Coral Campbell

Science in early childhood

1. Science in the national Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) Andrea Nolan 2. Learning theories related to early childhood science education Coral Campbell 3. Using play pedagogy in the early years Jane Johnston 4. Teaching approaches Coral Campbell 5. Developing pedagogical practices for science teaching and learning with 3- and 4-year-old children Elaine Blake and Christine Howitt 6. Effective science learning environments Coral Campbell and Wendy Jobling 7. Learning science in informal contexts: the home and community Jill Robbins 8. Environmental education for sustainability and its place within science Coral Campbell 9. Catering for childrens differing needs in early childhood science education Coral Campbell 10. Planning for science Beverley Jane 11. Observing, assessing and documenting learning in science Coral Campbell 12. Professional learning: reflective practice in science education Coral Campbell.

A snapshot of science education in kindergarten settings

Across Victoria, early childhood practitioners are incorporating science activities into daily experiences for their children. A small research project, which asked teachers to describe what they did in science and how they did it, has highlighted some interesting differences. This paper will describe case studies of four kindergarten settings and some of the experiences undertaken by the children - both as part of the formal program and through incidental play. It will consider these through a socio-cultural framework, noting how teachers used their understandings of play and language theories, to enhance childrens understandings in science.

School Improvement as a Global Movement

School improvement has become a common policy option to reform education. This chapter provides an overview of school improvement research, its history and particularly how it has travelled from a variety of national locations. This chapter theorises how global policy responses, such as school improvement are realised in local contexts, in this instance a network of schools in the Australian state of Victoria. The chapter troubles current understandings of education reform, particularly those based on a narrow conception of student attainment. These too often locate the problem of school improvement directly on the quality of teachers with the individual school as the unit of analysis. Rather, this analysis points to connections between schools and the learning that takes place in networks of schools in providing leadership to direct change in individual schools. Ultimately, this chapter questions what is valued and valuable in school improvement, providing the context and theoretical positions supporting the analysis pursued in subsequent chapters.

Bush kinder in Australia: A new learning ‘place’ and its effect on local policy:

Bush kindergartens are a new practice in the Australian early childhood learning context and one that is rapidly becoming part of the kindergarten experience. Children leaving the confines of the bounded space of a kindergarten has been practised through excursions to outdoor places like zoos but the notion of conducting regular, ongoing kindergarten sessions away from the traditional kindergarten setting is one which is gaining momentum in Australian early childhood education, with possible impacts on future policy. In late 2014, a pilot programme titled ‘Sandy Shores Kids Go Bush’ was established across bush kindergartens in a region on the coastal fringe of south-eastern Australia using five existing sites. Each of these sites has differing characteristics impacting upon the experience of children attending the bush kinder programme. This paper reviews the settings of three different interpretations of ‘bush kinder’ and considers how the learning experience associated with bush kinder varies according to ‘place’ and how bush kinder has impact on both local and broader education policy.

Growing Through Partnerships

While partnerships in teacher education are essential for ensuring adequately preparing teachers, the effects of these partnerships are difficult to capture. The STEPS project analysed five models of a school-based approach to teaching primary science education. These five partnership models were developed to give pre-service teachers a supported, authentic experience of teaching science to school children. The effects of these teaching opportunities for pre-service teachers are explored in this chapter as “growth”: where growth occurs, how this is evidenced, and what is needed to enable growth. A series of vignettes documenting the experiences of pre-service teachers, teacher educators, teachers and principals were developed from interview data, from which a series of themes emerged. A meta-analysis of these themes revealed some common elements across the vignettes that seemed to mark the professional growth of the various stakeholders in terms of shaping their identity and confidence, praxis and relationships. Growth must be evident, measured and documented if the effort to initiate and maintain such partnerships is going to be worthwhile. The question of how to measure growth occurring as a result of partnerships is interrogated in this chapter through the use of data and is linked with current research literature. A growth model is presented, as is an accompanying set of variables that can be used to measure the effects of education-based partnerships.

Scientists and Mathematicians in Schools: CSIRO, Australia

This chapter provides an example of another form of partnership: the Scientist and Mathematicians in Schools (SMiS) Program which is a partnership between schools and a government institute. It describes the current aspects of the program and how much of what occurs in the partnership with schools is subscribed through the STEPS model—the Interpretive Framework. The nature of productive partnerships and the possibilities for improvement in the SMiS are highlighted within the context of the use of the specific partnership tools developed from the interpretive framework.

Models of School-Based Practice: Partnerships in Practice

This chapter describes the five individual models of school-based practice involving university–school partnerships, each presented as a single case study. Each partnership was independently developed, and there are both common and unique characteristics of the partnership and the pedagogical practices that emerge when a cross-case analysis is conducted. This variety illustrates that there is not one way to work in partnerships in teacher education. Each case study is presented including a set of pedagogical principles that are common across the case studies, and set of themes are developed that are further explored in Part 2 of this book.

A New Zealand Collaborative University–School Partnership: Applying the STEPS Framework

This chapter considers how the Interpretive Framework was applied to Waikato University’s Community University–School Partnership (CUSP) program, retrospectively. As a well-documented partnership program, the Interpretive Framework was applied to the aspects of the project to see how these aligned. As well as highlighting the synergies between the Interpretive Framework and the CUSP, there were a number of differences which arose and these are discussed as considerations of adding further complexity to the Interpretive Framework.

Representing Partnerships Practices

A range of partnership types is explored in this chapter. The purposes and characteristics of a partnership determine the degree to which a partnership needs to be embedded within the partner organisations. This chapter presents the ‘Representing Partnerships Practices’ (RPP) element of the Interpretive Framework. The RPP is useful to guide thinking about the desired nature of a particular partnership. The RPP recognises that a range of purposes, intended outcomes and commitments that can be afforded by partnerships, and that all have a value, which is determined by how it meets the needs of each partner. In the RPP, partnerships are described as being Connective, Generative or Transformative. Examples of practice are used to illustrate the opportunities, benefits and possible limitations of each of these partnership typologies in affecting quality learning outcomes for the different partner stakeholders. At all levels of partnership, it is important to ensure that the partnership itself is managed and fostered.

Contexts for School Improvement

This chapter presents four case studies of one secondary and three primary schools that participated in this school improvement initiative. The variety of specific school sites within which the short cycle school improvement initiative occurred, provide insights into how differences in educational contexts affect the possibilities for change. This chapter highlights the different communication and decision-making processes operating in the case study schools in the Billabong Network and the way school improvement processes played out within each school. Common themes identified in the case studies indicate key features of effective school improvement and reform across the disparate school communities. Presentation of differences between the schools serves to clarify why certain aspects are important in particular circumstances and how local contextual factors and leadership styles played a crucial role in the success or lack of success in the translation of educational policy into visible changes in teaching practices.