Dr Roger Wood

Courses taught:

• Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (Undergraduate)

Roger is a dynamic, research-active Associate Professor and Lead for Initial Teacher Training with high levels of experience in primary education. His specialist teaching areas include Science, Outdoor Learning (encompassing Forest School and Beach School), and Research-Informed Professional Learning (RIPL). Roger is the Lead for ITT in Peterborough and holds strategic responsibility for ITT curriculum as part of our newly accredited provision to award Qualified Teacher Status.

[email protected]

Background

Prior to his university teaching and research career, Roger was a senior leader (Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher) and primary school teacher for 23 years, teaching across the 3 to 18 age range.

Research interests

• The influence of Inquiry-Based Learning approaches upon children’s engagement with Science and Outdoor Learning.
• Enhancing trainee ITT teachers’ confidence and enthusiasm for Science Education through inquiry-based learning approaches.
• Enhancing children’s engagement with nature and conservation through Inquiry-Based Learning and informal education (including outdoor learning).
• Creative approaches to Outdoor Education and Learning – the impact of teacher characteristics and professional confidence upon approaches within outdoor education (including Forest and Beach School); creative and playful approaches to learning, engagement and understanding; individuals’ perceived benefits of outdoor adventures.

Through his various community young people’s projects and associated support networks, Roger has focused on supporting children, teenagers and young adults' enhanced positive mental health and emotional wellbeing through sustained biodiversity, conservation and climate change projects. His research and the resultant impacts address real-world problems, with outcomes that enable healthier lives and build stronger communities. He is currently working on expanding his networking and active projects that focus upon enhancing young people's mental health and wellbeing through sustained engagement with biodiversity and nature projects. He is also looking to develop collaborations with a number of young people's mental health charities and support groups.

Areas of research supervision

• Science Education
• Biodiversity and Conservation Education
• Young people’s mental health and wellbeing
• Outdoor learning
• Young people’s engagement with biodiversity and climate change mitigation projects
• PhD Supervision Completion – January 2020: The Effectiveness of Bilingual and Monolingual English Language Teachers and the Impact of their Qualities on the Academic Achievements of Preparatory Year Saudi English Students. (University of Aberdeen)

Teaching

Roger is currently teaching on the Primary Education Studies programme (January 2024).

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Science Education, University of Birmingham
• B.Ed. (Hons.) in Biology and Education, University of Liverpool
• Chartered Biologist and Fellow, Royal Society of Biology

Memberships, editorial boards

• Professional Member of the Marine Biological Association
• Fellow of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts
• Chartered Biologist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
• Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
• Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Member of the Nordic Educational Research Association
• Member of the European Educational Research Association
• Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching
• Registered with the General Teaching Council of Scotland as a Fully Registered Teacher since 2011 and as a Fully Registered (Associate) in October 2023.

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Trustee, Jane Goodall Institute UK
• Scientist-At-Large: CRaB-CLAWS - Conservation, Rewildling and Biodiversity Communities Leading Action for Wildlife Survival

Selected recent publications

Wood, R. (2021) ‘Foreword’. In Samitharathana, W. (2021) Transcendental Reasoning of Gotama: Philosophical Commentary on Aphoristic Theorem of Gotama beyond Aristotle. California: Barker and Jules.

Wood, R. (2020) A Universal Philosophy of Confidence-Informed Social Motivation. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. (ISBN: 978-1-5275-4863-3)

Wood, R. (2020) ‘Investigating the Enhancement of Students’ Engagement with Learning Activities through the lens of Self-Determination Theory’. European Journal of Teaching and Education, April 2020 https://doi.org/10.33422/ejte.v2i2.263

Wood, R. (2020) ‘Children as natural philosophizers: A perspective upon the enhancement of children’s confidence through the philosophical spectacles of Grosseteste and Gadamer’. In Cunningham, J.P. and Puttick, S. (eds.) Robert Grosseteste and Theories of Education: The Ordered Human. London: Routledge. (ISBN: 978-0-36727302-6)

Wood, R. (2019) ‘Students’ motivation to engage with science learning activities through the lens of Self-Determination Theory: a school-based study’. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education: April 2019 – Volume 15, no. 7. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106110

Wood, R. (2017) The Influence of Teacher-Student Relationships and Feedback on Students' Engagement with Learning. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Recent presentations and conferences

Keynote speaker – ‘To Live on the Land, We Must Learn from the Cs!’. Marine Conservation and Community Engagement. University of Exeter, Penryn campus, Cornwall. 22 March 2023.

Organizer and speaker, in association with Exeter Marine, CRaB-CLAWS and the Cornwall Science Community. Cornwall Marine Research Insights – Two. 21 March 2023.

Cornwall Coastal Regeneration Projects Day (with Falmouth Harbour, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, University of Exeter and the University of Portsmouth). 5 November 2022.

Organizer and speaker, in association with Exeter Marine, the University of Exeter and Cornwall Science Community. Immersed in the Spirit of the Sea: Cornwall Marine Science Insights. 2 November 2022.

Presenter and Workshop coordinator: Using EO data to monitor Ocean Health and Population Dynamics. South West Centre for Excellence in Satellite Applications Earth Observation Conference, University of Exeter, Penryn campus. 29 March 2022.

STEM Challenges including ocean monitoring and species restoration. Spaceport Cornwall: Kernow SAT-1 Hackathon. Eden Project, Cornwall. 5 February 2022.

Spaceport Cornwall: Earth, Environment and Intelligence. Eden Project, Cornwall. 4 February 2022.