Dr Louise Lehane

I completed my undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences with Concurrent Education in 2010 and was subsequently awarded IRCSET funding to undertake a Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. John O’Reilly and Dr. Geraldine Mooney Simmie.

My Ph.D focused on using a professional learning community to facilitate pre-service teachers in developing an awareness and enactment of scientific inquiry. My principle research interests include teacher professional development, pedagogical content knowledge, educational change, scientific inquiry and nature of science.

While engaging in the Ph.D I was a tutor on a number of education modules including being a school placement tutor and FYP supervisor. Towards the end of my PhD I became a research assistant on an FP7 funded project entitled Chain Reaction: A Sustainable Approach to Inquiry Based Science Education and have since become a post-doctoral researcher on this project. I am principally the project–coordinator but I also facilitate in teacher training which includes supporting teachers in the classroom.

1. Globe Forum Event- Dublin Nov (2010): Poster presentation of Ph.D. study.
2. Education and Health Science Research Forum- University of Limerick, May (2011): Poster Presentation of Ph.D. study
3. Science Education Research Seminar- University of Limerick Feb (2012): Oral Presentation of synopsis of Ph.D. study.
4. American Education Research Association- Vancouver April (2012): Presenting as part of a symposium on using a PCK lens in a variety of contexts. My presentation title was “
5. ICCE-ERICE- Rome July (2012): Poster presentation of Ph.D. study
6. Croatian Chemistry Workshop, Split Croatia, November (2012): Oral Presentation of Ph.D. study entitled “Insights into Pre-service Science Teachers Inquiry Orientation through the Utilisation of a PCK Lens”
7. NARST- Puerto Rico April (2013): Poster presentation with Adam Bertram entitled- “Developing emergent PCK of Irish and Australian pre-service science teachers during teaching placements”
8. Science Education Research Seminar- University of Limerick Feb (2013): Oral presentation of synopsis of Ph.D. study entitled ““Insights into the inquiry orientations of pre-service science teachers through a PCK lens “.
9. ESERA- Nicosia, Cyprus 2-7th September (2013)- Oral Presentation: Lehane, L., O’Reilly, J. and Mooney Simmie, G. (2013) “The utilisation of a pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) lens to develop pre-service teachers’ orientations towards inquiry practice”.
10. ESERA- Nicosia, Cyprus 2-7th September (2013)- Poster Presentation with Adam Bertram entitled- “Insights into the inquiry orientations of a cohort of Irish and Australian pre-service science teachers using a Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) lens”