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DoctorLouise Zarmati

Senior Lecturer in Humanities & Social Sciences

Education

Orcid identifier0000-0002-0877-6298 (opens in a new tab)⁠
  • Senior Lecturer in Humanities & Social Sciences
    Education
  • +61 3 6324 3370 (Work)
  • University of Tasmania, School of Education, River's Edge Building, Inveresk Campus, TAS, 7250, Australia

RESEARCH SUMMARy

Expertise

Louise's research aligns to the University of Tasmania's research theme of place-based teaching and learning. It focuses on how educators use pedagogy to design and deliver learning programs to children and adolescents in museums and archaeological sites. Louise is particularly interested in how the spatial and sensory experiences of visiting a museum or archaeological site are imprinted in children's memory and can affect learning.

Louise's research in Australian museums and heritage sites challenges the dominant constructivist learning paradigm of museum education discourse that emanates from science by proposing an alternative model derived from the discipline of history that sees pedagogy as the catalyst for learning in 'formal' museum and heritage site contexts. She is also investigating 'archaeological thinking', and how archaeology can be used as pedagogy to increase teachers' and students' interest in Australian history, especially the history and archaeology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In 2023, Louise was invited to join the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) as an Associate Investigator specialising in Education and Engagement https://epicaustralia.org.au.

History education
Ancient History
Archaeology
Education theory, pedagogy and curriculum
Qualitative research

Awards

2012 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship - Louise Zarmati

Current projects

Teaching and learning in Australian museums and heritage sites
Archaeology as pedagogy in Australian museums and heritage sites
Pre-service and in-service teachers' historical knowledge of Aboriginal history and archaeology
Archaeology as community engagement in Tasmania

FUNDED PROJECTS

  • GRANT
    Investigating teachers knowledge of the archaeology of Australias Deep Time past
    1 Jul 2023 - 31 Mar 2025
    People funded by this grant:
    • Zarmati L
    Project Total: $43,635; Stage 1 of the project aims to discover teachers current knowledge of topics in the Australian Curriculum that address the archaeology of Australias Deep Time past and the histories and cultures of First Nations Australians, as well as to identify ways that researchers and education specialists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) can effectively collaborate to support teachers to communicate newly emerging knowledge to Australian primary and secondary students. Stage 2 uses data gathered from Stage 1 to develop learning materials designed to support teachers to teach about the archaeology of Australias Deep Time past and the histories and cultures of First Nations Australians. Funded by: ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage - Grant ($43,635); University of Tasmania.
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    Developing archaeology education programs for the public at Colonial Williamsburg
    University of Tasmania1 Jan 2019 - 31 Dec 2019
    People funded by this grant:
    • Zarmati L
    Project Total: $3,000; The project is comprised of three distinct but interrelated phases which would take place over two years (2019-2020): 1. Phase 1 (2019): design exhibits and interactive learning activities to tell stories about 'how we know what we know' about Colonial Williamsburg. Our aim is to make the exhibits so engaging and enjoyable that visitors will not realise they are learning while they are participating. 2. Phase 2 (2020): Develop a series of curriculum-linked learning activities that introduce visiting school and civic groups to the scientific processes of 'finding out about the past' through archaeology. In this capacity I would contribute my knowledge and experience of archaeology pedagogy that I developed through my research and experience of designing archaeology learning programs for The Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre in Sydney in 2010. We would continue the work begun in May 2019 by communicating via email and Skype. 3. Phase 3 (2019-2020): Return to Colonial Williamsburg in June 2020 to finalise the project and prepare the programs for implementation in the new Archaeology Lab. Ms Poole and I would then travel to Prague to report on the new archaeology education programs at the World Archaeology Congress (WAC-9) in Prague, 6-10 July 2020. The paper would subsequently be published in Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeology Congress. Funded by: University of Tasmania; University of Tasmania ($3,000).
  • GRANT
    Ross Female Factory Mixed Reality Experience: Telling Female Convict Stories
    University of Tasmania15 Jan 2018 - 30 Nov 2018
    People funded by this grant:
    • Thomas A,
    • Zarmati L,
    • Harman K,
    • Clarke R,
    • Hall K
    Project Total: $13,118; The built environments within which the 12,500 female convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in the nineteenth century were incarcerated have largely been destroyed, often leaving nothing more than barely discernible traces of foundations. The purpose of the app will be to reinscribe the stories of the 832 Ross Female Factory women back into this barren locale. Our app will link richly-detailed archival records with place, acting as a prototype for a new digital approach to the interpretation of Tasmanian convict sites and convict history more generally. This project will situate Tasmania at the cutting edge of historical interpretation while simultaneously creating the necessary pedagogical tools to enable the wider public to engage with our local and regional aspects of the global story of forced penal migration, punishment, reproduction and settlement. Funded by: University of Tasmania - Grant - CALE Hothouse Alignment Scheme; University of Tasmania ($13,118).
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    Non-Aboriginal pre-service teachers' attitudes to teaching Tasmanian Aboriginal histories and cultures.
    Department of Education Tasmania1 Jan 2018 - 31 May 2021
    People funded by this grant:
    • Zarmati L,
    • Andersen C
    Project Total: $20,288; Quantitative and qualitative data will be gathered from samples of University of Tasmania non-Aboriginal pre-service teachers regarding their knowledge of and personal attitudes to teaching Tasmanian Aboriginal histories and cultures. Funded by: Department of Education Tasmania ($20,288); University of Tasmania.
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    Willow Court Archaeology Project
    Department of Education Tasmania1 Jan 2017 - 31 Dec 2017
    People funded by this grant:
    • Zarmati L
    Project Total: $3,650; Research by Clark1 has shown that Australian students dislike Australian history, especially the way it is taught in schools. More recently, feedback from students and teachers who visited The Big Dig Archaeology Centre (Zarmati2) showed that students were more engaged and positive about learning Australian history when they visited archaeological and heritage sites and participated in hands-on learning experiences. This professional learning experience will provide in-service teachers and educational leaders with historical knowledge about this period of Australian colonial history, and the practical pedagogical skills they need to integrate archaeology into teaching the Australian history topics recommended in the Australian Curriculum. Funded by: Department of Education Tasmania ($750); Department of Education and Training NSW ($1,000); Tasmanian Catholic Education Office ($500); Ms Tiana Cusack ($400); University of Tasmania ($1,000).
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    Development, implementation and evaluation of history learning programs for National Trust Tasmania properties
    National Trust of Australia (Tasmania)1 Jul 2015 - 30 Apr 2017
    People funded by this grant:
    • Zarmati L
    Project Total: $6,000; Further to research I undertook for my PhD ('Teaching History in Australian Museums: Pedagogy and Praxis', Deakin University 2012) I will develop, trial and evaluate history learning programs for primary and secondary students at National Trust Tasmania properties. Funded by: National Trust of Australia (Tasmania) ($6,000); University of Tasmania.