2006
Funding Recipients
Category
B (projects up to 2 years)
Teaching
literature in the multicultural classroom
Project
leader: Associate Professor Terry Locke of The University of Waikato’s
School of Education
Partnerships:
Henderson Intermediate School, Wymondley School, Somerville School,
Macleans College, and the University of Waikato.
The overall
goal of this project is to find effective ways of teaching literature
in multicultural and multilingual classrooms at primary and secondary
level. In doing so, the aim is to develop a range of effective
classroom approaches and practices for the teaching of literature
in such settings.
A secondary
aim is to link the research associated with this project with
research being done in relation to other Level 1 curriculum. An
additional secondary aim is the production of at least one teachers’
resource on the subject of teaching literature in the multicultural
classroom.
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more...
Mathematics
classrooms: explorations into the teaching/learning nexus
Project
leaders: Associate Professor Glenda
Anthony, and Dr. Margaret Walshaw from Massey University's College
of Education.
Partnerships:
The project is a collaborative venture between researchers from
Massey University, and students and teachers from three secondary
schools.
The aim
of this project is to investigate the teaching/learning nexus
in Year 9 New Zealand mathematics classrooms, with a commitment
to identifying teachers’ and students’ constructed
social and mathematical meanings. The project involves working
with Year 9 teachers and students over a two-year period. The
principal data gathering and analytical strategy is technology
intensive and will involve video sequences of 30 lessons taken
from three cameras in each classroom.
Home-based
early childhood education (family day care): the visiting teachers’
role in improving educators’ practices—what makes
a difference?
Project
leader: Dr Judith Duncan, Senior Lecturer at Otago University’s
Children’s Issues Centre
Partnerships:
The Dunedin Community Childcare Association, and its Director
Mrs Pat Irvine; the visiting teachers; and the Children’s
Issues Centre, University of Otago.
This project
proposes to investigate the role of the visiting teacher in improving
the quality of educators’practices and children’s
learning outcomes in the home-based settings supervised by the
Dunedin Community Childcare Association. The visiting teachers
will be examining:
- the
teaching practices of the educators;
- the
roles of the visiting teachers in supporting and improving the
practices of the educators;
- the
wider support roles of the Dunedin Community Childcare Association;
and
- the role of professional development
opportunities for both the educators and the visiting teachers.
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more...
Researching
understanding of learning and teaching (RULT): a case study in
using practice-based research to develop a school-wide learning
community
Project
leaders: Dr Elaine Mayo and Dr Lindsey Conner of the University
of Canterbury’s College of Education
Partnerships:
Avonside Girls’ High School and University of Canterbury
College of Education.
This research
project investigates how teachers who are using a peer-coaching
model to help them each gain a deeper understanding of teaching
and learning, can distil and share their emerging experiential
knowledge, and how this influences future praxis (thinking and
acting) in teaching. The school aims to build a reflective learning
community where teachers collaborate deliberately to support improved
outcomes for students.
The project
involves four cycles of activity, in which the “learning
stories” from the peer-coaching model will be documented
and used to promote fresh questions about individual and collective
learning.
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more...
Success
for all: improving Māori and Pasifika student success in degree-level
studies
Project
leader: Dr Airini, Associate Dean, Equity
at The University of Auckland’s
Faculty of Education
Partnerships:
The University of Auckland Faculty of Education; the Faculty of
Medical and Health Sciences; the National Institute of Creative
Arts and Industries, Careers Centre.
This evidence-based
project targets Māori student and Pasifika student success
in degree-level tertiary education. The focus is on the ways in
which non-lecture teaching and learning helps or hinders Mäori
student and Pasifika student success in preparing for, or completing,
degree-level studies. Good practice will be identified.
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more...
A
school for the 21st century: researching the impact of changing
teacher practice on student learning
Project
leader: Michal Denny, Alfriston College
Partnerships:
Alfriston College and the New Zealand Council for Educational
Research
The aims
of this project are:
- to
investigate whether the innovative approaches to scheduling
time for teaching and learning at Alfriston College are having
a significant impact on student learning;
- to
identify best practice for the use of extended periods of learning
time; and
- to
widen discussion about the nature of “evidence”
of student learning.
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Strengthening
responsive and reciprocal relationships in a Whānau
Tangata centre: an action research project
Project leader: Jeanette Clarkin-Phillips,
lecturer from the Early Years Research Unit
at The University of Waikato’s Wilf Malcolm Institute of
Educational Research.
Partnerships: Teaching team, parents,
and whānau of Taitoko
Kindergarten, Levin; General Manager and a senior teacher of the
Wellington Region Free Kindergarten; and Professor Margaret Carr
This project’s aim is to investigate
the teaching and learning at Taitoko Kindergarten in the light
of the impact of the development of a Whānau
Tangata centre. Through action research, the team will address
the teachers’ questions associated with teaching and learning
as they implement changes in response to establishing a Whānau
Tangata centre at the kindergarten as part of a Parent Support
and Development Contract.
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more...
Investigating
the impact of whole-school approaches to education for sustainability
on student learning
Project leader: Dr Chris Eames, Senior
Lecturer, The University of Waikato
Partnerships: Experienced Education
for Sustainability (EfS) researchers partnered with national EfS
school advisers, who are in turn partnered with specified staff
at each case-study school. There is also an overarching partnership
between the whole team and the Enviroschool Foundation.
The project aims to build on previous work in action competence
and to design a valid and reliable framework for investigating
this; and to understand the practice of whole-school approaches
to EfS in New Zealand schools, and the impact of these approaches
on the school community and student learning. The framework will
be used to construct research instruments for collecting research
data in five schools as case studies. This approach will aim to
build capacity for research within the EfS community and the schools.
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more...
Teaching
and learning in the supervision of Māori
doctoral students
Project leaders:
Associate Professor Elizabeth McKinley and Dr Barbara Grant, both
of the University of Auckland
Partnerships: The Capability Building
programme within Ngā
Pae o te Māramatanga
(the National Institute of Research Excellence for Māori
Development and Advancement); The University of Auckland; the
University of Waikato; Te Whare Wānanga
o Awanuiārangi; Emeritus
Professor, Les Williams; and current practitioners of supervision
who are also supervisors of Māori
doctoral students.
The project aims to enhance understanding of the supervision
practice of Māori doctoral
candidates (from both students’ and supervisors’ perspectives),
so as to improve outcomes for those candidates and their institutions.
This project will be framed within kaupapa Māori
methodology.
Category
C (1-year projects)
Mathematics:
she’ll be write!
Project leader: Dr Tamsin Meaney,
Senior Lecturer, University of Otago
Partnerships: This is a partnership
between the teachers at Kura Kaupapa Māori
o te Koutu, Tamsin Meaney at the University of Otago, and Tony
Trinick at the University of Auckland. Uenuku Fairhall, principal
of Kura Kaupapa Māori
o te Koutu, is also one of the primary researchers.
This project aims to document the
written mathematical genres that students are currently using,
and identify the linguistic features that are associated with
the different genres. It will also explore ways to improve students’
mathematical writing. This will include investigating different
pedagogical approaches, as well as considering other genres that
could be used effectively in mathematics.
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more...
Teachers
learning mathematics
Project leaders:
Associate Professor Bill Barton, and Senior Tutor Judy
Paterson from the University of Auckland’s
Department of Mathematics
Partnerships: Eight secondary
teachers from eight different schools in the Auckland region will
work with two researchers from the Mathematics Education Unit
in the Department of Mathematics of the University of Auckland,
as part of a wider project
in collaboration with teams lead by Professor Deborah Ball (The
University of Michigan) and Dr Anne Watson (Oxford University).
This study aims to investigate the
development of mathematical knowledge for teaching amongst secondary
teachers while they are in the classroom. Each of the eight teachers
will examine one aspect of their mathematical knowledge in close
detail. This will give an insight into the nature of the mathematical
knowledge they need for teaching and their perceptions of the
effectiveness and practicality of classroom-based mathematics
learning as ongoing professional development.
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more...
Training
on the job –
how do home-based co-ordinators support carers to notice, recognise,
and respond?
Project leaders: Tracey Hooker, Frances
Bleaken, and Sue Biggar of the Hamilton Childcare Services Trust
Partnerships: Hamilton Childcare
Services Trust and Dr Sally Peters from the University of Waikato.
The focus of this research is on exploring
the impact of training and support that co-ordinators provide
for home-based carers in an early childhood service. The aim is
to identify what factors seem to be important in helping carers
to recognise and support children’s learning. At the end
of the research period, individual reflective interviews will
take place with the carers and co-ordinators about the factors
they believe have been influential in improving the carers’
practice.
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more...
Read about the projects that were funded in
2007
Read
about the projects that were funded in 2005
Read about the projects that were funded in
2004
Read about the projects that were funded in
2003
For more information
email
us or contact us at: PO Box 3237, Wellington, New Zealand.
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