12,471 research outputs found
Characteristics of quality teaching for students in New Zealand schools whose first language is not English
The current paper draws on the findings of two recent research
reports commissioned by the New Zealand Ministry of Education (Alton-Lee,
2003; Franken & McComish, 2003) in order to generate a synthesised
statement of characteristics of quality teaching for students for whom English
is not the first language (referred to from here as NESB students1) in New
Zealand schools. Alton-Lee (2003, see Ministry of Education website,
www.minedu.govt.nz) provides a synthesis of research-based evidence
addressing the nature of quality teaching in schooling for the full range of
diverse students. In this work, diversity encompasses âmany characteristics
including ethnicity, socio-economic background, home language, gender,
special needs, disability, and giftednessâ (Alton-Lee, 2003, p. v). Because her
synthesis addresses diversity in the student population, she focusses on what is
common to diverse students and thus does not specify particular conditions
that pertain to any one sub-group of diverse students. Franken and
McComish (2003) on the other hand, is a research report into the English
language support for NESB (Non English Speaking Background) students in
New Zealand schools. It includes a literature review of evidence-based
research into second language teaching and learning, particularly classroom
based research. It also reports on observations and analysis of practices in
New Zealand schools, and discusses how these documented practices relate to
the research findings from the literature
Innovative learning in action (ILIA) issue four: New academics engaging with action research
This edition of ILIA showcases four papers which were originally submitted as action research projects on the
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice and Research programme. Within the programme we offer an environment where participants can explore their unique teaching situations â not to produce all-encompassing
approaches to Higher Education (HE) practice but to develop
an ongoing dialogue about the act of teaching.
In effect, there are no generalisable âbestâ methods of teaching because they never work as well as âlocally
produced practice in actionâ (Kincheloe, 2003:15). Thus rather than providing short term âsurvival kitsâ the programme offers new HE teachers a âframeâ for examining their own and their colleaguesâ teaching alongside questioning educational purpose and values in the pursuit of pedagogical improvement.
This âframeâ is action research which Ebbutt (1985:156) describes as: âŠThe systematic study of attempts to
change and improve educational practice by groups of participants by means of their own practical actions
and by means of their own reflections upon the effects of their actions⊠We promote âpractitioner-researchâ or
âteacher-researchâ as a way of facilitating professional development for new HE teachers, promoting change and giving a voice to their developing personal and professional knowledge.
Teachers as researchers embark upon an action orientated, iterative and collaborative process to interrogate their
own practices, question their own assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs in order to better understand, influence and enrich the context of their own situations.
The action researcher assumes that practitioners are knowledgeable about their own teaching situations and the
fact that they are âin-situâ and not at âarms lengthâ as the value-neutral, âscientificâ researcher is often claimed to be, does not invalidate their knowledge.
Thus, practitioners are capable of analysing their own actions within a âreflective practitionerâ modus operandi.
Action research is on-going in conception and well suited to examining the ever-changing and increasingly complex HE practice environment. Findings from action research are always subject to revision since it intrinsically acknowledges the need to constantly revisit widely diverse
teaching situations and scenarios across everyday HE practice. Teaching is not predictable and constant, it always occurs in a contemporary microcosm of uncertainty. Action research provides an analytical framework for new HE
teachers to begin to engage with this unpredictability on a continuing basis, that is its purpose and also its perennial challenge.
The papers presented here describe how four relatively new HE teachers have begun to address the challenge of
improving their practice within their locally based settings utilising the action research âparadigmâ
Thinking, Interthinking, and Technological Tools
Language use is widely regarded as an important indicator of high quality learning and reasoning ability. Yet this masks an irony: language is fundamentally a social, collaborative tool, yet despite the widespread recognition of its importance in relation to learning, the role of dialogue is undervalued in learning contexts. In this chapter we argue that to see language as only a tool for individual thought presents a limited view of its transformative power. This power, we argue, lies in the ways in which dialogue is used to interthink â that is, to think together, to build knowledge co-constructively through our shared understanding. Technology can play an important role in resourcing thinking through the provision of information, and support to provide a space to think alone. It can moreover provide significant support for learners to build shared representations together, particularly through giving learners access to a wealth of âgivenâ inter-related texts which resource the co-construction of knowledge
The concept of learning goals will always be in my head"-Aligning and Applying Learning Goals in Participatory Design in a School Context
In this paper, we explore applying learning goals in participatory design (PD) practice as an approach to mutual learning in a school context. The paper is based on experiences from master students in interaction design, who were instructed to define learning goals for children participating in PD activities that they organized in a school context. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a number of strategies for aligning and applying learning goals in PD in school contexts in practice: Debrief the results from the children\u27s reflections with the teachers, Scalability in regard to time and context, Adjust to age, Collaborate with the teacher to define specific learning goals, Formulate learning gains for the teachers, and Develop support materials
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Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4
This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This fourth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation
Socialising Epistemic Cognition
We draw on recent accounts of social epistemology to present a novel account of epistemic cognition that is âsocialisedâ. In developing this account we foreground the: normative and pragmatic nature of knowledge claims; functional role that âto knowâ plays when agents say they âknow xâ; the social context in which such claims occur at a macro level, including disciplinary and cultural context; and the communicative context in which such claims occur, the ways in which individuals and small groups express and construct (or co-construct) their knowledge claims. We frame prior research in terms of this new approach to provide an exemplification of its application. Practical implications for research and learning contexts are highlighted, suggesting a re-focussing of analysis on the collective level, and the ways knowledge-standards emerge from group-activity, as a communicative property of that activity
A Phenomenographic Study of Introductory Physics Students: Approaches to their Learning and Perceptions of their Learning Environment in a Physics Problem-Based Learning Environment
This phenomenographic study describes studentsâ approaches to learning and their perceptions of the learning environment in an introductory physics course which is taught using a problem-based learning approach. This research builds on previous studies which showed that these students develop a greater conceptual knowledge than their counterparts in a more traditional learning environment while others showed very little development even though they engaged fully with the pedagogy. This study aimed to examine and describe the studentsâ approaches to learning. The definitions of surface, strategic and deep approaches to learning are not appropriate in this context and could not be applied as all students engage fully in the collaborative problem-solving process, albeit in different ways, and hence displayed none of the characteristics of the traditional surface approach and many, if not all, of those associated with the deep approach. Many previous research studies have shown that these âtraditionalâ approaches to learning can manifest in different ways and this is primarily due to the influence of the studentsâ perceptions of the problem-based learning environment and examine their influence on the studentsâ approaches to learning. This study was conducted using phenomenographic methodology to collect, analyse and interpret data from twenty individual semi-structured interviews with introductory physics students. It presents a systematic way of identifying the variations in the studentsâ approaches to their learning in a problem-based learning environment and the variations in studentsâ perceptions of the learning environment. The study also involved the observation of the studentsâ within the problem-based learning environment in order to examine the manifestation of their approach. Finally, a quantitative inventory was used as a pre- and post-test to ascertain the studentsâ conceptual knowledge development. Relations between the approaches, perceptions, actions and conceptual knowledge development were then examined. The findings from this study reveal that students approach their learning in one of three ways: PBL deep; PBL strategic; and PBL surface. These approaches have similarities to the three traditional approaches mentioned above but have clear differences as well. In particular in terms of their link to the studentsâ conception of understanding. A link was also established between studentsâ perception of the learning environment and their approach to learning. The findings have also indicated an alignment between approach, perception, actions taken in problem-based learning environment and the development of conceptual knowledge. This research provides an insight into, and a better understanding of, the way introductory physics students approach their learning in a problem-based learning environment that is constructively aligned to develop understanding. It also underlines the significance that studentsâ conceptions of understanding and perceptions of the learning environment will have on influencing their approach to learning. This study can inform problem-based learning course design, tutoring and teaching and assessment practices not only in physics education but in any discipline where conceptual understanding is a primary learning outcome
The effective use of instruction time at secondary schools : a case study in the Northern Free State
The research study has focussed on the optimal use of instruction time to arrange for improved learner performance. A qualitative investigation was conducted using individual interviewing with six school principals and focus group interviewing with fifteen Heads of Department of six selected secondary schools. The findings revealed that the establishment of a sound culture of teaching and learning in which instruction time is used optimally is the joint responsibility of the school principal and staff in collaboration with learners and parents. Instruction time is lost owing to timewasters such as teachers who are unprepared for lessons, teacher and learner absenteeism and teacher and learner tardiness. Intervention strategies to counter the negative influence of timewasters on available instruction time relate to prior planning and preparation for lessons, managing teacher and learner absenteeism and the scheduling of extra classes. The study contributes to the discourse on effective teaching and learning for acceptable learner performance.Educational Leadership and ManagementM. Ed. (Education Management
Promoting social cohesion during blended learning in a Foundation Degree
This paper explores curriculum theory and principles, evaluates the social cohesion of curricula, and synthesises theory and policies related to education for sustainable development, whilst evaluating and enhancing a higher education blended learning module. Blended learning is defined as a âpedagogical approach that combines the opportunities of face-to-face learning with the opportunities of the online environmentâ (Hew and Cheung, 2014, p. 3). The key challenge is social cohesion, specifically learner collaboration and social learning, which Lockhorst, Admiraal and Pilot (2010) break down into participation, interaction and the nature of the communication. To identify strategies to enhance the module, thereby maximising social cohesion and collaboration, this paper explores the moduleâs curriculum: the policy context, theoretical principles of curriculum design, social cohesion in the context of the parity of esteem between work-based and academic learning, and education for sustainable development. It concludes by proposing enhancements to the module curriculum to meet the demands of twenty-first century graduates (Ashwin et al., 2015, p. 159) and education for sustainable development
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