Bronwen Cowie

Pupil commentary on assessment for learning

This article draws on data generated through interviews with Years 7 to 10 pupils in New Zealand to propose that pupils experience assessment for learning as embedded in, and accomplished through, interactions with peers and teachers. Pupil commentary indicated they perceived assessment for learning as having cognitive, social relationship and affective purposes and consequences. Pupils used a range of criteria to assess their learning. Pupils with learning goals viewed assessment for learning as a joint teacher–pupil responsibility. They expressed a preference for teacher feedback in the form of suggestions because these maintained an active role for them in making sense of ideas. Pupils with performance goals intimated they viewed assessment as a teachers sole responsibility. They preferred feedback on how to complete tasks. A lack of mutual trust and respect was said to lead pupils to limit the disclosure of their ideas. Overall, pupils intimated that they experience assessment for learning as a complex activity in which they are active and intentional participants.

Student commentary on classroom assessment in science: a sociocultural interpretation

Increased understanding of the link between learning and assessment combined with a shift to view learning as more a social than an individual process have contributed to an appreciation of the role that classroom assessment can play in enhancing student learning and achievement. Nonetheless, very little is known about student experience of classroom assessment, including their experience of formative assessment as assessment for learning. This paper draws on data generated through student interviews and classroom observations to present student perceptions of their assessment in science lessons. The argument in the paper is grounded in and evolved out the use of a sociocultural perspective to make sense of the student data. Student commentary indicated that assessment shaped what it meant to be a student and to learn and know science.

An evaluation of characteristics of environmental education practice in New Zealand schools

This paper reports on a national evaluation project that investigated characteristics of environmental education (EE) practice in New Zealand schools in 2002–2003. The research included a review of New Zealand and international environmental education literature, a survey of nearly 200 New Zealand schools and case studies of environmental education practice in eight schools. In this paper we describe and discuss key features of environmental education practice in New Zealand schools at the time of the research. We consider the rewards and challenges for teachers, students, schools and the wider school community arising from the schools’ implementation of this non‐compulsory curriculum subject. We conclude by considering what the findings told us about current EE practice and how these findings might inform a greater emphasis towards environmental education/education for sustainability in New Zealand schools at a time of national curriculum policy change.

Getting Stuck in Analogue Electronics: Threshold Concepts as an Explanatory Model.

Could the challenge of mastering threshold concepts be a potential factor that influences a students decision to continue in electronics engineering? This was the question that led to a collaborative research project between educational researchers and the Faculty of Engineering in a New Zealand university. This paper deals exclusively with the qualitative data from this project, which was designed to investigate the high attrition rate of students taking introductory electronics in a New Zealand university. The affordances of the various teaching opportunities and the barriers that students perceived are examined in the light of recent international research in the area of threshold concepts and transformational learning. Suggestions are made to help students move forward in their thinking, without compromising the need for maintaining the element of intellectual uncertainty that is crucial for tertiary teaching. The issue of the timing of assessments as a measure of conceptual development or the crossing of thresholds is raised.

The effect of guided note taking during lectures on Thai university students’ understanding of electromagnetism

This paper reports on the implementation of a guided note taking strategy to promote Thai students’ understanding of electromagnetism during a lecture course. The aim of the study was to enhance student learning of electromagnetism concepts. The developed guided notes contain quotations, diagrams, pictures, problems, and blank spaces to encourage student interactive engagement with the lectures. The guided note templates were critiqued by a group of experienced university physics lecturers and piloted with graduate physics education students to check the content validity. Over 300 first year university students (aged about 18–19 years) attended lectures that did not involve guided note taking. Six hundred students participated in the guided note taking approach. Students’ understanding of electromagnetism was investigated using a conceptual test. Comparison of the pre‐ and post‐test results of the two groups of students indicated that students who were involved in the guided note taking approach performed better on the conceptual test than students who were not involved in this approach. From interviews, it was found that students viewed the guided note taking approach as a supportive tool that helped them concentrate on the lecture. Promoting student involvement in the lecture class through the process of guided note taking was shown to be a meaningful learning strategy for first year university physics classes.

Preparing Teachers to Use the Enabling Power of Assessment

In this chapter we use an empirical investigation of the changes in assessment beliefs of preservice teachers to inform a discussion of what it might take to build a professional workforce to implement assessment to promote student learning. The findings demonstrated that significant changes in preservice teachers’ beliefs (as well as their knowledge and skills) are necessary if they are to become ‘assessment capable’ and ready to use assessment in the service of learning as teachers. We argue that mobilizing the power of assessment to enable learning, even in supportive policy contexts, is dependent upon teachers’ beliefs. Knowing about preservice teachers’ beliefs and how they change in relation to their teacher preparation programs is a first step in this process.

Keeping in Touch with Learning: The Use of an Interactive Whiteboard in the Junior School

Recent literature on the role of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) has indicated numerous ways in which teachers make use of the IWB to support children’s learning. In these studies there is a growing awareness of changing roles in the classroom as teachers gain confidence in the use of new technologies. This study describes how a researcher worked with a teacher in a small rural school in New Zealand to document and understand the use of an IWB to enhance the learning of young children ages five to six years. The focus of the research was on how the features of the IWB supported teaching actions and provided potential and structure for the children to develop their ‘key competencies’, broadly conceptualised as the development of knowledge, skills and aptitudes for learning. Here the authors demonstrate that it was the teacher’s orchestration of the classroom environment, incorporating the use of the IWB, that was the key to the development of pupil autonomy as they learnt to take risks and to be creative in their learning with the interactive whiteboard.

The Characteristics of Formative Assessment

In summary, the ten characteristics of formative assessment that were identified by the teachers and students were that formative assessment is seen as being responsive; it is often a tacit process; it relies on student disclosure; it uses professional knowledge and experiences; it is an integral part of teaching and learning; it is done by teachers and students; it is a highly contextualised process; and it involves the management of dilemmas. Important considerations are the sources of evidence, including student disclosure and the purposes for which formative assessment is done. All-in-all, formative assessment is a highly complex and skilled activity for both the teacher and the student. Formative assessment is not something teachers are likely to learn to do in a short session in an inservice course. It is a professional skill that develops with increasing professional experience, awareness and reflection.

Laptops for Teachers: Practices and Possibilities

The Laptops for Teachers scheme in New Zealand provides teachers whose schools opt into the scheme access to a laptop for their exclusive use. This paper reports on the findings of the three‐year evaluation of the impact of the laptops on secondary teachers’ work. The findings indicate that school leadership has been pivotal to the provision of the technological infrastructure and organisational support needed for teacher use of the laptops. Departmental leadership has been crucial in supporting teacher use of laptops for teaching and learning. Teachers described gains in expertise, indicating that they used the laptop for a range of purposes to support their teaching. These included lesson planning and preparation, and reporting. Where teachers had easy access to a laptop‐plus‐data projector they found that students responded to material that included images and up‐to‐date real‐world examples. Colleagues were identified as the main source of professional development for the use of the laptop for teaching purposes. The findings of the study suggest schools are advised to consider how to support teachers to work collaboratively to share expertise as a way of supporting and extending teacher use of laptops.

Exploring the value of ‘horizontal’ learning in early years science classrooms

In contrast to a focus on vertical learning experiences where the emphasis is on progression up a scale of complexity, this article explores the value of horizontal learning experiences. These aim to provide learners with a variety of opportunities and spaces to participate, thereby expanding the entry points for them into school science. The process of horizontal learning is illustrated using data generated within a new-entrant (children aged five) classroom. The findings show that young children can engage with and develop proficiency with sophisticated science ideas when teachers provide a variety of multimodal learning opportunities that expand on their existing and developing ideas and experiences. It is argued that the provision of horizontal learning experiences is worthy of consideration in science education where student interest in science is known to decline over the school years.