363 research outputs found
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Applying funds of knowledge theory in a New Zealand high school: New directions for pedagogical practice
No full textIn New Zealand teacher practice is expected to be inclusive and supportive of all learners (Ministry of Education, 2007). However, diverse evidence highlights inequitable school experiences for Māori and Pasifika students. This study explored the application of funds of knowledge (FoK) theory within a New Zealand high school, with a focus on impacts for Māori and Pasifika students. FoK has been defined as knowledge and skills gained from life world experience. Participants included high school teachers (n=5), students (n=11) from their current classes, and students’ parents (n=5). Data collected over six months fieldwork included: interviews, focus groups, samples of student work, and meetings. Teachers developed two ways to apply students’ FoK to support academic learning: drawing on and drawing out their life experiences. Improvements in learning behaviours and achievement gains were reported by students, parents, and teachers
How can innovative learning environments promote the diffusion of innovation?
No full textSchools implementing innovative learning environments (ILEs) face many challenges, including the need to discard previously cherished practices and behaviours, adjust mindsets, and invent successful new ways of operating. Leaders can support these processes by implementing structures that: i) support ongoing, distributed, participatory innovation; and ii) promote the widespread diffusion of these innovations. This article will argue that innovative learning environments provide unique opportunities to accelerate the generation and diffusion of innovation, particularly through high levels of observability and trialability of ideas; effective communication channels; and supportive social systems. In short, successful open, collaborative learning environments require serial innovation and rapid diffusion of innovation, but they also provide the conditions to support both of these processes
Pedagogy of the immigrant: A journey towards inclusive classrooms
No full textIn the past two years, migration has been on the front page of newspapers around the world. In the United States alone, the most current data shows that there are close to one million immigrant students. These students face challenges such as high mobility and anonymity. Moreover, immigrant students have specific needs that must be understood, identified, and addressed by educators working with and learning from immigrant students and their families. In this article, I reflect about my experiences as an immigrant teacher, teacher of immigrant students, and faculty working in Teacher Education Programs. Through this reflection, I suggest teaching credential/initial teacher education programs must require future educators to analyse how mobility and anonymity, among other factors, impact immigrant students’ learning practices. I conclude by providing recommendations and guidance when developing fully inclusive programs in both PreK-12/compulsory education school sites as well as in institutions of higher education
Coming out of the closet: From single-cell classrooms to innovative learning environments
No full textThe New Zealand Ministry of Education encourages schools to update to flexible learning spaces and activate teaching approaches that augment such physical settings. Many schools have embraced the concept of innovative learning environments (ILE) and team teaching, motivating a trend fast gaining popularity in New Zealand primary schools. However, apart from positive self-reporting documentaries from enthusiastic schools, there is a dearth of New Zealand-based information available to assist prospective schools to consider the complexities of adopting this trend. As they venture ‘out of the single-classroom closet’ into a collaborative ‘community of learners’, the staff of one primary school in the Bay of Plenty has been researching their own ILE practices and processes through inquiry, regular appraisal and self-review monitoring. While the school’s experience is contextual and unique to its own specific situation and community, it provides a representation of some affordances and constraints that other schools might contemplate when they similarly venture into ILE
Listening to the voices of struggling students as a way of finding out what works to help them through review of literature.
No full textChildren in mainstream schools who struggle academically and disengage in regular schooling may be helped when teachers change their practice to include what the students themselves have reported makes a difference. Student voices need to be listened to, not as a token gesture, but as a way of making a positive difference in their lives at school and therefore strengthen their ability to be a successful member of society in the future
Thinkpiece: Making a case for nurturing Pasifika students through the Arts in New Zealand: Now would be a good time
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Expanding students’ perceptions of scientists through the dramatic technique of Role on the Wall
No full textThis paper highlights the use of a drama convention—‘Role on the Wall’—to teach the Nature of Science (NOS) in a Year 7/8 classroom.Students were positioned as ‘expert’ scientists re-investigating the science behind the sinking of the Wahine in a Mantle of the Expert unit. Students drew a ‘Role on the Wall’ of a scientist. The inner body portion outlined characteristics they thought scientists have and in the outer portion they listed the tasks scientists do. This approach can support the teaching of NOS, as it provides opportunities for students to collaboratively construct understandings about scientists and their activities. Differences were noted between the visual language and the oral language used to describe scientists. Shifts in student understanding about scientists were also examined in relation to student comment from classroom discussion and student interview
The sigmoid curve as a metaphor for growth and change
No full textThis paper introduces sigmoid or s-curve as a metaphor for describing the dynamics of change. We first encountered the s-curve as a description of a possible growth trajectory whereby populations become established, begin to flourish and the numbers increase rapidly until they reach some limit. At this point, the growth rate slows rapidly then stops and the size of the population is either maintained, something happens to stimulate a further upsurge in growth, or there is a dramatic decline. This basic biological metaphor has been picked up by social science researchers, particularly those who are interested in the complex dynamics of change and adaptation over time. The s-curve metaphor is now applied beyond population growth to describe change dynamics in social systems. We have noted this situation of rapid change followed by stability, further growth or subsequent decline in a number of projects we have worked on. The contributors to this special section discuss examples of this change pattern across a range of contexts
Staying on the journey: Maintaining a change momentum with PB4L school-wide
No full textHow do schools maintain momentum with change and enter new cycles of growth when they are attempting to do things differently? This article draws on a two-year evaluation of the Positive Behaviour for Learning School-Wide initiative to identify key factors that enabled schools to engage in a long-term and iterative change process. Fullan’s systems-thinking ideas about school leadership and change, along with literature on the sustainability of educational initiatives, are used to analyse the interrelated factors that assisted schools to successfully embed this new initiative and address challenges. The design features of School-Wide, the way in which support for schools was organised, and practices within schools that created a continuous improvement culture, all contributed to schools being able to maintain a change momentum and continue to grow School-Wide in the longer-term