Art across frontiers : cross-cultural encounters in America : introduction

This short introduction provides a brief overview of the collection, by addressing the main historiographical and theoretical concerns that unite the individual contributions and by placing the essays in comparative, inter-American and interdisciplinary perspective. What do comparative analyses tell us about patterns of cross-cultural exchange in the visual arts? More specifically, what do these analyses tell us about the role of ethnic agency and audience, and the complex relationship between artistic practice and the ‘mainstream’, the local and the global

Book review: creative research methods in the social sciences: a practical guide

Helen Kara’s new book explores the messy realities of research and emerging, creative opportunities. Sarah Lewthwaite finds Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences a reflexive, dialogic book that demands active reading. As a creative text for students and teachers, the book is designed to enable and support, rather than prescribe. The book looks at the breadth of innovative research practices and is ideal for those seeking to gain a broad sense of this dynamic field

“Seeing in the dark”: the aesthetics of disappearance and remembrance in the work of Alberto Rey

This article examines how contemporary Cuban American artists have experimented with visual languages of trauma to construct an intergenerational memory about the losses of exile and migration. It considers the work of artist Alberto Rey, and his layering of individual loss onto other, traumatic episodes in the history of the Cuban diaspora. In the series Las Balsas (The Rafts, 1995-99), Rey explores the impact of the balsero (rafter) crisis of 1994 by transforming objects left behind by Cuban rafters on their sometimes ill-fated journeys to the United States into commemorative relics. By playing on a memory of absence and the misplacement of objects found along the migration route of the Florida Straits, Rey’s visual language transmits the memory of grief across time, space and generational divides. Rey’s visual strategies are part of an “extended memory” tied to the aesthetics of disappearance and remembrance in contemporary Cuban American art. His use of objects as powerful memory texts that serve to bring fragmented autobiographical, family, and intergenerational testimonies of loss together, suggests how visual artists can provide us with more collective, participatory and redemptive models of memory work

Our stories about learning and teaching: members of a Yukon First Nations' community share their stories to assist Yukon educators in becoming responsive to the learning styles and aspirations of their communities

This document seeks to add a further 'voice' to consider what effective teaching is. It focuses on bringing a voice that, for too long, has been missing from the consideration. That voice is from the community members of a local First Nation. As teachers - as professionals - we make the decisions about what is best. But, what does effective teaching look like when it responds to the voices of community members

Book review: 100 activities for teaching research methods by Catherine Dawson

In 100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods, Catherine Dawson offers a sourcebook of 100 ready-to-use activities for teaching research methods from undergraduate to doctoral level. This is an important and welcome addition to the emerging literature on the practical aspects of teaching research methods that will be of particular use to early career teachers looking to expand or complement their existing pedagogic repertoire and teaching strategies, finds Sarah Lewthwaite

"I want to enable teachers in their change": exploring the Role of a Superintendent on Science Curriculum Delivery

This research inquiry explored the factors influencing successful science program delivery among early- and middle-years schools within a rural school division in central Canada. The study is framed by the author's personal inquiry into how psycho-social factors at the classroom, school and school division level influence science program delivery. In line with case study methodology, the inquiry uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods and data sources to identify the contributors at the classroom, school and divisional level to science delivery. A validated science program delivery evaluation tool, the Science Curriculum Implementation Questionnaire (SCIQ), is used as the foundation for the quantitative data collection and ensuing teacher, administration and science education community discussions. Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological model and Rutter's views on resiliency are used as a framework for interpreting the data collected and understanding the factors supporting successful science delivery. Participants identify a variety of personal attribute and environmental factors and the interplay between these factors as supportive factors contributing to effective science delivery at the classroom, school and divisional level. Implications of this inquiry are discussed, especially within the context of the role of the superintendent in influencing curriculum delivery

Implementing Science in the New Zealand Curriculum: how teachers see the problems

[Extract] There are problems with science education in many New Zealand primary schools. Not only did the TIMSS survey show low levels of achievement by year seven and eight students [^1] but it also suggested that the actual science curriculum in many schools might not be the one set out in Science in the New Zealand Curriculum. How could the new curriculum be implemented when science takes up, on average, only seven percent of the primary school day [^2]? How effectively can teachers implement the curriculum when, as this paper will show, it has aims and a teaching approach that many teachers do not feel competent to follow

“I want to enable teachers in their change”: Exploring the Role of a Superintendent on Science Curriculum Delivery

This research inquiry explored the factors influencing successful science program delivery among early- and middle-years schools within a rural school division in central Canada. The study is framed by the author’s personal inquiry into how psycho-social factors at the classroom, school and school division level influence science program delivery. In line with case study methodology, the inquiry uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods and data sources to identify the contributors at the classroom, school and divisional level to science delivery. A validated science program delivery evaluation tool, the Science Curriculum Implementation Questionnaire (SCIQ), is used as the foundation for the quantitative data collection and ensuing teacher, administration and science education community discussions. Bronfenbrenner’s bio- ecological model and Rutter’s views on resiliency are used as a framework for interpreting the data collected and understanding the factors supporting successful science delivery. Participants identify a variety of personal attribute and environmental factors and the interplay between these factors as supportive factors contributing to effective science delivery at the classroom, school and divisional level. Implications of this inquiry are discussed, especially within the context of the role of the superintendent in influencing curriculum delivery.

From School in Community to a Community-Based School: The Influence of an Aboriginal Principal on Culture-Based School Development

This paper explores the history and processes associated with the transformation of a northern Canadian Aboriginal2 school into a culture-based community school for its Metis, Inuvialuit and Gwichin citizens. In particular, the role of the principal, a local Aboriginal, as a leader in initiating and facilitating the transformative change is examined. The factors providing the impetus for change and processes fostering change are examined through the critical lens of Kaupapa Maori Theory, a guiding framework for transformative praxis in New Zealand Maori schools. Finally, the paper examines current developments in the area of science curriculum development and delivery within this school community that are consistent with culture- and place-based education practice and the aspirations of the community.