Associate Professor
Reece Mills
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Teacher Education & Leadership
Biography
Reece Mills is an Associate Professor of Education at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia. He commenced his career in Education as a secondary school science teacher before being appointed at QUT. Reece has previously been a Bachelor of Education (Primary) Course Coordinator and a School Research Ethics Advisor. His research aims to create socially and ecologically sustainable futures through education. Reece's research foci centre around his values (sustainability), discipline area (science education), and practice (Initial Teacher Education). He presently holds two Australian Research Council (ARC) grants investigating teacher shortages:(1) 2023-2026 - Investigating career change teachers: Addressing teacher shortages in Australia (LP210300839) was awarded $584,968
(2) 2023-2026 - Teacher attraction and retention in hard-to-staff schools (DP230100041) was awarded $372,609
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Teacher Education & Leadership
Keywords
Earth and Environmental Science Education, Conceptual Change, Learning Progressions, Primary Science Teacher Education, Teacher Education and Professional Learning (TEPL)
Research field
Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies in Education
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Education) (James Cook Uni. of North Qld)
- Bachelor of Education with Honours (James Cook Uni. of North Qld)
Professional memberships and associations
Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA) - Executive Board Member
Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Teaching
Reece is currently teaching in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) and Masters of Teaching (Primary) courses. He is currently teaching the units:
- EUB210: Science in Primary Education 1
- EUB212: Science in Primary Education 2
- EUN108: Science and Sustainability Education
- EUN303: Science Primary Specialisation 1
- EUN306: Science Primary Specialisation 2
Reece's teaching has been recognised by way of a number of awards, including a QUT STARS Award (2016), QUT Vice Chancellor's Performance Award (2016), and QUT Faculty of Education Teaching and Learning Award (2017).
Experience
Reece has extensive experience in teaching and learning across primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions, including:
- 2023 to present: Associate Professor, QUT
- 2020 to 2023: Senior Lecturer, QUT
- 2017 to 2020: Lecturer, QUT
- 2016 to 2017: Sessional Academic, QUT
- 2015 to 2016: Sessional Academic, Griffith University
- 2015 to 2016: Examination Marker, University of Queensland
- 2012 to 2014: Science and Mathematics Teacher, Queensland Department of Education and Training
Publications
- Tomas, L., Mills, R. & Gibson, F. (2022). 'It's kind of like a cut and paste of the syllabus': a teacher's experience of enacting the Queensland Earth and Environmental Science syllabus, and implications for Education for Sustainable Development. Australian Educational Researcher (AER), 49(2). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208174
- Stahl, G., Scholes, L., McDonald, S., Mills, R. & Comber, B. (2023). Boys, science and literacy: place-based masculinities, reading practices and the 'science literate boy'. Research Papers in Education, 38(3), 328–356. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/212504
- Mills, R., Scholes, L., Stahl, G., McDonald, S., Comber, B. & Lunn, J. (2021). How do rural Australian students' ethnogeographies related to people and place influence their STEM career aspirations? International Journal of Science Education, 43(14), 2333–2350. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/212160
- Mills, R. & Bourke, T. (2020). Primary specialisation in Australian education: Pre-service teachers' lived experiences. In J. Fox, C. Alexander & T. Aspland (Eds.), Teacher Education in Globalised Times: Local Responses in Action (pp. 23–40). Springer. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/198256
- Mills, R., Bourke, T. & Siostrom, E. (2020). Complexity and contradiction: Disciplinary expert teachers in primary science and mathematics education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 89. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/135951
- Mills, R., Tomas, L., Whiteford, C. & Lewthwaite, B. (2020). Developing middle school students' interest in learning science and geology through slowmation. Research in Science Education, 50(4). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/223919
- Tomas, L., Mills, R., Rigano, D. & Sandhu, M. (2020). Education for sustainable development in the senior Earth and Environmental Science syllabus in Queensland, Australia. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 36(1), 44–62. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/133617
- Bourke, T., Mills, R. & Siostrom, E. (2020). Origins of primary specialisation in Australian education policy: what's the problem represented to be? Australian Educational Researcher (AER), 47(5), 725–740. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/197190
- Mills, R., Tomas, L. & Lewthwaite, B. (2019). The impact of student-constructed animation on middle school students' learning about plate tectonics. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 28(2), 165–177. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/122185
- Mills, R., Tomas, L. & Lewthwaite, B. (2016). Learning in Earth and space science: a review of conceptual change instructional approaches. International Journal of Science Education, 38(5), 767–790. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/107276
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Reece, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- I am the recipient of a Faculty of Education Evidence-based Practice Award (2017) for investing in curriculum and learning transformation through using a broad evidence base. In other words, this award acknowledges my research-informed teaching. The context for this award was the move to fully online learning in the Master of Teaching (MTeach). I collaboratively led the design and production of science videos to enable at home science activities in response to my research showing the importance of self-efficacy (including mastery and vicarious experiences) to pre-service teachers' intention to teach science in their future classroom.
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- I am on the Editorial Advisory Committee for the Teaching Science journal (2017-present).Teaching Science is the flagship journal of the Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA). It aims to promote the teaching of science in all Australian schools, with a focus on classroom practices and teacher professional development. Teaching Science is a national publication with subscribers throughout Australia and overseas. It is a a quarterly refereed journal of the highest integrity that includes material of interest to all sectors of the science education community. My role on the Editorial Advisory Committee is to regularly review research and professional articles and participate in the annual Most Valuable Paper Award nomination process.
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.
Current supervisions
- Early Career Teachers' Development of Teacher Self-Efficacy, in a Context of Curriculum and Assessment Reform
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Terri Bourke, Dr Chris Blundell - A mixed methods investigation of the decision-making of career changers considering entering Initial Teacher Education programs as Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics teachers
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Terri Bourke - Exploring pedagogical approaches to develop early childhood students' knowledge of the nature of science
Professional Doctorate, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Dann Mallet, Dr Senka Henderson