Associate Professor
Alberto Bellocchi
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Education
Biography
Associate Professor Alberto Bellocchi has an on-going academic position in the School of Education at the Queensland University of Technology. Through his research program, Bellocchi investigates science teaching and learning in high school and pre-service teacher education settings, engineering education, and interprofessional practice settings through the analysis of interactions. His research focuses on uncovering the interplay between social bonds (relationships), emotions, and cognition. With more than 60 academic publications, Bellocchi's work has made contributions to understandings of the roles of social bonds and emotions, as enacted classroom practices, for learning and teaching science. He has advanced theories of interaction to explain science teaching and learning encounters, made contributions to the theorisation of emotions, and advanced research methods in these topics. A/Prof. Bellocchi teachers courses on research methods and design, and has taught courses on science curriculum studies for secondary preservice teachers. He is the former leader of the STEM Education Research Group (2018-2019) and creator and leader of the Learning Science and Innovation laboratory. Bellocchi is lead co-editor of the Springer volume Exploring Emotions, Aesthetics and Wellbeing in Science Education Research. Bellocchi serves as a Lead Editor for the Q1 journal Cultural Studies of Science Education, and as an associate editor for the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (Q1. #1 journal in science education based on Scimago). He is a former recipient of a research fellowship funded within the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2016-2018) provided by the Australian Research Council. Bellocchi advises on nataional and state curriculum and assessment. Before working at QUT he taught senior chemistry and junior science in an Education Queensland school for 8 years.Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Education
Keywords
Science inquiry, Epistemic cognition, Emotion, Science education, High school, Affect, STEM, Qualitative analysis, Classroom relationships, Cognition
Research field
Curriculum and pedagogy, Specialist studies in education
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- BSc(Hons) (James Cook Uni. of North Qld)
- BEd (James Cook Uni. of North Qld)
Professional memberships and associations
Queensland College of Teachers Australasian Science Education Research Association National Association for Research in Science Teaching European Science Education Research Association
Teaching
Current: EUN672 Understanding Research for Professionals
Past: EDN611 Conducting and Evaluating Educational Research EDN612 Shaping an Educational Research Project Science Education Curriculum Studies 2 (various unit codes)
Experience
My research, beginning with my Doctoral thesis, operates at the nexus of theory and practice. Understandings about the interrelated nature of theory and practice in science education serve as referents for my teaching in the undergraduate preservice courses as well as the research courses that I teach. I conduct research in high-school (secondary), university, and other settings providing insights into teaching and learning for the immediate communities in which I conduct this work and also to the broader educational community through dissemination of research outcomes at conferences and through publications in international journals and practitioner journals. In addition to these forms of authentic engagement with the teaching profession, I participate in various committees on curriculum design and assessment. This provides a level of engagement with policy makers as well as designers of curriculum and assessment at State and National levels.
Publications
- Bellocchi, A., Mills, R., Arthars, N., Tomas, L., Appanna, S., Davis, J. & Rebollo de Campos, P. (2025). Preservice science teachers' epistemic cognition during online searching. Research in Science Education, 55(4), 1063–1083. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/253244
- Lonngren, J., Bellocchi, A., Berge, M., Borgelund, P., Dirieto, I., Huff, J., Mohd-Yusuf, K., Murzi, H., Abdul Rahman, N. & Tormey, R. (2024). Emotions in Engineering Education: A Configurative Meta-Synthesis Systematic Review. Journal of Engineering Education, 113(4), 1287–1326. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/247876
- Martin Ferrer, L., Hufnagel, E., Amat, A., Espinet, M. & Bellocchi, A. (2023). Pre-service elementary teachers as game designers: Emotional experiences from the field. In GP. Thomas & HJ. Boon (Eds.), Challenges in Science Education: Global Perspectives for the Future (pp. 133–153). Palgrave Macmillan. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/236355
- Bellocchi, A. & Amat, A. (2022). Emotion and Science Teacher Education. In J. Luft & G. Jones (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Science Teacher Education (pp. 426–438). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/210861
- Jimenez-Liso, M., Bellocchi, A., Martinez-Chico, M. & Lopez-Gay, R. (2022). A Model-Based Inquiry Sequence as a Heuristic to Evaluate Students' Emotional, Behavioural, and Cognitive Engagement. Research in Science Education, 52(4), 1313–1334. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/213353
- Bellocchi, A., (2022). Science students' social bonds and knowledge construction. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 59(5), 746–778. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227480
- Bellocchi, A., Mills, R., Davis, J. & Bourke, T. (2021). How well will the Australian Curriculum: Science prepare students for a post-truth world?: An epistemic cognition perspective. Teaching Science, 67(4), 31–40. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227304
- Bellocchi, A., (2019). Early career science teacher experiences of social bonds and emotion management. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56(3), 322–347. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/121199
- Bellocchi, A., Davis, J., Olson, R. & Appanna, S. (2019). Understanding social bonds during science inquiry using V-Note software. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 14(3), 769–796. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/130809
- Bellocchi, A., Quigley, C. & Otrel-Cass, K. (2017). Exploring emotions, aesthetics and wellbeing in science education research (Cultural Studies of Science Education, Volume 13). Springer. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/95849
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Alberto, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/alberto.bellocchi
Awards
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2026
- Details
- Member of curriculum development and advisory committees for high school science for the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority
- Type
- Committee Role/Editor or Chair of an Academic Conference
- Reference year
- 2026
- Details
- Conference convenor member for the 2026 Annual International conference of the Australasian Science Education Research Association
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2025
- Details
- Member of advisory committees and working groups for development of National Science curriculum.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2024
- Details
- Invited Speaker- Challenging the Stigma: Emotions and STEM. US EducationWeek with PLTW, 5th March, 2024 (Online).
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2023
- Details
- Invited Keynote Speaker. Title:Complementarity of Theory and Method for Studying Emotion in Science Education Settings. Kyenote Presented at Contemporary Approaches to Research (CAR) in Mathematics, Science, Health and Environmental Education Symposium, Deakin University, November, 2023. Keynote on research methodology for the study of emotion.Contemporary Approaches to Research (CAR) in Mathematics, Science, Health and Environmental Education Symposium, Deakin University.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2023
- Details
- Invited Speaker (2023): Methodological Advances and Challenges In Research on Emotion, Early Career Researcher Webinar, International Society for Research on Emotion, September 11, 2023 [online].
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- 2016 Best Publication Award. Selected through peer-review of 2016 articles by international committee from journal editorial board.
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence- Research, Learning and Teaching.
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2011
- Details
- ASERA representative on the Advisory Committee of the Australian National Curriculum (Chemistry).
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2009
- Details
- QUT Outstanding Thesis Award
Selected research projects
- Title
- Engaging Science Students Emotionally by Fostering Positive Social Bonds
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DE160101053
- Start year
- 2016
- Keywords
- Title
- Emotional Learning in Socioscientific Issues for Enhancement of Scientific Literacy
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP110200368
- Start year
- 2012
- Keywords
- Scientific literacy; Imaginative Engagement; Emotions and Emotional Climate; Socioscientific Issuse
- Title
- Eventful Learning in Quality Pre-service Science Teacher Education
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP120100369
- Start year
- 2012
- Keywords
- Science Teacher Education; Emotional Arousal; Emotional Climate; Eventful Learning; Classroom Interactions
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.
Current supervisions
- Investigating the Interplay Between Epistemic Cognition and Emotions as Situated Phenomena in a Science Education Context
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Subhashni Appanna - Investigating the Interplay between Scientific Values and Bhutanese Values in Bhutanese School Science
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor James Davis - Entrepreneurial Science Capabilities in Secondary School Science: Teachers' Understandings and Enactments
Professional Doctorate, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor James Davis
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Understanding the interplay between students' social bonds and metacognition in middle school science (2024)
- Design and implementation of game activities to learn science: Emotional experiences of teachers in initial training (2023)
- Exploring emotional engagement during explicit nature of science instruction among pre-service science teachers (2023)
- A Study of Emotions and Social Bonds During Transformative Pedagogy in a Bhutanese 10th-Grade Physics Class (2022)
- Investigating social bonding dynamics in a Brazilian science class through a multi-level analysis (2022)
- Understanding student emotion to inform science inquiry teaching practices (2022)
- Brains, Beneficial Beliefs, and Science Achievement (2021)
- A Study of the Emotional Essence of Analogical Reasoning in Secondary School Science (2016)
- A Study of the Emotional Climate of a Science Education Class for Pre-service Teachers in Bhutan (2014)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.