Dr. Yuwen Ma
Lecturer, Early Childhood
Dr. Yuwen Ma is a lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the Institute of Education, Arts and Community. Her research is centered on play-based learning, enhancing children's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, fostering imagination and creativity, promoting children’s agency, and facilitating smooth transitions from early childhood to primary school. Additionally, she explores education policy to better support these areas. Yuwen collaborates extensively with international scholars and early childhood educators to design and implement effective professional development programs. These programs emphasize play-based pedagogy and STEM learning, aiming to promoting teachers' confidence and competence in these critical areas.
Affiliated with the Conceptual PlayLab at Monash University, Yuwen brings a wealth of experience in play-based pedagogy, particularly through the Conceptual PlayWorld approach. She is proficient in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, with a particular expertise in digital video observation and analysis.
Yuwen is passionate about empowering young children through play and imagination in STEM learning, believing that these elements are essential for fostering lifelong curiosity, creativity and children's agency.
Beyond Physical Space: Using Digital Technology to Support a Collaborative Cultural-Historical Educational Experiment
Conceptual PlayWorld: creating motivating conditions for new kindergarten practices in China to support engineering education
The relationship of family support and peer acceptance in children aged 46: the mediating role of emotion regulation strategies
“What parts of the plants do we eat, is this STEM?” – A study of Chinese kindergarten teachers' STEM professional development
A cultural-historical study of how a conceptual playworld creates conditions for personally meaningful mathematics in the Chinese kindergarten context
Creating Conditions for Chinese Kindergarten Teachers Professional Development in a Play-based Setting
Chinese children’s engineering thinking development: Theoretical thinking and productive imagination in a collective form.
Promoting Chinese children's agency in science learning: Conceptual PlayWorld as a new play practice
Analysing Children’s STEM Developmental Trajectories in Conceptual PlayWorlds: A Cultural-historical study in Australia and China
Research on Development Goals and Promotion Strategies in International Preschool Education: Insights and Implications
Research on Preschool Education Demands of Children's Parents in Z city
The Research of International Education Policy Developmentin 21st Century - Knowledge Mapping Analysis on Four Kinds of SSCI Journals in Education Policy
Time clues and effective guidance of children's sand play
“Te Whariki”: A Review of New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum