معرفی
Alexandra Lasczik is an Associate Professor in Arts & Education at Southern Cross University's Faculty of Education. With a background as a Visual Arts teacher and Creative Arts Head Teacher for 25 years, she transitioned to academia in 2011 after completing her PhD in Education from the University of Sydney in 2004.
Her research focuses on Arts education and Arts-based Educational Research (ABER), where she serves as Chair of the ABER special interest group for the American Educational Research Association. She has expanded her work into human geographies, particularly examining migrations and walking modalities, building on her early research in migrant belonging and ethnic identity.
Dr. Lasczik's recent research includes the Floods + Me project, which worked with children after the 2022 Lismore floods to understand their recovery needs, and studies on nature play as an effective method for introducing STEM concepts to young children. Her work demonstrates how arts-based approaches can address complex educational challenges from disaster recovery to early childhood science learning.
Her research has revealed important insights about children's need for emotional support after disasters, the value of nature-based learning for STEM education, and strategies for improving teacher retention in the profession.
Dr. Lasczik has received funding from Southern Cross University's VC Flood Recovery Project Scheme for the Floods + Me project and from the Queensland Government Department of Education Horizon funding scheme for her nature play research.
As an experienced educator who transitioned to academia after a substantial teaching career, Dr. Lasczik brings practical insights to her research on teacher education, having published work on supporting new teachers to remain in the profession through effective mentoring and induction programs.
