Dr Sandy Houen
Research Fellow
Queensland Brain Institute
+61 7 334 68846
Publications
Book Chapters
Cooke, Emma, Coles, Laetitia, Thorpe, Karen and Houen, Sandy (2024). Crystallising the everyday emotional work of women working in childcare during Covid-19. Departing radically in academic writing: alternative approaches to writing and methods in qualitative research. (pp. 15-25) edited by Elizabeth Mackinlay and Karen Madden. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003360766-2
Houen, Sandy and Danby, Susan (2022). Digital technologies. Talking with children. (pp. 204-226) edited by Amelia Church and Amanda Bateman. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108979764.011
Houen, Sandy, Danby, Susan and Miller, Pernilla (2021). Siblings accomplishing tasks together: solicited and unsolicited assistance when using digital technology. The Routledge companion to digital media and children. (pp. 130-143) New York, NY USA: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781351004107-12
Ekberg, Stuart, Houen, Sandra, Fisher, Belinda, Theobald, Maryanne and Danby, Susan (2019). Engaging young children in speech and language therapy via videoconferencing. Everyday technologies in healthcare. (pp. 175-192) edited by Christopher M. Hayre, Dave Muller and Marcia Scherer. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9781351032186-10
Houen, Sandra, Danby, Susan, Farrell, Ann and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Web searching as a context to build on young children’s displayed knowledge. Children's knowledge-in-interaction: studies in conversation analysis. (pp. 57-72) edited by Amanda Bateman and Amelia Church. Singapore: Springer . doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-1703-2_4
Danby, Susan, Davidson, Christina, Theobald, Maryanne, Houen, Sandra and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Pretend play and technology: Young children making sense of their everyday social worlds. Multidisciplinary perspectives on play from birth and beyond. (pp. 231-245) edited by Sandra Lynch, Deborah Pike and Cynthia à Beckett. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-2643-0_14
Harris, Jessica, Theobald, Maryanne, Danby, Susan, Reynolds, Edward, Rintel, E. Sean, Björk-Willen, Polly, Busch, Gillian, Christensen, Steve, Conway, Aaron, Cromdal, Jakob, Emmison, Michael, Fitzgerald, Richard, Gardner, Rod, Houen, Sandy, Kelly, Ann, Keogh, Jayne, Lamont-Mills, Andrea, Linton, Philippa, May, Lynnete and Osvaldsson, Karin (2012). ‘What’s going on here?': The pedagogy of a data analysis session. Reshaping Doctoral Education: International Approaches and Pedagogies. (pp. 83-95) Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9780203142783-15
Journal Articles
Cooke, Emma, Zheng, Zhaoxi, Houen, Sandy, Thorpe, Karen, Clarke, Andrew, Oakes, Candice and Staton, Sally (2023). Discursive tensions: Outcomes and rights in educators’ accounts of children’s relaxation. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 24 (1), 70-81. doi: 10.1177/1463949120983480
Thorpe, Karen, Panthi, Narayan, Houen, Sandra, Horwood, Marcus and Staton, Sally (2023). Support to stay and thrive: mapping challenges faced by Australia’s early years educators to the national workforce strategy 2022–2031. The Australian Educational Researcher, 51 (1), 1-25. doi: 10.1007/s13384-022-00607-3
Rankin, Peter Sheldon, Staton, Sally, Potia, Azhar Hussain, Houen, Sandy and Thorpe, Karen (2022). Emotional quality of early education programs improves language learning: A within‐child across context design. Child Development, 93 (6), 1680-1697. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13811
Houen, Sandy, Thorpe, Karen, van Os, Danielle, Westwood, Emily, Toon, Danielle and Staton, Sally (2022). Eliciting and responding to young children's talk: a systematic review of educators' interactional strategies that promote rich conversations with children aged 2–5 years. Educational Research Review, 37 100473, 100473. doi: 10.1016/j.edurev.2022.100473
Thorpe, Karen, Houen, Sandy, Rankin, Peter, Pattinson, Cassandra and Staton, Sally (2022). Do the numbers add up? Questioning measurement that places Australian ECEC teaching as ‘low quality’. The Australian Educational Researcher, 50 (3), 1-20. doi: 10.1007/s13384-022-00525-4
Houen, Sandy and Susan Danby (2021). 'Two's company, three's a crowd' Multi-modal engagement with objects to position a child on the periphery of peer membership in a preschool clasroom. Research on Children and Social Interaction, 5 (1), 33-56. doi: 10.1558/rcsi.18175
Thorpe, Karen, Rankin, Peter, Beatton, Tony, Houen, Sandy, Sandi, Matteo, Siraj, Iram and Staton, Sally (2020). The when and what of measuring ECE quality: Analysis of variation in the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) across the ECE day. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 53, 274-286. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.05.003
Oakes, Candice, Staton, Sally, Houen, Sandra, Cooke, Emma, Pattinson, Cassandra, Teo, Sue-Lynn and Thorpe, Karen (2020). Correction to: “Did my child sleep today?”: communication between parents and educators in early childhood education and care settings (Child & Youth Care Forum, (2019), 10.1007/s10566-019-09527-3). Child and Youth Care Forum, 49 (2), 285-286. doi: 10.1007/s10566-019-09531-7
Thorpe, Karen, Westwood, Emily, Jansen, Elena, Menner, Ryan, Houen, Sandy and Staton, Sally (2020). Working towards the Australian National Quality Standard for ECEC: what do we know? Where should we go?. Australian Educational Researcher, 48 (2), 227-247. doi: 10.1007/s13384-020-00387-8
Cooke, Emma, Thorpe, Karen, Clarke, Andrew, Houen, Sandy, Oakes, Candice and Staton, Sally (2020). “Lie in the grass, the soft grass”: Relaxation accounts of young children attending childcare. Children and Youth Services Review, 109 104722, 104722. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104722
Thorpe, K., Staton, S., Houen, S. and Beatton, T. (2020). Essential yet discounted: COVID-19 and the early childhood education workforce. Australian Educational Leader, 42 (3), 18-21.
Oakes, Candice, Staton, Sally, Houen, Sandra, Cooke, Emma, Pattinson, Cassandra, Teo, Sue-Lynn and Thorpe, Karen (2019). “Did my child sleep today?”: communication between parents and educators in early childhood education and care settings. Child & Youth Care Forum, 49 (2), 265-283. doi: 10.1007/s10566-019-09527-3
Houen, S., Danby, S., Farrell, A. and Thorpe, K. (2018). Adopting an unknowing stance in teacher–child interactions through ‘I wonder…’ formulations. Classroom Discourse, 10 (2), 1-17. doi: 10.1080/19463014.2018.1518251
Ekberg, Stuart, Danby, Susan, Houen, Sandra, Davidson, Christina and Thorpe, Karen J. (2017). Soliciting and pursuing suggestions: Practices for contemporaneously managing student-centred and curriculum-focused activities. Linguistics and Education, 42, 65-73. doi: 10.1016/j.linged.2017.07.007
Houen, Sandy, Danby, Susan, Farrell, Ann and Thorpe, Karen (2016). Creating spaces for children’s agency: ‘I wonder…’ formulations in teacher–child interactions. International Journal of Early Childhood, 48 (3), 259-276. doi: 10.1007/s13158-016-0170-4
Houen, Sandy, Danby, Susan, Farrell, Ann and Thorpe, Karen (2016). 'I wonder what you know . . . ' teachers designing requests for factual information. Teaching and Teacher Education, 59, 68-78. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2016.02.002
Theobald, Maryanne, Danby, Susan, Davidson, Christina, Houen, Sandy, Scriven, Brooke and Thorpe, Karen (2016). How talk and interaction unfold in a digitally enabled preschool classroom. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 36 (2), 189-204. doi: 10.1080/07268602.2015.1121530
Thorpe, Karen, Hansen, Julie, Danby, Susan, Zaki, Filzah Mohamed, Grant, Sandra, Houen, Sandra, Davidson, Christina and Given, Lisa M. (2015). Digital access to knowledge in the preschool classroom: reports from Australia. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 32, 174-182. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.04.001
Danby, Susan, Davidson, Christina, Theobald, Maryanne, Scriven, Brooke, Cobb-Moore, Charlotte, Houen, Sandra, Grant, Sandra, Given, Lisa M. and Thorpe, Karen (2013). Talk in activity during young children's use of digital technologies at home. Australian Journal of Communication, 40 (2), 83-100.
Danby, S., Houen, S., Grant, S., Thorpe, K. and Davidson, C. (2013). Going online: young children and teachers accessing knowledge through web interactions. Educating young children: learning and teaching in the early childhood years, 19 (3), 30-32.
Conference Papers
Houen, Sandy and Staton, Sally (2024). Serve, return, rally, learn: interactional strategies to support children’s brain development through play. Realising the Vision: An Integrated Future for the Early Years., Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 17-20 September 2024.
Coles, Laetitia, Casey, Charlotte, Thorpe, Karen, Houen, Sandy, Zheng, Z. and Staton, Sally (2023). Exploring our understanding of drop-off and pick-up in early childhood education and care contexts. 31st EECERA Conference, Estoril, Portugal, 30 August – 2 September 2023.
Houen, S., Staton, S., Thorpe, K., Toon, D., Westwood, E. and VanOers, D. (2022). Eliciting and responding to young children's talk: a systematic review. AARE2022, Adelaide, SA Australia, 27 November-1 December 2022.
Panthi, Narayan, Thorpe, Karen, Houen, Sandy and Staton, Sally (2022). Challenging behaviour of children and its impact on educators. AARE2022, Adelaide, SA Australia, 27 November-1 December 2022.
Houen, S. and Danby, S. (2022). Teacher vs child: an interactional tug of war to decide their next activity. AARE2022, Adelaide, SA Australia, 27 November-1 December .
Staton, S., Houen, S., Rankin, P., Cooke, E., Zheng, Z. and Thorpe, K. (2022). The when, what, and how of observing practice in Early Childhood Education and Care: development of the Assisting Observations Toolkit for Authorised Officers. AARE2022, Adelaide, SA Australia, 27 November - 1 December 2022.
Cooke, Emma, Houen, Sandy, Zheng, Zhaoxi and Staton, Sally (2020). The importance of understanding children’s perspectives: research with children. Paediatric Sleep Medicine Research Group (PSMRG) Research Mentorship Program Clinical Nurses Introduction Day, Queensland Children's Hospital, 19 October 2020.
Oakes, C., Staton, S., Houen, S., Cooke, E., Pattinson, C., Teo, S.-L. and Thorpe, K. (2019). “Did my child sleep today?”: communication between parents and educators in childcare settings. 15th World Sleep Congress, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 20-25 September 2019. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2019.11.1070
Staton, S., Rankin, P., Thorpe, K., Oakes, C., Houen, S., Cooke, E. and Smith, S. (2019). Improving sleep health in early childhood: pilot rct of an educator professional development program to improve sleep practices in childcare services. World Sleep 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 20-25 September 2019. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2019.11.1013
Cooke, Emma, Thorpe, Karen, Clarke, Andrew, Houen, Sandy, Oakes, Candice and Staton, Sally (2019). “I like relaxing on the trees when the leaves are falling”: children’s experiences of relaxation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). International Society for Child Indicators, Tartu, Estonia, 27-29 August 2019.
Cooke, Emma, Thorpe, Karen, Clarke, Andrew, Houen, Sandy, Oakes, Candice and Staton, Sally (2019). Stress and relaxation in early childhood education and care: Experiences of relaxation: the voices of young children in early education and care. Australian Association for Research in Education, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 2-5 December 2019.
Danby, Susan, Houen, Sandy and Miller, Pernilla (2019). All in the family: Siblings' multimodal interactions with digital media. Reconceptualising Early Childhood Literacies: An International Conference, Manchester, United Kingdom, 7-8 March 2019.
Panthi, N., Houen, S., Thorpe, K. and Staton, S. (2019). Supporting pre-school educators to respond to challenging behaviours in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) - a systematic review. Australian Association for Research In Education Conference 2019, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 1-5 December 2019.
Peel, Rhaisa, Danby, Susan and Houen, Sandy (2019). Methodological observations on the secret life of children's play: Places and spaces. EECERA Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, 20-23 August 2019.
Houen, Sandy, Cooke, Emma, Kraemer, E., Oakes, Candice, Thorpe, Karen and Staton, Sally (2019). Experiences of relaxation: the voices of early childhood education and care educators. Australian Association for Research in Education, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 2-5 December 2019.
Danby, Susan, Miller, Pernilla and Houen, Sandy (2019). Methodological observations on the secret life of children's play: The push-and-pull of peer membership.. EECERA Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, 20-23 August 2019.
Cooke, Emma, Houen, Sandy, Thorpe, Karen, Oakes, Candice and Staton, Sally (2019). Methodological observations on the secret life of children's play: children's subversive behaviour during mandated sleep times in prior to school classrooms. EECERA Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, 20-23 August 2019.
Oakes, Candice, Staton, Sally, Houen, Sandy and Cooke, Emma (2019). "Did my child sleep today?": communication between parents and educators in childcare settings. World Sleep Conference, Vanouver, BC, Canada, 21-25 September 2019.
Danby, S., Davidson, C., Theobald, M., Houen, Sandy and Thorpe, Karen (2017). Pretend play and technology: young children making sense of their everyday social worlds. Symposium on The Multidisciplinary Aspects of Play, Australia, 2017.
Staton, S., Thorpe, K., Irvine, S., Smith, S., Pattinson, C., McArdle, F., McNellie, P., Oakes, C. and Houen, S. (2017). Choosing Rest: Finding Effective Alternatives to Mandated Rest-times in ECEC. Queensland Government Department of Education and Training Research Forum, Brisbane, 2017.
Houen, Sandy and Austin, Leanne (2016). Teacher-child interactions, displays of expertise and 'I wonder...'formulations. QUT Communication Seminar: Who is the expert here?, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 12 October 2016.
Danby, Susan, Davidson, Christina, Theobald, Maryanne, Houen, Sandy and Thorpe, Karen (2015). Environments for language and culture: young children weaving together digital technology. American Education Research Association, Chicago, IL, United States, April 2015.
Thorpe, K., Hansen, J., Danby, S., Grant, S., Houen, S., Davidson, C. and Given, L. (2014). Digital equity and early childhood classrooms. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE), Brisbane, Australia, 30 November - 4 December 2014.
Danby, S., Davidson, C., Theobald, M., Houen, S. and Thorpe, K. (2014). Children’s fantasy play and formulating the use of objects in spontaneous activity with digital technology in Symposium Activity in Talk: Using objects in children’s spontaneous activities. 4th International Conference on Conversation Analysis (ICCA-14), Los Angeles, CA, United States, 25-29 June 2014.
Ekberg, S., Houen, S., Danby, S., Davidson, C. and Thorpe, K. (2014). Teachers’ questioning students about technology: Making digital literacy relevant in preschool classrooms. International Communication Association Regional Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 1-3 October 2014.
Danby, S., Houen, S., Davidson, C., Theobald, M., Thorpe, K., Hansen, J. and Given, L. (2013). The social accomplishment of young children’s web searching in pre-school classrooms. International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), New Dehli, India, 8-13 September 2013.
Video Document
Research Reports
Rankin, Peter, Staton, Sally, Jones, Alicia, Potia, Azhar Hussain, Houen, Sandy, Healey, Bridget and Thorpe, Karen (2024). Linking quality and child development in early childhood education and care: technical report. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Australian Education Research Organisation.
Staton, Sally, Houen, Sandy, Coles, Laetitia, Searle, Bonnie, Panthi, S. and Thorpe, Karen (2023). Responding to challenging behaviour with children aged 2-5 years in Early Childhood Education and Care settings. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Evidence for Learning.
Staton, Sally, Pattinson, Cassandra, Houen, Sandy, Coles, Laetitia, Westwood, Emily, Cooke, Emma, Searle, Bonnie-Ria and Thorpe, Karen (2022). KindyLinQ Program Pilot: Pilot evaluation report and executive summary. Online: Evidence for Learning.
Newspaper Articles
Cooke, Emma, Staton, Sally, Houen, Sandy, Thorpe, Karen and The Choosing Rest Research Team (2019, 01 01). What exactly is rest-time in childcare? Childmags.com.au
Cooke, Emma, Houen, Sandy, Staton, Sally, Thorpe, Karen and The Choosing Rest Research Team (2018, 01 01). “Get all cosy…. it’s like chill out”: children’s perspectives on relaxation in early childhood education and care Reflections Gowrie Australia Publication 1-2.
Thorpe, K., Danby, S., Davidson, C., Theobald, M., Scriven, B., Cobb-Moore, C. and Houen, S. (2013, 01 01). The role adults play in engaging children with digital technologies Cascades Newsletter
Grant, S., Danby, S., Thorpe, K., Davidson, C. and Houen, S. (2013, 01 01). Teacher decision-making and spaces that educate: Where does technology fit? Cascades Newsletter 11-13.
Thorpe, K., Danby, S., Davidson, C., Theobald, M., Scriven, B., Cobb-Moore, C. and Houen, S. (2013, 01 01). The role adults play in engaging children with digital technologies Cascades Newsletter
Danby, S., Davidson, C., Theobald, M., Scriven, B., Cobb-Moore, C., Houen, S. and Thorpe, K. (2013, 01 01). Using digital technologies at home Cascades Newsletter
Generic Documents
Houen, Sandy and Danby, Susan (2022). Integrating digital technologies into ECEC programs. The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.
Houen, Sandy, Cooke, Emma, Zheng, Zhaoxi, Nuttall, Gina, Thorpe, Karen and Staton, Sally (2021). Supporting educator relaxation in early childhood education and care. ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course.
Staton, S., Houen, S. and Thorpe, K. (2021). Assisting Observation Toolkit for Authorised Officers in Early Education and Care Services. Department of Education, Queensland Government.
Staton, S., Houen, S., Rankin, P., Beatton, T., Zheng, Z., Cooke, E., Irvine, S. and Thorpe, K. (2020). Observing ECEC quality: development of an observation strategy for authorised officers. Queensland Government, Department of Education.
Cooke, E., Staton, S., Houen, S. and Thorpe, K. (2019). Rest-times in childcare. Child Magazine.
Cooke, E., Houen, S., Staton, S., Thorpe, K. and The Choosing Rest Team (2019). “Getall cosy…. it’s like chill out”: children’s perspectives on relaxation. Cascades Magazine, Creche and Kindergarten Association (C&K).
Houen, S., Staton, S. and Thorpe, K. (2019). Curious about questions (fact sheet). Evidence for Learning Early Childhood Toolkit - Social Ventures Australia.
Houen, S., Staton, S. and Thorpe, K. (2019). Keeping the conversation going (fact sheet). Evidence for Learning Early Childhood Toolkit. Social Ventures Australia. .
Houen, S., Staton, S. and Thorpe, K. (2019). Creating spaces for children’s talk (Fact Sheet). Evidence for Learning Early Childhood Toolkit. Social Ventures Australia. .
Houen, Sandy, Staton, Sally and Thorpe, Karen (2019). Curious about questions. Evidence for Learning Early Childhood Toolkit, Social Ventures Australia.
Houen, S., Toon, D. and Staton, S. (2019). Building your Educational Toolkit: 5 Evidence-Informed Strategies for Promoting Rich Conversations. Education Today.
Thorpe, K., Westwood, E., Van Os, D., Menner, R., Coles, L., Lakeman, N., Houen, S. and Staton, S. (2019). Everybody benefits: state of early learning in Australia report. Early Childhood Australia.
Houen, S., Staton, S. and Thorpe, K. (2019). Supporting rich conversations with children aged 2-5 years in early childhood education and care within Australasian studies. Social Ventures Australia.
Staton, S., Thorpe, K., Smith, S.S., Pattinson, C., Irvine, S., Houen, S., Cooke, E., Oakes, C., Harding, M., Groth, K., Spall, P. and Evans, A. (2018). Choosing rest: finding effective alternatives to mandatory sleep times in early childhood education and care. Department of Education, Queensland Government.