I came from the least developed region of Thailand, whose members have limited access to higher education and paternalistic-parental attitudes towards girls striving for higher education.

My parents, however, went against the grain; they told me the only way to overcome poverty was education. They constantly reminded me,

“If you don’t want to be a farmer like me, if you don’t want your daughters to be a farmer like me, if you don’t want our family to be farmers forever, you must study hard.”

But we did not have much money, so we lacked hope and opportunities.

In spite of many obstacles I faced during my childhood, I was able to defeat perceptions of inadequacy and achieved my personal and professional goals while developing empathy, passion and commitment to equity and supporting students from marginalized communities.

Besides, during my postgraduate studies, I had been viewed as a disadvantaged student, so I know how difficult it is to be marginalized. From always being the top student in my home country, I came to America and Australia with the feeling of being a student with special needs. Yet, I was able to overcome a language barrier, earned a perfect grade point average and was selected to be a Student Marshal. I had been granted the highly esteemed Carolyn D Baker Memorial Scholarship (2016) and multiple competitive travel awards (2015, 2017, 2018) from UQ to further develop my international research profile during my PhD study.

Driven by my background, I have a strong desire to conduct high quality research-informed teaching practices in education to empower societal equity.

I am a dedicated educator with 15 years of experience teaching secondary school and university. I lead and collaborate projects resulting in several national and international awards whilst developing transdisciplinary communication and teamwork skills.

I am a motivated lifelong learner with cross-cultural competency gained from daily experiences and overseas studies.

I have a passion for science, technology, research and education with a strong desire to conduct high quality research-informed teaching practices in education to empower societal equity.

I received a range of full scholarships from different industries and government organizations to pursue my Bachelor of Sciences in Chemistry, Graduate Diploma in Teaching, Master' of Education and PhD in Thailand, USA and Australia. In addition, during my doctoral studies, I was awarded the highly esteemed Carolyn D Baker Memorial Scholarship and other awards to further develop my international research profile.

My Learning journey

My Childhood

My identity

A daughter of a farmer famly;
A big sister of other two siblings;
One of the best students

Background

Born and raised in a farmer family, to me, weekends and holidays meant working. I needed and wanted to help my parents on our farms and work in our neighbour farms to earn some money for my schooling. After school, I usually helped my mother prepare some vegetables that she would sell in the early markets every day, starting from 2 - 6 am. That meant we had to get everything ready around 10 pm. Therefore, going to school is my relaxing time. As my parents did not want me to be a farmer like them, like their parents, they told me that I must study hard as education was the only way out of this circle. And I agree with them. Without my parents' dedication and sacrifice, I would have never become who I am today.

In this picture are my mother and my niece in which she wore the Thai teacher custome.

My Learning Journey

When I was four, my mother told me not to question just did what grow-up told me to do. When I was seven, my teachers told me not to argue or question just followed their instructions—quiet students were smart and smart people would not ask many questions because they understood things quickly. So, during my childhood, I did whatever my parents and teachers told me to do; even though it often conflicted with my own belief and needs.
I did not answer teachers’ questions unless they specifically called on me; I never asked my teachers any questions as I believed only non-smart people did that. I preferred figuring out the answers on my own or leaving those questions unanswered.
I did not believe that talk helps talkers to share cognitive experience and assists individuals to learn. I did not believe that learning, in nature, is a social dialogic based activity and knowledge is a by-product of social interactions. I did not think my friends could share their knowledge with me; I did not believe my peers could broaden my learning and understanding. The only thing I believed was I would grow more intelligent by listening to my teachers and reading books.
Yet, I was a kitten who viewed herself as a lion.

My Undergraduate Study

My identity

One of the best students
Goup leader in classes
PSMP student

Background

I got a full scholarship, "The Promotion of Science and Mathematics Talented Teachers Scholarship (PSMT)" from the Thai government to pursue a Bachelor of Science and Graduate Teaching Diploma. From among thousands of applicants, I was one of fourteen recipients of this extremely competitive scholarship. During my study, I received several awards; for example, 'the Professor Dr Thap Neelaniti Foundation Award' from Chulalongkorn University. This award is given to only one student majoring in science at each institute. Furthermore, in 2002, I was the only student selected to be the representative of my university to orally present a research paper at the PSMT Graduate Student Conference in front of thousands of audience members.

My Learning Journey

I majored in chemistry which means I did a lot of lab work. I worked with 2-4 peers for most of the lab works. We were supposed to engage in collaborative learning. However, the tasks were not equally distributed.
The best and moderate performers would conduct the experiments. Our friends who were not doing well academically, would record the experiment results and clean up the equipment. That was how we mostly allocated the tasks.
We rarely discussed the results together when writing the reports. Mostly, the highest performer would write the reports for the groups.

Credit: Image taken from FreePix (premium license)

My Master Study

My identity

Second language learner
Thai student
IFP scholarship holder

Background

From 2009-2011, I received a highly competitive scholarship from the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) to pursue a master's degree at the University of Hawaii, USA. In 2011, I was nominated to be a student marshal of the University of Hawaii and received a travel GSO Award to present my research paper at Harvard University. Additionally, I received a research grant from IFP to conduct action research in a rural school in Thailand. Living with other peers from all over the world in East West Center residence, I developed strong friendships with diverse people from different countries.

My Learning Journey

Later, when I studied in America, I was always expected to participate in class discussions. This caused a major paradigm shift in my perception about learning through sharing. I came to realize that active class participation could broaden my worldview, while enabling me to learn quicker and at a deeper level.
But because of my English limitations as well as my old habits I was still more passive than most. However, I tried my best to speak up in class. I felt really proud and I felt like I belonged to the classes when I could contribute to classroom discussions. I didn’t feel I was invisible anymore.
Class participation forced me to think more deeply about what I was learning and to begin to question the subject matter at a much deeper level than just memorizing or accepting it as fact.

In this picture are my supportive friends, host family and supervisors on my thesis defence.