epsy301 collective notes - the learner in context

Collective EPSY301 Course Notes

Online Collaboration Teamfor VUW Diploma of Education

February 25, 2010

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Copyright c© 2010, Blair M. Smith

Please copy, modify and redistribute under the terms of the GNU Free DocumentLicence (GPL FDL) here:

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Contents

Introduction 5

1 Module 1—Teaching in Aotearoa-New Zealand 6

Module 1-1: Teaching Images and Metaphors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Module 1-2: Qualities of Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Links Between the Report and the NZ Working Model for Educators 17

Extended Discussion of the Wylie & Hodgen Report . . . . . . . . . . 19

Module 1-3: Teacher Knowledge and Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2 Module 2—Human Development 23

Module 2-1: Historical Ideas about Human Development . . . . . . . . . . 23

Psychoanalysis models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Behaviorist models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Constructivist models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Other Early Theorists of Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Module 2-2: Developmental psychology—ecological model . . . . . . . . . 27

Bronfenbrenner’s models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Other Early Theorists of Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3 Module 3—NZ views of Human Development 31

Module 3-1: Maori perspectives on human development . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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CONTENTS 3

Module 3-2: Ecological Models of Human Development . . . . . . . . . . . 31

The PPCT Model as a Working Model for Human Development inNew Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4 Module 4—Learning and Motivation 36

Module 4-1: Overview of ‘theories’ of learning and learning styles . . . . . 36

Useful Models for Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Learning Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Module 4-2: Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Miscellaneous notes on motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5 Module 5—History of ECE & Schooling in NZ 56

Module 5-1: Primary and secondary schools in New Zealand . . . . . . . . 56

Reflective thoughts on Our Time Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Module 5-2: ECE in New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

6 Module 6—Diverse Students 60

Module 6-1: Student Diversity in New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Complexity of Community and Family Influences (Biddulph3 report) 62

Maori and Pacific Island Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The Impact of Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Module 6-2: Special Needs and Gifted or Talented Students . . . . . . . . 67

Beyond Policy and good Intentions (Bevan-Brown) . . . . . . . . . . 67

Discussion of “Inclusive education policy in New Zealand” . . . . . . 73

7 Module 7—EAL Students 75

Module 7-1: EASL Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Paradigms and Special Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Module 7-2: Who are our EAL students? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

CONTENTS 4

Module 7-3: Principles of Language and Content Learning . . . . . . . . . 87

Website Task—The Seven Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Website Task—Dictogloss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Additional Resources for Language Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

8 Module 8—Evidence-based Teaching 95

What is evidence based teaching? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Why use evidence based teaching? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Principles of EBT—Informing Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Synopsis of T&R—Challenging and Changing Teachers’ Schemas . . . . . 97

Discussion of “Challenging and Changing Teachers’ Schemas” . . . . . . . 100

9 Extension: Quick Summary of Key Research Papers 108

Reflection Journal 109

Reflections on Each Week of EPSY301 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Grand Unified Model of Educational Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Motivating Students (and teachers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Dealing with Poorly Performing Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Improving Schools and Improving Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

The Seven Principles for Content Language Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Forum 4 Reflections (EAL Learning) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Forum 4 Reflections (EAL Learning) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Introduction

These are free collaborative collective course note for the 2010 online students en-rrolled in the VUW EPSY301 course. Please copy and redistribute as you please,respecting the GPL-FDL copyright.

We have included a lot of quotes from the online discussion forums, which has addedto the length of this book somewhat. The suggestion is to not read this book serially,but to instead scan the topics and delve into the quoted paragraphs as interest guidesyou—that way the book will hopefully not seem too daunting to read. Also, thesecourse notes are not intended as substitutes for the course Module notes, textbookand readings. The idea is that this book will serve as a reference and memory jogfor all of our future work in education, and not so much as an exam preparationguide for the course.

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1. Module 1—Teaching inAotearoa-New Zealand

Module 1-1: Teacher Qualities, Teaching Images

and Metaphors

Reading: Module 1, File 1. The following unreferenced articles might also beworth looking up: (1) (Fox, 1990), (2) (Baker, 2010), (3) (Fraser, 2001), (4) (Snook,1992), (5) (Dewey, 1993), (6) (Calderhead, 1990). (7) (Britzman, 1986). Each ofthese references cite further prior studies, but since this is not a thesis project anddue to time constraints I did not bother looking at further articles.

Focus Activity—Metaphors

The instructions are to;

1. Think about what is important in teaching and learning.

2. Focusing on the roles of teacher and student, think of an image or metaphorwhich shows what you believe,

(a) summarize what you believe about teaching and learning

(b) specifically show the role of the teacher(s) and the student(s)

3. Keep this image safe as you will need it for your assignment.

I decided to use two metaphors. One for fun, one more seriously. The fun metaphor isA Superfluid, chosen because behaviour of superfluids in response to their externalenvironment is very interesting, and as a purely physical system it poses a challengeto conjure up enough imagery to fulfill the teacher-student-learning metaphor task,

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Module 1—Teaching in Aotearoa-New Zealand 7

which should be fun. The serious metaphor is The Tree. was optionally also goingto sketch a metaphor based on The Ocean, time permitting.

The Superfluid Metaphor

The image is that of superfluid fountain flow. Physically this is a collective behaviourof particles of the fluid (called bosons). Metaphorically it represents the ability ofeducation to be a collective or an individual effort.

The non-metaphor part: Since this is a metaphor understandable only to thosewho know a bit about superfluids, I first need to explain some non-metaphorical stuff.A superfluid is fluid flow with zero friction and hence zero resistance to motion. Soa superfluid (maintained below it’s critical temperature Tc) in a container with acentral capillary tube that is heated or stimulated briefly will spontaneously generatea smooth fountain flow that will continue to flow without any further energy orstimulus, it will never stop (provided the fluid is kept below Tc). The phenomenonis observed in a variety of fluids, but was first discovered in liquid helium. Not everyfluid can become superfluid flowing because for most elements and compounds thesuperfluid critical temperature transition is below the freezing point of the fluid.This is not the case for helium, plus helium has a reasonably high Tc (still very closeto absolute zero ◦Kelvin though), which is why the effect can best be observed withhelium.

For the case of 4He, the effect can be explained by noting that the even number ofnucleons and electrons in the 4He gives rise to a symmetrical quantum mechanicalwave-function for the atom considered as a whole. This is the characteristic of aso-called bosonic system, which just means the system behaves according to Bose-Einstein statistics, which in turn just means that the bosonic constituents (in thiscase the individual 4He atoms) can occupy the exact same energy states at anytime anywhere. This is as opposed to the only other particular statistics governingquantum mechanical systems known as Fermi-Dirac statistics whereby the systemwave-function is antisymmetric and the individual fermions, as they are called,cannot occupy the same energy state if they are otherwise identical wave-functions.

This attribute—of being able to occupy the same energy level—means that when onecools a bosonic fluid below some critical temperature Tc (usually very cold, about−270◦C or lower) all of the bosons are forced into the same state, that being thelowest possible energy level (termed the ground state by physicists). That such astate of lowest non-zero energy exists is a well-established feature of quantum physicsthat we do not have the time explain here. Suffice it to say that in such a collective


state the individual bosons basically lose their individuality and cooperate. So ifone of them is nudged a bit, then the others tend to respond as if they were alsonudged, yet without any extra energy required.

That’s how the never-ending superfluid helium fountain can be created. First coolthe described container of 4He gas to first liquefy it and then bring it down to belowit’s critical temperature Tc. Then give it a brief burst of energy or heat, say with alaser. The superfluid flowing liquid will then get nudged a bit up the capillary tube,but it will not settle, it will continue to rise because none of the atoms know thatthey were the one that was nudged by the laser, so-to-speak. So they all collectively‘want’ to move up the capillary tube. The result is a frictionless fluid flow thatspouts out of the top of the tube forming a fountain which cascades very smoothly(almost glassy-like) back into the container. This fountain is then quite persistent,since there is no friction to stop the flow by dissipation of energy.

Even in an ideal imaginary frictionless fluid one would expect such flow to cease intoa boiling mild chaos after a while, but the fountain persists eerily beautifully with asuperfluid because of the aforementioned collective behaviour of the boson particleskept cool in their ground energy state.

The superfluid metaphor (1): OK, so one interpretation of the imagery is this:a teacher is like the the heat or laser that excites the atoms (analogy: teacher↔disturbance). But if the societal conditions are ‘too hot’ (analogy: negative soci-etal pressure ↔ de-motivational or distraction) then the mass of students (analogy:student↔boson) will be—most of them—in a state above their ‘critical tempera-ture’ for collective behaviour (analogy: above Tc ↔ disunited or uncollegial). Sooften the teacher is in the position of perturbing the students with basically chaoticeffects, but with perhaps more hope of beneficial educational outcome (interestingfluid flow in the metaphor) the more the students can be cooled (analogy: moremotivated). Ideally, a great educational system, wonderful social conditions, and ateacher willing to perturb the students in the right way will lead to beautiful collec-tive behaviour of the students as they (now I’m poetic mode) flow up the fountainof knowledge and return to the real world to cyclically repeat this learning process.Each journey up the fountain can be likened to a new ever higher level of wisdomand state of knowledge. Student growth is measured by the number of times theyattain the top of the fountain. Cut off the cooling effects, raise the social heat,and this wondrous cycle of learning will cease and become more chaotic and lesspurposefully directed.

The superfluid metaphor (2): In another reading of the metaphor the teacheris the capillary tube who facilitates the fountain flow. Indeed, the students (bosons)


reach a higher level (height of flow) beyond the top of the capillary tube, which isnice. The external disturbance starting the flow is society in general or an activeeducational system.

Caveat: I decry any intent for this metaphor to be interpreted as an argument infavour of extreme socialism or military uniformity! It’s just an analogy. It is not richenough to leave the student with an individual identity in the ‘superfluid’ learningstate. So that’s where this metaphor dies.

The Tree Metaphor

This is simpler to imagine. The image is shown in Figure 1.1

• Tree ↔ the world.

• Branches of the tree ↔ teachers.

• Leaves and shoots of the tree ↔ students.

• Fruit and seeds ↔ mature students and school leavers.

• New tree ↔ new world!

OK, I’m having some fun here mangling a metaphor. Perhaps it makes more poeticand logical sense if the tree is likened to an educational system. When the fruitripens and seeds it creates a new educational community, e.g., maybe a family oranother teacher.

As a bonus this metaphor incorporates the McInerney-Maslow’s sunflower model ofhuman self-actualization (McInerney & McInerney, 2006, p.474). I wrote more aboutthis metaphor in the EPSY301 assignment paper. The teacher-student relationshipwas supposed to be the key focus. The tree metaphor might not be best suited forthis, since it is more holistic. However, one can imagine the teacher as a guide, firstand foremost. The branches of the tree facilitate growth, act as vessels for bringingthe budding leaves and shoots into clear daylight. This is very much intended to be inaccod with social constructivist philosophy, wherein teachers are active and studentsare active; and where teachers are informed by students as well as instructors; andteachers endeavour to know and understand their students’ background and needs.

One thing I was bothered about was whether the metaphor could capture theteacher-student gap (knowledge gap, age gap, etc.,. . . ) adequately.


Figure 1.1: Imagery of a tree as a metaphor for teaching, learning, and teacher-student interaction.


Jinxi (Jonathon Hubert) described a lovely neurological metaphor in his essay, whichI have asked from permission to quote here in full. Jinxi’s image is reproduced inFigure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: Imagery of a brain, at the nueron level, as a metaphor for teaching,learning, and teacher-student interaction.

“The image I have tried to convey in my metaphor is that of theinterconnectivity between teacher and student, like the neural connectionsof the human brain. The image of the of the neural network of the brainrepresenting the unique nature of the individuals’ ability to connect onnumerous levels first occurred to me when studying neuro-anatomy atuniversity. It had a certain appeal to my creative tendencies.

“There is a complex flow of information back and forth between teacherand student where the teacher is able not only to disseminate informationbut is also prepared to receive new information as implied by the Maoriword, ‘Ako’ to be teacher and learner. The teacher and the student sharea commonality and have the ability to lean from each other.


“My interpretation of this image is to try and show the nucleus ofthe neuron as a representation of the various stages of development. Thenumber of connections the neuron is able to make is a representation ofthe individuals’ potential to connect with physical or cognitive abilities;some have many connections where as whereas others have only a few.Some of the connections are to an ability (represented by the ball at theend of a connection). Other connections are to other people (neurons)which identify the connection achieved through communication.

“Some of the connections to the teachers’ nucleus are large and ob-vious yet others are weak and tenuous.

“The information and knowledge that is at the teacher’s disposal isillustrated by the various blocks and shapes on the table before him. Theidea that the connection to the individual requires a specific block showsthe unique needs of that person.

“The image is attempting to show the way in which information isable to transfer across the teacher/pupil divide. This is shown by theattachment of wings to blocks of information and blown by the teacherin the right direction so that it will engage with the student. I believe itis insufficient for the teacher to merely present information and expectthe pupils to fully engage. I feel that it is the teachers responsibilityto acknowledge and respect the level of understanding of the class anddeliver that information in a way that is engaging and relevant to thosestudents.

“Respect for the student is something that I feel is paramount to theeffectivness effectiveness of the teacher’s ability to teach the individual.In my opinion if the teacher is unwilling to think about the studentsbackground, culture, abilities and emotional and developmental perspec-tive and respect them as an individual it is unlikely that the student willsee the teacher as something more than an authoritarian figure.

“Ive used an organic image to demonstrate a nurturing flexibilityrather than a mechanical one which is rigid and absolute. The essen-tial energy and enthusiasm of the teacher is implied by electrical activitythat a neuron creates when stimulated.

“One of the elements that this image does not address clearly is theinfluences of motivation. The teacher is able to provide extrinsic forcesand foster intrinsic interests but it is ultimately how the individual feelsthat will have the greatest bearing on their learning. ‘It is implied inexpectancy value theory that individuals must feel some ownership ofand control over their success if they are to be motivated’ McInerney &McInerny, p219.”


I [BMS] particularly like the way Jinxi relates his metaphor to techer-student inter-action.

Module 1-2: Competent Students and Learners

ASIDE: In these notes a student is anyone who is engaged in studying, whether theyare learning or not, at any educational level or age. It should be clear from contextwhether this means one enrolled in a formal program (a school pupil, ECE, Primary,Secondary or higher) or one studying independently or informally. A learner isanyone who is learning. A person may be a student but not temporally in a stateof learning. Any person learning is, loosely speaking, also a student (of something)by definition, but they may not be learning in such a formal manner to considerthemselves ‘scholars’, ‘philosophers’, or ‘academics’.

Note that this differs somewhat with the VUW Education Department usage whichuses ‘learners’ as a cover-all for all students in any of ECE, Primary, or Secondaryschooling.

Activities. Read the Module 1, File 2 material, and the report (Wylie & Hodgen,2007).

The focus activity was to write a summary paragraph and share it with someoneelse on the course, then re-write the summary if necessary.

After sharing my effort with a colleague, here is my adjusted version:

Key Ideas about NZ Children - As I’ve Gleaned from the Module 1-1 Material:New Zealand children are diverse, and therefore require diversity in their education.So to the extent that different children learn things differently the education sys-tem needs to be flexible enough to nurture all the diverse students, in order to befair to all. The demographic data suggests that this diversity is great enough tosignificantly influence the education system (NZ/Pakeha/European are a numericalmajority overall, followed by one-fifth Maori, then roughly equal Pasifika and Asianstudents, with other ethnic groups make up less than 2% of the student population).Although students are still compartmentalized and stratified into ECE, Primary andSecondary “levels”, at least the aim and scope of each level has a sound social ra-tionale and leads (one hopes) smoothly towards the level above, so that cognitivedevelopment is followed by increased socialization and ultimately gaining of skillsand knowledge that will enable each student to contribute meaningfully to societywhen they leave school. Although progress has been made in NZ towards break-


ing down old and worn-out teaching ideologies, there are still statistically significantdisparities that appear to emerge, such as correlations (in gender, ethnicity, familyenvironment and socioeconomic levels) of students with their (presumably) testedperformance in various subjects. However these correlations may to some extent benatural given each individual’s different background, and so reflect bad social condi-tions rather than necessarily poor schooling systems. It is then hard to say whetherschools can be the greatest source of help in overcoming the worst of these disparities(if they are deemed large enough to warrant “correction” that is) or whether it isthe whole society that must adapt—from the student’s attitudes themselves, theirparents input, their teachers and their future employers. It is interesting that recentlongitudinal study data suggest that the education level of a student’s mother is thestrongest factor influencing, or correlated with, student performance (both cognitiveand attitudinal factors) and suggests—in the absence of contrary evidence—that we(society) need to be more systematic in ensuring that the first educators of children(their mother’s, typically women) are given greater educational advantages—even,dare we say it, positive biases—and greater opportunities than they currently pos-sess. (The longitudinal study author’s interestingly focus more on the need to give thelikely disadvantaged children the extra support rather than their mothers, whereas Iwould consider both ways of providing societal help as valid.) The most critical idea,I think, is that people are capable of change, and therefore a slow and traumatizedstudent can grow into a bright and confident student if they are recognized as havingthis innate potential to grow.

The longitudinal study mentioned in this summary is a reference to the report (Wylie& Hodgen, 2007).

Note that summarizing is a recommended technique for aiding learning mentionedin the course textbook. While helping others prepare for the course examinationLeah contributed this nice summary of the report:

“Competent Children, Competent Learners , Wylie and Hogden,2007. A summary.

• Longitudinal study began in 1993.

• 500 children in Wellington area.

• 7 phases age 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

• Charts development of competencies in the context of home, leisureand educational experiences and analyses whether the experiencesmay account for patterns in young peoples performance.

• Children all sampled from Wellington area, of reasonable wealth,with English medium education, and mother with trade/tertiary levelqualifications.


• Competencies likely to be higher than a national representation.

• Cognitive competencies assessed to form basis of relationshipsbetween other competencies.

– Mastery and skills in literacy and numeracy at an early ageunderpins children’s paths through school.

• Attitudinal competencies assessed by teachers, asking to ratestudents.

– Used multiple teachers, including teachers of students favouritesubject and teacher of students least favourite subject.

– Thinking and learning; Focused and responsible; Social skills;Social difficulties.

– Each competency formed a distinct group.

• Relations between the competencies

– Found that students who scored high on one of the three positivecompetencies also scored high for two others, but correlationwas low.

– To some extent, good scores in literacy and numeracy coulddetermine high scores on attitudinal competencies.

– Three positive attitudinal competencies could predict cognitivecompetencies. Overall, thinking & learning, and focused and re-sponsible were the more important for scores on cognitive com-petencies.

– Social characteristics account for some variance—seen through-out study.

– Maternal qualifications associated with higher cognitive and at-titudinal competencies.

– Family income associated with literacy and numeracy.

– Strength of correlation is less than at age 14 (with maternalquals, and income at age 5).

– Gender carries more weight than ethnicity and family incomein competencies but not literacy or numeracy.

• Development of competencies

– Over time, reasonable consistency in cognitive competencies.

– Patterns emerged, same as previous phases:

∗ Attitudinal competencies can predict cognitive competenciesat the same age, and attitudinal competencies at the nexttwo ages.


∗ Cognitive competencies can predict attitudinal competenciesat the next age and cognitive competencies at the next twoages.

∗ Consistency strongest for students in the lowest quartile ofscores, or in the highest quartile of scores.

• Retention rates increased in most quartiles as age increased in cog-nitive competency scores

• More change in place in retention in quartiles for attitudinal com-petency scores.

– This fits with other data, that cognitive competencies are morepredictable from earlier ages. Attitudinal competencies seemmore related to students current situation.

– Students who moved quartiles did so gradually.

• Social characteristics and competency development overtime

– Females show slightly higher tendency to move up quartiles overtime.

– Maori/Pacific more likely to be in lower two quartiles.

– Those who moved were more likely to be Pakeha/European orAsian.

– Students whose mothers had no formal qualifications tended tobe in and stay in lower two quartile groups of composite cogni-tive competencies and for attitudinal competencies.

– Family income results were similar, but not as pronounced asmaternal education results for cognitive competencies.

– Males slightly more likely to be in lower two groups for compos-ite cognitive competencies.

– Family income which was low tended to have children who werein and would stay in lower two quartile groups for compositeattitudinal competencies.

• Study shows that students can change, although their developmentcan be reasonably well predicted.

• Links with policy

– When students become disengaged, they do so before 12 yearsold.

– Important to make efforts to engage students in their earlieryears.


– Need to provide support for children from disadvantaged homesand make it ongoing, rather than one off.

– Will new policy and new generation of students show differentscores?

• The strongest correlations with attitude and achievement were, (a)first a mother’s educational level, and (b) income/socio-economicstatus.

• A need for stronger support for students from families with low ma-ternal qualification levels and low income is suggested a as conclu-sion from the study.

To this summary we could add a little critique (the obligatory ‘grains of salt’):

“Some limitations of the study were the geographic limits (only Welling-ton schools were sampled); the sample base was taken from only ECEstudents, so did not include Kohanga Reo students; the sample wasbiased towards high-income families; and data on school leavers aged15 upwards were dropped from the study. One could also critique thechoice of factors that were considered—only ‘ethnicity’, ‘age’, ‘home’,‘leisure’ and ‘education level’ factors were considered (e.g., why not lookat teacher influence, paternal qualifications, etc)—probably had fundinglimitations, so not all factors could be covered. There was also the dif-fered approach to ’attitudinal competencies’ taken for aged 16 onwards,although they dealt with this adequately by cross-correlation.

“Another critique could be that, had they used alternative assess-ments of general maternal value placed on education–rather than justlooking at formal maternal qualification level—they might have seen aneven stronger correlation between this factor and cognitive and attitudi-nal competency. (One can easily imagine there was not enough fundingfor such in-depth surveying to be done.)”

Some of these points are discussed below in excerpts from our online Q&A forum.

Links Between the Report and the NZ Working Model forEducators

[EDITOR: this section is incomplete, I did not want to over-influence anyones examanswers. I would appreciate more thoughts on this topic throughout the year. For


example in our EPOL courses, will we gain any knew insights that relate to curicu-lum specific features of PPCT models? That is, do PPCT models need tuningdepending upon the type of subject, or is the model fairly universally applicablewithout modification on a per subject basis? I think of computaitonl fluid dynamicsmodeling here as an analogy: there is no computer coe that works as a model forall fluid flow. In fact there are about as many codes as there are types of fluid flow!Plasmas differ hugely from weakly-ionized and non-ionized fluids, liquid flow differsmarkedly from gas flow, turbulent flow requires different models to laminar flow,flow in tubes differs hugely from free flow, climate models are vastly different fromlocal weather predictive flow models, and so on.]

Here are some brief points of note about the implications of the Wylie & Hodgenstudy for the working model of human development for NewZealand educators. Theworking model is of course Bronfenbrenner’s revised ecological model or Person-Process-Context-Time model (PPCT). You can decide for yourself whether eachpoint is a weakness or strength.

• The geographic limits of the study, and consequent bais in sampling mainlystudetns from high income families and the studies overall low proportion ofM|aori and Pacific Island studetn populations is a significant limitation withregard to PPCT modeling.

• For the same reason (not fully representative sampling) the study is of limiteduse for informing PPCT model variables related to student diversity.

• The longitudinal time span of the study is a necessary requirement for anyconncetion to the PPCT model, since the PPCT model is very much concernedwith evolution over time and micro-setting continuities and discontinuitiesas well as macro-time changes (such as governement policy, school policy,economic situation, family movements and so forth).

• The study only includes investigation of one inter-generational factor, maternalqualification level. This is a limititation in regard to the PPCT model, sinceit does not provide a full set of data on all the strongest possible interactionsthat a student may have that influence their competencies.

• The study does at least identify two dominant influences in childhood compe-tency development, family income and maternal education level. If these areassumed to be universally dominant factors then they can provide very usefulinput into any concrete model of PPCT ideas, since the variables of any puta-tive implementation of the PPCT model can be tuned using the report data.Lesser influences will not effect the model too much provided the time spans


are not extended beyond what the study is limited to, and interrelationshipsbetween factors are not highly non-linear.

• The interrelated cognitive and attitudinal competencey measures are very goodsources of information for any PPCT model. PPCT demands data on suchrelationships because PPCT is a highly contextual model.

• The study did not include Kohanga Reo students, and hence probably did notsample Kura Kaupapa schools either. so there is missing input data that PPCTwould demand. For example, the PPCT model is concerned with language andsemiotics (use of symbols), so in a multicultural society with heavy biculturallegal demands and dual languages, the data on differences due to languageimmersion effects and so forth would be desirable.

• The study did not examine shifts due to government and school policy, notshifts that may have been influenced my increasing levels of inclusive educa-tion. Such macro-setting effects are of interest to PPCT models.

• There is little data in the study relating to learning impaired students. Suchdata might be very interessting to examine, especially looking at whether at-titudinal competencies are less tightly correlated with cognitive competenciesfor such students. And of course following such correlations over time as in-clusive education policies become more refined and dominat would be of hugevalue to PPCT models.

• The PPCT model is interested in multiple psycho-physical levels, from theindividual to the family and siblings and on up to the culture and global en-vironment and even world geopolitics and ideology shifts. So the Wylie &Hodgen report cannot hope to provide data that informs all of these interre-lated levels. No single sub-million dollar study could acheive this, the datagathering demands would be prohibitively expensive.

Extended Discussion of the Wylie & Hodgen Report

The online Q&A had some interesting discussion surrounding this report. Part ofthe problem relates to interpreting raw data. To some extent, without informationabout details of how the data were collected, it is difficult to do more than trustthe conclusiosn of the report authors. If we had more time to study the report forthesis work then we could dig deeper into the interpretation of the statistics. Here,for example, is a set of questions from Loesje, followed by some contributed replies.


“According to the Wylie and Hodgen reading, maternal qualificationhas a major influence on both the cognitive and social competencies.

“But did these mothers raise these children by themselves? Or is itthat mothers with such qualifications are more likely to be in a job out-side the house, with the result that the children have been in professionalchildcare? If so, does that mean that these children do better at schoolbecause they have had professional early childhood care/education? Sodoes that credit go to them?

“Or are we talking about mothers with degrees that were at homelooking after their children? If so, doesn’t it make sense to put moreimportance on mother education if it has such a major influence?

“And is it really the degree they have in their pocket or is it theintelligence they hold? What about two generations ago, where motherswould not go to uni full stop? they might have been smart enough butthey just didnt go because that’s the way things were? Did the childrenof these mothers also do better at school?

“To use this information to our advantage we need more informationabout these mothers!

“If anybody knows of any research that answers these questions, letme know!!!

“(I am a mother, I wanna know if I’m doing the right thing for myown child ha ha)”

While not exactly answering Loesje’s questions, Vivienne added this annecdote,

“Just from personal experience, I was married to a man who wasa talented builder but could not read and write very well (not sucha requirement back in the 70s). I had a degree in education. Whenour marriage ended my son lived with his father and my daughter withmyself. My son failed school cert so came to live with me to repeat theyear. He passed with flying colours.

“I understand from this personal experience that my husband didnot see the importance nor did not know how to encourage, motivate orsupport our son academically. When he came to live with me for thatyear we worked on homework, creating colourful mind maps, sampleshort answer and essay writing skills. I downloaded previous exams forhim so that he could learn to read the questions and practice the answers.I feel my son was also motivated through my own achievements.

“There are many other wonderful attributes my son gained from hisfather, however, this experience assists me to make sense of evidence


that educated parents are more likely to have a positive effect on theirchildren’s learning.

“I hope this wee story helps.”

One question of common concern was how the study may have missed accountingfor “unseen” qualifications of mothers, such as worldly wisdom and personal valueplaced upon the importance of education. Consider Nic’s observation,

“It’s a very complicated concept. In my mother’s era—it wasn’tcommon for most people, let alone women, to go to University. yet shewas exceptionally literate, highly intelligent, loved teaching us vocabu-lary and spelling, and provided a very high language rich environmentfor my brother and I. She would correct my primary school teacher’sgrammar (if my teacher wrote corrections on homework etc., that wereincorrect)—which was quite hilarious at the time. So our high literacyand good education at home (Mum didn’t go to work until we were bothin primary school) was definitely not based on Mum’s recorded academicbackground, but moreso her natural ability; and her background. I didfind this paper very interesting, given it totally contradicted our familybackground/environment. Perhaps it’s more pertinent to our present so-ciety, where University (and women in University) is more the norm thanthe exception. Whereas, in my opinion, it was definitely the opposite 40years ago. Nic ;-}”

Surely such mothers, and families in general, who place a high value on educa-tion, would be missed by a longitudinal study that only examined on-paper formaleducational attainments. On this theme, Leah related the following.

“I had also had some thoughts about the maternal qualifications dataon the study, which relates to the place I work now. The study claimsto be able to reasonably predict a child’s achievement level for the com-petencies at age 16, based on the child’s situation at age 5 (I think I’vegot that much right). Where I currently work, we run an education pro-gramme for young mums. One of the tutors of the programme was herselfa young mum, and now has her daughter enrolled on her programme (asa young mum). At the time the daughter was 5 years old, the tutor(mother) was not well educated. In the time her daughter has grown upand before the daughter was 16, the tutor has been involved in furtherstudy and gaining qualifications (and becoming a tutor). How wouldthis data have been analysed? Would the authors still have predictedthe daughter to have low achievement levels because her mother was not


well educated when she was five? It’s a bit of a mixed up scenario, butI’m curious if you think there is a possibility of the data being skewedsignificantly by parents who further their study at the same time theirchildren go through school?”

That’s a fair point. Of course we swallow the conclusions of such studies as Wylie& Hodgens with an appropriate amount of salt. But it could be said that afterstatistical averaging the report is actually weaker than it could have been. Forexample, suppose W&H were able to grab more funding to deeply investigate thegeneral wisdom of the surveyed mothers, rather than just looking at their starkformal educational level, then surely one might expect to see an even strongercorrelation between this sort of ‘unseen’ maternal wisdom and a child’s attainmentsuccess, as described by Nic. That’s just a provocative thought to ponder. Alongthe same lines, a detailed look at solo parents and in-particualr solo fathers whohave to take on the role of a mother (so to speak), would be interesting. Mightone hypothesize that in this case the father’s education level would again correlatemost(?) strongly with child success?

Module 1-3: Teacher Knowledge and Reflections

See the Reflections Journal chapter (page 109) of these notes.

The chapter by Grossman A Tale of Two Hamlets seems like a cliched anecdote, butI could easily believe it was based on a couple of real experiences. Some people knowa heck of a lot but cannot teach effectively. I think in modern times it is almosttaken for granted (at least in education research circles) that specific pedagogicalcontent knowledge and contextual knowledge are crucial requirements for any goodteacher, perhaps more crucial than is subject matter knowledge.

It is drilled home to us later on—how important a teachers’ schema’s are—especiallythe negative influence of false schemas and prejudices about students. This relatesclosely to techer knowledge base and how reflective a teacher is in being preapredto question, test and ultimatel;y adapt or change their schemas. This is discussedin more depth in the section reviewing the Timperley& Robinson article on page 97and extended discussion on page 100).

2. Module 2—HumanDevelopment

Module 2-1: Historical Ideas about Human Devel-

opment

For this module we just read the course notes and then read extra material fromMcInerney++. The historical ‘western’ theorists in focus are,

• Early child psychologists

– G. Stanley Hall—foundations of psychology.

– Arnold Gesell—standardized ratings of judgments.

• The Grand Three

– Psychoanalysis—Freud and Erikson

– Behaviorism—Watson and Skinner

– Constructivism—Piaget and Vygotsy

My pithy summary of all this history and philosophizing is in the section of myReflection Journal p.112. Further notes on the Three Grand Systems follow.

Psychoanalysis models

Freud’s psychosexual models. Freud’s work is often charicatured as overlypsycho-sexual. His unfortunate choice of terminology for the stages of psychologicaldevelopment are easy to lampoon. However, the sexual forces that he supposed werethe driving force behind mental development are, in fairness, ill-understood by lay

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Module 2—Human Development 24

people. The libido is much more than a sexual energy, it is according to Freud’swork a more general living energy. It’s opposite, the thanaotos or dark energy,forms the basic dichotomy in Freud’s model of human psychology (echoed later inthe antinomies of Erikson’s eight stages). The notion that the unconscious mind isa vast reservoir of potentially unresolved tensions and conflict were probably over-stated by Freud, but he had no knowledge of modern neurological science (his firstspecialty) to know any better model. Interpreted in a sympathetic light, and withthe hindsight of modern neurology, I think Freud’s work still has some significance.The main lesson being to provide as warm, balanced, and loving an environmentone can for all children, so that their development is not hindered by guilt, primedneuroses and worse. Id. Ego. Superego. Anxiety. Defence mechanisms. Projection.All of these ideas are useful.

Modern behaviorist research. Chapter 6 of McInerny++ gives a nice overviewof more enlightened behaviorist research. By relaxing the strict robot view of humanbeings the modern research ends up being quite valuable and insightful and becomesa lot closer in spirit to modern constructivism. Some highlights are: Renewedemphasis on importance of positive feedback. Praising children for good behaviour isa powerful classroom management method. Direct instruction is a powerful methodfor improving performance of low achievers who are still motivated. Something asbanal as classroom seating arrangement can be important (for example, if you wantto stimulate solo or individual study for aa period then the traditional row formatof seating works best).

Erikson’s psychosocial models. Erikson extended and softened Freud’s some-what harsh approach. The brick and mortar of Erikson’s model is not all thatdifferent from Freud’s. Erikson made note to place more focus on human interre-lations, rather than the libido and thanatos. So the role of higher levels (family,culture, and so forth) of social structure play more importance, rather than justthe individual’s mind in itself reacting to the external world. (This same theory-transition would be echoed later in the way Piaget’s ideas would be modified bythe rediscovery of Vygotsy’s ideas.) Erikson’s eight stages of human life and theassociated ‘crises’ or antinomies that require resolution for healthy development areworth trying to memorize, if only because they are useful to have in the back ofone’s mind when trying to help (especially younger people) get through difficultmoments in their lives. This is a good refinement and extension of Freud’s stages ofdevelopment. The basic lesson from Freud’s model remains largely unaltered.

The course module notes are worth reiterating here:


At each stage there is a potential for positive and negative experi-ences. Healthy personality on the whole needs positive resolution of theseantinomies. For example, infants who experience consistent loving caregain a sense of trust in the world, while those who experience neglectdevelop mistrust (thats in the birth to 1 yr old stage). With increasingmobility young children who are given autonomy and support learn thatthey can control themselves whereas those who are overly controlled ex-perience shame and doubt (the 1 to 3 yr old stage). If children are givenfreedom to initiate and test new powers of communication and physicalcompetence they will develop initiative but if they are overly restrictedor made to feel they take too long, or make too much mess, they candevelop a sense of guilt over self-initiated tasks (the 3 to 6 yr old stage).

So you get the idea? The added value on top of Freud’s psychoanalysis was thismore detailed and refined itemization of various stages in mental development. Itis of practical use, since a teacher or guardian can observe children (or youth, oradults) and try to figure out what issues they are struggling with to resolve, andprovide help by steering the person towards a calm resolution on the positive sideof the antinomy. Thus, for a 7 year old child one would not want to denigrate theirefforts, one should not be dismissive of their attempts at tasks, because they couldbe struggling to resolve a sense of industry (getting on with things) versus growingsensitivity to inferioty, we want to minimize their feeelings of inferiority at this stage.ASIDE: note that later on in life, the way I interpret Erikson, it might not be sucha bad thing to be more stern with someone older who needs some humility! It isjust around the 6 year to puberty age that Erikson urges we show some empathyfor industrious activity and forgive any seemingly inferior attempts.

Behaviorist models

I think of behaviourism as a minimalist version of learning theory. The big take-awaylesson is that positive reinforcement is more effective than negative reinforcement(praise in favour of punishment), and that (say in the classroom) children will tendto work to avoid negative feedback. Behaviorism was a brave attempt to studyhuman psychology more scientifically than ever before, but it’s limitations are nowwell known. It is none the worse for this, as long as the conclusions of behavioristresearch are not taken out of context. Reinforcement. Extinction. Immitation andmodelling behaviour. Self-efficacy. All are useful thinking tools for analyzing humanbehaviour and learning.


Constructivist models

Piaget the biologist. The world owes Piaget and his colleagues an immensedebt of gratitude for the full emancipation of child education from the clutches ofresidual Victorianism (or whatever the equivalent flavour of oppression was in othersocieties). I do not see anything significantly worng about Piaget’s models, theywork fine for giving teachers some insight into how children can be sympatheticallyinstructed and aided in developing robust minds and psyches. I do not see whythere is controversy about the cross-cultural studies that ‘contradicted’ Piaget’sstructuralism—I’m sure Piaget himself would have welcomed any such adjustmentsto his so-called cognitive constructivist theory, and he would have embraced themodern nature through nuture thinking. Adaptation. Assimilation. Accomodation.Schemas. Qualitative stages. It all seems good and useful as a window into humanpsychology.

Vygotsky the sociologist. Vygotsky’s own life is a bit of a tragedy, but what agreat thinker and contributor to the field of human developmental psychology. I’dguess some people have latched on to social constructivism a bit too firmly, but thereseems nothing wrong in the basic ideas. It is only a pity that Vygotsky did not livelong enough to try to develop more universal abstractions from his raw ideas. To theextent that humans are social creatures (extraordinaire I would argue) Vygotsky’sideas, in some form, will never fade out of significance. Vygotsky seems to downplaythe imporance of biology and qualitatively distinct phases in human development,but who are we to say that had he lived longer he would not have embraced alot of what Piaget revealed? I think Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories can easilybe synthesized. Most likely that is exactly what is happening in current researchand policy. Co-construction. Internalization. Appropriation. Zone of proximaldevelopment. Scaffolding. All are neat ideas and relevant.

I particularly enjoy the image of scaffolding. It gives the teacher an active role aswell as the metaphorical excitement of seeing the scaffolding removed revealing apristine sculpture—the student who has mastered a subject.

Other Early Theorists of Note

This is a brief sumary of some other human development theorists and other theories(windows into the world of education) who could be considered pre-modern.

• Jerome Bruner—enactive, iconic and symbolic stages. Sequential instruc-tion. Personal constructivism. Need for flexible thinking (both analytical and


intuitive). Spiral curriculum (building up layers, towards higher abstraction).Discovery learning (very effective, hard to implement continuously).

Critics say pure discovery learning is not cost-effort-effective, so guided discov-ery is often advocated.

• Ausubel—reception learning. Idea that learning is more effective when ex-amples are presented that meaningfully relate to the students prior knowledge.Methods such as demonstration, explanation, narration, practice and revision.

• Gestalt psychologists—the ‘ah ha!’ experience. Insightful learning (excitingto achive the ‘ah ha!’ or ‘eureka!’ moment. Law of similarity, law of proximity,law of closure, law of continuation. Search for poatterns. Brainstorm and drawtogether ideas. Create puzzles and novelty.

Module 2-2: Developmental psychology—ecological

model

This module looks at modern educational psychology, focusing on global ‘theories’and covering roughly the years 1980 to 2000.

Focus activity: Think again about ideas we have covered about human develop-ment.

• To what extent are these commonly shared understandings?

This is hard to answer—how do I know they are common? Judging from whatI suppose others think, I would conclude that, generally speaking, most ofthe ideas about human development are commonly understood, and there islittle that seems contentious. It is difficult to see any two philosophies thatare truly contradictory in this field, when sympathetically viewed. It seemsto me the ‘different’ theories differ mainly in the relative importance attachedto, and varying focus upon, the various dimensions of the human mind andof society. This is despite many academics who like to point out ‘huge’ differ-ences. For example, unless one interprets Piaget literally then there is littleconflict between his ideas and Vygotsy’s. Freud marks a departure in that heaggressively postulates psycho-sexual causes for most psychological conditions,but I think modern ideas about Freud’s work have softened the importance ofthese aspects without ignoring the main contribution Freud made which wasa recognition of the hidden iceberg of the subconscious. The behaviourists


were just nutty scientists trying to be objective, they simply narrowed thedefinitons of learning and as a result came up with some useful findings, whichare fine if viewed within the narrower contexts that they chose to work within(objective, repeatable, laboratory experiments observing human behaviour).

• How would you define development?

In the context of human psychology I would say that it means the change inone’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual character and personal-ity over time. It can be negative or positive, progressive (towards goals) orretrogressive.

The term ‘healthy development’ then generally refers to positive and progres-sive general development.

• Think about your own development as you moved through the education sys-tem. Try to use the ideas of one or more theorist to discuss your own devel-opment.

Refer to the file bms edu autobio.pdf (submitted assignment for EPSY301).

• Jot down some notes, as you think about this. These will be very useful asyou start to work on the assignment. (Refer to the notes below, as well as thenotes above for module 2-1.)

Bronfenbrenner’s models

While I can see that Bronfenbrenner’s “systems view” of human development hashad an impact on education policy and other fields, I still have not quite graspedwhat new ideas it contributes that are useful in everyday practice. The ecologicalmodel stresses the interrelatedness of all things. It also stresses the role of time andcontext on all levels of the system from the global environment down to economicsand politics, through to society, families, firends and finally the individual. Thismodel is really just a statement that all the significant factors that play a rolein any individual human’s development are (a) subject to adaptation and change,(b) include all of the aforementioned levels, (c) include interactions between levelsthat are complex or non-linear. So that human education is a life-long process andis a complex adaptive system.

Because these ecological models are so sweeping and vast in the range of factorsthey incorporate, they are less useful, I feel, in providing concrete predictive toolsfor education practice. The impact of such models may then be best brought tobear on policy and guiding philosophy. My fear is that this sort of theorizing canbe taken too often as a substitute for a full recognition of the human spiritual


dimension. Person. Process. Context. Time. All good, they seem to capture mostof what is important (as long as culture is implicitly recognized as part of context).

As a side note: I wonder if many people have realized that general systems theorymight be applicable to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. A useful multidisciplinaryapproach to education and learning heory research might be made by thinking aboutecological models in the light of systems theory and information processing theory.

(Bronfenbrenner’s work is reviewed again in Module 3-2.)

Other Theories of Note

This is a brief summary of some other human development theorists and othertheories (windows into the world of education) and models which could be consideredmodernist.

• Metacognition—thinking about thinking. Encourage students to think abouthow they learn. Demonstrated success in improving student learning. Settinggoals. Selecting strategies. Think about alternative methods. Self-awarenessand self-monitoring. Self-regulated learning. Ask oneself questions. Use re-flection. Effective use of declarative, procedural and conditional knowledges.Seek feedback. Make adjustments and adapt.

• Multiple intelligences—people learn in differer ways and have preferredaptitudes: logico-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial-geometric, bodilykinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, existentialist.

Sternberg’s triarchic model (componential intelligence, experiential intelligence,practical intelligence). Attempts to provide multiple intelligence theory withsome sort of concept pertinent to ‘everyday success’ which might not involveany particular expertise. Intelligence viewed more as a sort of mental self-management.

• Cognitive loading—when learning the working memory of the brain is inhigh use, but has limited capacity. When sufficient knowledge transfers toones long term memory then interesting reversal effects are seen, e.g., be-ginners work best when studying worked examples, whereas experts learn andconsolidate more from doing problem solving. Split attention conditions. Dualcoding (audio+visual). Do not repeat redundant information (howto power-point!).

• Cognitive dissonance—any method that seeks to correct or improve stu-dent understanding by presenting them with a clear logical paradox between


two or more beliefs they simultaneously accept, forcing them to confront thisdissonance usually results in a positive change in their mental schema. Thiscould be as simple as rejecting the less attractive idea(s) and adopting thenew idea(s) instead. D.J. Campbell’s podcasts talk about this in more depth.Similar to Gestalt psychology.

• Learning strategies—Chunking. Story-grammar training (same as anticipa-tory guides). Self-questioning. Summarization. Mnemonic imagery (acrosticsand acronyms). Representation imagery. Method of loci. Concept mapping.Repetition and drills. Consolidation of complex task learning via distributedpractice. Placing important information at beginning and ends of lists (toovercome the serial position effect). Proactive and retroactive facilitation (fol-low up learning of similar concepts). Avoidance of interference effects (e.g.,learning to spell ’ie’ words followed by spelling ‘ei’ words). Occam’s razor(eliminating unnecessary assumptions).

A word of caution about learning strategies (see also the topic for Module 4-1,page 36): none of the learning strategies are likely to be very effective if thestudent is not interested and engaged. Or, in other words, the most effectiveteaching strategy is to capture the interest and attention of the student.

• Conceptual complexity—metrics for answering: how many variables areneeded to process information in parallel? (Typically four variables at best.)Advocates use of segmentation and chunking to overcome these limits. Alsoseeks to find the properties of symbolic cognition (as distinguished from sub-symbolic and associative cognition)? Three posited levels: non-structured,functionally structure, symbolically structured. Improves predictions e.g., ofwhat infants are capable of discriminating.

• Prior knowledge activation—for example anticipatory guides (see module7, and page 75).

http://www.dancampbell.us/podcast/RSS_feed.xml

3. Module 3—NZ views of HumanDevelopment

Module 3-1: Maori perspectives on human devel-

opment

I found these notes quite interesting. The Maori perspective seems to gel nicelywith constructivist and ecological models of human development. A lot of the basicspiritual needs of children are annunciated. The metaphors were less helpful ingenerating insight, but serve a useful purpose—such as allowing one to easily recallthe basic principles behind te ira tangata (the life principle of people).

Note also the close similarity between Mauri=life force or essence, and Freud’sconcept of libido. It seems Maori culture had an implicit undestanding of modernsocial constructivist principles, making it all the more tragic to read the data in thereports by Wylie & Hodgen and Jill Bevan-Brown’s analysis.

Module 3-2: Ecological Models of Human Devel-

opment

The course notes summarize Bronfenbrenner’s revised ecological model—his so-called Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model. The importance of change overtime is emphasized and links with the United Nations Declarations on the Rights ofChildren are made. I have made additional notes above (see p.28).

Focus Activity. Referring to David Eklind’s notion of the modern “hurried child”,we are asked to Write a list of as many different settings we can identify which thetypical young child experiences in the span of about a week. Here’s my list.

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Module 3—NZ views of Human Development 32

Daily: Being woken up somehow; Breakfast (or not!); Meeting friends at school;Sitting/working in class (and maybe learning); Playing at break-times, possiblyhaving fun, possibly being bullied; Having afternoon doldrums and tiredness in class;Walking home (or socializing after school); Playing after school; Doing homework;Eating dinner; Interrogation by parents (nicely or horribly!); Being ordered (nicelyor horribly) to go to bed; Dreaming (anxiously or happily).

Weekly (not for just one single child): Practicing a hobby (artistic, musical or sport);Learning a new language; Shopping (alone or with a parent or guardian); Attendingextra-curricula classes or clubs (athletics, swimming, tennis, cricket, rugby practiceor any sports club, music, drama or any arts club); Playing at a friends place;Being disciplined or rewarded at home; Reading a book; Watching TV; Renting andwatching a DVD; Playing video/computer games.

Monthly: Interacting (or not) with visitors (welcome or unwelcome!) to the familyhome; Being disciplined at school; Being rewarded at school; Being disciplined orrewarded at home; Going to see a movie; Working on a hobby project.

Comment on Eklind’s notion. I am not convinced that the perceived increasein the demands upon children, and the more chaotic schedules they may be subjectedto, are completely good or bad. It would depend upon their motives and the motivesof their parents or guardians who are subjecting them to busy schedules. If a childdesires and craves a lot of activity it might be unfair not to grant them reasonableoutlets. However, anecdotal stories can be found suggesting parents and guardianscan cause unnecessary stress in children under their care by demanding such hecticactivity. The quality of the activity is also paramount—if it is stressful and negativeone can easily foresee a negative influence on the child’s development that maypersist longer into youth and even adulthood, which may not be a healthy thing.

The PPCT Model as a Working Model for Human Develop-ment in New Zealand

The course Module Notes suggest Bronfenbrenner’s revised ecological model PPCT)is a good working model for New Zealand human development. There are probablyfew who would debate this. However, there is nothing particularly ‘Kiwi’ in flavourabout the model other than it’s appeal to holism and ecological principles andmetaphors, which could eb said to accord quite well with Maori and Polynesianperspectives on human development.

Melissa Lovie had these thoughts about interpreting Bronfenbrenner for Aotearoa,


“. . . from my interpretation, it relates to NZ educators because asteachers, we are expected to understand and get to know our learnersindividually. This requires us to acknowledge and try to understandmany factors about our students including their biological, behaviouraland emotional qualities, the timing and setting of their development(i.e., what is the community? Who are our students associating with?Where do they live geographically? etc) because as the module states,‘the time, place, circumstance and community into which the child isborn will dictate the direction and shape that development takes’—Thisis where the PPCT model comes into it. (I think!)

“The module also discusses the concept of micro and macro time.Micro time refers to the conscious and unconscious interactions thattake place in the short term, for example, daily, weekly and monthly.Macro time is change that happens in the larger context of society andcommunity over time, which can occur within and across generations.The way that I feel this relates to NZ educators is that we need to beaware of what changes are occurring and what effects these will have onlearners, both individually and as a collective group.

“The recent implementation of NZ standards for reading, writing andarithmetic, is an example of a Macro-time event where the expectationsfor schooling have changed and as such an intervention has been imple-mented.

“Not sure if this is correct or even whether I have helped to shedsome light on your question, but hopefully it will give you some sort ofdirection for further investigation.”

Fiona Lanyon added,

“Another example of the macro time factors influencing today’s chil-dren is the recent/current recession which would affect family finances,possible job losses for parents and caregivers. This has potential to crossgenerations to grandparents (who can also be caregivers), who may havebeen raised in the 1930’s depression years. The impact on the childrencan be seen on financial ‘belt tightening’, stress within the home andworse case scenario, an increase in violence and parent separation. Allthese factors would influence the learner within the NZ education sys-tem.”

Oldrisa had another take on this topic, relating it to the Wylie & Hodgen CompetentLeaners @ 16 report. In her words, Oli “wanted to find limitations that relate tothe PPCT model.”


“I have been thinking about cultural tools, and how that fits in withthis model. Looking at the context in which a child learns, means lookingat what tools they have available to facilitate learning, such as computersand the internet. Do these developments of technology occur in macro-time? Also, not all learners within New Zealand will have access to theinternet, whether by choice i.e., Steiner School, or because of remote lo-cation or lack of funding. Available tools for learning may vary betweenschools, i.e., private versus state. Just a thought, as the Wylie studysample was soley from Wellington, this restricts the sample geographi-cally. Does the sample take into account the context for learning and theeffects of that on student’s competency and outcomes, aside from ma-ternal education and family income. Moving schools, family seperation,moving cities and disruptions to ‘enduring forms of interaction’ wouldsurely all influence an individuals learning as would things such as therecession as others have mentioned and are not accounted for. Sorry myideas are a bit scattered, as I too am trying to relate the PPCT model toteaching in NZ schools, as well as to the past exam topic of limitationsin the Wylie study. I would be interested to hear what peoples thoughtsare.”

There ensued a little mini-debate about whether the Wylie & Hodgen report reallyhad any bearing upon the Bronfenbrenner ecological working model for New Zealand.Some colleagues advocated caution in taking the findings of the Competent Leaners@ 16 report finding too far. We have noted the limitations of the study before. Nolongitudinal study can assess all factors unless cost was of no importance! Othersthought Oli had a good point. Cherie noted,

“On page 17 of the Wiley report it states, ‘The attitudinal compe-tencies appear more strongly related to the students’ current situation:the current family income; peer pressure and school culture.’ I think thisrelates somewhat to what you have stated Oldriska. There is a correla-tion to the familys’ income and student attitude. In light of our currenteconomic situation, students whose families are feeling the pressure ofdiminished income will feel the impact and this will likely have an ad-verse affect on the students’ attiudes toward school thus requiring moresupport from the school to fill the void.”

To which caution in data interpretation was again urged. Oli responded,

“In my opinion a reduced income could put a huge burden on a familyand this could affect a child’s focus and motivation in their school work.


Yes, it is a nice thought that parents with a reduced income will beable to spend more time with their children, and this obviously doeshappen in many families, however for some it may also result in stress,depression, and tensions within family, especially families who have alow income to start off with. Some families in the recent depression havelost their sole income. For some it isn’t a matter of cutting out outingsetc, it is really a matter of paying bills and survival. For some the effectsof the recession have not been as temporary as for others and the effectscould be ongoing.”

It is correct to note that the Competent Learners @ 16 report should not be tooharshly criticized for veering away from Bronfenbrenner’s model. Such studies haveto be taken for what they are, to paraphrase one colleague. Again, the issue ofresearch funding crops up—how much money would it take to fully analyze NewZealand education through the lens of Bronfenbrenners PPCT model? Billions ofdollars probably. Nevertheless, Oldriska has given some interesting angles to look at,and this is just a start on thinking about the ecological PPCT model as particularlyrelevant to New Zealand.

[EDITOR: we’d love to get more thoughts on PPCT as a working model for NZeducators. For example, how can it inform us and help us overcome the educationand poverty gaps that prevail in Aoteroa? Is there anything unique or special aboutNew Zealand that the PPCT model can shed light upon? Or are our social inequal-ities pretty much universal—the same in basic form as many other mixed culturecountries? And isn’t that really how we should be thinking about our beautifulcountry—as mixed in culture—rather than just ‘bicultural’ or ‘multicultural’ as ifthe culture’s are immiscible like oil and water!? Or is that a bit controversial? Wedo not want to dilute any culture for example, to extend the fluid analogy.]

4. Module 4—Learning andMotivation

Module 4-1: Overview of ‘theories’ of learning and

learning styles

One of the objective of this module is to gain an introductory knowledge aboutlearner needs. Leah noted that this relates to satisfying children’s physiologicaland safety needs prior to them being able to learn—some of Freud’s theory andMaslow’s hierarchy of needs (McInerney & McInerney, p.445) relate to this. In itscrudest form, it states that there are fundamental needs that need to be satisfied soa child can process new information. Without basic needs met (food, shelter, feelinga sense of belonging, etc) their defense mechanisms can kick in, which can reducetheir productivity and capacity to achieve.

Previously, Module 2-2 discussed many learning strategies related to various educa-tional psychology theories. We noted that none of the learning strategies are likelyto be very effective if the student is not interested and engaged. Or, in other words,the most effective teaching strategy is to first capture the interest and attention ofthe student. It is worth keeping this in mind when discussing learning styles. “Theteaching of cognitive strategies to students should emphasise that the learner mustconstruct meaning from the material, otherwise strategies may become harmful andsimply be used by students to commit facts and definitions to memory without anyreal meaning or applied value for the individual” (McInerney & McInerney, 2006,page 115).

Classic Learning Theories

In this module we reviewed ideas and philosophies on how people learn, as advocatedby,

36

Module 4—Learning and Motivation 37

• Behaviorists—Watson, Skinner.

This is a narrow view but has some important universal implications. Fromthe behaviorist perspective ‘learning’ is simply a change in behaviour, which isa restriction of more liberal concepts of learning. Also, promoting learning canbe accomplished by providing rewards—also a narrow view of more modernliberal ideas about effective teaching methods. One important behavioristfinding is that positive feedback is more effective than negative feedback. Agood way to learn new complex concepts is to begin with discrete parts andgradually build up to wholes.

• Cognitive constructivists—Piaget.

These ideas had good backing from research, as do behaviorist principles, butagain are found to be too narrow to capture many important factors. In cogni-tive constructiveness the child is assumed to learn by itself with external stimuliproviding the grist. The structural stages identified by Piaget imply that ex-ternal stimuli should be provided that match the child’s stage of development(sensory-motor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational).

• Social constructivists—Vygotsky.

Learning is a social activity (not simply internalized as in Piaget’s philosophy);we learn best in our zone of proximal development (ZPD—the gap betweenwhat we can learn without assistance and what we can learn only with assis-tance, and the gap to what we cannot learn even when assisted); and teachers(‘knowledgeable others’) should approach their job by building the intellectualscaffolding required for understanding concepts or whatever, to bridge acrossthe ZPD gaps, and then gradually remove it leaving pure understanding (Idon’t really understand exactly what this means for teaching practice, but Iget the gist of it, it’s just a metaphor: to build a nice structure you mightneed a lot of temporary scaffolding that will be later removed.).

Both flavours of constructivism have much in common and little to distinguish themin terms of principles that promote effective learning. If one imagines twisting andwarping Piaget’s cognitive constructivism a little then basically the same ideas be-hind what effective learning needs to involve become almost identical with Vygotsky,with the only differences being relative weights or importances for various learningfactors. For example, in both philosophies one cannot learn effectively if one is notready or prepared to learn; and in both philosophies this involves interaction withthe environment (society or whatever).

Progress on understanding learning. In recent years views on learning havemerged a lot. One senses this even with a modest survey of the literature. One


strong emergent theme is that social context is always important, so that one cannotisolate a unique set of teaching methods or styles that will work across the boardin every country, or even in every school in one country. Cultures are diverse andpeople as individuals are diverse. Individuals themselves change over time in theirneeds, motives and abilities. Hence diverse teaching methods and styles are alwaysneeded to make teaching and learning effective. One can even now say that newteaching methods may need to be continually developed to reach the full potentialinherent in any given student. A banal example is the use of video games as learningtools–something that was not possible a generation ago.

Before going on to discuss the required course reding for Module 4-1, we have insertedhere more notes on learning theory. These concern mainly the very rich informationprocessing models of learning.

Useful Models for Learning

Memory. Cognitive load theory and evidence suggests humans learn using a work-ing memory subsystem in our brains, it is like a fast processor and RAM, but limitedin capacity like computer RAM. We have to work fairly hard then to imprint ideasand connections between them into long term memory, which is almost endless instorage ‘space’. If we use up our RAM then learning becomes less efficient, so themodel goes. It is interesting to look at why we have difficulty remembering thingsand how we can do a better job of remembering, since this is such a critical aspectof any learning. Basically, we want to do some metacognition and figure out howto make efficient use of working memory and how to store memories for easy recall.There are many techniques that help.

Some reasons why we forget things, and in italics ways to counter them,:

• Insufficient initial transfer to long-term memory

—recovering information from fragments is hard. Best to distribute learning ofcomplex topics over a longer period rather than try to absorb all in a short timewith intensive effort. Develop habit of always summarising a long topic, e.g.,making a synopsis. This could be in words or words & pictures for even bet-ter recall (concept mapping, mind maps, brainstorm notes, etc, see McInerneypages 111–113.). Use more effective intial learning strategies, such as PQ4R(Preview–Questions–Read–Reflect–Recite–Review) procedures. Activate priorknowledge before embarking on intensive learning (anticipatory guides). Usewhole-part teaching: for complex knowledge structures that can be broken downinto simpler parts, first provide elementary schema in discrete parts, then con-solidate as a whole. Do not use whole-parts for knowledge that is holistic and


irreducible to parts.

Most of the above are learner strategies that teachers can help students use.Teachers themselves can help by taking note of learning effects, such as theserial position effect—students tend to fall asleep or wander in attention inthe middle of long sequences of instructions. In particular, a lot of talk andlecturing can be wasted time, better to hand out printed notes and engagestudents in active tasks that require reading the notes. The teacher then onlyneeds to quickly summarize the layout and purpose of the notes. See also thenext paragraphs on memory enhancement.

Other teacher behaviours that help are:

Providing opportunities for active involvement. Multiple and varied types ofteaching. Stimulate higher cognitive processes, such as all the various metacog-nitive theory tricks. Mkae sure lessons are coherant and not too chotic andmake themrelevant to students interests. Use plenty of corrective and positivefeedback. Use assessment as a way to jog memory. Make it clear when novelinformation is about to be given. Use analogies and relations between currenttopics and past lessons. Build on prior knowledge.

• Un-used memory fades

—consolidate memory using refreshers. Don’t sweat it if you forget, maybe itwas never that important. Keep off-brain memory, such as log books, computernotes, etc, lots of bookmarks basically oprganized for fairly rapid access whenneeded. Be systematic abot organizing web browser bookmarks for example.

• Inability to retrieve cues

—learn stronger simpler cues. Use acrostics, anagrams, method of loci, andother memory recall tricks. Make extensive use of good analogies. If appro-priate, resort to practice and drills, provided a basis in deep understandingis given along the way. Use dual coding (e.g., audio+visual) especially whensplit-attention material is presented.

• Interference and confusion

—try to sequence learning in short chunks that do not overlap or interfere.Test recall before moving on to acquire potentially interferring knowledge.

Do you think it is interesting that the problems of memory retention are few incategory but many in solution?

Finally, in this subsection on memory, here are some links between information pro-cessing model of learning and constructivist philosophy, c.f. McInerney & McInerney.The idea is for the teacher to teach students the following metacognitive tools,


• focus on understanding

• practice applying strategies to new situations and new domains

• think deeply rather than superficially, allow time to meditate

• consciously make connections to familiar material

• monitor self performance and monitor strategy use, find out what works bestfor you.

Teachers can help do these things by,

• allow students to construct their knowledge with scaffolding help

• use groups to create diverse view points and input

• monitor student progress

• encourage questions and free-flowing debate and criticism

• encourage application of knowledge to new situations

• model constructive learning by using completely novel problems and solvethem in real time in front of students and using student suggestions

• for assessment make clear and emphasize testing for understanding rather thanfact retrieval

• always be aware that offering unsolicited help can be counter-productive, wait-ing instead for students to ask for help can be better for their self-esteem, sodevise ways to encourage studetns to freely ask for help.

A last bit of theory is that all of these learning strategies and the later motivationalstrategies and metacogitive techniques are only means to an end. They are notends in themselves, unless one’s purpose is research into learning theory. So whilea teacher will want to familiarize students with these methods, even putting namesto them, the methods should not end up dominating class discussion. For otherwisestudents will end up being experts on how to learn, say, foreign languages, ratherthan becoming experts in the actual foreign language of itself.


Learning Styles

Next we discuss learning styles and the article by Cullen. We note a few traps thatteachers can fall into if they take an overly rigid view of these ideas (such as thestubborn view that might be expressed by, “I know what my best style is so that’show I will teach!”).

The required reading for this module is (Cullen, 2001), and we are urged to takenotes.

Cullen begins by summarizing behaviorism, cognitive constructivism and social con-structivism. Along the way she introduces important topics such as,

• The information processing metaphor (working and long term memory, audioand visual processors).

• Meta-cognition (thinking about thinking).

• Schemas (internal representations we make of the world, combining objectsand ideas and relationships into a single ‘chunk’ of cognitive memory).

• Importance of interaction and context.

• The learning zone (ZPD) and scaffolding.

• Co-construction (knowledge and meaning can be collective, shared, jointlyconstructed).

• Post-Vygotskian theory is now multidisciplinary and research has broadenedaway from just “focus on the individual learner”.

Cullen then lists six related propositions about how students learn that had implica-tions for instruction (citing research by Jones, Palingscar, Ogle and Carr), quoting(Cullen, 2001, p.52) “learning is:

• Goal-orientated.

• Linking new information to prior knowledge.

• Organizing information.

• Acquiring a repertoire of cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies.

• Occurs in phases yet is nonlinear.


• Influenced by development.”

The social context is then woven in by introducing the ideas of Vygotsky and hisidea of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). Cullen notes that the two researchfields of (i) learning and (ii) development, have converged somewhat in that theyboth “draw upon interactive and contextual explanations”.

Cullen then discusses New Zealand research on learning. There seem to be someimportant missing elements in the overview of learning theories discussed by Cullen.In particular I was worried to read that Cullen discusses only three “basic questionsthat teachers can use to help understand the nature of children’s learning:”, theseare given as,

• “What knowledge base does the learner bring to the activity?

• What strategies is the learner using?

• What evidence is there of socially constructed learning?”

These three basic questions seem insufficient to me. One must also inquire into thespiritual development of each child and offer them support in opening their innereyes and ears to the unseen world of the human spirit. Piaget thought that onlymature youth in the formal operational stage of development could comprehendabstractions, but this denies the possibility that elementary abstractions can begrasped by even young children. My feeling is we should not assume this is so, andendeavor to open the eye of all students at all stages to the realm of abstraction,through the most elementary instinctual spiritual qualities such as beauty, fairnessand honesty.

As illustrations Cullen discusses three research examples that demonstrate answersto some of the above three questions. First, observations of play amongst 3-to-4 yearolds: showing that children could initiate complex activities but they would oftendissipate unless adults made some input which increased the complexity and pro-longed the learning experience. Second, findings from the “Understanding Learningand Teaching Project”, due to Nuthall as cited in (Cullen, 2001, p.58), such as “itis the whole of what goes on in classrooms that determines how children think andlearn”—in particular—both public discussion and private talks promote learning;relationships with other students influence participation; and differences in indi-vidual background knowledge do not relate directly to the amount learned. Thethird example given by Cullen looks at strategies used to teach mathematics, citingresearch by Anthony (Cullen, 2001, p.60), which identified six strong barriers tolearning in the mathematics domain:


1. The barrier of failing to recognize a cognitive problem exists.

2. The barrier of insufficient strategic knowledge.

3. Applying sufficient strategic knowledge incorrectly.

4. The barrier of not desiring remediation (wanting to be spoon-fed).

5. The learning environment is not supportive of strategy use or mistakes (allow-ing textbook explanations rather than insisting students reinterpret or para-phrase and summarize).

Then three implications for classroom instruction were suggested to overcome thesebarriers,

1. Give students access to relevant prior knowledge and meta-cognitive knowl-edge.

2. Teach a variety of strategies.

3. Provide sufficient opportunity for students to use various strategies.

(I would add that instructors should also provide a motivational spark to get studentsout of slumps and show them the intrinsic beauty or thrill of learning.)

Cullen warns that more research is needed on the dynamics of classroom life beyondthe curriculum. Teachers need to related subject material to the student’s lives,making learning relevant.

Next, Cullen summarizes what research has taught us all about learning, under thesection “What is Learning?”:

• learning is strategic

• learning is reflective

• learning involves content and processes

• learning involves shared interests

• learning is socially constructed

• learning is influenced by motivation and personal goals


to which I would add true learning implies deep understanding and connection ofknowledge with ever larger contexts, for example, learning how to find the extremumsof a curve could eventually be related to the concept of optimization and the beautyof least action principles.

Cullen then notes that research cannot yet tell us what mix or importance weightsof these six aspects dominates in a particular context. Then the bombshell is thatthere is no research to date that documents “convincingly that children’s cognitivefunctioning improves as a consequence of informal instruction”1 (Cullen, 2001, cit-ing research by Day, Cordon and Kerwin from 1990), and “In 2000 there was stilllittle knowledge about the long-term impact of pedagogies that draw upon social con-structivist perspectives” (Cullen, 2001, p.65). That’s extraordinary—so the mainthrust of modern academic ‘theory’ of learning (social constructivism) has very lit-tle research proof of it’s efficacy.

I also thought the five final principles given by Cullen (from the research of Alexander& Murphy) were incomplete, but otherwise of value. These were five principles thatshould “guide educators in the provision of learner-centered education”, they are:

1. One’s existing knowledge serves as the foundation for all future learning throughprocesses such as guiding, organising, associating and filtering.

2. The ability to reflect on and regulate one’s thoughts and behaviors is essentialto learning and development.

3. Motivational and affective2 factors, and motivational characteristics of learningtask, play a significant role in the learning process.

4. Learning is influenced by individual differences and developmental pathwaysthat reflect both inherited and experiential factors.

5. Learning is as much a socially shared understanding as it is an individuallyconstructed enterprise.

What I think is missing here is again a spiritual dimension. I would for exampleadd the following sixth principle of guidance for teachers,

• Children can not only comprehend the abstract by aid of the concrete, they canalso comprehend concrete concepts by aid of the abstract (e.g., understanding

1Emphasis added.2An ‘affect’ is something that excites emotions (typically positive, generating likability), in

other words, something that causes affection. However in psychology the word can mean excitingnegative (disaffection) or positive affection.


the power of unity can lead to knowledge about what to do in a real conflict),so learning should include training for the soul, not just for he mind.

The guts of this topic is well summarized by the last sentence of the module precis:

Effective teachers use a variety of presentation/teaching strategies tohelp all learners.

Module 4-2: Motivation

There are two required readings for this module: (McInerney & McInerney, 2006,Ch.7) and (Boekaerts, 2002). This is a critical section I felt, so I took copious notes.There are many more lists of things that teachers should endeavor to do. Ratherthan be overwhelmed by all the lists and advice from the various theorists, I thinkthe salient approach is to just read and try to absorb it as much as possible. Most ofthe advice is similar and common sensical, but some of it—when put into practice—requires careful, astute observation of one’s students in order to select appropriateclassroom strategies to raise motivation levels. There are also two focus activities.

The first focus activity:

• Take a moment to think about the way you are motivated. Draw a continuumwith Intrinsic motivation on one end and Extrinsic motivation on the other.

• Try to identify activities or events in your life that you can place on thecontinuum. For example, you may have had one job that you did because youloved it. At another time you may have had a job that you did only for themoney.

My Extrinsic↔Intrinsic motivation diagram is given in Figure 4.1. I became a bitbored of this activity. I thought of many more activities that would only litterthe diagram, but I think the pattern that emerged with just these few identifiedactivities/events is quite revealing.

The second focus activity:

1. Think about your own experiences of motivation as a learner. Identify twoexamples of times when you were motivated and two examples of times whenyou were not motivated.


Extrinsic Both Intrinsicoo � //

Writing IRL Reports

(employment motive)

Passing exams

(academic achievement)

GNU Hacking

(job advancement↔fun)

Exercising

(+ve health↔self-image)

Educating daughters

(social obligation↔love)

Tutoring

(money↔enjoyment)

Studying GA

(aesthetic pleasure)

Studying Lie algebra


Studying classical mechanics


Studying philosophy


Figure 4.1: A map of some of my personal activities rated on the intrinsic-extrinsicmotivation axis.

2. Write a commentary of your motivation using the ideas presented in this mod-ule.

3. Post your example and your commentary to Forum Two.

Here is my contribution for the second focus activity:

One situation I remember vividly when I was highly motivated wasin my 7th form year studying for Bursary and Scholarship exams. Irecall no one at my school thought anyone would win a scholarship apartfrom one exceptional genius who happened to be my best friend. I wasdetermined to prove everyone wrong (Boekaerts, 2002; the 4th principle).I studied like mad, not very systematically, but did enough to be awardeda university scholarship. The motivation was only partly extrinsic as justdescribed, since I also loved the subjects I was studying. So I was tappingboth the good and bad aspects of Boekaert’s 4th principle (mastery-orientation and ego-orientation).

A second good example arose when I had to write a magnetohy-drodynamics simulation code for a research project. I was not reallyexperienced enough, but I had a colleague share some simple code whichgot me started. I spent many 36 hour days working on the job becauseI did not want to disappoint the project leader—who I thought of as anolder brother, a true friend—and so I got the job done in time. I was alsointrinsically motivated because I found producing realistic simulations ofplasma fluids very interesting and when the code worked it was a delight(positive feedback=good—c.f. B.F. Skinner).


A sad moment in my life occurred a couple of times when I was tryingto ‘learn-on-the-job’. I had a report to write and I had not spent enoughtime in the laboratory to gather enough data for a respectable report.My boss (this one not a friend) criticized my draft report and offeredno positive feedback. As a result I was thoroughly de-motivated and al-though I had six months to gather more data for the final report, I reallyfelt mentally ill and under pressure and I worked much less efficientlyas a result. I was putting in a lot of effort but getting no perceivedvalue (stimulus, encouragement) q.v. (Boekaerts, 2002; the 5th princi-ple). Plus I had more interesting research hobbies that I would focus onoutside of work hours, so this slowed me down at work (Boekaerts, 2002;the 8th principle—my work and play goals were not entirely compatible).

Another more humorous episode occurred when I first moved to theUSA. I was completely unmotivated about driving a car over there, I pre-ferred to bike (a) because work was within biking distance and (b) be-cause the sight of all the SUV’s and gas-guzzling American automobilessickened me. There was a theory test (learning the USA road code) anda simple practical test. Before the theory test I had a quick read of theUS road codes as I was waiting in the queue, so I new the test was simple,almost laughably so, but I got one too many (multiple choice) questionswrong! I was so embarrassed having to resit the test that I swatted likea college student the next time. One could argue I was motivated byfear of failure, (Boekaerts, 2002; 2nd principle), which is not considereda very stable form of motivation, but since this was a highly transienttask it was no problem to be motivated in this way.

Bonus case: I am increasingly unmotivated to do fill our dish-washerbecause my wife always reorders the dishes afterwards. The reward ofgetting the dish washing done is removed. I have intrinsic interest indoing the dishes to keep the kitchen clean, so this will sustain my effortsfor a while (until I get sick of hearing the dish-washer being re-stacked).

One wonders if the fear of failure possibly motivating our sports teams like the AllBlacks is something that should be overcome or replaced, since they will tend to becontinually needing to deal with the associated stress. It would be better if they weremost highly motivated by the desire to play a perfect game, since that is somethingthat is stable and can be continually striven for in a positive way.

Teaching Practices that Encourage Intrinsic Motivation

The essentials for stimulating intrinsic motivation are considered to be:


• Level of challenge—provide tasks that test students in an interesting way(in a way that interests the student).

• Prior interests—build upon students’ prior knowledge and interests.

• Curiosity—provide surprise and enthralling activities,

• Sense of autonomy—allow students to make decisions about classroom man-agement; allow them to make choices about what materials or procedures totry; and give students a chance to self-evaluate and to test different strategiesand skills.

• Fantasy and simulation—acting out scenarios, role playing, play games thathave a clear learning objective.

• Active involvement—create situations that students can actively participatein.

• Positive feedback—provide as often as you can, make it immediate andappropriate.

• Sense of achievement—Give students time to set and achieve goals.

• Peer interaction—allow work groups and cooperation and task sharing.

• Autonomy development—provide opportunities for students to determinethings and show initiative.

• Provide a model—showing intrinsic motivation through outward behaviourwill enable students to pick up on it (infectious enthusiasm).

• Safe environment—provide a safe, trusting and supportive environment sothat students feel ok about making honest mistakes and ask questions.

• Expect success—expect the best from students, make sure they know thatyou expect them to succeed.

• Show ever greater contexts—allow students to understand the big picture,and teach towards spiritual goals such as love of knowledge, appreciation ofbeauty, warmth of generosity and so on.


Note on self-determination theory—c.f. Ed Deci’s research. I found thisto be quite interesting (McInerney & McInerney, 2006, p.212–213). Research showsall people have basic psychological needs,

• Competence—happy about abilities.

• Relatedness—need for a sense of worth.

• Autonomy—feeling of having some control, able to exercise some initiative.

Deci and colleagues believe these three needs are key for enabling people to internal-ize extrinsic motivations, i.e., turn initially extrinsic motivation into good intrinsicmotivation. Another key finding was that,

“Tangible rewards tend to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas pos-itive feedback enhances intrinsic motivation.”

—Ed Deci, quoted in (McInerney & McInerney, 2006, p.212).

Expectancy-value theory. In this model students are classified along a spec-trum from high need achievers and at the other end low need achievers. Strongperformance and motivation occur when there is a high expectancy of success and ahigh perceived value for that success. The values were broken down into,

• attainment value

• intrinsic value

• utility value

• costs.

The implications for teaching practice are,

1. Set challenging but realistic goals

2. Be vigilant of bad (i) failure avoiding strategies (no go, no effort, false effort,irrationally high goals), and bad (ii) success-guaranteeing strategies (cheating,low goals, over-striving).

3. Increase expectancy of success by,

(a) help students do things associated with successful learning (ask questions,reflect, research,. . . )


(b) teach students meta-cognition and study strategies

(c) provide individual support (tutoring, automated techniques or whatever)

4. Enhance utility value by,

(a) help students clarify actions and consequences

(b) ensure effort and achievement are positively recognized

(c) be equitable about dispensing awards

(d) ensure students understand consequences of long-term effort

(e) support students with long-term goals when parental support is lacking.

5. Enhance attainment value by,

(a) find out what values students place on the school work and then relatethis to the effort they expend

(b) reinforce student awareness of the harm of not making an honest effort

(c) model positive consequences of effort and achievement and reinforce withappropriate rewards.

Still on the topic of expectancy theory. A note of caution: optimistically positiveteacher expectations need to be backed-up by effective teaching, otherwise the well-intentioned expectations will be largely useless!

Attribution theory. In this theory students are assumed to attribute their suc-cess and/or failure to specific causes. If they attribute it to the wrong cause thenthe alert teacher should pick up on this immediately and correct the attribution.Eventually a teacher will want to steer any attributions of success towards abilityand effort (rather than luck or ease of task); and likewise they will want attributionsof failure to move towards lack of effort and luck/silly mistakes (rather than lackof ability or difficulty of task). So there are simplistically four types of cause ofsuccess/failure:

1. ability

2. effort

3. task difficulty

4. luck


(This list has been refined by theorists as noted in the course notes for this module.)Each cause is situated on four control dimension axes:

1. internal–external

2. stable–unstable

3. controllable–uncontrollable

4. global–specific

One wants to steer students towards dimensions that lead to increased self-esteemand control. When failure occurs we do not want it to be due to any stable dimen-sions (e.g., too difficult=stable+external; or lack ability=stable+internal), so we’dlower the difficulty in these cases. If failure is attributed to a specific task then thestudent need not feel too bad, it’s not a global failure. For success one wants to steerstudents clear of attributions that are external (i.e., due to luck=external+unstable;or ease of task=stable+external+stable) since they do nothing or little to bolstermotivation or self-esteem.

Weiner’s contributions to attribution theories. Bernard Weiner has two re-lated theories, one for intrapersonal behaviour (striving for success) and one forinterpersonal behaviour (evaluating failure/success of others). In his theory mosteffects of motivation and attributions can be analyzed by considering how a person(1) thinks (attributes causes), then (2) feels (emotions about failure/success) andthen (3) acts on these thoughts and emotions. They key to good motivation is tothen either positively reinforce, or negatively reinforce the student, or do nothing,according to whether they have correctly attributed causes and responded in thebest way or not. Weiner gives some examples:

• Success at an easy task⇒ do not provide positive reinforcement, rather providea more challenging task.

• Failure at an easy task ⇒ provide negative reinforcement, but also providesupport.

• After failure at a doable task, and the student thinks they lack ability or effort⇒ do not offer sympathy, offer concrete support instead.

• If a student thinks they lack ability ⇒ do not automatically offer unsolicitedhelp, wait until they ask for help or sensitively manipulate them so that theyask for help (otherwise you’ll reinforce their belief that they lack ability).


• Never provide unneeded help (it is unneeded!), for otherwise the effect willalmost always be to demotivate.

This set of ideas seems very behaviorist in flavour, however the logic seems to makesense. I personally would not ever advocate expressing anger at a student, as Weinerseems to recommend (McInerney & McInerney, 2006, as quoted on p.229), ratherin the face of a failure due to lack of effort or failure on an easy task I wouldrecommend a teacher counsel the student to explore why they either lacked effortor avoided success. For success on an easy task one need not comment but merelygive the student a more challenging task.

Goal theory.

• Mastery goal leftrightarrow desire to succeed for intrinsic pleasure of mas-tering the task.

• Achievement goal leftrightarrow desire to succeed for sense of self-worth orrecognition.

• Morality goal leftrightarrow a desire to help others and cooperate, often leadsto effective learning.

These seem closely related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation discussed above.This area of research shows quite conclusively that students with a mastery orien-tation tend to develop deeper strategies, are more meta-cognitive, are more self-regulated, and demonstrate more efficient recall from long term memory. Achieve-ment oriented students on the other hand are complex—they are more easily ‘un-done’, more likely to withdraw from difficult tasks (to, perhaps paradoxically, avoidlow achievement), are more inclined to let laziness get the better of them, more likelyto decline at school as demands increase, are more likely to cheat. A strongly achieve-ment oriented student can also be trained to develop stronger mastery orientation—the teacher just needs to demonstrate ‘the pleasure of finding things out’. See theReflection Journal (115) for (another list of) ways to spot mastery (alternativelyachievement) oriented students.

Boerkaerts’ principles for motivation. The final set of ideas for this sectioncome from the booklet written by Monique Boerkaerts (Boekaerts, 2002). Nine keyprinciples of motivation for learning;


1. Motivational beliefs can act as favorable contexts for learning—so useeach student’s beliefs about motivation to “make good use of their favorablemotivational beliefs and prompt them to reconsider unfavorable beliefs”.

2. Students are not motivated to learn in the face of failure—so helpthem to experience some success.

3. Students who value the learning activity are less dependent on en-couragement, incentives and reward—so help students find value and/orpersonal meaning and worth in a subject.

4. Students who are mastery-oriented learn more than students whoare ego-oriented—so down-play ego-orientation (you are not interested incorrect answers) and praise effort and industry.

5. Students expect value for effort (research evidence is clear: domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs influence effort investment, and not the other wayround)—so provide assignments that require students to predict the effortneeded to do a task. After finishing the task, students could be asked toreflect on the invested effort. Was it sufficient or superfluous, and why?

6. Students need encouragement and feedback on how to develop mo-tivational strategies—so get students to think abut their goals, what’d befun, and reflect on them, set some goals and acct on them.

7. Students need encouragement and feedback on how to develop will-power—ask your students to compare and contrast the amount and type ofeffort invested in various tasks, this will help them gain insight into their ownwillpower.

8. Students are more committed to learning if the objectives are com-patible with their own goals—be flexible about goals, don’t impose yourown unnecessarily (‘I say you must always work alone’), negotiate and inter-rogate each student’s goals.

9. Adapt these principles to the local context of your classroom—soobserve students and discover how the previous eight motivational principleswork in your classroom.

Miscellaneous notes on motivation

Communicating goals. Schools communicate goals, even if not intended! En-hanced mastery orientation by (a) setting tasks that employ intrinsic motivation,


for example, allowing students o select problems, (b) evaluate their work non-competitively, using say a portfolio and individual goal setting routines. Avoidsocial comparison. Avoid normative testing.

Personal investment goals. Emphasize task goals (for intrinsic interest). Em-phasize social goals (approval, welfare for others, responsibility, affiliation, survivalas in, “we’ll get through this together, don’t worry!”. Social goals, in addition tomoral goals: establish a community of learning in the classroom that extends evenoutside of school hours. Let low-achievers mix with high achievers (star-dust effect).

Student knows best? Sometimes this is true. The student knows best whatexcites them, so let them choose among a variety of topics and problems to study.

The probe of adolescent fall-off in motivation. The research suggests schoolsneed to lift their performance and adapt their structures in later student years.Traditional schooling is ‘obviously’ not all that much fun for older teenagers, so wehave to change to make it fun, or we lose them. For example, it might be better tosacrifice some time spent on curriculum topics if necessary, in order to make lessonsmore fun if possible by facilitating study of off-curriculum topics.

Summary of Motivation. Motivation is such a key component of effective teach-ing, it cannot be over-estimated. The good teacher is always trying to excite intrinsicmotivation within their students.

A word of caution: teacher expectations can be self-fulfilling . But this can be used tosome advantage. Ths, always expect good things form students in the absence of anyreason not to! Also sustained false expectancy can be bad when in eality a studentmay ave made significant change in behaviour or internal thought, that has goneunnoticed (or at least atempted to do so). The teacher must therefore be preparedto always adjust expectations—which implies some sort of consant monitoring andappraisal system (ideally any such monitoring system should be as simple as possibleto avoid excessive time consumption, yet without losing accuracy). For example, ashort regular one-on-one chat with students you suspect of having poor motivationor low self-efficacy beliefs could go a long way, if you make discrete, consise, appositenotes.

General advice that always holds: expect personal bests from your students! So you’dbetter have some system for monitoring PB’s!


Final word on motivation goes to McInerney++: citing a study by Newby, (McIn-erney & McInerney, 2006, p.247) note that the highest motivation enhancementsuccess was with the strategy of relevance: that is, relating the task and objec-tives to the student’s personal lives, and teachers giving sound reasoning for theimportance of each wider task.

Assignment—Personal Educational Autobiography

Due at the end of the second week, about when Module 4-2 should have beencompleted. Refer to the file bms edu autobio.pdf. [Might add as an appendixlater.]

5. Module 5—History of ECE &Schooling in NZ

Module 5-1: Primary and secondary schools in

New Zealand

After reading the module precis, the focus activity was the following:

• Draw a time line of your own educational history, showing the key dates.e.g. 1990 born Invercargill, one of six children 1994 started kindergarten,very unhappy to leave Mum 1995 started primary school, scared of the biggerchildren.

• Note important milestones such as prizes you won, changes in your family,events that made a difference.

• When you have completed your time line try to identify places in your educa-tion where you were influenced by changes in government policy. It might beuseful to talk to parents or other family members about this.

Reflective thoughts on Our Time Lines

[EDITOR NOTE: I thought it would be indulgent to add everyone’s timelines here.So Instead let’s focus on making comments one any thoughts that came to mind asa result of going through this exercise.]

[BMS:] My onw time line has a few events that may have been influenced my gov-ernemnt policy, but it is difficult to identify what impact they may have made. I’mnot sure if there was any specific government policy that led to the establishmentof a few ‘open-plan’ schools, but they did have a nice positive effect: my parents

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Module 5—History of ECE & Schooling in NZ 57

enrolled me in two such schools towards the end of my Primary school years. Thenon-traditional work arrangments, assignments to various teacher’s throughout theday, and the seating arrangements, seemed to be beneficial, they gave a sense ofsome freedom and diversity in the classroom, and interacting with many differentteachers throughout the day was a great way to easily experience different teachingstyles. I vaguely recall that the “New Mathematics” curriculum in the early 1970’shad some effect on the way I was introduced to mathematics. There was an empha-sis on set theory (considered the foundations of mathematics). Some people thoughtthis was misguided, but I actually thought it was neat. The “Tomorrows Schools”implementation occured after I had left high school. Changes to University occuredwhile I was studying at university, but they did not effect me in any way, aside frommaking me wonder if I should be more politically active.

Module 5-2: ECE in New Zealand

Focus activity:

• Think about your own early childhood education.

• What role was played by your family, by church, by kindergarten/childcare/playcentre?

• Talk to your parents or other family members about the choices they madeabout your early childhood education.

Here’s one blurb [BMS]:

“I started off attending Playcenter at Otangarae, Whangarei. Myparents thought the free style education meshed well with their philos-ophy. In particular my mother liked the philosophy of parent involve-ment and education. She would go to Playcenter and study Alex Grey’s‘big book’ of child development. She fondly remembers the supervisor,was Noreen Moorehouse. There was also leadership training course, fa-cilitated by Pam Ringwood, who would become reacquainted with mymother’s through the Baha’ı Faith. At the Otangarae Playcenter I metmy first best friend, Michael Chan. He and I had similar interests in art,sport and Kung Fu. Playcenter got me involved in art at an early age,encouraged by my parents. I painted bright red fire engines, eventuallyadopting a style where virtually the entire canvas was just red. My sisteron the other hand ate the play dough.


“When I was about 6 to 8 I attended Sunday Baha’ı Children’sclasses, with a tutor Rona Barrell. She was into drama and was also aspeech therapist. She was tremendously good fun, and these classes werenothing like the horrid religious indoctrination that traditional ChristianSunday school promulgate. We focused mainly on history and philoso-phy and the power of virtues such as kindness, justice, love, and serviceto humanity. This had a huge impact on my life, although I resistedidentifying myself as a Baha’ı (since I thought it was a bit peacenik-likeand sissy).

“When I was five I attended a kindergarten for a couple of termsalong with my friend Michael. It was a good step into primary school,with a correct amount of additional structure that Playcenter lacked,which helped calibrate me for primary school. From childhood onwardsmy parents adopted a very liberally guided approach to my education.They would teach me to value higher abstract things such as the virtues(the so-called ‘spiritual attributes’ in their minds: such as love, mercy,compassion, kindness, honesty, and so forth). They would leave decisionsabout what I should be interested in entirely free for me to determine.This had good and bad impacts.

“They were not vigilant enough to ensure that I avoided the trapof being sucked into competition and studying to pass exams with topgrades. I asked my mother about this, and she revealed that they thoughtI was studying because I was intrinsically motivated and mastery-oriented,which was initially true, but no one, myself included, altered the trajec-tory I was on towards the black hole of purely studying to achieve goodgrades. I slipped down into this black hole due to anxiety and depres-sion, because I knew inside I should be studying for pleasure, but at theend of every year the focus always became exams and would overwhelmme with waves of pressure and a need to achieve and earn recognition.

“I am not sure what changes in my ECE would have steered metowards a better path, I suspect my parents and ECE centers did ev-erything correct, initially, to avoid such a trajectory. It was probablythe later school norms that really tipped me towards the event horizon.Overall though, my ECE was positive and highly beneficial and I amthankful for New Zealand’s enlightened views in comparison to othernations.”

Comments. [BMS:] I have few additional comments, most of what I recalled andspoke about with my mother is stated adequately above. The Playcenter movementwas the main important influence for em and my parents, and other than my parnets,


siblins and friends, there seemed few other influences of great note. I do not recallany of my ECE teachers other than the people mentioned above.

[EDITOR NOTE: Please add your own reflections about your time line here.]

6. Module 6—Diverse Students

Module 6-1: Student Diversity in New Zealand

The focus activity for this module is as follows:

• Think about yourself and your culture. Make a list of the different groups thatyou belong to.

• Think about the visible and invisible aspects of your culture(s).

• Share your list on the forum. (150-200 words).

Here’s my short list.

Groups I ‘belong to’: Baha’ı (not very ‘observant’). Male geeks.X-gener. Liberal philosophers. Scientists. Amateur hackers. Free soft-ware movement. Introverts. Parents (of school children). Adult children.Amateur writers. Amateur artists. Maori (Ngati Kahungunu). Pakeha(via Yorkshire and Scotland). Pacific Islander (Pitcairn island ances-tors). Sports fans. Citizen of the world. Visible aspects: Playful(in a semi-serious way). High curiosity. Annoying (but shy) activism.Concern for promulgation of peace. Shared software. Sharing of ideas.Patriotism for local/national sports. Patron of arts (when affordable).School committee work. Supportive of progressive movements. Invisi-ble aspects: Non-proselytizing philosophy. Intellectual snobbery (usu-ally accompanied by heavy doses of humility). Little or no social life.Anxiety and depression when research and hacking hobby progress isslow. Loneliness of intellectual pursuits. Desiring a more egalitarian andharmonious society, not just a cold meritocracy. Loath the way mostmainstream media report world news (so depressing, ignoring the goodstuff). Trying to live by the Golden Rule. Appreciation of beauty. Loverof nature. Always dreaming.

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Module 6—Diverse Students 61

Comment. (This could be moved to the Reflection Journal.) It’s always healthyto know oneself better. But at this point of the course I’m still hoping I can absorbenough to actually become a better teacher (rather than just getting warm fuzziesthinking I will be a improved teacher). I’m not sure all this reflection has helpedin a concrete way. I still know how not to teach, and all the abstract educationalpsychology theory is slowly seeping into my soul (if not absorbed already), but interms of day-to-day teaching practice I am still somewhat terrified of doing myprospective students a disservice. My guess is when we get to study how to createpractical lesson plans and manage classrooms (and finish the teaching experienceweeks) some of this trepidation will dissolve away.

A nice summary of many feeling that arose from this activity was given by our tutor(Secondary B group) Linda Hogg:

“Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, for sharing thesepersonal details. As Diana said, it’s not that easy sometimes to applythese questions to ourselves, and see exactly what our own culture is.However we know that an essential first step in working effectively withstudents from diverse cultures is to be able to recognize one’s own culture,and recognize that we are all cultural beings. Many of us are pakeha: it’sthe dominant culture, and this is to be expected. Of course that’s fine,I’m making no judgement here. However, for those of us who are inthe dominant culture, including me, it’s very easy for us to simply seeourselves as ‘normal.’ I remember as a very young Catholic child inBlenheim where I grew up, I thought everyone who wasn’t in this groupwas someone to be suspicious of. Later of course as I grew close to peoplefrom many different cultural and religious backgrounds, I began to lookback in horror at that attitude. It can be hard to see that there are manyversions of ‘normal.’ But that in fact will be important to our success asteachers.

“As Tarena said, as trainee teachers we need to learn how to reconcileour own beliefs and values with those of others, somehow building moti-vation of students from diverse groups, and addressing the needs of thesediverse individuals. It is important for everyone to feel comfortable andhave a sense of belonging in the classroom. For example, different peo-ple have different ways of interacting together, different protocols: Is itokay to interrupt each other? How is it okay to be playful? What shouldhappen before a meal begins? Different groups also vary in their under-lying values. For example Asian cultures value constant work, as shownin their proverbs, whereas some other cultures value taking long rests.Another example can be seen in the expectations that people in differentcultures have of each other: e.g., what am I individually responsible for,


and in what circumstances can I ask for help?“Another element which complicates life is our increasing hybridiza-

tion: increasing numbers of us do not fit neatly into one culture. Hannahis a terrific example of this. For myself, although my ethnic backgroundis Italian and British, my daughter’s father is Maori, and my partner isFrench Carribean, and so my life is definitely hybridized.

“And Anna made a good point when she said that it can be easy tomake judgements about people when we meet them, based on what is vis-ible. . . and of course when we do this we are making assumptions, whichmay well be incorrect. That’s why getting to know individual studentsand their families is so valuable.

“One activity I love to do with students, which breaks down anystereotyped ideas that we may be holding, is called Two Truths anda Lie. This is a great activity to do when you get students to forma group together; it helps break the ice within the new group. Studentsthink up three statements about themselves; two are true and one is adeliberate lie. Each student shares these in small groups, without tellingwhich is the lie. . . can you fool the others? It’s up to the group to guesswhich one is the lie. People tend to try to work it out by looking at theperson and making judgements about them. . . for instance, knowing thatI am 49, would you believe that I enjoy MIA? that my daughter is 17?that I have been to 6 weddings in my life? On Monday I’ll put in a newposting to tell you which one is the lie.”

Complexity of Community and Family Influences (Biddulph3

report)

The reading for this module is (Biddulph, Biddulph, & Biddulph, 2003), there so-called best evidence synthesis of community and family influences. Notes on thisreading follow.

All of the studied influences seem to fit what common sense would expect in termsof positive/negative impact.

• Note: Impact factors are typically deeply entangled.

• Note: There are no simple relationships and predictors, it is a complex system.

• Note: Further research would be helpful in the following areas: Peer influences.Social networks. Media and information technology. Income levels. Fam-


ily mobility. Extended whanau. Academic guidance. Partnerships. Parent-teacher interviews.

• Major positive cultural factors

– Early Childhood Years:

Early childhood education. Range of family resources. Active parentalsupport. Stable caring home. Range of quality experiences (anywhere).Genuine partnership between home and ECE center. Early treatmentfor hearing loss. Integrated programs empowering parents (health, ed.resources, respect culture).

– Primary and Secondary School:

Active parental support. Stable caring home. Range of quality experi-ences. Genuine partnership between home and school. Early treatmentfor hearing loss. Programs to enhance parental understanding of childrenand empowering parents (respect culture and dignity).

• Slightly positive influences


Higher levels of parental education. Community support networks/caregivers.


Use of community resources/experience. Community support and socio-cultural capital. Popular culture. TV viewing [one suspects limited].Computer use. Higher levels of parental education. Parental expecta-tions.

• Negative factors


Neighbourhood deprivation (inconclusive for NZ). Level of parental edu-cation. Poverty and low SES. Single parent family. Hearing loss. Unsta-ble home. Child abuse (particularly found in Maori and low SES groups).Restricted range of quality experiences.


Excessive TV viewing (> 4 hours/day). Culture and ethnicity esp. Maoriand Pasifika when not respected in assessment contexts. Deficit assump-tions. Poverty and low SES. Low level of parental education. Singleparent family. Meagre family resources (which are not supplemented).High family mobility. Hearing loss. Unstable home. Child abuse (partic-ularly found in Maori and low SES groups). Truancy and absenteeism.


Restricted range of quality experiences. Lack of links between home andschool.

• Possibly positive or negative factors


Community ‘messages’ about gender [including cultural messages?]. Peerinfluences.


Community ‘messages’ about gender. Peer influences (positive when forsupport and encouragement, negative when for anti-social and mediocreachievement expectation). Parental separation.

Other highlights include: Quality ECE seems to have a positive influence for up to5 years. Quality resource availability correlates with SES. The home environment isoften a dominant factor. Providing supplementary help to raise parental educationand support can make a big positive change—such programmes may seem costlybut appear to be worth the investment. High parental education level and culturalcapital are minor positive influences. Poverty and low SES are correlated withpoor health and negative emotional development—which can be largely offset byraising the mother’s education level. Unstable and/or abusive homes are linked withhyperactive children and poor cognitive abilities. The full potential for televisionand computer games to enhance learning has not been realized. Schools need to helpstudents better utilize the power of community involvement. Lower development ofMaori and Pacific Island children can be correlated to poverty and lower SES anddisrespect for culture in assessment methods. Partnerships between schools andfamilies need to be genuine and not based on assumptions of deficiency. Separationof parents can be beneficial if it reduces stress levels (but comes with other costs).The complexity-theoretic aspects mean that the results of changed influences on aparticular child will be idiosyncratic.

Recommendations of the Biddulph3 report.

1. Further work on comprehensive combined programmes of support for childrenand families most in need.

2. Suggested use of school facilities for out-of-school community activities.

3. Teachers could be better trained to establish school-home partnerships.

4. Extend already successful programmes running in New Zealand.


5. Incorporate school-like activities into family activities.

6. Increased spread of low-cost programmes to help parents of children strugglingin particular curriculum areas.

7. Increase the availability of critical resources for families who lack them.

My comment. Whoa. . . , a lot of obvious stuff in this report. One hopes it did notcost the tax payer too much! They refer to complexity theory seemingly without anytechnical notion of complexity, yet it does not take a genius to know that educationis complex.

Maori and Pacific Island Students

Allowing ourselves a somewhat liberal stance—that a strong Pakeha hegemony existsin New Zealand—it is interesting to study the data on education achievement andaspirations of minorities, in particular the dominant minorities in Aotearoa of Maoriand Polynesian students. It is not controversial to note that generally Maori andPacific Island students achieve statistically lower educational attainment. Out-lierdata however suggest that there is no reason why these minorities cannot achieve aswell, if not better, than any other students. It is however, controversial to venturean opinion why this is the case. So a question has to be asked, “why does this sorrystate of exist?” Can’t we as a society do better for our indigenous population andother non-European-Pakeha minorities.

A good source of data for studying this issue is given at, www.educationcounts.-govt.nz/themes/maori-education/31351. In particular see the statistics collectedhere, www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/maori education/13182/36805.

Some interesting things to note:

• Improvement in education for Maori students is improving, but not at a sig-nificantly faster rate than non Maori improvements! So the absolute trendsare in the right direction, but there is still lack of relative convergence.

• Look at the graph labeled ‘Figure ML1: Percentage of school leavers qualifiedto attend university’ on the above webpage. It shows a dramatic convergence(a good thing) for Maori students who have attended bilingual and Maorilanguage immersion schools.

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/themes/maori-education/31351

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/themes/maori-education/31351

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/maori_education/13182/36805


• The identified targets for 2012 seem too low! Why can’t we achieve equality bythat time? What will it really take to change attitudes, beliefs and practicesto support all students fairly?

Another controversial question could be asked (as has been debated and even im-plemented in the USA for example) namely, “is it appropriate to introduce a shortterm level of so-called affirmative action?” to achieve better targets, in effect re-kick-starting Maori education as originally envisioned in the goals behind the de-velopment of Kohanga Reo. Te goal being to level the playing field so that thehegemonic structures and attitudes can be done away with without having to waitanother entire generation for positive change. Note, it is not the absence of positivechange that is a problem—this is happening. Rather it is the rate of convergence ofthe educational gap that is of concern. In New Zealand we seem to have managed toarrive at an education system and general culture that allows minorities to advanceat an equal rate of progress, statistically speaking, but not at a differential rate thatwould in time close the education gap.

The noteworthy exception is the case of bilingual and Maori language immersionstudents. This strongly suggest a renewed effort to introduce Maori language asperhaps a mandatory element of all child education in New Zealand? Does thatseem too controversial? How much should a minority culture be expected to ‘helpitself’ as ultra-libertarians might argue should be the case? What debt does NewZealand society as a whole still owe minorities, and Maori culture in particular? Hasenough work been done to redress past injustices and prevailing hegemonies?

Some personal thoughts are welcome. My own [BMS] is that surely we cannotconsider past injustices as fully recompensed until there is manifest equality in edu-cation and other social metrics (child welfare, income, literacy, employment profiles,and so forth).

The Impact of Culture

Many examples are given in the course Module notes and textbook and readings ofthe cultural impacts on teaching and learning or ‘ako’. It might be helpful to note afew more to drill home the lesson. The emphasis on memorization as an importantand revered technique in Chinese culture was noted for example. Another culturaleffect that is mentioned in (?, ?) concerns Tongan students. In Tonga there is asaying, “Tonga mo’unga ki he loto, which literally translates as ‘Tonga’s mountainis it’s heart’. Another common saying is: ko e loto pe Tonga ia ki ha me’a pea ’elava ia’ (‘If a Tongan agrees to perform a task then it can be done’).” (?, ?, page63).


What does that imply for you when you consider teaching Tongan students? Onething that comes to mind is that—if they a strong in their culture–a Tongan studentmay avoid performing challenging tasks because, suppose, their self-efficacy is lowfor the given task. A wise teacher might understand the culture and therefore realizethat it is merely the sense that the task might not be accomplished that the studentis hesitant to begin. In other cultures a student might not be so worried and mightjust give things a go and not worry too much about making mistakes or failing tocomplete work (e.g., from a carefree, lacadaisical cultural attitude—does that remindyou of any culture in particular?). How would you then encourage the hypotheticalTongan student here to make an attempt? Perhaps you might demonstrate a workedexample, or guide them thorugh the task to give them confidence that it ‘can bedone’. Basically, just don’t leave such students wondering whether they might fail,even if they ultimately do fail (which is not necessarily a bad outcome as has beennoted previously), just given them the initial confidence to start. Another stratgywould be to emphasize that the real task is to just actually show the effort, not toachieve a successful outcome. That is, they aught to be able to agree that they canat least make an effort, and that, in your sight, is exactly the task to be done.

[EDITOR: Please contribute more examples, so that we build up a repertoire ofpossible everyday impacts of culture.]

Module 6-2: Special Needs and Gifted or Talented

Students

The recommended reading for this module is (Bevan-Brown, 2006), and we are urgedto make notes.

Beyond Policy and good Intentions (Bevan-Brown)

The paper focuses on the need to provide true inclusive education for a particularminority class of students, namely Maori children with special needs. Barriers tosuch inclusiveness exist that face both the students and their whanau.

It seems that the legislation already in place that testify to the special rights of Maorichildren with special needs, is not being adhered to in the practice of education inNew Zealand. There is however a lot of official support for Maori students withspecial needs. So the main question Bevan-Brown poses is,

“How can this situation exist in a country where there is so much


‘official’ support for culturally appropriate, inclusive education and whatcan be done to rectify the situation?”

Among fully 60 barriers one factor stands out:

“This is the widespread shortage of culturally appropriate specialeducation and disability services, assessment measures, teaching pro-grammes and resources for Maori learners with special needs.”

(Note: that is really four critical things lacking: appropriate (i) services, (ii) assess-ments, (iii) programs and (iv) resources.)

There are three postulated causes for such inadequacies, (1) each child has anindividual study plan, so culture is irrelevant, (2) funding is insufficient, (3) shortageof teachers with professional special needs experience. Also (partly as a result oflack of resources), (4) parents are being forced to choose between supporting eithertheir child’s Maori heritage or their special needs, but not both.

Bevan-Brown also notes evidence of a fair amount of ethnocentrism in NZ schoolswith: blithe denial of cultural differences. Low teacher expectations of specialneeds Maori students. Negative stereotyping. Abdication of responsibility for cul-tural input. Economic rationalizations with commercially driven values. Overlymeritocratic-individualist-competitive ideologies. Ethnocentrism with differencesperceived as deficits.

Curriculum inclusions are suggested to redress these imbalances: Treaty of Wai-tangi. Effects of colonization. Total immersion and bilingual education. Majoritycultural influence in education and society. Maori language, cultural beliefs, cus-toms, practices and values. Strategies for working with parents, whanau and theMaori community. Causes, impact and maintenance of unequal power relationships,oppression, prejudice, racism, disabilism, social injustice, inequality and poverty.

Another crucial reason why there are inadequate services for special needsstudents is because those in power have no personal experience of learning disabilityand were not exposed to special needs students in their own schooling.

Bevan-Brown then notes that

“. . . the full inclusion of Maori learners with special needs into ourschools and society. By themselves, cultural input and inclusive prac-tices in educational establishments are not enough. There is a need formultifaceted, multilevel and wide-ranging societal changes to increase in-clusion and improve the life chances of Maori children with special needsin particular and Maori people in general.”


Bevan-Brown thinks the biggest obstacle is unequal power distribution. But inmy opinion this cannot be addressed without completely changing the attitudes ofthose who wield the most power in NZ decision making about special needs educa-tion, and education in general. In other words, I think a sea-change in NZ attitudeswill be needed before the imbalances can be dissolved. I also think that Bevan-Brownvastly underestimates the power that today’s new generation of teachers could havein instilling these very attitudes (cultural sensitivity and ethno-egalitarianism) intothe children who will be tomorrows leaders.

A good suggestion in my view is

“A major step in the right direction would be to devolve to Maorigenuine decision-making powers in all areas that affect their lives. In par-ticular, they should have input into determining what counts as knowl-edge; how it is transmitted, assessed and rewarded; how special needsare defined; and how they are provided for.”

This seems in-line with the enlightened principles of constructivism, such as provi-sion of some autonomy, positive motivation and control to the currently disadvan-taged minorities. But it should also be considered everyone’s responsibility to blendall people and all cultures into a truly inclusive educational and socio-economicAotearoa. I would add that the ‘sea-change’ I would like to envisage would seesuch an inclusive and multicultural New Zealand that it would be impossible toeven identify ‘minority cultural groups’ in any meaningful way! I would call this a‘citizen of the world’ culture.

Discussion from the Online Blackboard

Here’s a good question posed by Jenna,

“. . . cultural beliefs and traditons are what make families and iwiunique, how can the school presume to teach such subjects? Traditionand beliefs (culture) should surely be taught at home, and it should bethe role of the school to accept and encourage the uniqueness of everystudent in their class.”

A few of the replies to this question went as follows,

“My understanding of that passage, was that due to a lack of specialneeds resources and personnel who also speak Te Reo, children who


attend Kura Kaupapa Maori are less able to access these special needsresources. Therefore, parents of children with special needs are havingto choose to EITHER attend the Kura Kaupapa Maori (addressing theircultural needs), or mainstream schooling where they are more likely tohave their special needs addressed. It was a case of limited resources asopposed to an attack on mainstream schooling as such.”

Another long, but good 2 cents worthy, reply was,

“My personal view is that it’s possibly due to our hegemonistic soci-ety and a bit of ethnocentrism that one would come to ask the questionof ‘Couldn’t the parents meet the cultural needs, and mainstream schoolmeet the special education needs?’. For most people who are NZ Eu-ropean, the school system is meeting their cultural needs because thevalues, way things are expressed and emphasised, and what is importantroughly mirror those delivered from home by their families. For manyMaori families, however, this is not the case and no matter how ‘inte-grated’ we might think everything is from our side of the fence, there’sno denying that Maori culture is actually significantly different to whatis delivered in mainstream schools. Just take a quick big-picture lookat it, what language is it taught in? What ethnicity are many of theteachers and learners? What sports get played in PE, or activities done?Much more soccer and hockey and running than Kapa Haka, Mau rakauor Taiaha,. . .

“It’s like (and if we ignore the special needs bit for now), being ina foreign country and going to a school where everyone is from anotherculture, and has different values to you, and maybe not all of the teachersare good at helping you to fit in to this other culture which is differentto everything you’ve experienced at home, so you feel uncomfortablebecause nobody values what you care about and maybe you start tofeel like your culture is not as important. Maybe you struggle a bit toget your ideas across simply because you think in a different way to themajority. Now imagine that that’s the situation, but you actually livein your own country, where your culture existed first, and your languageis considered official, and large amounts of legislation exist saying youshould be equally valued and given the same opportunities as the otherkids, but it’s still clearly not the case in your school. If your parentshad the choice to send you to a school where the teachers understoodyou, you could communicate clearly, you shared values and colloquiallanguage and jokes from within your culture, and were reached on yourlevel, so you could achieve much more, then surely you and your family


would want that? Now, it makes it more complicated if you have specialneeds of some kind and you have to choose between the foreign schoolwhich can meet them, and the school of your own culture which you’remore comfortable in and could achieve much more. . .

“I think it’s all well and good to say that the parents could meet thecultural needs at home, but children spend a huge amount of their timeat school as well, and for the child to really develop to their potential,both parts of that microsystem need to be functioning smoothly, andboth should be meeting their cultural and special needs.

“We could flip it over, how about if all schools were Kura Kaupapa,and every child in NZ had to attend and learn in Maori, learn Maoriculture and such, and parents of all other ethnicities were responsible formeeting their kids cultural needs at home each evening. Whilst I think,theoretically, that that would be great to provide some perspective to alot of ignorant NZers out there, I’m very sure that their would be a hugeuproar from parents who don’t feel the nature of that schooling wouldmix with their own values and goals they have for their children. Maybethey would start NZ European schools, so their kids could play soccerand sing songs about Fush ‘n’ Chups, but imagine if the governmentdidn’t provide enough support, and special needs children could onlyhave their needs met in the Kura Kaupapa. . . Now NZ European parentswould have to choose between education for their children which mirrorstheir own values, and education which can meet their special needs. It’snot ideal for anyone, no matter how you spin it.

“I just wanted to rearrange the situation a bit because I felt likeyour question was initially coming from a place of not really feelinglike switching from Maori immersion education to mainstream schoolingwould be much of a loss. I think we have a huge (often subconscious)tendency to undervalue the other cultures in our country, and to seedifferent as inferior, and I think it’s one of the main problems we havewith our education system failing many of our youth.”

Going back up one level of the thread, Roseanna wrote,

“Kia ora tatou, the work of Jill Bevan-Brown and her research, hasshown that often maori children do not get their needs met because ofthe inherent cultural components of assessment, resourcing and special-ist support. In her work with regards young people who have specialeducational needs she has shown that unintended consequences of notrecognising maori culture when assessing, or when teaching, or when pro-viding specialist support does make a difference to maori children who


have special educational needs. Some kura are not able to access appro-priate resourcing and support and this is one of Bevan-Brown’s issues.Others have also written of the ‘double disadvantage’ and it is seen inour NZ stats on those who receive special education support (there isa high and disproportionate students who are maori and receiving spe-cial ed support). Consider what this might mean in the context of theBevan-Brown reading.

“Melissa makes a good point that we need more Maori educatorsin mainstream schools and with special education qualifications. Wehave very few EdPsychs who are Maori in New Zealand, and they have adifferent way of working, often using maori pedagogy, that can inform allour work. Russell Bishop’s research shows that all teachers can supportmaori learners, and the first step is to listen to their views and understandfrom their point of view. Some of the ideas are as simple as requestingthat their name is pronounced correctly.”

Shane pitched in with,

“I think the reality of the problem is that our school system doesnot suit Maori because its foundation is European. It is also hard to getaway from that and have a completely bilingual or mullticultural systemas they often conflict, and each teacher has a culture they default to.When the majority of teachers are white the system will naturally leantowards their culture. We need more Maori teachers in mainstreamschools. They are the ones who will comunicate Maori culture mosteffectively. Europeans can try and encourage Maori in their culture,language and learning but at the end of the day we come from a whiteworldview. (Another issue—I think bilingual is more important than fullimmersion as I have worked with a number of 16–25 year olds with fullimmersion backgrounds who are hindered from getting jobs or highereducation as they have low or no english literacy. When the rubber hitsthe road, business and employment is generally in english.)

“It is interesting that programes like Te Kotahitanga (Developedby Waikato Uni and implemented in about 50 schools throughout NZemphasisng strong relationships between teacher and student, ‘Ako’—teaching each other, and co operative learning—is enhancing europeanstudents learning as well as Maori. What works for maori, seems to workfor all.”

In reply to Shane, Lauren wrote,


“Thanks for that Shane, it seems like good logic to have more edu-cated Maori teachers in our schools. Do you think there a problem withour Maori young people being able to get to the tertiary level becausethe current system is failing them?”

Discussion of “Inclusive education policy in New Zealand”

Another course reading related to the same issues outlined by Jill Bevan-Brown isthe article by Alison Kearney and Ruth Kane (Kearney & Kane, 2006). Titled,“Inclusive education policy in New Zealand: reality or ruse?” this article provokedsome interesting online discussion. This section takes a brief look at Kearney &Kane article as well as various comments made on the 2010 online forum. Unlessotherwise stated all the citations for this section are from this article so we will notclutter up these notes with references. Chapter 9 of McInerney & McInerney mayalso be useful to quote on occasion.

First up, it seems uncontroversial that a sea change in attitudes and assumptionsneeds to be made if special education is to be fully inclusive. Until that time itwould seem wise to continue to allow parents of special needs children to have somefreedom in selecting either an inclusive mainstream school or a specialist ‘specialeducation’ school for their children. But in Skrtic’s words, special education wouldrequire “a different frame of reference and a different set of assumptions theories andmeta-theories”. So the first question is what are these different assumptions,theories and meta-theories?, and the follow up would be how can we testthem, and if worthwhile, put them into practice?

• The paper begin by outlining the default view of special education, whiihc isthat it is based upon the individual students’ pathologies (clinical symptoms,or statistical divergence from population mean).

• Inclusion is described as a learning culture where everyone belongs and isaccepted and supported. The focus is on the education program—it shouldbe made accessible to all students—and not so much focused on individualstudent ‘abnormalities’.

• Social justice is advocated as one reason to try to avoid exclusionary schooling.Policies of exclusion are posited to be historically sanctioned and have no basisin sound educational psychology theory.

• Inclusion policy can be dynamic, gradually evolving from mainly exclusiontowards more inclusion.


• As a waring, the article notes that the idea of inclusive edcation has been‘interpreted and used by different people in different ways.’

•

7. Module 7—EAL Students

Before reading this module we were supposed to enter our agree-disagree answersin the first column of the Table 7.1. This is one method for background knowledgeactivation (a way of priming students for a topic to pique their interest). For clarity,in the second column (after reading through Module 7) I have only marked the rowswhere I changed my initial opinion.

My thinking for the first question was from background knowledge about NoamChomky’s theory of universal grammar. Language is to some extent innate andyoung children tend to acquire language much more readily than adults because(a) their brains are more plastic and (b) adults don’t tend to experience the sameimmersion environment that young children find themselves in having to rapidlylearn a language to figure stuff out (children are more focused upon and motivatedto pick up languages). The other questions seemed uncontroversial. EAL studentswill generally need to speak a lot of English unless they can find a ready translator,since the typical teacher won’t know the EAL student’s native language. If theteacher respects the EAL student why should they not achieve the same level ofwork—all it takes is for the teacher to give them tasks that they can work onwithout needing to understand English like a native speaker. I guess an exceptionwould be in the study of English language comprehension. But in that case the EALstudent would probably show much greater relative improvement than their peers!One could even argue they’d be in effect doing a lot more work and achievement.

We can see from the second column that my views were changed slightly by readingthe Module 7 material! That’s good. I learned some new stuff.

Discussion. The phenomenon of the Silent Period (a common experience of a timesometimes up to a whole year, during which a newcomer is unwilling to speak in thesecond language) changed my opinion about whether or not EAL (in particular ENLstudents, see below) students should be encouraged to speak English immediately.It would be very rough on them to demand this if they were only starting to learnEnglish. Moreover, CALP or Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, can take

75

Module 7—EAL Students 76

Tick the statements you agree with: At start of module At end of module

Young children are better at learninglanguage than adults !

EAL students should be encouraged to speak inEnglish as much as possible ! ?

Group work benefits EAL students !

EAL students cannot be expected to reach thesame level of work as other students in class %

Vygotsky’s theory applies to EAL students !

Table 7.1: Module 7-1 learning anticipation table.

up to 7 years to develop, so it might be nicer to find ways the ENL students couldparticipate and learn non-verbally as well as practice English, such as with gamesand computer aided instruction that could be generated in their native language,without being seen as a crutch.

So it is important to engage them in some form of English communication to helptheir acculturation process, and to do so often, and especially with the academicterms for the class subject could be introduced to them (since they’ll often be newto all the students). I guess the qualification “as much as possible” means I stillgenerally disagree with the statement, but with the above reservations firmly inmind.

Module 7-1: EASL Students

Focus activity 1. Think about these situations for yourself. Focus on your feel-ings during one of these situations.

1. Have you been in an unfamiliar situation where you did not speak the lan-guage?

2. Have you lived or traveled in a country where you did not speak or read thelanguage?

3. Did you learn to speak a language other than English fluently?


Sample “Answers”. [BMS:] I certainly have been in such unfamiliar situations.A typical case was when I was a young child growing up in Whangarei. My motherused to take me and my siblings to community meetings where a fair amount ofMaori, Samoan and Tongan was spoken (also a lot of Farsi and some Kenyan). Iwas grateful for this because it gave me less self-consciousness about being in suchsituations in future, and that a lot of body language and a smile or frown areuniversal for communication.

One other memorable occasion was when my brother and I were visitor guides atthe New Delhi “Lotus Temple” (Mash

¯riku’l-Adh

¯kar). It was very weird. We mem-

orized a few stock phrases in Hindi. But a lot of villagers speak other Indo-Sanskritdialects such as Urdu or Bengali. So we never really knew if people understood ourinstructions or were just amused, or just acting politely when they nodded. Whoknows, maybe a nod in India or Bengal is body language meaning something like,“you are a complete idiot, but bless your heart for trying”, we did not know. We didknow that in many Indian cultures a shake of the head (like our “no” head shake)is body language indicating interest or affirmation!

I took French lessons for two years, but never attained fluency. At fist it was easy,but I lost interest over the so-called “gender” usage (‘le’ versus ’la’ and so forth).Selecting a language one enjoys learning is critical I think. I had few motives tolearn French. Mandarin would have been better (but probably a lot harder) and Iwould have liked to learn more Arabic and Farsi, and of course Te Reo (my great-grandmother was gently outcast from her tribe because she married a Yorkshire-man,so I was never reared and steeped in Maori culture). [End of BMS piece.]

Three Level Reading Guide. This seemed quite useful, so we’ve quoted thewebpage here for reference,

“Reading beyond the surface level is a challenge for many secondaryschool students. The three level guide was devised by Herber (1978) anddeveloped further by Morris and Stewart-Dore (1984) to help studentsthink through the information in texts. The teacher writes the guide tohelp the students locate information in a text, interpret what the authormeans, and then apply the information. The three level reading guidehas a series of statements divided into three levels:

• level one (literal) - the student reads the lines to work out the writersays;

• level two (interpretative) - the student reads between the lines andinfers what the writer means;


• level three (applied) - the student reads beyond the lines and relatesthe knowledge to other contexts.

“The three level guide helps the student to focus, first of all, on theinformation in the text. The student then thinks through this informa-tion, and interprets what the writer is trying to say. Finally, the studentcritically evaluates the information and relates it to what they alreadyknow.

“Students will need a period to work through the three level guide.In class the teacher should:

• introduce the topic and text;

• ask the students to read the text independently, or read it aloud tothem;

• ask the students to work through the reading guide by themselves;

• put them in pairs or small groups to discuss their answers;

• make sure the students explain their answers and justify their views.”

References:Herber, H. (1978). Teaching Reading in the Content Areas. New Jersey:Prentice Hall.Morris, A. and Stewart-Dore, N. (1984). Learning to Learn from Text:Effective Reading in Content Areas. New South Wales: Addison-Wesley.”

Quoted from the website http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/. . . /Three-level-reading-guides

The other website for reference and information on how to activate prior knowledgementioned in the module is here: http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/. . . /Acti-vating-prior-knowledge. It gives at least another four methods (we’ve added a fifth),

• Strategies to activate prior knowledge include:

• Concept map

• KWLHchart (Word file 34KB)

• Brainstorming (Mind Tools website)

• Graphic organizers

• Mindmaps.

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Reading/Three-level-reading-guides

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Reading/Three-level-reading-guides

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Thinking/Activating-prior-knowledge

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Thinking/Activating-prior-knowledge

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Thinking/Concept-map

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/content/download/4207/23533/file/KWLchart.doc

http://www.mindtools.com/brainstm.html

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Knowledge-of-effective-pedagogy-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Writing/Graphic-organisers

http://www.buzanworld.com/Mind_Maps.htm


For Concept Maps one arranges a preset list of topics or words (initially in unsortedboxes say) linking them in a way that illustrates structure and relationships, arrowslinking boxes can be labeled. The Brainstorming website is quite a good sourceof information and tips on how to run an effective brainstorming group (or solo)session. It also has some cool variations on brainstorming for making it effective innumerous settings, such as when there are more than a dozen or so people, or forproduct improvement, or when evaluating proposals, and so on. Graphic Organizersinclude things like spider diagrams, cause-effect diagrams, cycle charts, decision tree,flow charts, network diagrams, pie-charts, fish-bone diagrams (Ishikawa charts),tables/matrices, tree diagrams, Venn diagrams, and more. The KWLHchart is justa table of three columns a student can fill in, the headings are: What I know; What Iwant to learn; What I have learned (Know-What-Learn-How), see also the websitehttp://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/. . . . Mindmaps could be a subset of graphic organizers,they are intended to utilize all the different processing units in our brains (we’re notsure how this gels with cognitive loading theory (McInerney & McInerney, 2006,p.126–128)).

It is worth checking out the “Done too much, too young” anticipatory reading guide:it is quite provocative for teachers to read and education administrators to ponder.

Focus activity 2. The 2nd focus activity for this module file was to visit thewebsite: http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/essential vocab.php and find outabout some of the terms used in the field of EAL or ESL. Then answer the questions,“What did you find out about second language learning from these terms? Howcould you apply this in your teaching?”

For your reference we will just cut&paste the webpage here:

“Terms for our students or programsHere are some of the essential terms used to talk about our students

or programs. All of these terms are used to describe students who arelearning to understand, speak, read and write in English.

• ESL means English as a Second Language.

• ESOL means English to Speakers of Other Languages.

• ELL(s) refers to English language learner(s )

• ENL refers to those students for whom English is a New Language.

• LEP refers to the current description of students abilities—thatthey currently have limited English proficiency.

• Bilingual refers to the fact that students speak more than one lan-guage. All of our ESL students are bilingual.

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/torganiz.htm

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/content/download/5373/31758/file/Anticipatory+Reading+Guide+Done+too+much.rtf

http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/essential_vocab.php


“Terms for understanding second language acquisition

• Culture Shock is a normal stage in the acculturation process thatall newcomers go through. Being in a strange place and losingthe power to communicate can disrupt a persons world view, self-identity, and systems of thinking, acting and feeling.

– Students feel frustrated, angry, hostile, sad, lonely and home-sick.

– Students may develop physical ailments such as stomach achesand headaches. They are often devastated by the emotionalupheaval caused by moving to a new culture. They may exhibitbehavior such as depression or sleeplessness. They may becomeoverly aggressive or withdrawn.

• The Silent Period is a varying period of time during which a new-comer is unwilling to speak in the second language. Nearly allstudents go through a silent period. This stage could last for aslong as one year. English language learners should not be forced tospeak until they are ready to do so.

• Comprehensible input means that the spoken or written message isdelivered at the learners level of comprehension. The concepts beingtaught should not be simplified, but the language used to presentthe concepts must be made comprehensible. Basic concepts shouldbe presented in a variety of ways.

• Affective filter is a ‘wall’ a learner puts up if his/her anxiety level ishigh. The lower the anxiety level, the lower the filter. ELLs musthave a low affective filter in order to learn English. The more com-fortable students are in their school environment, the more readythey will be to learn.

• BICS are Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. These are thelanguage skills needed for everyday personal and social communica-tion. Second language learners must have BICS in order to interacton the playground and in the classroom. It usually takes studentsfrom 1–3 years to completely develop this social language. BICSare not necessarily related to academic success.

• CALP is Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency is the languageassociated with native language literacy and cognitive development.These are the language skills needed to undertake academic tasks inthe mainstream classroom. It includes content-specific vocabulary.It may take students from 5 to 7 years to develop CALP skills.


CALP developed in the first language contribute to the developmentof CALP in the second language.”

Sample answers to the 7-1 questions. The interesting things about the ter-minology for me were (a) the ‘Silent Period’, and (b) the long time it takes for ENLstudents to acquire BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, may take upto 3 years) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, could take upto 7 years). The places an entirely new complexion (for me) on the needs of ENLstudents. As our colleague, Hannah Taylor, noted in the forum discussion aboutBevan-Brown’s article: just imagine putting yourself into a foreign language schoolimmersion environment. Even with a little imagination you can easily think abouthow nasty it could be if you were not sympathetically treated.

As noted earlier in this section (page 75), there are a number of implications forthe classroom. For example, using non-verbal means of teaching, using non-verbalgames, extensive use of graphic aids, mime acting roles, using computer instructionprograms in the EAL student’s native language, inventing a rough sign-languagefor fun. Also, how about just being totally considerate and respectful of the stu-dents’ plight! (Instead of expecting them to understand English unnaturally fast—cognitive load theory again.)

[EDITORS NOTE: contributing authors could append their own answers here, orin an appendix.]

Paradigms and Special Needs

First, note that special needs could be a term that covers gifted and talented studentsas well as learning impaired students. Secondly, if all our colleagues on this coursewere relocated to a classroom at MIT or Caltech then we would quickly becomespecial needs students (of the second type)!

Now here is an interesting question. Did it seem odd to you that the Module 7-1course notes state that the ‘functional deficits paradigm’ of special education impliesthat teachers need to fix the students’ problems, and have lower expectations ofthem, rather than adapt ourselves to the students’ needs? Well, it seemed oddto me [BMS]. There is nothing logical or even vaguely rational about the basisfor the functional deficits paradigm that implies to us any need to see our job asmerely fixing or making-up for a students’ difficulties without bothering to adaptour teaching plans. There is, I feel, an irrational negative view of learning impairedstudents that has grown up surrounding excessively ‘functional deficits’ thinkingwhich disregards basic humanity.


Taking the biophysical basis for the functional deficits paradigm as a reality, andapplying a little bit of humanity, one could easily arrive at exactly the same conclu-sions reached by inclusive education philosophy. Let’s consider this thesis on moredetail.

Paradigms are defined as (c.f., WordNet version 2.0) ‘the generally accepted per-spective of a particular discipline at a given time’. In this Module 7-1 Notes we aretold that there are broadly speaking two paradigms for special needs education.

1. The functional deficits paradigm—medical and statistical thinking.

2. The inclusive paradigm—social justice thinking.

While reflecting on this the thought occurred that these two views of specialneeds education are actually not incompatible, and are in fact complementary.The problem with the so-called functional deficits paradigm is not the basisfor it (medical science) but rather the way people have reacted to it—namelythat people tend to isolate learning impaired students, treat them differentlyin a negative way, and assume lower expectations from them.

We suggest a change in attitude rather than a blanket change in paradigmbasis. In other words, lets change the paradigms—what follows after statingthe foundations—but retain the valid basis for each. We could for examplesynthesis the above two paradigms, creating

3. the functional inclusion paradigm.

What this implies is that we acknowledge the scientific basis behind identificationof special needs students, both the biological and nurturing origins of gifted andtalented students, as well as the clinical basis of functional disabilities. The word‘functional’ is quite important. It gives a fair way of thinking about disabled learn-ing. The idea is that learning impaired students are functionally impaired, but arenot assumed to be mentally impaired internally. To synthesize this nicely with theinclusion basis, we note that principles of justice and prejudice-free thinking de-mand that we do not assume that we know what goes on deep inside the mind ofany student. In particular, we aught not just assume that special needs students’brain scans indicate deficient mental operations. Clearly, severely learning impairedstudents medically have a range of physical problems filtering and perceiving infor-mation and processing output. Don’t we all at some time or another. But there isno objective evidence that such people really think differently to all of us internally.Maybe they do, maybe they don’t.

Most likely learning impaired students will have associated psychological problemsresulting from frustration with not being able to rapidly filter information and pro-cess their output. These psychological problems are emergent and not fundamental,


they arise from the biological and physical disabilities. We have no idea what, if any,mental abilities any student possesses. All we can do is examine what the studentis able to express when their learning is assessed. They may know a lot more thanthey are physically able to express. This is a working assumption for an holisticapproach to special needs education.

The thesis suggested here is that this third synthesized paradigm gives a balancedview of special needs education and implies almost exactly the same practical ap-proaches that the inclusive paradigm advocates. It does not subtract anything fromthe inclusive paradigm, but only adds. For example, in addition, the medical realityof any students’ biophysical makeup is acknowledged so that educators can adapttheir teaching methods accordingly, using whatever aids are available to overcomecommunication barriers. We need to make use of science, not reject it, and at thesame time fully incorporate basic principles of justice and humanity. The sameprinciples work for EAL learners when they are in the language pre-mastery stage.

We could add that the opinion of Corbett and Booth cited in Kearney, 2006, “ifwe can break down the barriers and exclusionary pressures, we can take away thedisability,” is a valid argument. People are in effect only ‘disabled’ because othershave set up a society that defines them as disabled relative to some sort of norm.However, I also think this type of thinking, if taken to an extreme, does a slightinjustice to medical science. For example, a small isolated community of cooperatingseverely learning impaired people (say stranded on a desert island) are objectivelyless likely to be able to survive compared to a similar community of cooperatingfully able people or a mixture of disabled and able people. So there is an objectiveculturally independent meaning to the adjective ‘disabled’ when speaking abouthuman abilities. It is not just culturally defined as perhaps Corbett and Boothseem to imply according to Kearney.

Of course if I [BMS] were stranded alone on a desert island I would not last very long.So I would only be ”able” if living in a community with a sufficient number of otherable people (who may have their own unique disabilities in some areas). So I canstill clearly see that there is a strong social construct in the meaning of “disabled”and, for that matter, “learning impaired”. The term ‘special needs student’ needsto be considered as a moving target to do us all justice.

Module 7-2: Who are our EAL students?

There were two focus activities for this submodule. The first Focus Activity is toanswer these questions,


1. What languages have scripts that are very different from English? Ask aspeaker of another language what sounds are different from English? If youhave learned a language at school, think back to some of the grammaticalfeatures that are very different.

2. What is the effect of these differences for EAL learners who are required todemonstrate their knowledge orally and in writing in English? How does thisimpact on the assessment of these learners?

Sample Answer 1. Assuming the language’s ‘script’ is the symbolic representa-tion, then a (very) short list of my favourite languages with differing script to Englishmight include: Arabic (Naskh script), Chinese-Mandarin (kaishu script), Indian-Hindi (Devanagari script), Japanese (kanji script), Namibian-Kalahari (!Kung lan-guage), Russian (Cyrillic), Thai (Thai Dam script), Urdu (Kaithi script).

At high school I learned a bit of French (Latin script same as English, typicallywith more diacriticals) for a few years. The sound for the letter ‘r’ is a gutturalpronunciation using the back of the throat which is not used in English and so takesa few hours practice to perfect, and even longer to get used to sounding when tryingto speak fluently. The !Kung language (spoken by the Kalahari Bushpeople forexample) uses lots of clicking sounds (similar to the cluck sound we make in Englishwhen we want to gently tick someone off. . . ‘tsk! tsk!’).

[EDITORS NOTE: please add more to this list.]

Sample Answer 2. Some effects on EAL learners could be: much longer process-ing time responding to verbal questions; complete confusion and bewilderment (notrecognizing the words at all); incorrect work due to misinterpretation; frustration;defensive posturing; argumentation; dejection; depression, and so on. It need not beall bad with good teaching practice. For example, a teacher might encourage somelevity and humour when things get misunderstood or mistranslated, and think ofthe language barrier as a challenge and something fun to try to overcome with someingenuity.

Assessment of EAL student work is similarly effected. A poor teacher might down-grade the EAL student’s work due to some of the above difficulties. One remedy,which allows the student’s innate knowledge and understanding to shine forth, wouldbe to simply give them a lot more time, as needed, to complete work withoutfeeling under pressure or mounting frustration. Patience is needed, and if possible ateacher could use non-verbal, non-written assessment methods, or computer-basedassessments programmed in the student’s native language—not as a crutch, but as


an aid until they master English sufficiently well to be assessed partly in Englishlanguage mode.

Second Focus Activity. The task was to select one of these cases and reflect onhow these factors would impact on the individual student. What other informationwould you like to know about the student?

1. A three year old Burmese boy whose family have moved to NZ by way ofrefugee camps in Indonesia. His family were farm labourers and do not havea high level of literacy in their own language.

2. A shy, 16 year old Korean girl who is an international student. She has learnedEnglish in Korea for 9 years. She intends to go to a NZ university.

3. A 8 year old Chinese boy whose parents are economic migrants from a largecity in mainland China.

4. A 14 year old Samoan girl who has spent some of her primary school educationin NZ, then returned to Samoa, but now has to live with relatives in NewZealand.

Sample Answer. (BMS: I was too hesitant to tackle a 3 year old, but would beinterested in how many books and materials in either language the Burmese childmight have access to, among other things.) For the 16 year old Korean girl: sucha shy student would probably have difficulty communicating with other studentsdespite having nine years of English language tuition. The BICS factor (BasicInterpersonal Communication Skills) might be her weakness. One could imaginesuch a student coping well with strictly academic tasks, particularly mathematicsand sciences, but struggling perhaps in written English, and withdrawing into herselfas a result. Maybe she would be ashamed to share her work or express ideas openly.However, inside she would probably be boiling with questions and holding back alot of frustrations.

So I would want to find time to converse with the student alone, with few distrac-tions, so see how they are feeling. I might want to find out what hobbies she has,what music, pop culture, sports, games, and other past times she was interested in,and for sure get to know her preferred academic subjects to give her a good startfor university. I would, time permitting, like to ask her to tell me, or the wholeclass, some interesting things about Korean culture, starting with their cuisine (ofcourse!). It would even be a cool classroom exercise for her to instruct the classin some Korean language words or phrases that are pertinent to the class subject


(for example, in mathematics, how to pronounce the names of some famous Koreanmathematicians correctly, and learn a few key words expressing their theorems ororiginal ideas in Korean). That’s just the beginning of a sample answer to this focusactivity.

So that sets the scene. Now what about the other factors affecting her learning?The strength of the girl’s oral language and literacy in their first language is, let’ssuppose, very good. So the focus for her and her teacher would be on breaking thecommunication barrier to express her thoughts in English. In particular, gainingconfidence to speak and contribute, so it would be good to structure class activitiesthat naturally encourage informal talk and discussion—for example using Dictoglassor some other technique. Her age might be a hindrance since she would be moreself-conscious about expressing herself in English. The trouble is, even with 9 yearsof learning English while studying on Korea, she probably is lacking a lot of locallinguistic competence, particularly facing difficulty with colloquial Kiwi-English.The ‘whaddayaupto’ problem! This would adversely effect her socialization andwould add to her shyness. So a kind teacher would look for ways to get this studentgently engaged in group activities, and encourage her to question Kiwi-isms andphrases that she did not comprehend. This also relates to her exposure to English—good exposure to English vocabulary (9 years) but hardly any exposure to everydaylanguage and social communication.

What about her opportunities to interact in English? These could be fairly limitedsince she is so shy, but as an international student, let’s suppose, she is stayingwith a New Zealand family or in student accommodation surrounded by Englishspeakers. Again, the classroom group activities would be pivotal i helping her gainmore confidence.

The main affective factor for the Korean girls might be her shyness and introversion.This has been noted above. There might also be issues with her motivation: isit achievement oriented or mastery oriented, extrinsic or intrinsic. Supposing sheis intrinsically motivated by her favorite subject (say graphic arts and marketingstudies), but strongly extrinsically motivated for achievement. These are thingswe would want to know as her teacher because it would be useful to draw uponher achievement goals to enhance her mastery of English. One could do this betrying to relate English phrases and speaking to her interests in graphic arts andmarketing. For example, using dictogloss to study some art history, or whatever.This student would also likely need a very supportive and safe environment. Brakingup the class into small discussion groups might be a good approach here, makingsure she is placed in a group with sympathetic students and kept away from themore ‘disruptive’ or dominating students in the class, if there are any.

As for her cognitive and physical learning ability, we might note that she is very


bright, aspires to attend University, and so is not overly cognitively challenged withacademic topics, however, as noted before, her comprehension of everyday spokenEnglish would need to be tested and constantly evaluated by her teacher. As herteacher we would want to gently and humanely check to see if she is comprehendingthe spoken English in the classroom. The trick is to do this without giving her anyself-conscious sense of inferiority or embarrassment. That’s difficult to accomplishwithin the limited time of a class period. Again, small break-out group activitiesmight help, with the teacher monitoring her progress in a very non-obtrusive way.

[EDITOR NOTE: authors—please add more ideas and elaborate. Fill in answersfor the other student cases.]

Module 7-3: Principles of Language and Content

Learning

This module urges us to now check our anticipatory guide and to fill in the secondcolumn. This was done in Table 7.1 above, page 76.

After a day or two reflecting on these questions, I now find the 2nd question a littleambiguous. Recall the statement was: “EAL students should be encouraged to speakin English as much as possible (agree/disagree)”. At first, after reading the module,I changed my opinion and thought, due the the ‘silent period’ phenomenon and thetime lag in developing BICS and CALP, that one should give ELL students theslack, to gradually start using English, at their own comfort and pace. However,it also seems important to engage them in some form of English communication,and to do so often, and especially with the academic terms for the class subjectcould be introduced to them (since they’ll often be new to all the students). I guessthe qualification “as much as possible” means I now only mildly agree with thestatement, but with the above reservations firmly in mind.

Website Task—The Seven Principles

Visit this website http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/. . . learning-across-the-curriculum, andread about the principles for content and language learning. Reflect on the questionsunder each principle. What do they mean for you in your teaching situation?

The seven principles are listed below, along with the associated questions and initialnotes. The same list is repeated in the Reflection Journal at the end of this bookfor continual updating as future notes on the questions are brought to light.

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Principles-Planning-for-content-and-language-learning-across-the-curriculum


Principle 1: Know your learners—their language background, their language profi-ciency, their experiential background.

What do you know about your students’ language skills? What do you knowabout their prior knowledge? How will you find out this information? Howwill it affect your planning?

NOTES: We need to, first of all, open some kind of communication channelwith the students to find out this information. Graphical methods could beused. Automated translators (there are plenty of internet sites that providesuch free services, more or less accurately enough to be intelligible) mightbe used, whereby questions can be supplied to the student in their nativelanguage.

Principle 2: Identify the learning outcomes including the language demands of theteaching and learning.

What language do the students need to complete the task? Do the studentsknow what the content and language learning outcomes are?

NOTES: If the outcomes can be communicated ‘through the language barrier’and echoed back (like a game of secret whispers) and the echo is more or lessthe same as the communicated goal, then we can safely say we have effectivelycommunicated the learning and language demand objectives. (This is similarto the principle used in error correction codes used in computing.)

Principle 3: Maintain and make explicit the same learning outcomes for all thelearners.

How can I make the lesson comprehensible to all students? How can I plan thelearning tasks so that all the students are actively involved? Do my studentsunderstand the learning outcomes?

NOTES: For a solution see the note under the previous principle (2).

Principle 4: Begin with context embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete.

How can I put these concepts into a concrete context?

NOTE: If an abstract concept has no real world value then it need not betaught! So every worthy abstract concept can be presented in a concreteexample, we just need to think a bit to find an appropriate example. I’m surewe could all think of great ways to teach highly abstract qualities like virtues(honesty, justice and so forth, for example by using play acting scenarios).What about an extreme example: how would one make the abstract idea ofa quantum field concrete enough for teaching EAL students? Well, first ofall, is that on the curriculum? Well in 10 years time it just might be a topic


in secondary schools (average human intelligence is always rising). So let’stackle this case! An easy, and obvious solution is to use graphic, that is, visualteaching methods. A space-time field is an ethereal concept but it can bedepicted by a picture of a closed universe with labels or values for the field atevery single point, which can be drawn with some artistic ability using contourlines or ‘fluid flow’ vectors and so forth.

NOTE: Use mimes as kinesthetic activities if possible, and play acting. Getmuscles and bodies involved as well as mouths and brains.

Principle 5: Provide multiple opportunities for authentic language use with a focuson students using academic language.

Is the language focus on key language? Do I make sure the students have manyopportunities to notice and use new language?

NOTE: setting up interactive group activities will help provide such opportu-nities for EAL students.

NOTE: this is something we simply need to put some effort into rememberingto monitor. If the teacher has a computer available then a reminder systemcould be easily automated. The students could even be co-opted (with suitablerewards) to try to catch the teacher out if they forget this sort of task.

Principle 6: Ensure a balance between receptive and productive language.

Are the students using both productive (speaking, writing) and receptive (lis-tening, reading) language in this lesson?

NOTE: another potential application for a semi-automated reminder system(see the 2nd note for 5).

Principle 7: Include opportunities for monitoring and self-evaluation.

Am I using ‘think alouds’ to show students my strategy use? What opportuni-ties are there for reflection and self-evaluation?

NOTE: another semi-automated reminder system case (see the 2nd note for5).

Since these seem like questions to re-reflect upon once we are teaching in a classroom,we will copy this list to the Reflection Journal section of this book (go to page 119)and update it when the principles can be put into practice. We have just started bymaking just a few notes on anticipatory ideas for dealing with these questions.

The web resource http://www.tki.org.nz/. . . /principles/. . . looked like an excellentplace to revisit often for hints on how to implement these seven principles in theclassroom.

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/esol/esolonline/primary_mainstream/classroom/principles/exemp1.php


Website Task—Dictogloss and Mixed Ages

(No, this is not a wax cosmetic for certain male parts.) Here we take a quick lookat a specific teaching strategies. The online forum discussions were so rich that wehave had to hold back on quoting some vey good commnets. So at the end of thissection we have selected just a small sample of reflections. Further comments andstories related to EAL learning difficulties are quoted in the Reflection Journal onpage 119

Primary and secondary student teachers are asked to look at the dictogloss methodon the follwoing websites.

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/. . . /Dictogloss

http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/dictogloss.htm

The following description of dictogloss is quite comprehensive.

“What is it? Students work in cooperative groups to recreate a textthat has been read aloud to the class. (Process adapted from the oneprovided in the source listed below)

“What is its purpose?

• To introduce key words at the beginning of a work sequence

• To encourage students to focus on meaning when listening to a text

• To develop effective listening strategies

• To develop proof reading and editing strategies

• To provide an authentic opportunity for cooperative learning

• To assist NESB students and others who need a lot of support withreading and writing activities

“How do I do it?

• Find a suitable text - usually one that is short and cohesive

• Divide the class into groups.

• Ask students to write down the key words as the text is read.(Teachers might need to read the text more than once.)

• Have students work in cooperative groups to recreate the text.

• Groups proof read and edit their texts before presenting them tothe class in spoken or written form.

• Students compare their texts with the original, attempting to justifythe differences between them.

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Writing/Dictogloss



“How can I adapt it?

• Students might be given title of the topic and asked to predict thekey words

• Some (or all) of the groups could be given copies of (some or all)key words before the text is read.

• Ask groups to work out definitions of the key words

“How can it be used to evaluate students’ language learning? Teach-ers and students might be able to collect information about each stu-dent’s ability to:

• recognise key words in a piece of extended prose

• retell word meanings and definitions

• use effective speaking and listening skills

• work cooperatively

• share information with a group or the whole class

• create a written retelling and compare it with the original

• extend proof reading and editing skills”

—From the second website: http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/. . .

Then answer the question,

• how could you use this in your classroom teaching?

Take the tricky example of a mathematics teacher as a challenge. One ap-plication would be to teach some mathematics history (for example, the livesand work of Euclid, Eratosthenes, Pythagoras, Zhang Heng, Ibn Sına, Musaal-Khwarizmı, Leonard Euler, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and so on). So plain En-glish could be used, no need for equations. This dictogloss idea seems wellworth trying out, since it could be adapted to any subject, and could be funas well as stimulating.

Note that Steve McGuire (http://jalt-publications.org/. . . /wajnryb.html) cited fivereasons for the succeses of dictogloss, as practiced by Ruth Wajnryb using thedictogloss procedure in her own classrooms (it provides for the practice of languageand an opportunity to evaluate performance; it is motivating; it offers experientiallearning and is text based, challenging, and stimulating; it is communicative; andstudents are exposed to the text concept, a move away from the sentence-as-unitphilosophy towards a use of whole chunks of language which is highly beneficial to


http://jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/sep/wajnryb.html


the learner’s language awareness). This is repeated here just to give us some goodarguments for using dictogloss methods in case other teachers question us about it.It would be interesting to add notes to the Reflection Journal if or when we happento make use of the method ourselves.

Early childhood student teachers are asked to study the website, http://www.-educate.ece.govt.nz/. . . /MixedAgeSettings. . .

Then, consider the role of mixed ages in early childhood centres in creating a lan-guage rich environment where interaction among children is facilitated. Answer thequestion: how does this interaction aid the process of language acquisition for EALlearners?

Forum task. Take one focus activity task and one website task. Write 200 wordsmaximum outlining how both these tasks contributed to your understanding ofteaching EAL learners. Give feedback or comment to at least two other people inthe forum.

Here is one sample outline:

“Focus Activity reflection: They were all valuable. I’ll comment onthe 1st FA of 7-2—‘What languages have scripts that are very differentfrom English? etc.,. . . ’ Recalling my time overseas, mainly in Indiatrying to speak canned Hindi to visitors to a Mash

¯riku’l-Adh

¯kar, was a

great way to ‘put myself into an ELLs shoes.’ I can relate this experienceto the other focus activities somewhat, but the other main thing thatstruck me was the long ‘Silent Period’ time and the time lags for devel-opment of BICS and CALP. It was truly a new insight for me. I had aninkling of the long time it takes to master a language (Vladimir Novikovonce remarked that he could think in English like a genius, write Englishlike an expert, but spoke English like a baby) but no idea how it reallyimpacts an ELL who is desperately trying to do well academically andfit in.

“The website task I found quite interesting was the background knowl-edge activation methods investigation. All of the methods referred tosound interesting. The ‘anticipatory guide’, which was the main methodof this focus activity, seemed nice and simple, and an elegant way to gen-erate classroom discussion and engagement with a topic, and to gentlytest one’s assumptions and schema. I will be sure to use this method aswell as experiment with the dictogloss method.”

It is good to read the comments on this topic posted by non-native English speakers,

http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/curriculumAndLearning/Learningenvironments/ThirdTeacher/MixedAgeSettings.aspx

http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/curriculumAndLearning/Learningenvironments/ThirdTeacher/MixedAgeSettings.aspx


such as this one from Dave Zora,

“ I’ve chosen to reflect on how it feels when new migrants and refugeesor EAL learners engaged in every day life where they find them selves inunfamiliar situation. For me as English is my third language, I found myself in many situations which led to laughter and others being frustrated,embarrassed and experienced a bit of fear. There is a lot to talk about,but to cut long story short, before twelve years ago, when I arrived toNZ, my wife, son and I went to social welfare (WINZ) to register ourself in their system in order to receive the unemployment benefit. At theinterview the case manager said to me, ‘could you grab a chair please,’I just stood there looking at my wife and talked to her in our ChristianAramaic language saying, ‘what does this lady want me to do?’ despitehaving a high level of education and having read lots of research papers,I couldn’t understand this word. Then the case manager stood up andwalked to the next office which was two meters away and brought a chair,and straight away I told her, ‘oh, ok you mean to bring the chair!!!!’ Ijust laughed and also was embarrassed telling to my wife, ‘what is thislady going to think about us.’ Colloquial language is quite important toknow as well. In a classroom setting where most of the students areEAL learners, the teacher should explain to them every colloquial termthat might be exposed in the classroom in case they wouldnt understandit.”

Appreciating the humour of mistranslation is also helpful, as well as an opportunityto have a laugh while teaching EAL learners about colloquial nuances, as in thisannecdote from Charlotte,

“I have a friend from China who was working for a mutual friend ofours when he first came to New Zealand. She was organising a surpriseparty for her husband and she invited him to it. A few minutes later hewas carrying a log of timber with her husband and he said to him, ‘I hearyour wife is having surprise party for you tomorrow’!! Woops!”

Additional Resources for Language Learning

The module notes point to the following resources,

• esolonline.tki.org.nz/. . . Secondary-ESOL (e.g., for ‘English Language Inten-sive Programme Years 7-13’ resource units).

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Units-and-teaching-and-learning-sequences/Archived-ESOL-Online-units/Secondary-ESOL


• Graphic organizers examples, esolonline.tki.org.nz/. . . Graphic-organisers.

• Dictogloss, wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/dictogloss.htm

http://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/What-do-I-need-to-know-and-do/Effective-strategies-pedagogy-knowing-how-to-teach/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Writing/Graphic-organisers


8. Module 8—Evidence-basedTeaching

This module is something of a culmination of all of the previous lessons. All tehtheory in the world is fine and good as far as one can absorb it all, but is uselesswithout real world data and evidence to monitor and back-up a teachers’ practice.The question we ask ourselves is, “how do I know my application of all that theoryI studied in EPSY301 is really working?”

We violate our course notes rule of note regurgitating the module notes here justonce, since evidence based teaching (EBT) is quite a difficult subject to implementin practice. So it is worthwhile going over the theory one more time.

What is Evidence Based Teaching?

The module notes give the following description. Evidence based teaching is,

1. the collection, analysis and interpretation of information about learners toinform teaching and learning,

2. the use of evidence to make a difference to learning,

3. family and community consideration: assessment should involve families, whanauand the community;

4. empowerment: assessment of childrens learning should enhance their sense ofthemselves as capable people and competent learners,

5. relationships: assessment is influenced by the relationships between educatorsand children, and these relationships should be taken into account duringassessment,

95

Module 8—Evidence-based Teaching 96

6. holistic development: assessment of children should take place in the samecontext as activities and relationships, and should encompass all dimensionsof childrens learning and development and see the child as a whole.

The module notes go on to elaboprate,

In recent years there has been a shift from assessment of learningto assessment for learning. In other words assessment should enhancelearning and be part of learning rather than just measuring what a learnerknows. This means that Teachers should be asking, “How effective is myteaching in impacting on learners’ learning?” rather than just, “Howwell are my learners doing?”

Why Use Evidence Based Teaching?

The module notes give nine good reasons.

1. Examining evidence of learners achievement for its implications for teachinghelps raise achievement.

2. New technologies mean large amounts of data are readily available.

3. Accountability and data are at the heart of contemporary reform efforts world-wide (that is, it is a bit futile to attempt reform or improvement without clearevidence for both the need, extent, and how to improve things).

4. Data an important part of an ongoing process of analysis, insights, new learn-ing and changes in practice in learning centres and communities.

5. The most powerful way to raise learner achievement is to foster excellence inteaching.

6. Teachers have marked and meaningful effect, rather than just a positive one.

7. An evidence-based approach informs professional teaching practice.

8. Teachers ability to build on learners’ prior experiences and scaffold effectivelearning opportunities is crucial to enhancing learning. (Whilst it is veryimportant that teachers are caring towards learners, teachers must also careabout effective teaching.)


9. Learning is enhanced by the extensive use of assessment practices that arediagnostic, descriptive, formative, motivating and provide quality feedback.(So assessment needs to include student self-assessment and peer assessmentas good learners take increasing responsibility for their own learning.)

We assume the authors of the module have used evidence-based research to arriveat these reasons!

Principles of EBT—Informing Practice

Therr are five key principles of EBT given by the module, citing (Timperley &Parr, 2005).

1. The process of making teaching decisions involves a consideration of both thecurriculum and the evidence of student achievement with regard to specificlearning intentions. (Decision bases.)

2. The focus should be on the effectiveness of day to day teaching activities, notadditional programmes. (Focus.)

3. The collection of evidence needs to be ongoing and should be used both toidentify student needs and to monitor the effectiveness of the intervention.(Collection.)

4. Best practice is established by examining the data by class and finding themost successful teacher or teachers who can assist the others. (Best practice.)

5. The process should be an inclusive one at all points. Achievement informationis analysed together and interpretations and decisions are collectively owned(all teachers, all students). (Disclosure, inclusiveness or openness.)

In some cases one suspects it would be advisable to not reveal all assessment evidencepublically, but certainly the involved teachers and the individual student should havemutual full disclosure of the data and evidence of their EBT history.

Synopsis of T&R—Challenging and Changing Teach-

ers’ Schemas

Before discussing the findings and implications of this research paper, we first sum-marize the article (Timperley & Robinson, 2002). The key points were,


• Only 2 out of 35 schools in the region selected for the professional developmentprogram cited any problem as due to internal school processes. All schoolscited mainly external problems with students or their backgrounds (deficitthinking).

• To force a change of existing schema all schools required at least three exter-nal interventions—if we count the initial professional development programinvitation as the first intervention. One school (Pleasant Road) required fourinterventions.

Apart from the initial contact, the remaining 2 or 3 interventions were either,

– Challenging the existing schema.

– Recommended testing, to see discrepant data.

– Offering of alternative methods (literacy programs usually) and/or alter-native interpretations of the data.

Resistance after the second intervention stage was either of the form,

– to explain-away the discrepant data,

– to find fault with the professional development contractor, or to endlesslytest or look for other effects,

– to resist the need for testing assumptions,

– or to resist wholesale changes.

Twenty four of 26 eligible schools opted to enter the professional development pro-gram and accept the funding. The paper looks at four of the schools as prototypicalexamples of the different processes that took place.

The processes each of the selected four schools for the case study went through aresummarized here:

1. Viscount school: Their schema 1.0 was to blame low-entry skills.

(a) challenge to their schema—why not test assumption (external input-2)

(b) testing revealed discrepant data (students had good skills)

(c) resistance was to explain-away the data (an ‘exceptional intake’ that year)

(d) consultant provided alternative interpretation (external input-3)

(e) recognition of their poor interpretation led to revised schema (the stu-dents really do have a good foundation).


2. Pleasant Road school: Their schema 1.0 was to blame uncommitted parentsand likely book loses.

(a) challenge to their schema—meet parents and give out funded books (ex-ternal input-2)

(b) testing revealed discrepant data (many parents attended meeting & only4.5% book loss)

(c) resistance was to test everything

(d) consultant urges testing assumption about student attendance (externalinput-3)

(e) discrepant data seen (students have good attendance records)

(f) consultant provided alternative teaching method (external input-4)

(g) revised schema (move to evidence based testing schema).

3. Kingsland school: Their schema 1.0 was low-expectation hence need to delayfull-on reading.

(a) challenged to their schema—why delay reading? (external input-2)

(b) consultant provides alternative literacy program

(c) resistance against need to test achievement

(d) testing is urged, revealing discrepant data (external input-3)

(e) revised schema (‘we did not know how to teach them’).

4. Paterson school: There schema 1.0 was to blame student background henceneed to ‘go slowly’, not push students.

(a) challenge to their schema—why not push harder? (external input-2)

(b) consultant provides alternative literacy program

(c) resistance was to avoid wholesale change (‘they want us to change every-thing’)

(d) school modifies existing program but does not change the schema basisfor it

(e) no improvement, no discrepant data, old schema is actually reinforced inteachers minds

(f) no revised schema, withdraw from program.


So each of these four schools underwent a slightly different process. Only in thelast case was there no positive improvement and no consequent change in teacherschemas, in fact in this last case the poor initial schema was reinforced. Let’s againsummarize the processes in basic form to highlight the differences:

Viscount: challenge–discrepant data–resistance–alternative interpretation—revisedschema.

Pleasant Rd: challenge–discrepant data–resistance–alternative data—revised schema.

Kingsland: challenge–alternative method–resistance–discrepant data—revised schema.

Viscount: challenge–alternative method–resistance–rejection of alternative method—no revised schema.

Discussion of “Challenging and Changing Teach-

ers’ Schemas”

This section is an extended review of the online Q&A discussion about the Tim-perley & Robinson article, Achieving School Improvement Through Challenging andChanging Teachers’ Schema. This was a powerful article. Almost immediately itprimes a student teacher to the openess and honesty required for improving teachingpractice, and the difficulty of changes one’s practices even in the face of evidencefor a need to change.

Vicky kick-started this discussion:

“I have finally read the Timperley reading and it has made me a bitsad thinking of the schools out there that have these schemas where theblame of the children’s abilities is external! It really made me think weas teachers should be so aware of questioning ourselves and looking atour own effectiveness of teaching. We ARE responsible, yikes that is abit scary!

“It makes the principle #1 from MOE—Know your learners, so im-portant, we may think we know our students, but we shouldn’t presumeanything, we actually need to find out about them and their families.

“Actually it makes me excited, we can make a difference in these littlepeople’s lives! I hope I will remember all this. . . anyway, just a thought,love to hear from anyone else out there. . . ”

Oldriska replied,


“Thanks for your inspiring comments! It is a scary thought. Itfrightened me too when reading the article, and it made me question thejudgements that we all make on a day to day basis without getting toknow people. I think whether we like to admit it or not, we probably allhave them to differing degrees, but it is like you say being able to reflecton ourselves and challenge our assumptions. I enjoyed seeing in thearticle how in most cases data and evaluation of students combined withintervention and offering teachers different ways of doing things helpedchange the teacher’s schemas. I have a real dislike of data and statisticsand people being labelled according to findings but my assumptions werechallenged through this article and I can see the huge value of student’sbeing assessed so that teachers can truely see where their student’s are at.The artcile shows that it is so important for teachers is to keep learningand self reflecting and challenging their assumptions throughout theircareers. The outcomes were very positive in most cases and I was soexcited I looked up the website of Viscount School, one of the schools inthe Timperley article, and found their site to be uplifitng and inspiring.www.viscount.school.nz/report.htm”

Then Susan J., inserted this provocative thought,

“I would like to think that because this research was published 9years ago, that these sorts of schemas would be extinct. Isn’t it greatto think that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past and how luckythe children of the future will be to have us as their teachers! Knowingthe child and understanding where they are coming from seems to bean underlying subject within this whole paper whether it’s connectedto pakeha, maori, special needs children or any other ethnicity. Onething I do think is important to remember is that it’s not only theseminority groups that we need to understand—pakeha children can becompromised too (low socio-economic/broken homes etc). Don’t judgea book by it’s cover is my motto.”

I great sentiment! And yes, wouldn’t it be nice to live in a society where certainschemas and instinctual (or acquired) prejudices had become extinct. Isabelle wasfirst to follow up with,

“Susan, I would also love to think positively about this and assumethat such schemas are extinct but, realistically, as Oli has mentioned ear-lier, almost everyone has a tendency to unconsciously judge people (to acertain extent) without real data to support those thoughts so, I believe

http://www.viscount.school.nz/report.htm


that this problem will inevitably always be somewhat present in class-rooms unless each teacher purposefully makes sure it doesn’t. . . which isdefinitely something to strive for.”

Blair chimed in with his usaul overly-wordy 2 cents worth,

“I loved the lessons from this article! Take home points for me were:“(a) Everyone has schemas, whether we admit it or not! e.g., I tendto have an overly optimistic schema—I think all students at secondaryschool can learn quantum mechanics basics in 6 to 8 months. That’sprobably a bad schema since it is unrealistic? (I think it is realisticbut depends on given me the students and not sharing them with otherteachers for those months haha!)“(b) our schemas can be changed.(c) a good way to alter our schemas and ensure they continually adaptfor the better is to assess ourselves, test our assumptions: write downour beliefs about each student and devise a way of testing them.“(d) students have schemas about us teachers as well! So we can work totry and alter these for the better as well. . . ask students to do the samesort of assessment of their beliefs.“(e) everyone benefits when people try to understand each other moresympathetically. The cliche ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ is so apthere as one of you mentioned earlier. Obviously some ’book covers’ arerevealing, but what a huge disservice one does by not leafing throughall the pages! The thing is, human beings are not just analogous toordinary book, we are books with infinitely many pages. So while the’cover’ and many pages may be battered and ugly, what about thosegems of pages within all of us that other people hardly ever see. I like tothink of a teacher’s role, in part, as exploring the ‘book’ of each humanand uncovering those wickedly cool pages.“[(f) Viscount School are very cool for publicly sharing their story. :-) ]”

Shelley then added some realism to the discussion,

“I have to agree with you Blair, however this is a basic human be-haviour. Our snap judgement of others helps protects us from dangerand guides our interactions every day.

“I was employed as a teacher aide for a boy who I knew to have mildautism, and who wore hearing aides to help with an auditory processing


disorder. It wasn’t until I saw this little boy whizz through maths prob-lems and his beautiful writing that I realised that I had made assump-tions about his cognitive abilities based on the things I knew about him.I did this without even thinking. In a class of 30 students a teacher willmake some ‘snap judgements’ about a child based on first impressionsof behaviour/manner as well as physical characteristics. Is it possible ashumans to not do this? Or is it a question of not relying on those snapjudgements and using EBT?

“Also parents and students have schemas around teachers based oftenon physical characteristics and whatever the carpark chitchat has to say.Perhaps this is why parents don’t always get involved”

to which Blair replied,

“. . . for the question you raised about whether to rely upon snap judg-ments or use EBT, I still think the lessons from Gladwell’s book [Blink!The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, (Gladwell, 2005)] amplify thecase that we should never rely upon snap judgments. Now I’ve caught upwith you and understand what EBT stands for I’m even more convincedsomething like it should be used instead of making judgment calls aboutstudents.

“To answer the question directly: Is it possible [for] humans to notdo this? (ie., rely upon first impressions), the answer is clear:The answer is, sadly, ‘No’—we all instinctively form first impressions andmake snap judgments, this is unavoidable and biological in origin, as youpointed out—I agree—our evolved brains need to respond to crises anddanger, from the days when we were hunter-gatherers.

“But we are now talking about a classroom context where that in-stinct is not needed (except for very rare circumstances, like earthquakes,that have nothing to do with teaching!) so if the question is changedslightly to, ‘do we need to use first impressions?’ then the answer is ahappy positive ‘No’. (IMHO).

“To relate this to the take-home message from T&R (for me), thelesson is that we all have a higher nature that sits on top of our instinct(reptilian brain structures actually, I think!), which is our capacity forexactly the reasoning and abstract thinking that we are currently en-gaged with, and this should, in the teaching context, be something wecan (and should) train ourselves to use to always override the instinctivesnap judgments we make about people.”

Folowing this theme and elaborating, Jinxi (Jonathon Hubert) wrote the following.


“Please attach IMHO to all statements.“Snap judgments are great as long as they’re correct.“Reflex reactions bypass the need to engage the higher functions of

the brain. This saves one having to think about things like, ’how are mylegs doing? Is my knee in the right place to keep me upright?’ By whichtime you may be on the floor thinking about why your bottom is sore.

“A snap judgment is just that, a ’snap’. Unlike a reflex arc that is’hard wired’ into our neurological system ’snap judgments’ are based onprevious knowledge, experience and abstract thought ( hopefully) as inPiagets’ combinatorial logic. This should mean that we can manage newsituations and information without having to examine every little detailevery time in a limited time environment such as in class rooms or insurvival scenarios.

“The problem with relying on ’snap judgments’ too much is that weget lazy. We can rely on them too heavily because it is convenient to doso (less thinking). The other problem is that the human brain is alwaystaking short cuts to save on processing time. This is particularly truewith vision. We tend to see only what we expect to see. I’m sure wecan all relate to this when we are looking for ones’ keys when we’re late.They may be on the table right in front of you but you don’t recognizethem because they are slightly obscured by a bit of paper and do notconform to how you expect them to look. Your ’snap judgment’ will bewrong and now you have dismissed the table in your search as ’no keysthere’ consequently making the search a hopeless task. This is what mywife terms, ’ Bloke looking’. She will come in and say, ’What’re youdoing? Here they are, right in front of you!’

“It often takes a different perspective to help you see the errors inyour judgements. I think this relates to the whole point of the Timperleypaper.

“ ‘Snap judgements’ have to be based on correct assumptions. Somepeople consciously give out all sorts of signals to help us make correct as-sumptions about them and hopefully facilitating appropriate responses,others are totally unaware of the signals they give. This relates veryclosely to cultural and social expectations. If you have no reference tothese signals you shouldn’t be making snap judgments. If you have nobackground knowledge you shouldn’t be making any judgments. If youhave no experience you shouldn’t make predictions. To do so could getyou or someone else into a lot of trouble.

“If you do have good background knowledge, information, data andexperience then predictions or expectations can justifiably be made. Thisis then a very distinct advantage in ones’ life. If you can avoid difficul-


ties before they happen by predicting them then success in life/taskswill much more likely. I think this is the relevance of the ‘CompetentLearners’ paper.”

Still on the same topic but changing tack slightly towards the problem of failing todo our best for students, an anonymous collegaue wrote,

“What I understand of history is that we still continue to make thesame mistakes and come across the same problems (in principle at least).Even in my own short existence I find myself falling into the same sortof traps I promised I wouldn’t. The fact I know this helps me to avoidthem most of the time but it only takes a little distraction and oops I’mlate again!!!

“This is part of being Human.“I accept easily that I have failings and try to minimize them but I

also know I have strengths, which I try to enhance. It’s difficult and oftentiring to constantly review ones self and be introspective all the time sothat we are able judge if we have the correct schema. One thing thatintrigues me is that if it’s so difficult to do this for the person we knowmost about ( ourselves) then how are we expected to be able understandthe backgrounds and schema for every person we will ever teach and getit right. We will at times get it wrong and fail the needs of a child. Thisis a sad thought but bad things happen everywhere and to all people atsome point.

“If we can’t accept our failings and be at peace with them and who weare how can we move towards the positive aspects that we excel at? I amconcerned that if you constantly ask a person, ‘Are you sure you’re doingthat right?’ or worse, ‘Do you think you are doing that wrong?’ for longenough that they will become so obsessed with that thought that theyundermine their own natural abilities. Analysis paralysis or analyticalcritical! We are told not to focus a child’s mind on the mistakes theymake but on their achievements. Should this not be true for all people?If we are doing something right shouldn’t we just continue doing it?

“One of the most important life lessons I’ve learnt is that the firstthing one should do is learn to fall well. We will all fall at some point.The better you fall the less damage you will sustain and the quicker youwill be on your feet giving it another go. This means that the fear offalling is gone. It may be an inconvenience to fall but not terminal. Nexttime you my just stay on your feet”

In response Blair wrote,


“In relation to teaching, I guess the important thing is to not ”giveup” on a particular child even if you may have failed to help them before.

“There is also some food for thought provide by Anon concerningthe need to be not overly critical. There’s a balance of course. I likedErik Erikson’s ideas about the various antinomies we all have to strugglewith. So when one is going through the industry vs inferiority stage itcan be a killer to be put down and have your efforts denigrated. But Isuspect this is not just a six year old struggle. I think we all strugglewith this throughout our lives whenever we are entering new territory ornew domains of inquiry.

“Also, it’s worth thinking of a scientist. They have a self-correctingthing called experiment plus peer review! It corrects bad theories orhypotheses. So even if they completely miss a crucial piece of evidence,their theory or model can usually be reworked and erroneous assumptionscan be identified. You have to be fairly philosophical about a ‘failed’experiment, and even consider it as a positive thing, since it will eitherhelp refine a model or lead one to a better theory. Really good scientistslove to find annoying and weird results. Is this not also what EvidenceBased Teaching is all about? Sure, it’s easier to be lazy and not want notget involved in a lot of teaching assessment, but a little bit of hypothesistesting can, I think, go a long way. It’s just a matter of being open tothe process.”

Back on the subject of needing to know our students, Leah gave a nice story,

“Ahh, the importance of knowing a child. These discussions bringback a lot of memories and allow me to (finally) tie it into my academicworld. Prior to studying this year, I worked with children at a summercamp over the span of 10 years. In this time, kids change! We acknowl-edged that, and convinced new staff to find things out about each childfor themselves—not rely on previous staff to tell them what a child waslike. I know that in staffrooms in schools across the world the followingtakes place—‘Oh, you have him, this year—well, good luck with that.’What sort of impression does that new teacher take away?

“When people (like us) are ready to find out for themselves, the en-vironment becomes one of appreciation, acceptance and (for some kids)relief. I have experienced it—in a sports camp of all places, where win-ning is everything, right? No! Kids will follow your lead and withenough good leaders, they learn to make up their minds for themselvestoo. But—it’s difficult to change or influence everyone because somepeople find it hard to un-learn the things that have become habit—and


its important to realise that even children can have a habit of reactingin a certain way if this is how other role models in their life react.

“I realise this is not related directly to the reading, but is moderatelyrelated to the famous Blue Eye/Brown Eye study (Jane Elliott) thatbrought to light many unconscious prejudices we all carry. A very laydescription is on wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane Elliott and thereare many other more scholarly websites with more info.”

Then Edward raised the spectre of seniority in schools:

“The Timperley and Robinson reading did inspire me but also mademe wonder if I’m a junior teacher and aware of better/more effectivemethods yet the senior teachers are happy with their methods how doI change the culture of teaching in a dept/school? Surely the seniorteachers have trained and have research to support their potentially fail-ing methods?

“Does every staff member at the ministry have a magic wand theycan wave at failing areas?”

This is not discussed much in the course readings, module notes and textbook!However, it is probably one of the more difficult obstacles we face as new studentteachers, full of bright eyed hope and optimism, looking to add value to the currenteducation system.

That sadly is where we leave this topic as at February 15 2010. Hopefully somemore insights and practical guides for overcoming the barrier to schema challengeand so forth, will emerge in due course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott

9. Extension: Quick Summary ofKey Research Papers

This section might be helpful as a memory aid. It attempts to boil the EPSY-301course readings (not including McInerney++) down to a single sentence or two.This is not possible without doing an injustice to each paper, so please bear in mindthat the intent is only to provide a quick-fire review.

[EDITOR: TODO...]

108

Reflection Journal

Reflections on Each Week of EPSY301

I have learnt at least the following new items of knowledge,

1. Most so-called ‘theories’ of educational psychology are not really social-scientifictheories but rather distillations of wisdom about effective teaching, learning,and human development. Almost all of the major ideas in this field have somevalidity, maybe not for all people all of the time but certainly they stand upas useful little models and thought-stimulants for any prospective educator.

2. Modern constructivist education philosophy has a lot in common with my per-sonal philosophies about the roles and relationships associated with teachingand learning.

3. There seems to be a lot of valuable research on teaching and learning meth-ods,with conclusiosn and recommendations that have still not reached theaverage everyday classrooms.

4. Studying online allows one to be very flexible with one’s time, but requires asmuch discipline, or maybe more, as studying on-site.

How have my ideas about teaching and learning changed? Honestly nota lot in this first week. I have a slightly deeper appreciation of the difficulties thatteachers face, whether from studetns, from their colleagues, from the pressures ofparents and from the rules and regulations of the educational system and structure. Ienjoyed istneing to D.J. Campbell’s podcasts, especially the episodes on Feistinger’scognitive dissonance ideas and Sweller’s cognitive load theory.

Reflections after the second week. During the second week I read the chapterby Woolfolk which I enjoyed, particularly the section discussing some of the fallacies

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Extension: Quick Summary of Key Research Papers 110

of common-sense (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007, p.10–12). In particular I would haveguessed that common sense would be correct in sugggesting that teachers shouldhelp out the lower performing students first and most often. The research by SandraGraham (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007, cited on p.11) suggests on the contrary thatthis is more likely to lead to the student (and thier peers) concluding that the studetnhas low ability rather than simply lacking effort, and it is better to offer help whenstudents ask for help rather than before they ask for help. I also liked the exampleof Lily Wong’s research (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007, also cited on p.11) that showedpeople can be mislead into thinking something is “obvious” merely by being shown“research results”.

I liked the quote (I forget the source, probably in Boerkaerts, 2002) that went:“punishment teaches children what not to do, it does not teach them what to do!”.That’s a nice point against use of punishment. Better to concentrate on rewardingand reinforcing good behaviour.

Also in the 2nd week I read more about Sweller’s Cognitive Loading ideas. Thisactually seems like a reasonable set of ideas that could be granted the status of‘theory’ ! The new information from cognitive loading theory that I found veryinteresting was the various reversal effects :

• Worked examples: For beginners studying worked examples is more effica-cious than trying to solve problems.

• Expertise reversal effect:The expertise reversal effect occurs when a stu-dent has learnt enough from worked examples, at this point it becomes moreefficacious to do problem solving.

• Split-source effect: For geometry and physics when two or more items arerequired for effective learning the working memory is best utilized by combin-ing the two items into a single diagram or pattern (words plus pictures shouldgo together). The consequent load on working memory in not doing this istermed the split-source effect, and results in lowerered learning efficacy.

• Redundant information effect: Combining two modes (words plus pic-tures) that contain essentially the same information is not a good idea sinceit increases deands on working memory with no added benefit to simply pre-senting the information in split-source format. This could also be termed thepowerpoint effect, if an audience tries to read a slide and listen to the same in-formation spoken by the presenter at the same time, then this lessons retentionand learning.

• Modality effect: The brain uses multiple processors, so-to-speak, the miantwo are visual and auditory. It is more effective to present split-source infor-


mation in a combined pattern using both modalities, since then the demandson each processor are lessened, thus instead of merging words with a diagramyou could instead use audio (verbal or recorded sound) alongside the visualdiagram (hnce audio-visual presentation). Provided it is truly split-source andnot redundant!

• Imagination versus Study effect: An expert often learns more effectivelywhen trying to imagine concepts or procedures, but usually only when thematerial has already been suffiently well-learned (otherwise it is too much ofa burden on working memory to both imagine and grasp the new ideas). Sobeginners often find it best to study concepts and processes first. This is aform of the expertise reversal effect.

Reflections after the third week. The sorry state of New Zealand schools hitme when reading the material for this week. It seems a lot of good progress hasbeen made since I was at school, but there are still massive injustices in the waysnon-European culture is provided for (cf. Bevan-Brown, 2006), and general teachersexpectations and schemas are found to be often inappropriate and down-right false(cf. Timperley & Robinson, 2002).

Reflection on Assignmetn 1—Personal Eduucation Autobiography. Whobetter to quote here than Hannah, who aced teh assignmetn and wrote a very nicereflection:

“My main feedback was about being able to go a bit more in depthwith the links to the theories I referenced, and in hindsight I wouldsay that my main problem with respect to that was that I had abouta million ’lightbulb’ moments about my development and education inthose first two weeks and really felt like I was psychoanalysing myself(which was disconcerting at times), and because I have a pretty goodmemory of everything that happened at school, I was reluctant to leaveanything out! So I guess I could have picked less examples and analysedsome in more depth.

“But in the end, linking all of that stuff to my own experience hasproved invaluable. My reflection on this assignment is that it taughtme a lot about myself and my motivation for learning, which has beenpurely achievement oriented to date. Writing this assignment allowed meto reconstruct my own ideas of learning and I came out of it hoping thatmy results would show me something about my understanding ratherthan a good grade. For the first time in my life I read the comments


and leafed through my assignment before I even thought about lookingfor where the grade was written, haha! I am happy with my result, too,which shows I’m on the right track to understanding, but I am mosthappy with the change in my attitude. I hope that changing my ownschema will help me to transfer the value of understanding over ‘grades’to my future students, because prior to doing this course my focus forlearners would have been much different.”

Samples of colleagues’ excellent essays were posted on the wiki: http://geonworld.-homelinux.net/twiki/. . . AssignmentSamples.

Grand Unified Model of Educational Psychology

OK, it’s not a theory, just like all the other ‘theories’ of human educational devel-opment are not theories. But here are some meta-principles. I will refer to ideas asphilosophies rather than theories.

1. All philosophies and ideas about human educational psychology and devel-opment (both teaching and learning philosophies) with empirical backing arepotentially valid.

2. When two or more philosophies hold logically contradictory premises (or con-clusions based on multiple premises) then one or both are invalid (but only inthose aspect or premises that lead to the contradictions).

3. Disagreements about relative importance of certain ideas are not logical con-tradictions.

4. Human psychology is too complex to admit a single unified model that cancapture all the realities and implications of human development (this principlebasically says that humans are in some sense infinite in potential and no finitemodel can hope to explain all of human behaviour).

5. The units or levels involved in human psychology: biological organs, indi-viduals, families, groups, institutions, society, and human spirituality, are allimportant and related, and any valid model can be used to explain certainobserved features of these levels and their relationships and implications forteaching and learning—provided the model does not conflict with evidence.

6. Such valid models can be viewed as tuned to particular units and levels andmay incorporate change over time.

http://geonworld.homelinux.net/twiki/bin/view.pl/Main/AssignmentSamples

http://geonworld.homelinux.net/twiki/bin/view.pl/Main/AssignmentSamples


7. It is possible to usefully utilize any given model or set of models that arecollectively consistent, and adjust parameters of the model to suit a giveneducational situation.

The final principle is a network view of human learning+teaching psychology. It islike a smorgasboard. One can use various models and adjust their parameters tosuit a given real world educational situation or context. Provided the consistencyaxioms hold then there is no need to favour one model over another, only the efficacyand practical value of the model need be considered. In other words, this ‘GUM’ ofeducational psychology is like Bruce Lee’s no style philosophy of martial art.

It is not a theory because it cannot really be tested, however it can be put intopractise. It can be evaluated for practical efficacy and can be studied and refined byusing consistency as a guiding principle. It is open, because anyone can potentiallyadd a new teaching/learning model to the GUM-EP. An educator can pick-and-choose amoung many models and adjust the importances of various principles tobest suit their needs and the needs of their students and society.

Motivating Students (and teachers)

TIP: Keep a copy of Boerkaert’s booklet handy at all teching times!

It is ideal if students are motivated to learn and teachers are motivated to learn andteach. But how? The key ideas from the booklet Motivation to Learn (Boekaerts,2002), http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/. . . /prac10e.pdf are useful to keepin mind.

Key questions:

• What moves students to learn and the quantity and quality of the effort theyinvest?

• What choices students make?

• What makes them persist in the face of hardship?

• How student motivation is affected by teacher practices and peer behaviour?

• How motivation develops?

• How the school environment affects it?

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/EducationalPracticesSeriesPdf/prac10e.pdf


Classes of motivation:

• Achievement motivation

• Intrinsic motivation

• Goal orientation

Nine key principles of motivation for learning;

1. Motivational beliefs act as favourable contexts for learning—so useeach student’s beliefs about motivation.

2. Students are not motivated to learn in the face of failure—so helpthem to experience some success.

3. Students who value the learning activity are less dependent on en-couragement, incentives and reward—so help students find value and/orpersonal meaning and worth in a subject.

4. Students who are mastery-oriented learn more than students whoare ego-oriented—so down-play ego-orientaiton (you are not interested incorrect answers) and praise effort and industry.

5. Students expect value for effort (research evidence is clear: domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs influence effort investment, and not the other wayround)—so provide assignments that require students to predict the effortneeded to do a task. After finishing the task, students could be asked toreflect on the invested effort. Was it sufficient or superfluous, and why?

6. Students need encouragement and feedback on how to develop mo-tivational strategies—so get studetns to think abut their goals, what’d befun, and reflect on them, set some goals and acct on them.

7. Students need encouragement and feedback on how to develop will-power—ask your students to compare and contrast the amount and type ofeffort invested in various tasks, this will help them gain insight into their ownwillpower.

8. Students are more committed to learning if the objectives are com-patible with their own goals—be flexible about goals, don’t impose yourown unnecessarily (‘I say you must always work alone’), negotiate and inter-rogate each student’s goals.


9. Adapt these principles to the local context of your classroom—soobserve students and discover how the previous eight motivational principleswork in your classroom.

How to spot Mastery and Achievement oriented students.

• Mastery oriented students:

– take extra effort in class, even when no marks are at stake

– seek challenging work for the sake of it

– ask for additional work

– ask more than the usual number of questions

– make applications of school knowledge to the real world.

• Achievement oriented students:

– ask about teacher expectations related to assignments

– ask questions about how assignments are structured, such as how marksare awarded

– will work beyond normal expectations too achieve higher marks (but willnot ask for extra work)

– question the distribution of exam and assignment marks.

Dealing with Poorly Performing Students

Here I assume the student is well-behaved, in general, but is struggling acquiringknowledge and skills required by the curriculum.

First thing is to not worry too much about the curriculum, but instead focus uponadvancing the student’s understanding and motivation.

Dealing with Badly Behaved Students

Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory seems like a good method for steering badlybehaved students towards better behaviour. Identify why they are behaving poorly,and if possible identify what they are thinking that leads to their present generalbehaviour. Then identify conflicts between their behaviour and thier beliefs. Theywill naturally tend to want to resolve this conflict. The teacher then could try tohelp steer the change in the student towards more positive behaviours and/or beliefs.


Anxiety and the Pressure of Goal Orientation

This is a topic I would love to know more about. My first impression is that thegeneral approach is to,

• Not over-emphasise the curriculum. Teach to the student, not to the curricu-lum. How?

• Use classroom activities that take the students’ minds off the need to achievegood exams grades, for example, mke it obvious that for you the importance ison learning processes, having fun, and studious effort (i.e., intrinsic motivationfactors).

• Playdown or not even bring attention to students with good grades in tests.Instead highlight and reward student effort and progress.

Improving Schools and Improving Teachers

The work done by the NZ Ministry for Education and research by Timperley andRobinson (Timperley & Robinson, 2002) is really impressive. The idea of challengingteachers’ schemas (individually and collectively for each school) seemed to really payoff big time for the sample of low performing NZ schools. Great work.

Teachers think children are not well prepared for school, but when challenged toinvestigate the reality they found the children had a surprisingly good set of funda-mental skills. But often this was accepted only after the teachers and school wereforced to intepret the data without bias or prejudice. This lead to acceptance ofchange in schema (beliefs about the students and how to appropriately teach them).

The lesson: never assume you know your students well—always test yourassumptions and be prepared to adapt if they are flawed.

The Seven Principles for Content Language Learn-

ing

The following principles can be applied right across the curriculum. The idea is to jotdown notes under each principle that provide solutions to the associated questions.This will be an ongoing effort.


For more guidelines and examples see, http://www.tki.org.nz/r/esol/esolonline/-primary mainstream/classroom/. . . principles/,

Reflect on the questions under each principle. What do they mean for you in yourteaching situation?

The seven principles are listed below, along with the associated questions.

Principle 1: Know your learners—their language background, their language profi-ciency, their experiential background.

What do you know about your students’ language skills? What do you knowabout their prior knowledge? How will you find out this information? Howwill it affect your planning?

NOTES: We need to, first of all, open some kind of communication channelwith the students to find out this information. Graphical methods could beused. Automated translators (there are plenty of internet sites that providesuch free services, more or less accurately enough to be intelligible) mightbe used, whereby questions can be supplied to the student in their nativelanguage.

NOTE: We can do some background reading ourselves, and we can (hopefully)talk to the students’ parents or guardians. As well as attempting to learnwhatever we can from the ELL student we can also compare notes with otherteachers.

Principle 2: Identify the learning outcomes including the language demands of theteaching and learning.

What language do the students need to complete the task? Do the studentsknow what the content and language learning outcomes are?

NOTE: When possible code the intended outcomes in the form of non-verbal,non-written objectives, such as pictorial format.

NOTES: If the outcomes can be communicated ‘through the language barrier’and echoed back (like a game of secret whispers) and the echo is more or lessthe same as the communicated goal, then we can safely say we have effectivelycommunicated the learning and language demand objectives. (This is similarto the principle used in error correction codes used in computing.)

Principle 3: Maintain and make explicit the same learning outcomes for all thelearners.

How can I make the lesson comprehensible to all students? How can I plan thelearning tasks so that all the students are actively involved? Do my studentsunderstand the learning outcomes?




NOTES: For one solution see the 2nd note under the previous principle (2).

NOTE: active involvement can be facilitated by group work, or by computer-aided instruction.

NOTE: Find a way to relate the learning objectives to the culture of thestudent.

Principle 4: Begin with context embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete.

How can I put these concepts into a concrete context?

NOTE: If an abstract concept has no real world value then it need not betaught! So every worthy abstract concept can be presented in a concreteexample, we just need to think a bit to find an appropriate example. I’m surewe could all think of great ways to teach highly abstract qualities like virtues(honesty, justice and so forth, for example by using play acting scenarios).What about an extreme example: how would one make the abstract idea ofa quantum field concrete enough for teaching EAL students? Well, first ofall, is that on the curriculum? Well in 10 years time it just might be a topicin secondary schools (average human intelligence is always rising). So let’stackle this case! An easy, and obvious solution is to use graphic, that is, visualteaching methods. A space-time field is an ethereal concept but it can bedepicted by a picture of a closed universe with labels or values for the field atevery single point, which can be drawn with some artistic ability using contourlines or ‘fluid flow’ vectors and so forth.

NOTE: See also the 3rd note for principle 3.

Principle 5: Provide multiple opportunities for authentic language use with a focuson students using academic language.

Is the language focus on key language? Do I make sure the students have manyopportunities to notice and use new language?

NOTE: setting up interactive group activities will help provide such opportu-nities for EAL students.

NOTE: this is something we simply need to put some effort into rememberingto monitor. If the teacher has a computer available then a reminder systemcould be easily automated. The students could even be co-opted (with suitablerewards) to try to catch the teacher out if they forget this sort of task.

Principle 6: Ensure a balance between receptive and productive language.

Are the students using both productive (speaking, writing) and receptive (lis-tening, reading) language in this lesson?


NOTE: another potential application for a semi-automated reminder system(see the 2nd note for 5).

Principle 7: Include opportunities for monitoring and self-evaluation.

Am I using ‘think alouds’ to show students my strategy use? What opportuni-ties are there for reflection and self-evaluation?

NOTE: another semi-automated reminder system case (see the 2nd note for5).

Forum 4 Reflections (EAL Learning)

This was another online forum that had many interesting thoughts and stories. Someof them are quoted below. At first these entries were just ordered my date (as theyappeared on the DiscussionBoard).

Lisa Foggin wrote this reply to the question, “Have you been in an unfamiliar situ-ation where you did not speak the language?”,

“I recently delivered a project in a Maori Boys High School. I split theboys into small groups to discuss aspects of the project. When workingin these groups they spoke amongst themselves in Maori. I found itdifficult to interact with the group as I do not speak Maori. I felt isolatedand frustrated as I did not know whether the boys were discussing thequestions they had been set or were merely talking amongst themselves.I felt disorientated and that I had lost control of the group as I was unableto share learning through their language. This experience has providedan insight into the difficulties EAL learners face on a daily basis”

So that shows how the tables can be turned on a teacher in a classroom. ThenTarena had this interesting comment in response to Lisa’s story,

“I can remember travelling through different parts of Europe andexperiencing those same feelings. I felt frustrated in Paris because thebody language seemed as though they generally hated tourists, but Ienjoyed Rome because I could kind of make sense of conversation throughthere elaborate body movements. I wonder what sort of body languageEAL students experience when they come to our country?”

A good question. It is not easy for us to know the answer, but putting ourselves intothe same situation by traveling in other coutnries (Italy is a good one) can provide us


with the empathy required to help EAL studetns. Anna Simonsen’s remark broughthome the terror that is often involved in being immersed in a foreign environment,

“. . . in Russia I couldn’t make sense of anything. I remember thinkingthat if I got separated from my husband and got lost, I would have sucha difficult and scary time getting around.”

Hannah wrote about the insights gained from reading the EAL vocabulary list. Theimage of teachers as radio receivers being ‘tuned in’ to their students is a helpfulone—one cannot pick up any signal unless one is tuned to the correct frequency ofthe transmitter.

“Reading the list of terms on the website actually gave me a lot moreinsight into teaching EAL learners than I thought it would. This taskhelped me to understand the complexities of second language acquisi-tion in terms of the number of different factors which may affect an EALlearners confidence and ability. It made me understand that the impli-cations for teachers teaching these students are that teachers must bevery tuned in to their students in order to determine if there are any‘blocks’ which will prevent learning–such as culture shock, affective fil-ters or excessive anxiety—and do their best to minimize the causes ofthese blocks, whilst being patient and letting them speak in their owntime.”

This sentiment was echoed by many colleagues. It is helpful to know about and beaware of the silent period and the time lags involved in acquiring BICS and CALP.

Reading stories from ESL colleagues is very insightful Consider this one from Loesje,

“Having been at school in Holland, I finished college speaking fourlanguages ‘fluently’. We learned a language according to the old fash-ioned way of dictation and memorisation. We would learn in English forexample: “What are you going to do tomorrow?”. I could say that sen-tence without hesitation, and I could have replied in proper English too.But then, coming to New Zealand, it seemed that ‘whaddayapto’ meantthe same thing! To make a long story short, although being competentin English, I didn’t understand a word being said and could not holda conversation with my peers. There is a difference between learning alanguage and learning a language!

“Learning in a group where various students express an idea in manydifferent ways seems to me a very important aspect of learning a lan-guage.


“For the reason I described above, amongst others, I value the im-portance (and fun) of learning a new language through dictogloss. Ialso think that this technique could be applied to other subjects than asecond language.

“As a technology and arts teacher I am especially inspired by Airey,who came up with the variety of doing dictogloss with pictures. AsI will have to teach my learners to draw as a means of communicat-ing/language, I see an opportunity here to teach them that language ina stimulating and comprehensive way. You can also turn the techniquearound and let them describe a picture with words. I see many positiveoutcomes coming from this and will definitely investigate the subjectfurther. Thanks for that Airey!”

Confusions and humour can even result when we are immersed in an English speak-ing culture that is different, such as the USA as noted by Tarena.

“. . . even though they speak English, it is still quite a different lan-guage. I almost got sent off in a soccer game because I said, ‘damn it!’,which is a swear word there but not here. There were heaps of occassionswhere my slightly different language was the source for many laughs, andat times it got me in hot water.”

An online mini-thread ensured about the modrern form of teenage communicationor “txting”—some student teachers are worried they might not be hip enough withthis to realte comfortably to their future students, perhaps that is a fair concern?So as well as culture shock we may also have to deal with generational gap shock.

Relating a story about how a teacher dealt respectfully with one childs hesitancy toeven speak their own name when answering rool call, Anna Simonsen rwrote,

“Context: Day 2 of school for a class of new entrants. This youngAsian boy didn’t want to be at school. He desperately clung to his Dadand seemed to be begging to be allowed to go home. The teacher andhis father had a conversation about a strategy to encourage the boy tostay at school and join the rest of the class on the mat. The teacher readthe roll. She reminded the class that she wanted them to respond witheither ”good morning Mrs X” or ”hello” when she called their name. Allthe kids followed suit, in that new entrant sing-song voice. This boy waspart way through the list. The teacher called his name, the boy didn’trespond. She waited a couple of seconds. Then just before the classstarted turning around to look at the boy she said ”Nice to see you X. X


will answer the roll when he’s ready”. It was said in a lovely way and shequickly moved on. The kids moved on to and didn’t question it. I can’tgive a follow up report on this because parents aren’t normally part ofthe class at this time.”

One of the tasks to reflect upon was the exercise of Module 2-2—to examine howthe various factors affecting learning for EAL learners would impact on one of thedescribed students (Burmese boy, Korean girls, Chinese boy, Samoan girl)—andCharlotte wrote a nice reflection on her case study of the ‘shy Korean girl’.

“I selected the case study of the shy 16 year old Korean student tounderstand how different factors impact on the individual student. As ateacher I need to understand as much as I can about my EAL students.There are positive and negative factors that influence students whenlearning English.

“In this case the student had more positive factors than negativeones. It seemed that her cognitive processes would be well developedand shell have more linguistic knowledge to apply to the tasks. Hernative oral language and literacy in her first language would probablybe strong also. If she did go to university in the future, the opportunityto freely interact with first language English students and her tutors maybe hindered if she is still shy. She would miss opportunities to test hercomprehension and conversational skills. Her shyness may not hinder anincreasing understanding of academic English.

“I need to find out if she has any physical learning disabilities suchas hearing, and exactly how well she did during her formative years atschool. Doing this exercise gave me experience in determining existingabilities, hindrances and future opportunities students have in learningEnglish.”

The issue of teacher assumptions and judgment and schema arose in this forum, andwas also extensively discussed in the DiscussionBoard Q&Q thread about Bevan-Brown’s article, “Beyond policy and good intentions”. Leah posted this comment,

“Making assumptions can be OK, as long as we are aware we aremaking them. And, of course, being able to listen, reflect and changeyour mind is a sign of someone who is accepting (and I think smart). Ihope that I’m going to be challenged in class occasionally—that I willget the opportunity to say to a student, ‘You know what, you’re right,let’s rethink this.’ I know if a few of my teachers had said this, theywould have been much more highly respected.. . . Any thoughts?”

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Thoughts and Reflections on National Standards

In the discussion of the Timperley & Robinson artcle, Anna S brought up the topicof National Standards:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through these comments, greatto get some discussion going. I am wondering how the new nationalstandards that have been introduced will help out with these kinds ofsituations. I don’t know much about them but it is my understandingthat it means there will be information about every child in the key areasas to how they’re doing. I’m wondering how the information will be usedby teachers and whether it might challenge any schemas?”

This is probably a topic worth a lot more discussion. Nic Able responded first withthis comment,

“Very good question, and one with so many differing answers I’msure! I think the potential downfall of national standards is the sameresponse that we saw with the T& R reading, whereby some (we hope not‘too’ many, but reality sometimes smacks us upside the head!) schoolsmay wish to ‘perceive what they want to perceive’ and explain the dataaway with their schemas.

“While the outcome of the three schools in this study was great, itwouldn’t have been so without the contractor’s intervention on ensuringthe right questions were raised, and offering various options for improve-ment. So, unless these options are available for every school that needshelp with looking internally following such data as the national standardresults, then this data may prove useless. That’s where we obviouslycome in (insert superhero ‘ta da da ta da daaaaaa’ here!) where, althoughnew, we need to have the confidence to influence change where required,alongside ensuring those involved (other teachers/parents/community)understand the reasoning why and actually agree with it. As there’s noway to change anyone’s schema if they don’t see the reasoning why.”

References

Bevan-Brown, J. (2006). Beyond policy and good intentions. Journal of InclusiceEducation, 10 (2), 221–234.

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Biddulph, F., Biddulph, J., & Biddulph, C. (2003). Chapter 8: Conclusions. In Thecomplexity of community and family influences on children’s achievement inNew Zealand: Best evidence synthesis (pp. 174–182). Wellington: NZ Ministryof Education.

Boekaerts, M. (2002). Motivation to learn (Vol. Educational Practice Series No. 10).Brussels/Geneva: International Academy of Education/International Bureauof Education.

Cullen, J. (2001). An introduction to understanding learning. In V. Carpenter,H. Dixon, E. Rata, & C. Rawlinson (Eds.), Theory in practice for educators(pp. 47–69). Melbourne: Dunmore Press.

Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. Little, Brownand Company.

Kearney, A., & Kane, R. (2006). Inclusive education policy in New Zealand: realityor ruse? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 10 (2), 201–219.

McInerney, D. M., & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational psychology: Constructinglearning (4th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.

Timperley, H., & Robinson, V. (2002). Achieving school improvement throughchallenging and changing teachers’ schema. eving school improvement througJournal of Educational Change, 2, 281–300.

Woolfolk, A., & Margetts, K. (2007). Teachers, teaching and educational psychology.In Educational psychology (pp. 2–16). Frenchs Forest NSW: Pearson EducationAustralia.

Wylie, C., & Hodgen, E. (2007). Competent learners @ 16: Competency levels anddevelopment over time: a report for the Ministry of Education (No. RMR-835).Wellington: NZCER.

epsy301 collective notes - the learner in context

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