Rate My Professor Sandra Hesterman

Sandra Hesterman is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Murdoch University, where she serves as the Director of Early Childhood Education and Executive Lead for Early Childhood Education. Having worked at the university for the past 18 years, she began her academic career there around 2008. Before joining Murdoch, Hesterman gained extensive teaching experience in early childhood and primary classrooms across Western Australia and Canada. She earned her PhD with a thesis entitled "Inclusive educational practice in rural Western Australia: A case study of a student with special needs," completed in 2008.

Hesterman's research specializations encompass early childhood education, with particular emphasis on play-based learning, multiliteracies, the dialogic intersection of ICT and multiliteracies, botanical literacies, science learning through play, and Indigenous knowledge sharing. Her scholarly contributions include key publications such as "Science learning through play" (2023, with Nicole Hunter), featured in a book edited by Coral Campbell and Christine Howitt; "Indigenous knowledge sharing and botanical literacies in Early Childhood Education" (2023, co-authored with Kimberley Beasley, Judy MacCallum, and Libby Lee-Hammond); "Reviving botany in the curriculum: the botanical journey of two Western Australian early childhood teachers" (2023, with Beasley and Lee-Hammond); "A Framework for Supporting the Development of Botanical Literacies in Early Childhood" (2021, with Beasley and Lee-Hammond); "The status-quo of play-based pedagogies in Western Australian primary schools" (2019, with Anna Targowska); "The Digital Handshake: A Group Contract for Authentic eLearning in Higher Education" (2016); "Early childhood designs for multiliteracies learning" (2013); and "A Contested Space: the dialogic intersection of ICT, multiliteracies, and early childhood education" (2011). Hesterman has presented at the MU Sustainability Research Forum, Monday@Murdoch seminars on early childhood play schemes, and other conferences. She has also participated in media features and community discussions on play-based learning.