Gemma Scarparolo

Gemma has taught in both primary and secondary school contexts in Western Australia.  She began tertiary teaching at Edith Cowan University in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) and Graduate Diploma of Education (Primary), in a sessional capacity, while completing a Master of Education and teaching in a school.  At ECU she coordinated core units in Educational Psychology as well as curriculum units for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), English and The Arts (Visual Arts).  

Since beginning full time employment at UWA in 2018 she has been awarded an 'Excellence in Teaching' award within the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education (FABLE) and this year she was invited to join the Learning and Teaching Committee as a representative for FABLE (2019-2020).

As an early career researcher, her research is focused on inclusive education and inclusive teacher practices which cater for diversity (differentiation, gifted education and student voice).  Gemma has a Mini Certificate of Gifted Education (Mini-COGE) from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and she enjoys facilitating professional development in schools focussing on differentiation to cater for diversity within inclusive classrooms.  

Refereed conference presentations

Scarparolo, G. (2019, September).  Inclusive education: is it inclusive of gifted students' needs? Paper accepted to present at the UKFIET conference at the University of Oxford, England.  

Scarparolo, G., & Mayne, F. (2019, July).  Using mixed-reality simulation technology with pre-service teachers to increase their self-efficacy for explaining differentiation to parents.  Paper presented at the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) conference, Queensland, Australia. 

Scarparolo, G., & MacKinnon, S. (2018, December).  Differentiation: What do Year 6 boys think?  Paper presented at the London International Conference on Education at the University of Cambridge, England.  

Scarparolo, G., & Subban, P. (2018, July).  Teacher Education: Preparing teachers for diversity through the practice of differentiation.  Paper presented at the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) / Teacher Education Forum of Aotearoa New Zealand (TEFANZ) conference, Melbourne, Australia. 

Conference presentations

Scarparolo, G. (2019, August).  Providing opportunities for student voice in the classroom.  HASS Week WA conference presentation at the State Library of Western Australia. 

Scarparolo, G., & MacKinnon, S. (2018, August).  Differentiation and challenge based learning: What do students learn, create and publish?  HASS Week WA conference presentation at the State Library of Western Australia.  

Scarparolo, G. (2017, October).  Differentiating the Economics and Business curriculum in Years 5 & 6.  AISWA HASS conference at Perth College, Western Australia.

Scarparolo, G. (2017, September). 'Differentiating with Technology'.  Google CS4HS conference at The University of Western Australia.

Professional presentations

Scarparolo, G. (2019, November).  Incorporating children's literature and library resources to support the teaching of the primary Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) curriculum.  AISWA Libraries AGM held at St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls.  

Scarparolo, G. (2019, June).  Differentiation: what's the point? Riverton Primary School, Western Australia. 

Scarparolo, G. (2019, January).  Catering for diversity through differentiation when teaching the HASS curriculum.  Riverton Primary School, Western Australia. 

Scarparolo, G. (2018, November).  Differentiation for Gifted Students.  Presentation for Gifted WA, Western Australia

Scarparolo, G. (2018, August).  Writing to cater for students' interests, readiness and learning profile: A differentiated approach.  ALEA Professional Learning Series, Perth, Western Australia.

Scarparolo, G. (2018, March).  Differentiation instructional strategies - two professional learning workshops. Christ Church Grammar School (Years 5 and 6 teachers), Western Australia. 

Scarparolo, G. (2017, August).  An introduction and overview of differentiation.  Mount Lawley Primary School, Western Australia.  

Professional memberships

• Australian Teacher Education Asssociation (ATEA)
• Gifted WA
• Australian Association for the Education of Gifted and Talented (AAEGT)
• History Teachers' Association of Western Australia (HTAWA)
• One World Centre (WA)
• TeachMeet (WA)

2019

Co-organiser, with Dr Fiona Mayne, of a Children's Conference in partnership with Unicef (November, 2019) hosted at UWA.

HASS week WA steering committee member (2019) representing UWA as the acacdemic partner.

Co-organiser, with Linda Cranley, of a Heritage Walk in Fremantle by Mike Lefroy for pre-service teachers as part of HASS Week WA (August, 2019)  

Co-organiser of HASS Matters event (August, 2019) at UWA with UWA academic staff and UWA Business and Marketing staff as part of HASS Week WA.  

Partnership with Riverton Primary School to support teachers to cater for gifted students through differentiation. 

2018

Event organiser for the launch of HASS Week WA at UWA with Dr Loretta Dolan (August, 2018).    

2017

Organising committee member for the Graduate School of Education inaugral digitial technologies conference, 'Bringing learning to life with digital technologies: A conference by teachers for teachers' hosted by UWA at the Centre for Education Futures (28th October, 2017).  

Current research collaborations

Dr Pearl Subban (Monash University)

Dr Fiona Mayne (UWA)

Sally MacKinnon (Christ Church Grammar School, Western Australia)

The University of Western Australia

Master of Teaching Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary

EDUC5514 Differentiating the Curriculum - Unit Coordinator (2016 - present).

EDUC5485 Development, Teaching and Learning: Theory and Practice - Unit Coordinator (2018 - present).

EDUC5501 Integrated Studies: The Humanities and Social Sciences - Unit Coordinator (2018 - present).

EDUC5710 Advanced Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment - Unit Co-coordinator (2018 - present).

EDUC5509 Interventions for Learning  (Early Childhood and Primary) Unit Co-coordinator (2017 and 2019).

EDUC5485 Development of Teaching and Learning: Theory and Practice (2017 - present).

EDUC1104 A world of mobile learning. UWA Broadening unit tutor (2017, 2018).

UWA mentor for the partnership project, Building Leadership for Change through School Immersion - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with Phoenix Academy (3 months, 2017).