. New York : Routledge 115- 128

(2010) Watts, DM. and Pedrosa de Jesus, MH., Questions and science. In: Toplis, R. ed. How science works: Effective pedagogies and practice for secondary school teachers. London : Routledge

(2009) Selvaruby, PS. and Watts, D., Environmental education in a troubled land. In: Taylor, N., Littledyke, M., Eames, C. and Coll, RK. eds. Environmental education in context: An international perspective on the development of environmental education. London : Sage

(2009) Leask, M. and Watts, D., Unit 2.3: Taking responsibility for the whole classroom. In: Capel, S., Leask, M. and Turner, A. eds. Learning to teach. London : Routledge

(2008) Valkanova, Y. and Watts, D., Digital story telling in a science classroom: Reflective self-learning (RSL) in action. In: Evans, R. and Jones, D. eds. Metacognitive approaches to developing oracy: Developing speaking and listening with young children. London : Routledge

(2008) Selvaruby, P., O'Sullivan, B. and Watts, M., School-based assessment in Sri Lanka: Ensuring valid processes for assessment-for-learning in physics. In: Coll, RK. and Taylor, N. eds. Science Education in Context: An International Examination of the Influence of Context on Science Curricula Development and Implementation. Rotterdam, The Netherlands : Sense Publishers 131- 144

(2005) Watts, M., Orchestrating the confluence: a discussion of science, passion and poetry. In: Alsop, S. ed. Beyond Cartesian Dualism: Encountering Affect in the Teaching and Learning of Science. Dordrecht : Springer (29) : 149- 159