Rate My Professor Marilyn Ahearn

Dr. Marilyn Ahearn serves as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University, located on the Gold Coast campus in Australia. She brings extensive leadership experience in primary education, having participated in and led numerous environmental education initiatives. Ahearn commenced her Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Southern Cross University in 2013 as a part-time, off-campus candidate while residing in Sydney. Despite the geographical distance from her supervisors—initially based in Lismore and later on the Gold Coast—she benefited from regular online meetings, phone and email availability, and supportive services including library access, IT assistance, and campus visits. She engaged in postgraduate writers’ retreats, conferences, and workshops within a collegial environment. Ahearn submitted her thesis in October 2018, titled 'An Tairseach Threshold: An exploration of connecting the emerging scientific story of the Universe to primary students’ worldviews through Big History,' under the supervision of Amy Cutter-Mackenzie and Brad Shipway, and graduated in March 2019.

Ahearn's doctoral research adapted the high school-oriented Big History Project into a transdisciplinary-based approach for primary education, investigating its influence on students' environmental values. Her findings confirmed that Big History informs children’s environmental education values. As a member of the Sustainability, Environment, and the Arts in Education (SEAE) Research Cluster, she continues to collaborate on writing projects, researching and promoting a universal deep-time story through environmental education and transdisciplinary learning. Her academic interests encompass socioecological learning, whole systems thinking, environmental education, and Big History. Notable publications include 'Resonating with Deep-Time: Big History Transforming the Worldviews of Primary School Students' in the Australian Journal of Environmental Education (first published online 2025), the book chapter 'Big (Hi)Story: Experimenting with Deep-Time' co-authored with Teresa Carapeto, and 'The socioecological learner in big history: Post-Anthropocene imageries' (2020) with Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles and Bradley Dean Shipway. Ahearn remains dedicated to primary education, partnering with schools to integrate transdisciplinary learning, sustainability, the Big History narrative, and children's wonder of the universe into curricula for Years 3 to 6 students, informed by her qualitative, school-based research.