Vaille Dawson is Professor of Science Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia where she conducts educational research in science classrooms, supervises doctoral and Masters students and teaches preservice secondary science education. Previously she was Dean of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University. She has taught Masters’ level teaching and learning in science, supervised Doctoral and Masters’ research students and conducted science education research at the secondary and tertiary level. Vaille has co-edited five widely used preservice teacher education textbooks. She was first CI on an Australian Research Council Discovery grant (2013-2015) on scientific literacy in secondary schools. Her research interests include scientific literacy, pre-service science teacher education, argumentation and decision-making, critical thinking, socioscientific issues (e.g. climate change, gene technology), and teaching in disadvantaged schools. She has published 5 books, 20 book chapters, 58 peer reviewed journal papers and presented more than 120 conference papers at local, national and international conferences. Vaille serves on numerous editorial boards of quality journals. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and an Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London.

 Selected grants

World Universties Network Research development Grant 2021 Education in a Warming World: A Collaborative Research network on education and Climate Change ($18,000)

UWA FABLE Accelerator Grant, 2018-2020, No jab, no play: Which way?($70,000)

UWA Research Impact Grant, 2018 Promoting adolescent mental health: Translating research to real world contexts ($19690)

UWA Research Collaboration Award, 2016, Improving critical thinking skills in disadvantaged secondary school science students ($23,000)

 Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia Indonesia Institute), 2015, Developing science inquiry skills of middle school teachers in Central Java, ($15000)

Australian National Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) Grants Program 2013-2014, Collaboratively developing science teaching methods for addressing diversity in Indonesian classrooms ($22000)

 Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP130103035, 2013-2015, Promoting scientific literacy of secondary science students through studying socioscientific issues and argumentation ($131000)

Australian National Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) Grants Program 2013-2014, Collaboratively developing science teaching methods for addressing diversity in Indonesian classrooms ($22000)

Public Education Endowment Trust, 2012, Effectiveness of an intercultural whole-school approach ($105000)

Australia India Council, 2011, Collaborative approach to developing science teaching methods suitable for addressing diversity in classrooms ($19800)

Woodside, 2010, Evaluation of Indigenous science education programs ($15000)

Commonwealth Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, 2010, Evaluation of Biotechnology Online ($9950)

Commonwealth Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, 2010, Evaluation of AccessNano: A national nanotechnology school resource ($9000)

Earth Science Western Australia grant, 2009 Project title – Evaluation of Earth and Environmental Science Teaching in Western Australia ($30800)

Australian Academy of Science grant, 2009 Review of Primary Connections Stage 3 ($22000)

Curtin University of Technology – Internal Research Grants Scheme, 2008 – Assessing the impact of argumentation skills on meaningful learning in school science ($11545)

Australian Academy of Science grant, 2008 Project title – Evaluation of professional learning facilitator recall day and recommendations for future directions ($5500)

Science Teachers’ Association of Western Australia, 2008 Project title – A preliminary evaluation of the online science competition, SCIENCEIQ ($5000)

Commonwealth DEST Australian School Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics (ASISTM) grant, 2007 Project title – Genetics Education in the 21st Century, 2008 ($57750)

Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, 2007 Project title – Evaluation of the Gene Technology Information Service (GTIS) ($17000)

Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources Grant, 2006 Project title – Use of Biotechnology Online School Resource in Australian Secondary Schools ($31842)

DEST Australian School Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics (ASISTM) grant to conduct project on Sustainable Living in the Joondalup Region, WA – 2005/6 ($95676)

ECU Fogarty Learning Centre grant, 2006. Project title – Assessing the impact of argumentation skills on meaningful learning in school science (especially genetics and gene technology) ($15000)

ECU Centre for Schooling and Learning Technologies (CSaLT) Small Grants, 2005. Project title – Effect of science education with an ICT focus on early career science teachers’ use of ICT ($5000)

ECU Early Career Researcher Grant Scheme – 2003, Project title – The development of adolescents’ understanding, attitudes and ethical decision-making about biotechnology issues and the impact of biotechnology education ($11949)

ECU Centre for Schooling and Learning Technologies (CSaLT) Small Grants, 2003. Project title – Modelling ICT usage in tertiary science education classrooms: Implications for carryover of ICT usage into science classrooms ($5000)

ECU Centre for Schooling and Learning Technologies (CSaLT) Small Grants, 2002. Project title – Testing a model of ethical decision-making in an online high school biotechnology module ($5000)