Development of teachers’ knowledge and skills in implementing a physical education curriculum: A New Zealand early childhood intervention study
- Authors: McLachlan, Claire , Smith, Jessica , McLaughlin, Tara , Ali, Ajmol , Conlon, Cathryn , Mugridge, Owen , Foster, Sophie
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International journal of early childhood Vol. 49, no. 2 (2017), p. 211-228
- Full Text: false
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- Description: In order to support children’s physical health and well-being in early childhood education programmes, it is important to understand how teacher practices concerned with physical activity and nutrition can be addressed effectively. Current evidence suggests that young children’s opportunities for physical activity in early childhood are increasingly limited. This study assessed how teachers’ knowledge and skills changed as the result of the implementation of a 10-week physical activity intervention programme (Jumping Beans) and participation in a related professional development programme. Participating teachers in four centres were interviewed before and after the intervention. Overall, qualitative and quantitative data from teacher interview data were highly positive, as a result of their participation. However, further research about how teachers’ skills can be enhanced to intentionally teach with confidence in curriculum domains related to physical health and physical literacy needs to be considered.
‘If there’s no sustainability our future will get wrecked’: Exploring children’s perspectives of sustainability
- Authors: Green, Monica
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Childhood Vol. 24, no. 2 (2017), p. 151-167
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- Description: Education for Sustainability is an internationally recognised field of learning that is currently mandated as a cross-curriculum priority in the Australian curriculum. Empirical research into children’s views about sustainability, and how they develop sustainability knowledge, however, remains limited. This article focuses on research that investigated children’s perspectives of sustainability in Victoria, Australia. The children were recruited through the Sustainable School Expo where they delivered keynote presentations about their school’s respective Education for Sustainability initiatives. Data were generated from interviews with 16 children aged from 9 to 13 years and included a set of self-created and designed sustainability artefacts. The article contends that children have strongly conceptualised ideas about sustainability that are developed through interactions with material entities (human/more than human) in diverse environments. A key finding suggests that children become vital stakeholders in Education for Sustainability through experiential, investigative, sensorial and place-oriented ways of learning, which informs how they build sustainability knowledge.
Understanding K-12 STEM Education: a Framework for Developing STEM Literacy
- Authors: Falloon, Garry , Hatzigianni, Maria , Bower, Matt , Forbes, Anne , Stevenson, Michael
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of science education and technology Vol. 29, no. 3 (2020), p. 369-385
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- Description: In recent years, arguments have signalled the value of STEM education for building discipline knowledge and an array of capabilities, skills and dispositions, aligned with the needs of young people functioning productively and ethically in dynamic, complex and challenging future work, social and political environments. This combination has been termed STEM literacy and positioned as a desired outcome from STEM education programs. However, knowledge is limited on ways this can be developed in K-12 schools. This article introduces a framework that conceptualises the integrated nature of the characteristics of STEM education. It identifies and maps key characteristics of STEM education, recognising different entry points, curriculum designs and pedagogical strategies for school programs. The framework provides practical guidance for planning and implementing STEM education in schools.
Building STEM in Schools: An Australian Cross-case Analysis
- Authors: Falloon, Garry , Stevenson, Michael , Beswick, Kim , Fraser, Sharon , Geiger, Vincent
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Educational Technology Vol. 24, no. 4 (2021), p. 110-122
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- Description: The Principals as STEM Leaders (PASL) project was an Australian Government-funded national research and professional learning programme for principals, aimed at building STEM leadership capacity. The project involved cluster-based delivery of six learning modules and generation of case studies outlining schools' different approaches to STEM education and STEM leadership. This article analyses factors contributing to the development of four contrasting schools' STEM profiles, identifying the unique approaches and leadership strategies each adopted in designing STEM curriculum for meeting the learning needs of their diverse students. It positions these schools' endeavours within the broader PASL professional learning programme, adding to the limited body of empirical work detailing different approaches schools take to the
Shaping science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum in Australian schools: An ecological systems analysis
- Authors: Falloon, Garry , Powling, Markus , Fraser, Sharon , Hatisaru, Vesife
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The Australian journal of education Vol. 66, no. 2 (2022), p. 171-195
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- Description: Improving young people's engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is being promoted worldwide as a means of addressing projected shortfalls in expertise needed to further nations' economic, social and environmental goals. Responding to this, schools are reforming traditional discipline-based curricula into interdisciplinary approaches based on problem and project-based designs, to make STEM learning more relevant and meaningful for students. This study drew on a dataset of 449 Australian principal and teacher interviews, to identify factors influencing STEM curriculum in their schools. It utilised Ecological Systems Theory to build understanding relating to the influence of activities and outputs originating at macro, exo and meso system levels, on STEM curriculum and practices in classrooms. Results demonstrated how many innovative schools were able to successfully leverage community, business and national resources to enhance their STEM curriculum, while others struggled due to limitations imposed by geographic or socio-economic factors, or limited access to resources, expertise or advice. Central to achieving this was the powerful influence of principals' and teachers' 'proximal processes and developmental assets' in establishing effective and engaging interdisciplinary STEM curricula, despite constraints imposed by, at best, ambiguous national and state curriculum and policies, rigid assessment regimes and compliance-focused reporting requirements.
STEM in the Making? Investigating STEM Learning in Junior School Makerspaces
- Authors: Falloon, Garry , Forbes, Anne , Stevenson, Michael , Bower, Matt , Hatzigianni, Maria
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in science education (Australasian Science Education Research Association) Vol. 52, no. 2 (2022), p. 511-537
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Makerspaces are recent additions to schools and have been promoted as a means of developing STEM knowledge and skills. According to literature, the practical nature of making supports deeper engagement with STEM concepts and enhances development of STEM capabilities such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration. However, to date, limited empirical work has been completed investigating STEM learning in school makerspaces. This article reports outcomes from a study of 24 classroom makerspaces, where 5-8-year olds used 3D printing technology to design and develop artefacts responding to different problems, needs and opportunities. Findings were mixed, with evidence supporting makerspaces as effective for STEM skill and disposition development but more limited in their capacity to build STEM knowledge, unless this was explicitly identified and targeted by teachers. This paper questions assumptions about makerspaces as implicitly effective for STEM knowledge-building, arguing that teachers must specifically target conceptual outcomes in planning and teaching if makerspaces are to be effective for this purpose. Also, findings suggest the need to rethink how makerspaces contribute to holistic STEM literacy development, moving beyond current perspectives focused on learning about STEM, to one where makerspaces are viewed as epistemic environments beneficial to knowledge-building, of STEM. Findings will be of value to educators considering makerspaces as a component of STEM curriculum and infrastructure development. [Author abstract]