![Dr Jana Visnovska](/sites/default/files/profiles/2166.png)
Overview
Background
I am a senior lecturer in mathematics education at the University of Queensland. My research centres around design and theorising of resources for teaching mathematics well. This includes development of classroom mathematical activities, in which students encounter significant mathematical ideas and joy of the experience; support of mathematics teachers’ work so that they can organise their classrooms for their students' meaningful engagement with mathematics; and inquiries into history of mathematics and education aimed at understanding of possibilities for change. I have served as an editor of the Australian Mathematics Education Journal and currently am the Vice President for Publications within Mathematics Eudctaion Research Group of Australasia (MERGA), and an IPC member for the International Symposium on Elementary Mathematics Teaching.
I completed a Magister degree in mathematics at Comenius University in Slovakia and a PhD in mathematics education at Vanderbilt University in the USA. Before taking my role at UQ, I have taught middle-years mathematics and lectured in mathematics and mathematics education at Comenius, Vanderbilt, and University of California, Santa Cruz. As part of my research, I regularly spend time in schools and classrooms.
Availability
- Dr Jana Visnovska is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Masters (Research) of Mathematics, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Graduate Certificate in Teaching (Secondary), Comenius University in Bratislava
- Postgraduate Diploma in Education, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Doctor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University
Research interests
-
Mathematics Education
My research is centred within mathematics education, driven by the need to teach mathematics well. I view my role as a researcher in co-development of teaching resources, and of professional discourse, capable of supporting mathematics teaching.
-
Design Research
-
Teaching Materials and Resources
-
Teacher Professional Development
Works
Search Professor Jana Visnovska’s works on UQ eSpace
2003
Conference Publication
Building on students' reasoning: Using students' pre-conceptions of proportional relations in developing instruction
Visnovska, Jana and Cortina, Jose Luis (2003). Building on students' reasoning: Using students' pre-conceptions of proportional relations in developing instruction. Seventh International Symposium on Elementary Mathematics Teaching, Prague, Czech Republic, 24-29 August 2003. Prague, Czech Republic: Charles University, Faculty of Education.
1999
Conference Publication
Children and the discovery of the mathematical rules
Visnovska, J. (1999). Children and the discovery of the mathematical rules. Fifth International Symposium on Elementary Mathematics Teaching, Prague, Czech Republic, 1999.
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Jana Visnovska is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
-
Fractions and proportional reasoning across the years of schooling
Big part of my research includes exploring, understanding, and developing teaching resources that would aid teachers in making it possible for all students to thrive in mathematics classrooms. Typical resources used for initial teaching of fractions often support students' "performance" in the short run, but later undermine their efforts of making sense of proportionality. In this project, you will explore the types of difficulties students face and how these difficulties relate to the resources used in their teaching, and propose and trial alternative pathways for teaching fractions and proportionality in mathematics classrooms.
-
Theorising and design of (mathematics) teachers' resources
Teaching resources (textbooks and their alternatives) reveal how we, as a society, and as researchers and designers, conceptualise teaching. On the one hand, resources can dictate to the teacher what is to be done. On the orther hand, they can collaborate with the teacher on figuring out how to best respond to different situations that arise in different classrooms. To produce resources that would be most useful to teachers in their diverse classrooms, researchers and designers must deal well with and rigorously theorise the complexity of education and teaching. How should we conceptualise teaching and how can we bring a particular conceptualisation of a teacher and teaching into resource design?
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Differentiating instruction in early secondary mathematics
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephen Heimans
-
Doctor Philosophy
Institutional language policies, academic literacies and power: a collaborative investigation of practices in higher education in Queensland
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephen Heimans
-
Master Philosophy
Designing mathematics instructions and tasks for green education
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Katie Makar
-
Doctor Philosophy
An Epistemology of Practice for Political and Existential Citizenship
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stephen Heimans
Completed supervision
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
The landscape of mathematics vocabulary in Australian secondary school mathematics classrooms
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Honorary Professor Merrilyn Goos
-
2022
Doctor Philosophy
Mathematics Textbooks as Curriculum Resources: Exploring How the Ministry-Published Textbook Supports Indonesian Teachers in Implementing a Student-Centred Teaching Approach
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Robyn Gillies
-
2021
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding different approaches to mathematics teaching and resulting mathematical classroom discourses in Iran
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Katie Makar
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Supporting Numeracy Development for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karen Moni
-
2023
Master Philosophy
Exploring the design of a framework for embedding arts phenomena in secondary school mathematics instruction
Associate Advisor
-
2017
Doctor Philosophy
Chinese Tertiary Teachers' Motivation, Their Use of Motivational Strategies, and Their Students' Achievement within the Context of Studying English as a Foreign Language
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Monica Cuskelly
-
2016
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring the Impact of Inquiry Learning on Students' Beliefs and Attitudes towards Mathematics
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Katie Makar
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Jana Visnovska directly for media enquiries about:
- Ambitious and equitable teaching of mathematics
- Classroom mathematical conversations
- Professional development of mathematics teachers
- Purposes of mathematics education
- Teaching early number
- Teaching fractions
- Teaching Numeracy across curriculum
- Teaching problem solving
- Teaching proportional reasoning
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: