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Associate Professor Dung Tran

Associate Professor, Education

Contact

Campus

Mt Helen Campus

Biography

Dr Dũng Trần is an Associate Professor in Mathematics and STEM Education. His research is centred on two primary areas:

  • Curriculum analysis, design, and implementation: enhancing diverse students’ mathematical literacy and enabling them to effectively use mathematics and statistics in various aspects of life, including home, civic and professional environments.
  • Teacher competence development: advancing teachers’ knowledge and beliefs to facilitate effective mathematics instruction through holistic approaches. 

Dũng has led numerous nationally funded projects aimed at bolstering both preservice and inservice teachers’ abilities to integrate contextual mathematics and statistical literacy into their curricula and teaching practices. His methodological expertise encompasses both quantitative and qualitative research methods, especially content analysis, design-based research, clinical (task-based) interviews and instrument design and validation. 

Dũng collaborates with global educators, focusing on empowering students to engage with and apply mathematics and statistics. He asserts that teachers are pivotal in significantly enhancing student learning outcomes and that robust pedagogical content knowledge is essential for these improvements. Consequently, his work emphasises shaping productive beliefs about teaching and learning among mathematics and STEM teachers, and building their pedagogical content knowledge. He advocates for research-informed, student-centred pedagogical strategies that integrate real-life problem-solving and promote educational equity.

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More about Dung

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction, Specialise in Mathematics Education, University of Missouri Columbia (USA) 
  • Doctor of Philosophy Minor in Statistics, University of Missouri Columbia (USA) 
  • Master of Education, Specialise in Mathematics Education, Hue University of Education (Vietnam) 
  • Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Mathematics Secondary Teaching, Hue University of Education (Vietnam) 

Areas of interest

  • Mathematics education 
  • Statistics education 
  • Mathematical literacy 
  • Statistical literacy/data literacy 
  • Teacher professional knowledge 
  • Curriculum 
  • STEM engagement

Grants

  • Falloon, G., Tran, D., Ma, Y., Lord, A., & Nice, K. 2025-26. The Ararat Best Start Program PLD for Service Leaders. Victoria Department of Education ($130,000) 
  • Hobbs, L., Xu, L., Falloon, G., Tran, D., Campbell, C., Hill, K., Gray, T., Davis, R., & Ambrosy, J. 2024-26. Girls as Leaders in STEM (GALS). The Invergowrie Foundation ($201,577) 
  • Ashcroft, E., Resnick, I., Tran, D., & Bull, R. 2022-24 Helping Educators Use Their Student Data: The Role of Embedded Formative Assessment in Educational Apps. University of Canberra ($83,898) 
  • Degotardi, S., Amin, J., Bull, R., Harrison, L., Waniganyake, M., Hadley, F., Wong, S., Zurynski, Y., … Tran, D. 2020-23 Harnessing the health communication power of the early childhood sector. Medical Research Future Fund ($174,992) 
  • Tran, D., Nguyen, A., Nguyen D., Ta, P. 2020-22. Developing Teaching Statistical Thinking Competence for High School Teachers Using Technology with Real Data. Vietnam National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED) (VND 690,000,000) 
  • Tran, D., Nguyen, A., Nguyen D., Ta, P. 2017-19. Developing Quantitative Literacy for Mathematics Preservice Teachers to Prepare to Efficiently Teach Mathematics Contextually. Vietnam National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED) (VND 619,500,000) 
  • Tran, D. 2017. Developing Teacher Capacity to Implement Modelling and Applications into Teaching Practice. Independent Schools of Victoria (AUD 3,500) 
  • Tran, D. 2016. Blending for Effective Teaching. Victoria University Melbourne, Australia ($8,000) 
  • Kleiman, G., Wolf, M., Frye, D., Booth, S., Kellogg, S., Tran, D., Avineri, T., Fonger, N., Elliott, T. 2014-15. MOOC-Ed (Massive Open Online Courses for Educators) for Deeper Learning. Hewlett Foundation, USA (USD 600,000) 

Awards

  • 2022: Typical Vietnamese Scientists, Thanh Nien Publisher 
  • 2016: Victoria University 5 Minutes Research Pitch, Winner of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Science Group.  
  • 2012–2013: Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) Fellowship Award (among 10 selected Ph.D. students in mathematics and science education in the USA) 
  • 2012: National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES) Training Grants to Analyse High School Transcript Study (HSTS) Data (among 20 selected faculty and graduate students in the USA) 
  • 2012–2013: CSMC Fellowship Award  
  • 2008: MOET – VIED Fellowship Award for Graduate Study in the USA 
  • 2000: Hue University College of Education, Vietnam Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award
  • 1999: Top-Two Student in the Entrance Exam to Hue University College of Education, Vietnam (among 5000 students)

Current

  • PhD student, Federation University, 'Artificial Intelligence in Australian Curriculum: Digital Competencies and Critical Pedagogies', co-supervisor. 
  • PhD student, Federation University, 'Understanding Online Learning, Its Tools, Its Participants and Their Ways of Learning', co-supervisor. 
  • PhD student, Federation University, 'Teachers Reasoning about Evidence in their Practices', co-supervisor. 

Past

  • PhD student, Hue University of Education, Vietnam, 'Changing Students’ Statistical Reasoning and Attitudes in the Introduction to Statistics Course', co-supervisor. 
  • PhD student, Hue University of Education, Vietnam, 'Using Flipped Classroom to Develop Students’ Mathematical Competencies in Statistics', principal supervisor. 
  • PhD student, Macquarie University, 'Coding Animated Narratives for 21st Century Competencies', co-supervisor. 
  • PhD student, Hue University of Education, Vietnam, 'Using Contextualised Teaching and Learning to Develop Students’ Mathematical Competencies in Derivative and Integral', principal supervisor. 
  • PhD student, Hue University of Education, Vietnam, 'Students’ Cognition and Attitudes When Participating in Authentic Mathematical Modelling', principal-supervisor. 
  • Master's student, Macquarie University, 'Parents’ Attitudes Towards Their Children’s Learning of Mathematics and the Role of Technology', principal supervisor. 
  • Master's student, Victoria University, 'Can Concepts Maps Improve Preservice Primary School Teachers Understanding of and Attitudes towards Mathematics?' principal supervisor. 
  • Master's student, Hue University of Education, Vietnam, 'Teachers’ Roles When Teaching Mathematical Modelling', principal supervisor.  
  • Master's student, Victoria University, 'The Roles of Teachers’ Beliefs and Past Engagement in Mathematics on Shaping Their Vision on Engagement for Future Students', co-supervisor. 
  • Master's student, Hue University of Education, Vietnam, 'Mathematical Modelling: Authenticity and Students’ Problem Solving', principal supervisor. 

  • Mathematics education: early childhood, primary, and secondary 
  • Statistics education 
  • Research methodology 
  • Teacher education 

Specialist roles

  • Program Committee for Vietnam National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED), Subdivision of Psychology and Education (2016–2018; 2019–2021; 2022–2024) 
  • Advisory Board and Editorial Panel for Mathematics Teacher Education and Development and Journal of Research in Mathematics Education

Centre for Regional Education Research and Development (CRERD)

Dung is part of the Centre for Regional Education Research and Development (CRERD), a Victorian‑first research centre working to improve education outcomes for regional and rural communities. 
  • Publications

Mathematics Teachers' Changes in Knowledge for Teaching Conditional Probability Through Lesson Study