Rate My Professor Katie Waters

Dr Katie Waters serves as a Lecturer in the School of Education within the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a PhD from the University of Wollongong, a Master of Education in Information Technology Education from the University of Wollongong, a Bachelor of Education, and a Bachelor of Teaching in Primary Education with specializations in Science & Technology and Music. Her research specializations include educational administration, management, and leadership (40%), educational technology and computing (30%), and mathematics and numeracy curriculum and pedagogy (30%). Additional academic interests encompass curriculum development, educational pedagogy, leadership and management, STEM education, science and technology, and promoting the integration of meaningful technology into everyday learning practices.

In her career, Dr Waters has held positions as a Lecturer at the University of Wollongong School of Education (2009-2012), Head of ICT and STEM (K-6) at Newcastle Grammar School (2017-2021), Deputy Head of Junior School at Newcastle Grammar School (2013-2016) and Queenwood School for Girls (2008-2009), and primary classroom teacher roles across diverse institutions in Australia, Bangkok, Thailand, and the UK. She currently coordinates and lectures courses including EDUC2744 K-6 Science and Technology, EDUC4749 Advanced Numeracy, EDUC6749 Advanced Numeracy, EDUC2749 K-6 Numeracy, EDUC3055 Pedagogies of Numeracy from Birth to 12 Years, and others. Major awards include the 2024 College Excellence Award for Work Integrated Learning (Academic Excellence, University of Newcastle), the 2023 College Excellence Award for Industry Engagement (College of Human and Social Futures), and the ADVANCE Equity in Research Fellowship (2025-2026). Key publications feature the book Creative Technologies Education (2025, co-authored with M Bower and B von Mengersen); chapters such as 'Australian initial teacher educators’ perspectives on artificial intelligence' (2026) and 'Students as designers with robotics and control systems' (2025); journal articles including 'Using large language models to complement humans for the coding of social media interactions between science teachers' (2026, Discover Education) and 'Communities of secondary science teachers: a systematic review' (2026, International Journal of Science Education); and her PhD thesis 'The relationship between principals’ leadership styles and job satisfaction as perceived by primary school teachers across NSW independent schools' (2013).