Full Report
Full Report
Social Sciences/
Tikanga à Iwi
Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES]
Teaching inquiry
What might work best?
What could I try?
Using evidence of effective strategies from
other contexts to inform strategies that are
most likely to help students learn
Teaching
Focusing inquiry design
What is most important and
Student therefore worth spending time on?
outcomes
Establishing valued outcomes based on the
curriculum, community expectations, and
student needs and dispositions
Teaching
action
Learning inquiry
What happened?
Why did it happen?
Considering evidence from own context about
what happened as a result of the teaching, and
implications for future teaching
Connection
Make connections to students’ lives
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Alignment
ent
Community
Con
n
o
Interest
Design experiences that interest students
Effective Pedagogy in Social Sciences /
Tikanga à Iwi
Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES]
Al
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ent
nity
mu t
om teres
In
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Con
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o
Published by the Ministry of Education, Box 1666, Wellington, New Zealand 6140
www.minedu.govt.nz
Graeme Aitken and Claire Sinnema assert their moral right to be recognised as the authors of this
work.
Forewords......................................................................................................................................... 9
Màori............................................................................................................................................ 9
International............................................................................................................................... 10
Early childhood.......................................................................................................................... 13
New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa........................................................................... 15
Primary teachers........................................................................................................................ 16
Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand..................................................................... 18
New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association...................................................................... 19
Secondary teachers.................................................................................................................... 20
Pasifika....................................................................................................................................... 22
University: School Support Services........................................................................................... 24
University................................................................................................................................... 26
University................................................................................................................................... 29
Chief Education Adviser, BES..................................................................................................... 31
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................... 34
1.1 Social sciences and the Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme.............................. 34
1.2 Social sciences in the different sectors............................................................................... 35
1.3 Outcomes across the social sciences domain...................................................................... 36
Establishing the outcomes.................................................................................................. 36
1.4 Social studies pedagogy in New Zealand............................................................................ 38
1.5 Methodology....................................................................................................................... 40
Searching for evidence....................................................................................................... 40
Analysing the evidence....................................................................................................... 41
Synthesising the evidence.................................................................................................. 43
1.6 Gaps in pedagogy–outcomes research evidence................................................................. 47
2. Overview of Findings................................................................................................................. 49
2.1 Mechanisms: the underlying explanations for learning in the social sciences.................... 49
Connection......................................................................................................................... 49
Alignment........................................................................................................................... 49
Community......................................................................................................................... 50
Interest............................................................................................................................... 50
2.2 A model of pedagogy for the social sciences....................................................................... 52
7. Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 221
References.................................................................................................................................... 297
Figures
Figure 1: Establishing the outcomes............................................................................................... 37
Figure 2: Scope of the Social Sciences BES .................................................................................... 40
Figure 3: Identification of sources of evidence for the Social Sciences BES..................................... 41
Figure 4: Identifying common themes and mechanisms in studies from different contexts............ 44
Figure 5: Synthesising the evidence................................................................................................ 45
Figure 6: The iterative case development process........................................................................... 47
Figure 7: The four mechanisms...................................................................................................... 49
Figure 8: What explains effective teaching in social sciences?........................................................ 51
Figure 9: Teaching as Inquiry: an evidence-informed model of pedagogy...................................... 53
Figure 10: Hamiora draws his ancestor.......................................................................................... 57
Figure 11: Relationship between type of content and requirements for connecting
representations.................................................................................................................. 94
Figure 12: Problem-solving task trend data.................................................................................... 99
Figure 13: Sourcer’s Apprentice................................................................................................... 107
Figure 14: Authentic instruction criteria....................................................................................... 110
Figure 15: Summary of the Learning Process Model..................................................................... 113
Figure 16: Not learning about the Magna Carta; learning about crime in New York.................... 114
Figure 17: Shifts in percentage of information book language use................................................ 122
Figure 18: Shifts in frequency of using information book language.............................................. 123
Figure 19: Influences on Màori achievement as identified in students’ discourses....................... 138
Figure 20: Influences on Màori achievement as identified in teachers’ discourses....................... 139
Figure 21: Facilitative behaviours for four paraprofessionals and their severely
disabled students............................................................................................................. 146
Figure 22: Questions vs alternatives in WB’s class........................................................................ 169
Figure 23: A teacher reflects on power sharing............................................................................ 173
Figure 24: Antarctica word find.................................................................................................... 184
Figure 25: Three students develop their social action understandings......................................... 205
Figure 26: Amy not learning about William Caxton...................................................................... 209
Figure 27: Amy’s error in terms of schema theory....................................................................... 210
Figure 28: The five main characters from the Media Initiative for Children................................. 211
Figure 29: An integrated presentation.......................................................................................... 213
Figure 30: A split presentation...................................................................................................... 214
Figure 31: Engagement and alignment go hand-in-hand.............................................................. 217
Figure 32: Pawhiri mai mò te tuhinga kòrero............................................................................... 220
Figure 33: The Social Sciences / Tikanga à Iwi BES as an informant of Teaching as Inquiry....... 225
Figure 34: The funnel interview technique................................................................................... 237
Tables
Table 1: Tikanga à iwi / social studies / social sciences outcomes.................................................. 37
Table 2: Evaluating the quality of evidence..................................................................................... 42
Table 3: Classification of studies according to quality of evidence.................................................. 43
Table 4: Overview of findings.......................................................................................................... 54
Table 5: Social studies achievement of regularly attending Aboriginal students............................. 60
Table 6: Same class, different inquiries.......................................................................................... 62
Table 7: The kapu system............................................................................................................... 72
Table 8: A negative exchange provoked by teacher language......................................................... 75
Table 9: Percentage of post-test items already known at the start of the Antarctica unit................ 84
Table 10: Percentage of post-test items not learned or mislearned during the Antarctica unit....... 84
Table 11: Percentage of Antarctica unit pre-test items known by not more than one
other student...................................................................................................................... 85
Table 12: Activities for the explicit-teaching and content-only groups compared........................... 95
Table 13: Outcomes – post-test strategy use .................................................................................. 95
Table 14: Outcomes – post-test content . ........................................................................................ 96
Table 15: Outcomes – post-test comprehension ............................................................................. 96
Table 16: Cognitive instruction and gender stereotyping.............................................................. 101
Table 17: Percentage of students scoring at mastery level ........................................................... 118
Table 18: Mean scores of written and oral tests on economics concepts....................................... 118
Table 19: Five students’ classroom experience and learning about Mt Erebus............................. 126
Table 20: Sample of year 9 social studies scores across the school............................................... 140
Table 21: Students with disabilities – exclusion vs inclusion......................................................... 144
Table 22: Mean social inclusion proportion scores of 14 focus students....................................... 147
Table 23: Pre- and post-data for control and experimental groups............................................... 155
Table 24: Cooperative learning vs cooperative learning and communication skills...................... 157
Table 25: Types of response that facilitate student talk and interaction....................................... 168
Table 26: Patterns of teacher talk and student responses............................................................. 170
Table 27: Children’s responses to teachers’ conversational initiatives in three conditions........... 171
Table 28: Learning outcomes of items on the South Pole.............................................................. 185
Table 29: Impact of courses on student political interest.............................................................. 192
Table 30: Comparison of pre- and post-test mean scores for characteristics of older people........ 197
Table 31: Changes in perceptions and attitudes . ......................................................................... 200
Forewords, Introduction,
Overview
Table 32: Percentage correct on questions involving interpretation of cross-section.................... 213
Table 33: Mean enhancement ratings for simulation.................................................................... 216
Table 34: Clarifying the findings of the Social Sciences / Tikanga à Iwi BES................................ 222
Table 35: Structure of the cases.................................................................................................... 226
Table 36: Studies that reveal either the nature or the trajectory of students’ knowledge,
understanding, skill, participation, or attitudes................................................................ 243
Acknowledgments
Writing a Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration is not a task that can be done in isolation; it
requires extensive collaboration with the educational community. Accordingly, we would like
to acknowledge some of those whose contributions have been critical to the development of this
synthesis.
The wider social sciences community has supported us from the start; we have appreciated the
interest members have shown and their feedback on draft material.
Several groups of practitioners from early childhood centres and primary and secondary schools
were involved throughout the project. A number of teacher groups met during the scoping
phase to discuss the outcomes framework and sources of evidence to be used, and ways of
ensuring that the BES attended to learner diversity. Teachers at Avondale College trialled the
cases and provided vital feedback about their design and use. Teachers involved in the Quality
Teaching Research and Development Project worked with an early draft and provided insight
into how successful the material was as a tool for informing teachers’ inquiries into their own
practice and student outcomes. We value the critical, considered feedback we received from
these teachers. Their perspectives and expertise ensured that the approach we took would
lead ultimately to a synthesis that would resonate with classroom practitioners.
The cases themselves are the result of extensive collaboration with the original researchers.
We deeply appreciate the time and expertise they made available to provide clarifications,
additional detail, and feedback on drafts. We extend our thanks in particular to Christine
Rietveld, Yatta Kanu, Christine McNeight, Karen Nairn, Russell Gersten, Elaine Vine, Alison
Sewell, Ruth Millar, Jane Brown, and Kerri Fitzgerald. Some of the teachers described in the
cases also contributed to their development – we are grateful to them for their willingness to
be involved.
A quality assurance forum was held in December 2005, involving more than 60 people. The
contribution of these participants was timely and provided invaluable direction. We are
particularly appreciative of Professor Jere Brophy’s critique and guidance. His commitment
to the BES approach and his supportive, yet challenging feedback helped strengthen the
subsequent work. We also thank the many others who, though their involvement in the quality
assurance process, were able to contribute to resolutions of methodological issues and suggest
further sources of evidence.
We acknowledge the support of advisers who contributed to the initial development of this
project: Alison Sewell, Tanya Wendt-Samu, Philippa Hunter, and Hemi Dale. We thank our
colleagues Viviane Robinson, Helen Timperley, Glenda Anthony, Margaret Walshaw, and Sarah
Farquhar – writers of other BESs – for their invaluable advice throughout the process. We also
acknowledge Auckland UniServices Ltd and The University of Auckland for their institutional
support and Ian Reid of Learning Media Ltd, our editor.
Researchers and reviewers from national and international forums have provided significant
support for the development of the synthesis. These forums include the New Zealand Association
for Research in Education, the American Educational Research Association, the Invisible
College for Research on Teaching, and the US National Council for the Social Studies.
The completion of this work would not have been possible without the academic leadership
of the Chief Education Adviser at the Ministry of Education, Dr Adrienne Alton-Lee. Her
commitment, energy, and support was crucial throughout and she did much to to engage the
interest and collaboration of national and international education communities. We deeply
value her contribution.
Hemi Dale
Te Puna Wananga, School of Màori Education, The University of Auckland
Jere Brophy
Jere Brophy is University Distinguished Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State
University and a Fellow of the International Academy of Education. In 2007 he was awarded
the Thorndike lifetime achievement award by the American Psychological Association for
outstanding career achievement and significant accomplishments in research in educational
psychology. He was a member of the United States Task Force on Social Studies Teaching and
Learning that prepared the National Council for the Social Studies position statement entitled
‘A vision of powerful learning in the social studies: Building social understanding and civic
efficacy’.
Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whàriki: He whàriki màtauranga mò ngà mokopuna o Aotearoa / Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Helen Hedges (Ph.D), Senior Lecturer, School of Teaching, Learning and Development
Debora Lee, Practicum Coordinator, Early Childhood Education, School of Teacher Education
Practice
Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland
Mitchell, L., Wyllie, C., & Carr, M. (2008). Outcomes of early childhood education: Literature review. Wellington:
NZCER.
Farquhar, S. (2003). Quality Teaching Early Foundations: Best Evidence Synthesis. Retrieved 6 June, 2008,
from www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2515/5963
Mitchell, L. & Cubey, P. (2003). Professional Development in Early Childhood Settings: Best Evidence Synthesis
Iteration (BES). Retrieved 6 June, 2008, from www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2515/5955
Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fund, I. (2007). Teacher professional learning and development: Best
evidence synthesis iteration. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Frances Nelson
National President
Michelle Spraggon
Teacher, Grey Lynn School
Peter Gall
President
Robin Duff
President
Before After
Barriers to
learning BES
Connection
Teaching Learning Teaching Alignment Learning
Community
Interest
Feedback Feedback
We had the luxury of being given time to read the BES; realistically, this will not be the case
for most classroom teachers. Given its size, the document may seem daunting, but it does
lend itself to being studied in smaller chunks. Heads of department could use it a section at
a time as the focus for teacher professional development. A session might revolve around one
mechanism or part of a mechanism. For example, there could be a focus on group work skills
(community), before students are asked to work in groups. Or there could be a focus on the
nature of field work (interest), and its timing in a learning sequence. The cases in appendix D
could also be used as the focus for professional development; they illustrate the mechanisms
and provide critical questions that can be used for reflection.
From our perspective as heads of department, the parts of the document that we would want
our colleagues to start with would be section 2.1 and table 4 for overviews of the findings and
table 34, which clarifies what the mechanisms are and are not saying. We would hope that
these sections would encourage teachers to read further.
While the jargon may be unfamiliar to those of us who completed our tertiary studies some
time ago, this is not a document to be scared of. It reflects a lot of the good teaching that is
Samu, T. W. (2006). The ‘Pasifika umbrella’ and quality teaching: Understanding and responding to the diverse
realities within. Waikato Journal of Education, 12, pp. 35–50.
Ministry of Education (2006). Pasifika Education Plan: Monitoring Report 2006. Retrieved 23 May, 2008 from
www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/22967/11743
Tanya Wendt Samu, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland
Alexis Siteine, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland
A Tongan proverb, which may be translated as ‘skilful at the mound, skilful in the hut’, meaning that we have a
better chance of surviving if we are adaptable, skilful, and functional in more than one environment.
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
10
Alain de Botton introduces the notion of a ‘travelling mindset’ in The Art of Travel (2002). London: Hamish
Hamilton.
11
Wink, J. (2000). Critical pedagogy: Notes from the real world (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.
Andrea Milligan
Senior Lecturer, Social Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington College of Education
Desforges, C. (2000). Familiar challenges and new approaches: Necessary advances in theory and methods in
12
research on teaching and learning. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association, Cardiff.
13
Robinson, V., Hohepa, M., & Lloyd, C. (forthcoming). School leadership and student outcomes: Identifying what
works and why: Best evidence synthesis iteration. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
14
Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fund, I. (2007). Teacher professional learning and development: Best
evidence synthesis iteration. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
15
Alton-Lee, A., Nuthall, G., & Patrick, J. (1993). Harvard Educational Review 63(1), pp. 50–84.
16
Ministry of Education (2004). Guidelines for generating a best evidence synthesis iteration 2004. Wellington:
Ministry of Education.
17
Battiste, M., Bell, L., & Findlay, L. M. (2002). An interview with Linda Tuhiwai Te Rina Smith. Canadian
Journal of Native Education, 26(2), pp. 169–201.
18
Loughran, J. (2006). Developing a pedagogy of teacher education. London: Routledge.
19
Stahl, R. J. (1995). Meeting the challenges of making a difference in the classroom: Students’ academic success
is the difference that counts. Social Education, 59(11), pp. 47–53.
20
Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whàriki: He whàriki màtauranga mò ngà mokopuna o Aotearoa / Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
21
The curriculum also claims applicability within “other Màori immersion programmes” (p. 10).
22
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
23
Ministry of Education (1990). Economics forms 3 to 7 syllabus for schools. Wellington: Learning Media.
24
Ministry of Education (1990). Syllabus for schools: Geography forms 5–7. Wellington: Learning Media.
25
Department of Education (1989). History forms 5 to 7 syllabus for schools. Wellington: Department of
Education.
26
Ministry of Education (1990). Economics forms 3 to 7 syllabus for schools. Wellington: Learning Media.
27
Gagne, R. (1984). Learning outcomes and their effects: Useful categories of human performance. American
Psychologist, 39(4).
28
Good, T. & Brophy, J. (2003). Looking in classrooms (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
29
Gronlund, N. E. & Linn, R. L. (1990). Measurement and evaluation in teaching. New York: Macmillan.
Cultural identity Outcomes related to students’ understanding and awareness of personal identity
and layered/multiple identities.
Skills Outcomes related to students’ use of methods (for example, the planning of
inquiry) and techniques (for example, graphing, mapping, reading) central to the
development of social science understandings and to their expression of those
understandings (in, for example, writing, drawing, speaking).
Generic frameworks of
Affective
educational outcomes
Outcomes for diverse learners
Cultural
identity
Culturally-based
frameworks of educational
outcomes
Synthesis
OUTCOMES Knowledge
SET
Outcomes from curriculum
documents
Skills
Social and educational Participatory
outcomes data
Figure 1 illustrates the approach used to ground the research in the social sciences. It also
illustrates the complexity of outcomes that characterise this curriculum domain and shows that
the search for evidence went beyond conventional and easily measurable outcomes – such as
test scores based on knowledge recall and discrete skills performance – into the more complex
30
Bereiter, C. (2002). Education and mind in a knowledge society. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
31
Department of Education (1987). Report on the Social Studies Subjects Survey. Wellington: Department of
Education.
McGee, C., Hill, M., Cowie, B., Miller, T., Lee, P., Milne, L., et al. (2004). Curriculum Stocktake: National school
sampling study. Case studies: Implementation of national curriculum. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
McGee, C., Jones, A., Bishop, R., Cowie, B., Hill, M., & Miller, T. (2003). Teachers’ experiences in curriculum
implementation: English, languages, science and social studies. National school sampling study report No. 2.
Hamilton: University of Waikato.
Education Review Office (2001). The New Zealand Curriculum: An ERO perspective (Part 4: Technology and
social studies). Wellington: Education Review Office.
Education Review Office (2006). The quality of teaching in years 4 and 8: Social studies. Wellington: Education
Review Office.
Education Review Office (2007). The teaching of social studies: Good practice. Wellington: Education Review
Office.
32
McGee et al. (2003), op. cit.
33
Education Review Office (2001), op. cit.
Outcomes
Cultural identity Disciplines
Knowledge
Skills Social studies
Participatory Tikanga à iwi
Affective Te Whàriki
Geography
History
Economics
\ Classical studies
Other social sciences
Pedagogy
Sources of evidence pertinent to region X were identified using an approach that combined
knowledgeable and systematic search strategies with network or snowball sampling based
on the results of these searches. The knowledgeable search drew on the researchers’ own
experience and the experience of their advisors to identify key researchers, fields (for example,
questioning or cooperative learning), and journals relevant to the social sciences domain.
Learner diversity (for example, in terms of gender, ethnicity, and special needs) was a priority,
and the search for evidence as inclusive as possible of students and learning contexts. While
we wanted to avoid making unwarranted generalisations about the particular pedagogical
treatment of different groups of students, we needed to ensure that subsequent analysis and
synthesis would draw from an evidence base that considered the experiences of all learners.
The systematic search extended well beyond the limits of the researchers’ own knowledge
and experience through the use of keyword searches, journal alerts, and the issue-by-issue
browsing of journals that we had established as relevant. Sources uncovered by these means
were then further searched, and snowball sampling was used to follow up those sources that
were relevant to the pedagogy–outcomes focus of this research.
Knowledgeable search
Key ‘fields’
Key journals
Source References
Snowballing
Set-up of journal
alerts
Issue-by-issue
browsing of tables of
contents
Each source was analysed systematically, using a series of filters. First, it was checked to
determine whether it reported on outcomes that were relevant to the social sciences. Second,
where information on outcomes was provided, the quality of the evidence was assessed, paying
particular attention to the relationship established between outcome and pedagogy (region X
in Figure 2). This relationship was then interrogated to determine as precisely as possible the
nature of the connections between pedagogy and outcome. Details of the relationships were
recorded in research item records, as EndNote™ entries, or in note summaries. To assist
subsequent cross-referencing and synthesising, each study was classified according to subject,
level, outcomes, setting, and learner characteristics. To ensure coherence with the Quality
Teaching BES36 and identify gaps, an initial sample of studies was also classified against the 10
characteristics of quality teaching.
36
Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality teaching for diverse students in schooling: Best evidence synthesis. Wellington:
Ministry of Education.
37
Dewey, J. (1938/1966). Logic: The theory of inquiry. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Phillips, D. C. (2006). A guide for the perplexed: Scientific educational research, methodolatry, and the gold
versus platinum standards. Educational Research Review, 1(1), pp. 15–26.
Phillips, D. C. & Burbules, N. C. (2000). Postpositivism and educational research. Maryland: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers.
The pedagogy section of this classification sought to distinguish between studies that gave
specific details about the strategies used in the intervention (A or B in column 1) and those that
were more general (C). This distinction was important because, as Nuthall has explained39, a
general description of the pedagogy obscures particular cause. Only when it is clear what a
pedagogy involves is it possible to understand the mechanisms by which particular outcomes
eventuate. The outcome section of the table (column 2) was similarly important; not even a
rich description of pedagogy can advance the understanding of cause unless the particular
nature of the outcome and its impact on particular learners is clear. Once again, the more
richly descriptive studies were classified as A or B and the more general (‘the students enjoyed
the activity’) were classified as C. Studies that made no reference to pedagogy or outcomes
(category D in columns 1 and 2) were put aside at this point. These studies were generally
advocatory or polemic in nature, discussing particular approaches without specific reference
to the learning that resulted for particular groups of students. That such studies were excluded
from the synthesis is not a criticism of the studies themselves; it simply recognises that they
were written for other purposes.
The interactions between pedagogy and outcomes are central to this research and give rise to
the third, most important column in the classification table: quality of causal description. Some
studies (especially those in practitioner publications) are rich in their description of pedagogy
(A for pedagogy) but rather weak in their description of outcomes (C for outcomes). These were
typically classified as C in column 3 because interpretation of the nature of the relationship
38
Phillips (2006), op. cit.
39
Nuthall, G. (2004). Relating classroom teaching to student learning: A critical analysis of why research has failed
to bridge the theory–practice gap. Harvard Educational Review, 74(3), pp. 273–306.
A 125 A 100 A 59
B 43 B 75 B 104
C 61 C 52 C 67
D 13 D 15 D 12
A further 92 studies were included because they shed light on particular contextual features
(provided background on curriculum, outcomes, or methodology, or evidence by way of
comment or argument), and another 62 because they provided evidence on student learning
trajectories in the social sciences (see appendix C)40.
40
The three totals of 242, 92, and 62 do not add to 383 because a small number of studies were included in more
than one category.
41
Maxwell, J. A. (2004). Causal explanation, qualitative research, and scientific inquiry in education. Educational
Researcher, 33(2), pp. 3–11.
42
Pawson, R. (2002). Evidence-based policy: The promise of ‘Realist Synthesis’. Evaluation, 8(3), pp. 340–358.
Kohlmeier (2006)
Grade 9 history
Consistent practice with
Socratic seminar, interpreting source
documents
Shifts in students’
empathetic thinking.
Figure 4: Identifying common themes and mechanisms in studies from different contexts43
The mechanisms were established progressively as common themes were identified (in the
above example, ‘provide opportunities to revisit concepts and learning processes’) across
studies and then as common explanatory connections were made between themes (see Figure
5 for a schema of this process). The process was inductive and iterative: as new evidence
was found, new themes and mechanisms emerged, and themes and previously established
mechanisms were collapsed or divided. Summaries of studies were held in EndNote™, and
searches across these assisted with the initial stages of the synthesis.
43
Gersten, R., Baker, S., Smith-Johnson, J., Dimino, J., & Peterson, A. (2006). Eyes on the prize: Teaching complex
historical content to middle school students with learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 72(3), pp. 264–
280.
Duke, N. K. & Kays, J. (1998). “Can I say ‘once upon a time’?”: Kindergarten children developing knowledge of
information book language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13(2), pp. 295–318.
Kohlmeier, J. (2006). “Couldn’t she just leave?”: The relationship between consistently using class discussions
and the development of historical empathy in a 9th grade world history course”. Theory and Research in Social
Education, 34(1), pp. 34–57.
Findings
Theme
Findings
Findings
Findings
Findings
Theme Mechanism
Findings
Findings
Findings
Findings
Theme
Findings
Findings
The analysis revealed four main mechanisms that explain what works for diverse learners in
the social sciences. The mechanisms, with the appropriate teacher actions, are:
1. Connection: Make connections to students’ lives
2. Alignment: Align experiences to important outcomes
3. Community: Build and sustain a learning community
4. Interest: Design experiences that interest students.
Each of the mechanisms is paired with a teacher action, beginning with a verb. The first,
for example, begins with ‘make’, underscoring the teacher’s responsibility for activating the
(‘connecting to students’ lives’) mechanism. In this way, we link the often-separated activities
of teaching and learning and reference the Màori concept ako.
44
Desforges, C. (2000). Familiar challenges and new approaches: Necessary advances in theory and methods in
research on teaching and learning. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association, Cardiff.
45
Rietveld, C. (2002). The transition from preschool to school for children with Down syndrome: A challenge to
regular education? Unpublished doctoral thesis University of Canterbury.
Rietveld, C. (2003). Parents, preschools/schools and professionals: Impact of relationships on children’s
inclusion. Paper presented at the Child and Family Policy Conference, Dunedin, Otago.
Rietveld, C. (2004). Contextual factors affecting inclusion during children’s transitions from preschool to
school. Paper presented at the CHILDforum 8th annual New Zealand Early Childhood Research Symposium,
Wellington.
This iterative process allowed for interpretations of the original research to be checked and
for the research to be integrated with the mechanisms. Importantly, it also gave opportunity
for shifts in the source authors’ thinking to be acknowledged. It was possible, for example, to
include Rietveld’s recent findings46 concerning the interplay between biological and contextual
factors that facilitate the inclusion of learners with impairments.
The iterative process was also important in the case ‘Making links between cultures: ancient
Roman and contemporary Sàmoan’, which was drawn from Christine McNeight’s action
research47. In this instance, the source author was able to elaborate the pedagogy, providing
the detail needed for a better understanding of the teaching–learning connection and allowing
stronger causal claims.
McNeight, C. (1998). “Wow! These sorts of things are similar to our culture!”: Becoming culturally inclusive
47
within the senior secondary school curriculum. Unpublished graduate research report, Department of Teacher
Education, Victoria University of Wellington.
Mechanism 2: Alignment
Align experiences to important outcomes
Mechanism 3: Community
Build and sustain a learning community
Mechanism 4: Interest
Design experiences that interest students
This best evidence synthesis identifies and explains four mechanisms that facilitate learning
for diverse students in tikanga à iwi/social studies/social sciences:
Connection
This mechanism explains how students’ participation and understanding is enhanced when
their teachers connect the content of learning to their lives. By making such connections,
teachers increase the relevance of the learning for their students and encourage them to find
parallels between new learning and their own experiences. Students’ own experiences become
a point of comparison from which they can learn about other people’s experiences in different
times, places, and cultures. This continuity between home and school supports learning.
It is enhanced by the use of language that is inclusive of all learners and their experiences
and by the selection of resources that make diversity visible, avoiding biased, stereotypical
representations.
Alignment
This mechanism explains how learning experiences work (or do not work) to fix learning
in students’ memories. Simply put, valued learning will not occur unless learners have
sufficient opportunities to engage in learning experiences aligned to that learning (that
is, experiences specifically designed to achieve the valued/desired outcomes). Alignment
begins with identifying what students already know, using approaches that are appropriate
for the kind of knowledge sought. This identification helps the teacher prioritise important
Community
This mechanism has particular significance in the social sciences because – with its focus on
belonging, dialogue, and collaboration – it is a valued outcome as well as an explanation for
learning. Learning communities do not happen automatically. They are built around respectful
relationships that establish a foundation for learning, create a climate of collaboration and
mutual endeavour, and model inclusion and learning. In effective learning communities, the
teacher promotes dialogue and contribution by involving students in developing group norms,
by explicitly teaching necessary preparatory skills, and by modelling the skills of dialogue.
Teachers can encourage dialogue in small groups by creating complex, cooperative tasks that
draw on the multiple, diverse abilities of group members, and they can encourage whole-class
discussion by using statements instead of questions. By delegating greater responsibility to
learners for making decisions that relate to their learning, and by making learning processes
transparent by encouraging metacognition, teachers facilitate the development of effective
learning communities that support student participation and autonomy.
Interest
This mechanism is about making learning memorable for students by designing learning
experiences that stimulate their interest in the important content of learning and by providing a
variety of experiences. Activities that are interesting build and sustain motivation for learning.
Learners are not, however, all motivated in the same way, and their interests do not necessarily
coincide with those of the teacher. For this reason, stimulating interest involves deliberate
design that is sensitive to different learner motivations and responses. Variety also enhances
memorability because learners tend to attach their memory of content to the circumstances in
which that content was developed. If the learning activities are all very similar in nature, the
benefits of such connections are lost because the activities blur into one another. A variety of
activities provides more anchors for learning and subsequent recall.
51
learning emotional learning aligned
real appeal
Forewords, Introduction,
Overview
2.2 A model of pedagogy for the social sciences
Given their emphasis on diversity and explanation, the questions pursued in this synthesis
implicitly acknowledge that there is no easy ‘what works’ answer for teachers: ‘what works’
depends on the context. This means that it is important to also understand why, for whom,
and in what circumstances a particular teaching approach is effective. For this reason, this
research supports a model of pedagogy based on teacher inquiry: a model in which teachers
inquire into the impact of their actions on their students and into interventions that might
enhance student outcomes. It distinguishes three phases of inquiry: a focusing inquiry, a
teaching inquiry, and a learning inquiry.
The focusing inquiry helps determine direction. Given that time is limited and that students
need multiple opportunities to engage with the content of new learning, priorities need to
be established; this is the purpose of this phase of the cycle. The focusing inquiry is termed
an ‘inquiry’ because the prioritising process draws from a variety of sources: curriculum
requirements, community expectations, and, most importantly, the learning needs, interests,
and experiences of the learners.
The focus of the teaching inquiry is on identifying strategies that are most likely to help the
students achieve the selected outcomes. Central to this inquiry are the questions ‘What could
I try?’ and ‘How good is the evidence?’ These questions imply a considered and reflective
approach to practice and research that requires the ability not only to locate the evidence
but also to evaluate its quality. In determining what to try, teachers are exposed to different
sources of evidence, including their own experience as teacher and learner, the experiences of
colleagues, prescriptive sources, such as curriculum documents and textbooks; and systematic
sources, such as professional development and research. This does not mean that one idea is
as good as another. Some are better supported by evidence, and the questions that guide the
teaching inquiry are aimed at seeking these out. The mechanisms, developed as they were
from a wide base of evidence across the social sciences, are key informants. Based on this
inquiry, teachers design teaching actions (learning experiences) for their students.
The focus of the learning inquiry is on the impact of teaching actions on student outcomes.
Central to this inquiry is the collection and analysis of quality evidence based on the questions
‘What is happening for students in my classroom?’ and ‘Why might this be happening?’
Pursuing answers to the first question, teachers may find, for example, that some students are
not interested in the content or that some have contributed little to teacher-led discussion or
that some have difficulty working together and learning in groups. To determine what future
action is appropriate, the teacher then needs to find out why students are responding in such
ways. Hence the second question, ‘Why might this be happening?’ The mechanisms offer a
framework that can help teachers answer this question. Are the students uninterested because
the content does not connect to their experience (Mechanism 1) or because too much material
is being covered to allow them to engage with the new learning and embed it in their memory
(Mechanism 2) or because their own questions do not form the basis of their studies and so
they have little interest in them (Mechanism 4)? None of these questions is likely to lead to a
single, clear answer, but by posing them within the broad framework of the four explanatory
mechanisms, a set of possibilities is suggested. These possibilities can then inform the design
of future teaching actions.
Teaching
Focusing inquiry design
What is most important and
Student therefore worth spending time on?
outcomes
Establishing valued outcomes based on the
curriculum, community expectations, and student
needs and dispositions
Teaching
action
Learning inquiry
What happened?
Why did it happen?
Considering evidence from own context about what
happened as a result of the teaching, and implications
for future teaching
This model of pedagogy does not simply describe actions; it is underpinned by a set of attitudes
towards teaching and learning. Foremost among these are open-mindedness, fallibility, and
persistence. Open-mindedness refers to a willingness to consider teaching approaches that
may be unfamiliar or that may challenge one’s beliefs about the best ways to teach. It refers
also to being open to what the evidence shows about the effects of teaching on student learning.
Fallibility refers to the lively realisation that however strong the evidence may be, educational
research findings are always conjectural because they are context-bound. Fallibility involves
accepting the possibility that what was, or what has been, successful with one group of learners
may not be successful for another and that, for this reason, well-designed intentions might fail
to generate the desired response. The need for persistence directly follows from fallibility,
as teachers must inquire again into the focus of future learning and into the possibilities for
future, more effective action. In much the same way as Cochran-Smith and Lytle48 suggest,
this model describes a process of teacher learning that is “associated more with uncertainty
than certainty, more with posing problems and dilemmas than solving them, and also with the
recognition that inquiry stems from and generates questions” (p. 294).
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. L. (1999). Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in
48
This comment from a year 10 Màori student captures the importance that learners attach to
connections to their lives and experiences. In the absence of such connections, they understand
that their cultural knowledge is neither valued nor relevant50.
Mechanism 1 explains how students’ participation and understanding in the social sciences
is enhanced when the teacher connects the content of learning to their lives. This is not the
same as determining and then building on prior knowledge (see Mechanism 2 in chapter 4) in
that the underlying explanation for learning in Mechanism 1 is that what learners experience
is relevant to them. This mechanism explains how ‘putting students’ lives in the centre of
learning’ supports achievement in relation to a range of social sciences outcomes.
Teachers can explicitly connect learning to the lives of students by using content that is relevant
to their cultural knowledge and experience and by drawing their attention to parallels between
new learning and their own experience. Such content also helps provide continuity between
the home and school lives of students, which is critical for effective learning. Students’ own
experience becomes a point of reference with which to compare other people’s experiences
in different times, places, and cultures. In a meta-analysis aimed at identifying research-
based strategies for increasing student achievement, Marzano et al.51 found that the single
most powerful strategy was identifying similarities and differences through comparison,
classification, metaphor, and analogy. While it was not suggested that these strategies should
be limited to similarities and differences in relation to personal experience, the power of such
connections is clearly pertinent to the operation of this mechanism. Indeed, as Marzano et al.
assert, this “might be considered the ‘core’ of all learning” (p. 14).
In seeking to make connections, the teacher must also pay attention to the extent to which
content is inclusive of the voices, experiences, and perspectives of diverse people. A focus
on similarities and differences can be severely undermined if the comparisons are based on
limited or stereotypical information52. The inclusiveness of the learning environment is a
powerful influence on what students learn in the social sciences, impacting not only on whether
students can recognise themselves in the content but also on whether learning is balanced and
equitable or biased and distorted.
49
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Tiakiwai, S., & Richardson, C. (2003). Te Kotahitanga: The experiences of year 9 and
10 Màori students in mainstream classrooms. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
50
ibid.
51
Marzano, R. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in
schools. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
52
Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality teaching for diverse students in schooling: Best evidence synthesis. Wellington:
Ministry of Education.
Connection
• acknowledges the legitimacy of the cultural heritages of different ethnic groups, both as
legacies that affect students’ dispositions, attitudes, and approaches to learning and as
worthy content to be taught in the formal curriculum;
• builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experiences as well as
between academic abstractions and lived sociocultural realities;
• uses a wide variety of instructional strategies that are connected to different learning
styles;
• teaches students to know and praise their own and each other’s cultural heritages;
• incorporates multicultural information, resources, and materials in all the subjects and
skills routinely taught in schools (p. 29).
53
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Harrison, C., & Morandini, C. (2003). Sharing the lived experiences of children.
Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 28(2), pp. 8–14.
54
Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, & practice. New York: Teachers College
Press.
55
Te Tàhuhu o te Màtauranga (2006). Ngà Tauaromahi Marautanga o Aotearoa: Tikanga à Iwi. Wellington:
Learning Media and the Learning Centre Trust of New Zealand.
Kanu, Y. (2002). In their own voices: First Nations students identify some cultural mediators of their learning in
56
the formal school system. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, XLV111(2), pp. 98–121.
Connection
included “understanding the importance of respect in Aboriginal cultures, the vital role of
elders, the importance of family and community to Aboriginal identity, the importance of
spirituality in learning/education and in the lives of many Aboriginal peoples, the various
effects of European contact and settlement on Aboriginal peoples, and Aboriginal contributions
to Canadian society” (p. 11).
A second strategy was to integrate the use of Aboriginal learning resources into learning
programmes. This involved searching for Native literature that complemented the social
studies units: “First Nations origin/creation stories, stories describing Native ceremonies, and
stories depicting the holistic and interconnected nature of Aboriginal identity were integrated
into the grade 9 unit on Canadian identity” (p. 11). The search for resources extended to those
with a focus on Native issues and perspectives, such as “videos on the various ways in which
European contact impacted on Aboriginal lives and print materials on the Indian Acts and
how they violated the human rights of Aboriginal peoples” (p. 11). Importantly, the teacher
also included resources that provided counterstories to the stories presented in the textbook:
“Aboriginal governing structures prior to European contact were incorporated into the unit
on Government and Federalism to counter the myth that Aboriginals had no organised form
of government before the arrival of Europeans” (p. 11). The purpose of this strategy was to
expose, challenge, and critique normalised, privileged discourses.
A third approach was to integrate pedagogical strategies documented as effective for the
teaching and learning of Aboriginal students57. These strategies included: the use of stories;
sharing circles in which there was equal, respectful, and non-threatening discussion;
illustrations as scaffolds; field trips (for example, to a pow-wow); community support;
knowledgeable guest speakers from Native communities; a variety of activity types; and a
mix of individual and collaborative work. The teacher ensured that the language used in
assessment tasks was carefully considered, to ensure that the tasks assessed understanding of
social studies concepts rather than the ability to interpret complex English language.
The fourth strategy was to use journals, portfolios for reflection, and artefacts for assessment
purposes. Students’ written work, presentations of research, and performances of stories/
dramas were also used for this purpose, as well as traditional-style tests. Where tests were
used, the teacher reviewed the content and skills involved with the class prior to the test
and gave the students more time than the control teacher to read the tasks and write their
responses.
A fifth element identified by Kanu as important was the experimental teacher’s belief that
integration should be a philosophical underpinning of the curriculum. He believed that
Aboriginal perspectives should be central to curriculum, not an ‘add-on’. He believed, further,
that such integration has transformative power and that enhancing students’ understanding of
Aboriginal culture and issues can “increase the self-esteem and pride of Aboriginal students
and alleviate ignorance and racism among dominant cultural groups” (p. 14).
The data gathered in Kanu’s study included: field notes; audiotapes; video recordings; semi-
structured interviews with the students; classroom scores on social studies tests; two end-of-
term exams; two class assignments/projects; samples of Native students’ written work; and exit
slips and records of student attendance, class participation, and school retention. Kanu used
this data to examine what impact the integration of Aboriginal perspectives had on academic
ibid.
57
As well as the difference in assessment results, Kanu noted an increase in the self-confidence
of the students in the experimental class over the course of the year. Although the study found
no correlation between student attrition and the integration of Native perspectives and no
significant difference in attendance/regularity in the two classes, the reasons that regular
attenders in gave for their regularity were quite different depending on which group they were
in. Those in the control class typically emphasised compliance:
“If I don’t get my attendance slip signed by Mr H. I will lose the government financial
assistance I am getting for attending classes.”
“I look forward to this class every week. You learn something new about Native issues,
like successful Native professionals, politicians, and businesses, and this whole idea of
urban reserves in Winnipeg … suddenly you don’t feel that bad about yourself any
more.”
“We are learning a lot about Native issues in this class, and about other indigenous
cultures. For example, I enjoyed the video Whale Rider, which was about Màori culture
in New Zealand. It has some similarities with Cree culture.”
The evidence from this research shows that, in order to promote academic engagement and
achievement, the content and processes of teaching/learning need to be compatible with
students’ cultural identities and experience. This parallels the findings of Lipka et al.58 in
Western Alaska. These researchers carried out extensive studies into the integration of Yup’ik
culture and language into science, mathematics, and literacy programmes and found that the
integration of culturally relevant content and practices resulted in significant shifts in the
achievement of Native students.
The findings from Kanu’s study, which is firmly situated in a social studies context, also
resonate with recent across-the-curriculum research in New Zealand. In a study designed to
identify teaching and learning strategies that promote literacy skills for learners in a year 1–5
Màori-medium environment, Bishop et al.59 found that a culturally appropriate and responsive
context was crucial. Teachers were able to create such a context by recognising children’s
prior experience and knowledge and by using materials that related to their Màori world view
58
Lipka, J., Sharp, N., Brenner, B., Yanez, E., & Sharp, F. (2005). The relevance of culturally based curriculum
and instruction: The case of Nancy Sharp. Journal of American Indian Education, 44(3), pp. 31–54.
59
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., & Richardson, C. (2002). Te Toi Huarewa: Effective teaching and learning in total
immersion Màori language educational settings. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 26(1), pp. 44–61.
Connection
the importance of a “culturally appropriate and responsive context for learning in classrooms”
(p. 31). In part, such responsiveness consists of recognising, using, and building on the prior
learning and experience of Màori students in order to promote tino rangatiratanga. To be
more effective in teaching Màori students in the mainstream, teachers need, above all else, to
“care for their students as culturally located human beings”. This point was highlighted by the
student quoted at the start of this chapter, who felt that his learning was inhibited because his
cultural knowledge was not valued. He went on to say:
“I’m a dumb Màori I suppose. Yeah they asked the Asian girl about her culture. They
never ask us about ours” (p. 49).
The researchers argue that students can better make sense of classroom materials and
strategies if they are encouraged to “bring who they are to the classroom … in ways that affirm
their own emerging identities”.
Bevan-Brown61 also highlights the impact that culturally responsive teaching has on Màori
learners. In a culturally responsive environment:
learners’ culture is valued, affirmed and developed … learning is facilitated because their
educational and home environments are culturally compatible. They are able to utilise
familiar learning strategies and to relate new information to prior knowledge. In a culturally
responsive environment students are more motivated to learn, they feel psychologically
secure and thus are able to concentrate fully on required academic tasks (pp. 152–153).
Bevan-Brown’s research shows that gifted Màori learners are more likely to develop their gifted
potential and to resist anti-achievement pressure from peers when they experience a culturally
responsive environment that supports them knowing about, and having pride in, their Màori
culture62. Similarly, Hohepa et al.63 explain why cultural context is so important in kòhanga
reo and why it is important that they reflect and construct “the concepts, values and beliefs of
the language learners”.
The use of relevant concepts, values, and beliefs was exemplified in the content and resources
employed in Kaser and Short’s study64. As part of a literature-based family studies inquiry,
students were encouraged to explore their experiences and roots and to understand themselves
(cultural identity): “The students themselves were the curriculum” (p. 186). The teacher in this
study provided books that were likely to contextualise the diverse perspectives of the students
in the class. The students participated in literature circles (small groups engaging in dialogue
about books), in which they compared their own family groups with those in the literature and
compared traditions, establishing what they would like to know more about. The literature
circles also provided:
60
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Tiakiwai, S., & Richardson, C. (2003). Te Kotahitanga: The experiences of year 9 and
10 Màori students in mainstream classrooms. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
61
Bevan-Brown, J. (2005). Providing a culturally responsive environment for gifted Màori learners. International
Education Journal, 6(2), pp. 150–155.
62
Bevan-Brown, J. (1993). Special abilities: A Màori perspective. Palmerston North: Massey University.
63
Hohepa, M., Smith, G. H., Smith, L., & McNaughton, S. (1992). Te kòhanga reo hei tikanga ako i te reo Màori:
Te kòhanga reo as a context for language learning. Educational Psychology, 12(3/4).
64
Kaser, S. & Short, K. G. (1998). Exploring culture through children’s connections. Language Arts, 75(3),
pp. 185–192.
Joe focused on ethnicity and Brad focused on family and Rosanna focused on connections
used the family studies contexts generational cultures. He shared to family. Through her inquiry
as a place to articulate his stories and encouraged others to into diverse family grouping, the
concerns and understandings. share stories, which developed class all moved to consider and
He took on the stance of an the whole class’s understanding respect difference. “The whole
authority since he was the only of cultural diversity … He became class gained a rich sense of her
American Indian in the group, more respectful of others’ values as a Mexican American”
and he became increasingly viewpoints. (p. 187).
aware of how those around him
viewed their ethnic heritage. He
particularly related to the Indian
characters in the literature and
“expressed disappointment
that his family seemed to place
more importance on becoming
part of mainstream society than
on developing their own ethnic
uniqueness” (p. 188).
There was evidence that this approach supported the development of learners’ cultural
identities: “It was apparent throughout the year that Joe was thinking through what being
Indian meant to him” (p. 188). It also supported students’ understandings of how culture and
heritage are passed on and sustained, as is shown by the discussion below, which followed the
reading of a story about a Navajo elder who returned to a reservation to die (p. 188).
Brad: Well, anyway, I think the book is about how to take on the new ways without
having to give up the old.
Joe: You shouldn’t give up on your heritage.
Brad: Yeah, but, sometimes people aren’t proud of heritage because traditions seem
silly.
Randy: It doesn’t seem up-to-date. He even calls it “the old ways”.
Brad: I think the father was just trying to get away from the stereotyping of Indians
– riding horses, shooting arrows.
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Interestingly, Joe and Brad had both chosen to read the same text but had done so for different
reasons. It was relevant to Joe because it had Navajo characters. It was relevant to Brad
because he was interested in grandparents. The opportunity for them both to explore content
and resources that connected to their lives helped them develop understandings of the same
curriculum ideas. But because they were allowed to explore questions and resources that
were of particular relevance to them, the route to those understandings was different. The
researchers report that the approach the teacher took, weaving Joe’s findings about ethnicity
into class discussions about culture, together with the support he was given to further his
inquiry, helped to bring him closer to his peers rather than set him apart (p. 188).
Social stories
Social stories are stories written from the perspective of an individual child about a social
situation they are finding difficult or confusing. They embed the student’s own knowledge and
experience at the centre of a story designed specifically to support their participation in social
situations. Social stories follow a particular pattern and include the use of:
• descriptive sentences about what happens in the problematic situation;
• perspective statements that express the emotions and thoughts of the focus child and
others involved;
• affirmative statements that praise the actions of the child;
• directive sentences that signal appropriate responses from the child.
Research into the use of social stories in early childhood settings illustrates the value of
developing and using resources specifically designed to reflect the experiences and perspective
of a particular child. Briody and McGarry65 researched how social story books, made by the
teacher and particular to a specific child, facilitate transition to school. The authors give the
example of a social story prepared to support a child named Patrick. The social story was a
resource that he could use to review the morning routine of being dropped off at school. It
featured photographs of his morning routine, organised in chronological order (getting out of
the car, going into school, hanging his coat up, settling into the classroom, hugging his father
‘goodbye’, waving to daddy at the door, and then beginning his work). The pictures were
accompanied by descriptive statements (for example, “Patrick’s daddy is taking Patrick from
the car”), perspective statements (for example, “Patrick’s daddy says goodbye with a hug. He
will miss Patrick today, but he will see him again at home tonight”), affirmative statements
(for example, “Next, Patrick hangs up his coat. That is a good idea”), and directive statements
(literal behavioural choices). Patrick used the book throughout the day, sharing it with his
teachers and his peers. The reinforcing of the predictable nature of the morning routine
helped reduce Patrick’s anxiety. The social story “facilitated Patrick’s membership in his new
social group – his class – as he became included within the community” (p. 40).
Although social stories show evidence of strong alignment and personal connection, Toplis
and Hadwin66 found that they are not always effective for all students in the same way. They
researched the impact of social stories in terms of increasing the independent behaviour of
five children at lunchtimes. They found that the stories were effective for the children who
65
Briody, J. & McGarry, K. (2005). Using social stories to ease children’s transitions. Young Children,
September.
66
Toplis, R. & Hadwin, J. A. (2006). Using social stories to change problematic lunchtime behaviour in school.
Educational Psychology in Practice, 22(1), pp. 53–67.
67
Ali, S. & Frederickson, N. (2006). Investigating the evidence base of social stories. Educational Psychology in
Practice, 22(4), pp. 355–377.
68
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2005). Primary-grade students’ knowledge and thinking about transportation. Theory
and Research in Social Education, 33(2), pp. 218–243.
69
Alleman, J., Knighton, B., & Brophy, J. (2007). Social studies: Incorporating all children using community and
cultural universals as the centerpiece. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40(2), pp. 166–173.
70
ibid.
71
ibid.
72
Lipka, J. (2002). Schooling for self-determination: Research on the effects of including Native language and
culture in the schools. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED459989.
Connection
multicultural night, and participating in a grade 8 graduation designed to be a celebration of
cultures. Chan’s narrative inquiry (during which she took part in all aspects of classroom and
school life with two cohorts of students) revealed that:
Many activities in and out of classrooms were designed to acknowledge ethnic communities
and strengthen cultural awareness of others and pride in each student’s culture. However
well-intentioned, some of these events evoked complicated, even conflicting, responses from
students and their peers (p. 184).
There were, for example, culturally-bound dilemmas around a post-graduation party. Fatima,
a first-generation Somalian Muslim student, was “caught in the middle, wanting to participate
in what her non-Muslim peers were doing while at the same time needing to adhere to her
mother’s beliefs about activities she viewed as appropriate” (p. 184). The story reveals how
curriculum events (in this case a graduation) “may contribute to the ethnic identity-formation
of students of ethnic-minority backgrounds in ways not anticipated by their teachers” (p. 184).
Another story in Chan’s study relates to an activity in which culturally diverse students were
asked to share with the class what foods they ate at home and to describe the preparation
techniques involved. The teacher, William, found that his students did not initially offer
examples that reflected the cultural diversity of the classroom. So he planned a subsequent
activity, using carefully chosen, culturally diverse small groups, to learn about the history and
culture of a country of their choice and to prepare a dish from that culture for a food fair. This
approach was more successful in developing students’ appreciation of cultural difference:
William’s initial attempt to engage his students in discussion about cultural differences
was met with non-participation. Not knowing specific reasons for the students’ reluctance,
he explored possibilities for following up on the lesson, and decided to include a cultural
activity that might expose them to diversity in a way more compatible with their interests …
students’ responses to their teacher’s attempt to diversify the curriculum led their teacher
to explore alternative means of encouraging them to share their culture.
Eriksson and Aronsson74 also caution that not all students are comfortable with ‘life–world
probing’. Students may interpret as intrusive their teacher’s well-intentioned attempts to have
them make their world public. For example, in a booktalk session (one of 24 recorded by the
researcher with students aged 10–14), the teacher encouraged the students to visualise their
own lives from the perspective of specific other people. She asked them to compare their
lives (thinking particularly of their helping roles in the family) with those of refugee girls in
Mozambique and to try and adopt the perspective of the Mozambican girls. She found that “the
students reacted with resistance to questions about their private life worlds” (pp. 523–524).
All four students in the group displayed resistance of various kinds: evading the question, not
responding at all, providing minimal and non-committal responses, or avoiding the underlying
question (‘Would they like to work before school?’). The researchers suggest that:
73
Chan, E. (2007). Student experiences of a culturally-sensitive curriculum: Ethnic identity development amid
conflicting stories to live by. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 39(2), pp. 177–194.
74
Eriksson, K. & Aronsson, K. (2004). Building life world connections during school booktalk. Scandinavian
Journal of Educational Research, 48(5), pp. 511–528.
The power of comparisons is evident in a New Zealand study by Skerrett White77, situated
in a kòhanga reo. Students’ interests and experiences were the stimulus for a project about
75
Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies
for increasing student achievement. Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
76
Waniganayake, M. & Donegan, B. (1999). Political socialisation during early childhood. Australian Journal of
Early Childhood, 24(1), p. 34.
77
Skerrett White, M. N. (2003). Kia mate ra ano a Tama-nui-te-ra: Reversing language shift in kohanga reo.
Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton.
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English to an older child in a context outside the kòhanga reo, and then in Màori at the kòhanga
reo. The first situation arose when the older child asked Hinepau, “Are there monsters in this
world?” She replied:
“I’ll tell you a story. It’s about killing somebody. It’s a real story. There was this boy
and his name was Hatupatu and he was being chased by Kurungaituku, and Hatupatu
came to a rock. And he said, ‘Rock, rock open up, open up.’ And he went inside and
Kurungaituku was scratching the rock and the rock opened up and Hatupatu ran and
ran and then he came to a hot pool and he jumped over it and Kurungaituku fell into
the hot water and she died. And I’ve been to the rock and it’s still open and I’ve seen
the mud pools and they’re round [demonstrates] and they go bloop [demonstrating]”
(p. 239).
Hinepau later retold the story in Màori at the kòhanga reo, showing her bicultural
development:
“Kàtahi ke kòrero ‘Ko wai a koe?’ ‘Ko Kurungaituku au’. Ka kòrero a Kurungaituku ‘I
te hiahia he kai’. Kàtahi ka kòrero i a ia ‘I te hiahia au he tangata’. I oma a Hatupatu.
Kàtahi ka kòrero a Kurungaituku ‘Ka kai au koe mò tòku kai’ te kòrero o Hatu- aaaa
Kurungaituku. Kàtahi ka oma a Hatupatu. I tae mai a ia ki tètahi toka. Kàtahi ka
kòrero a ia, ‘E toka, e toka, huakina, huakina!’ Kàtahi ka huakina te toka. Kàtahi ka
huna te toka i a ia. Kàtahi ka haere mai a Kurungaituku ki te rapirapi i te toka.
Kàtahi ka haere – Kàtahi ka huakina anò, ka oma a Hatupatu. Kua pau tòna hau
inàianei. Kàtahi ka kòrero ki te papa, ‘E papa, e papa, huakina, huakina!’ Kàtahi ka
huakina te papa. Kàtahi ka kite ia, kàtahi ka rapirapi anò. Kàtahi ka puta mai a
Hatupatu. Tahi ka haere mai ki ètahi wai e koropùpù ana. I peke a Hatupatu i te
tuatahi, èngari i peke a Kurungaituku, i tae a ia i roto i te wai. Ko tènà te mutunga o
Hatu- aaaa Kurungaituku. Kua mutu au … anà tana kai!” (p. 239).
By retelling the Hatupatu story in two contexts and in both English and Màori, and by positioning
Hatupatu as a powerful bird woman (not as a dragon, as some may have done), Hinepau showed
that she was developing in terms of two central aims for Màori educational achievement: (1) to
live as Màori and (2) to actively participate as citizens of the world79. Durie states that “Màori
children will live in a variety of contexts and should be able to move from one to the other with
relative ease” (p. 11). Hinepau showed that she could do just that.
Not surprisingly, a number of the social sciences studies that reported gains in student learning
also reported tasks that involved attending to similarities and differences. In particular, there
is evidence that learning tasks that involve students comparing their own and others’ cultures
or communities can contribute to student success.
Durie, M. (2001 February). Hui Taumata Màtauranga: A framework for considering Màori educational
79
Mi‘i: First we started off like we wanted to contrast similarities and differences
and women, the roles of women were not so important like men were …
men were like the dominant sex and that was similar thing with Sàmoans.
The role of women were just to have babies and clean house and wait for
husband to come and … yeah … it’s like that now.
Helen: We talked about differences between Roman life and Sàmoan way of life –
that was the big thing.
Interviewer: Did you talk about families?
Helen: We talked about families and well with Roman religion they had those
parents ... the heads of the family, which were the … pater familias? He
was the father – usually the father was the head of the family. We thought
that was quite like our Sàmoan way of life because fathers are the head of
the family and everyone has to obey him and do what he says.
Similarities and differences relating to festivals, religion, feasts, and rituals of speech were
also discussed.
Comparing the students’ achievement on this unit with their achievement on earlier units,
the teacher/researcher found that each had more than doubled her mark. The girls reported
a greater sense of cultural inclusion and empowerment, and increased engagement with
learning. There was also evidence that the process, by creating a space away from the cultural
norms and evaluative environment of the classroom, gave students the opportunity to express
thoughts about aspects of the course that perplexed them. It allowed them to raise issues that
touched on their own culture but were too sensitive to be dealt with in a large-group situation.
The formal teaching environment provided few opportunities for this.
80
McNeight, C. (1998). “Wow! These sorts of things are similar to our culture!”: Becoming culturally inclusive
within the senior secondary school curriculum. Unpublished graduate research report, Department of Teacher
Education, Victoria University of Wellington.
81
See Case 2: Making links between cultures: ancient Roman and contemporary Sàmoan.
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their families:
We paired our students into letter-writing partners, beginning a process we would repeat
with any materials we received from one another. We saw that children started to compare
themselves to their partners and ask questions, such as, “What do my writing partner and I
have in common?” and “How are we different?” We would then share all the letters received
by reading them out loud or putting them on display, and asking, “What are the patterns
that we see in their lives?”, “How is life in New Zealand different from and the same as life
in New York?”, and vice versa.
The students: exchanged photographs and writing about places in their community; compared
their lives to their partners’ lives; asked questions about others that led to understandings of
identity, place, culture, and history; exchanged stories about family history, treasures, and
holidays; and exchanged recipes.
The teachers involved in this cross-cultural exchange said that their students developed an
intense motivation to learn about others’ cultures and histories once they had a real audience
to exchange ideas with. They suggest that the strategy was successful in generating learning
because:
• it began with children learning and writing about themselves;
• children were more willing to share personal information when the primary audience was
far away;
• students learned more about themselves when they opened up for others;
• abstract information became meaningful when embedded in the personal.
The Schnell and Brodsky-Schur study83 describes a similarities-and-differences strategy in
action in a social studies context. The comparing of their own lives with those of others was
successful both in terms of motivating students to participate in social studies and in developing
conceptual understandings. By asking questions about the (Eastern European) origin of some
of the New York children’s names, for example, the New Zealand students gained historical
understandings and made the discovery that both groups contained students with ancestors
who had fled Ireland during the 1840s famine. This discovery generated understandings about
how the peoples of different countries are interconnected through patterns of immigration.
As a means of engaging students with two year 11 history topics, Hunter and Farthing84
developed a pedagogical approach that was designed to connect them with their own pasts.
In the first of a series of teaching episodes, students discussed connections between the topics
they were going to be learning about in history and the stories of their own families. They
were asked to prepare for the next lesson by selecting a single object/taonga/item that had
some special connection to their own past, discussing it with their family, and bringing it to
class with them. At the start of the next learning episode, the students displayed the items on
their desks and spoke briefly about their sources. They were then questioned orally about their
objects. This was followed by a series of written tasks in which the students had to describe
82
Schnell, C. & Brodsky-Schur, J. (1999). Learning across cultures: From New York City to Rotorua. Social
Education, 63(2), p. 75.
83
ibid.
84
Hunter, P., & Farthing, B. (2007). Connecting learners with their pasts as a way into history. Set: Research
Information for Teachers, 1, pp. 21–26.
They made connections to wider historical contexts using words and phrases such as:
it must have a past, to remember times in that period, of the past, turn of the century,
timeframe, significant era of time, at that time, anniversary (p. 24).
By engaging with and sharing their families’ experiences and histories, the students gained
greater understanding of historical concepts – and developed greater respect for each other.
The importance of making links to students’ lives was also a theme in a study by Grant85. He
observed two teachers teaching about civil rights and compared the impact of their different
approaches on their students’ historical thinking. A key point of difference was the extent to
which the teachers made connections between the civil rights context that prevailed in the
United States in the 1950s and 60s and students’ lives in the present. One of the teachers,
Linda, gave her students many opportunities to juxtapose their own experiences with those of
people who had been involved in civil rights issues 40 or 50 years earlier. Via interviews, she
found that her students saw themselves as “actors in their community” who “see the impact
civil rights battles have had on how they and others view the world today” (p. 91). In the other
teacher’s class, opportunities to make such connections were not offered. The students from
this class acquired a very different view of the value of studying history; they “see the study
of history as irrelevant to the way they live their lives”. For learning to be relevant to and
significant for students, it needs to connect with their lives.
Learning circles, described by Riel86, are a powerful tool that also requires students to make
comparisons between their own lives and those of others. Attention to similarities and
differences is just one of the elements of this successful approach (see Mechanism 4 in chapter
6 for further detail):
85
Grant, S. G. (2001). It’s just the facts, or is it? The relationship between teachers’ practices and students’
understandings of history. Theory and Research in Social Education, 29(1), pp. 65–108.
86
Riel, M. (2000). Learning circles: Virtual communities for elementary and secondary schools. Retrieved May,
2006, from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/80/10/e8/d1.pdf
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physical world is similar and different from that of their distant partners” (p. 3). The following
profile, which one school included in the welcome pack that it sent to another school, provided
a basis for comparison:
“Sheldon Point School (Alaska) has 5 classrooms, with a total of 45 students in grades 1–12,
most of whom are Yupik Eskimos. We live in a small village of less than 300 people on an
area of about one square mile isolated from other locations by the rugged terrain. We drive
snowmobiles to school. The school is the chief source of jobs in the community and families
hunt, trap, and fish” (p. 3).
The studies outlined above reveal the learning potential of making connections between the
lives and experiences of people in different contexts. Such connections can also support learning
about concepts that are more abstract and less familiar to students. In Bickmore’s study87 of
a diverse group of grade 4 and 5 students who were learning about ‘conflict’, the students
were initially unfamiliar with the concept of conflict. They had, however, experienced conflict
(whether personal or interpersonal) and were familiar with a current local issue in which
conflict had led to work stoppages and protests. The teacher connected the learning with these
experiences, both in the initial session and throughout the unit. For instance, working in small
groups, the students brainstormed and then developed drama presentations that centred on
conflicts caused by people trying to meet their needs. The subjects chosen for the presentations
show how the students were able to connect the learning with their experience: a driver who
caused an accident because, with very limited education, he was unable to read a stop sign;
two families, one homeless and with no money for rent, and the other living in a comfortable
home; a hospital funding issue seen from the perspectives of a patient receiving good-quality
medical care and a politician wanting to cut funding. By connecting with local, interpersonal,
and intrapersonal experiences such as these, students established the basis for connecting to
other, initially unfamiliar ideas about larger-scale conflict in distant settings. By the end of the
unit, most of the group had developed their conceptual understanding of conflict and – more
importantly – their capacity to use those understandings.
As a result of being put in the middle of the learning, the students in Bickmore’s study came to
understand the concept of conflict in a way that had meaning for them. By contrast, the learning
in a study reported by VanSledright88 lacked connection to students’ lives and experience,
involving instead “a host of details, events, and terms, drawn from the ostensibly large
historical fact archive” (p. 335). This resulted in students learning a largely “inert and lifeless”
version of colonial American history. VanSledright describes this as the “‘too many details’
phenomenon” and suggests that students should be “more in the middle of ... unfolding history”
(p. 337). Nasman and Gerber89 highlight the potential for young children to be in the middle of
learning about economic concepts. They argue that economic concepts and understandings,
often perceived by teachers to be unfamiliar to and distant from young children, are actually
87
Bickmore, K. (1999). Elementary curriculum about conflict resolution: Can children handle global politics?
Theory and Research in Social Education, 27(1), pp. 45–69.
Bickmore, K. (2001). Student conflict resolution, power “sharing” in schools, and citizenship education.
Curriculum Inquiry, 31(2), pp. 137–162.
88
VanSledright, B. (1995). ‘I don’t remember – the ideas are all jumbled in my head’: Eighth graders’ reconstructions
of colonial American history. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 10(4), pp. 317–345.
89
Nasman, E. & von Gerber, C. (2002). Pocket money, spending and sharing: Young children’s economic
understanding in their everyday lives. In M. Hutchings, M. Fulop, & A. M. Van den Dries (Eds.), Young people’s
understanding of economic issues in Europe (pp. 79–104). Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.
– no touching anything that belonged to the ali‘i – no talking back to the teacher
Kaomea describes how, “after asking the students about the consequences they would face for
breaking each of the rules in school (which varied from getting a warning from the teacher
to having to see the principal, to suspension, depending on the rule broken), the teacher
explained that in school the punishment fits the crime, but in old Hawaii, there was just one
punishment: ‘you break the kapu, you die’. It did not matter how serious the crime was, the
teacher continued, the consequence was still the same. If you ate a food that you were not
supposed to eat or if your shadow fell on an ali‘i, then you were put to death” (p. 32). This
simplistic view of the kapu system entirely overlooked beneficial aspects of helpful kapu and
did not attend to how ali‘i were also subjected to kapu and inconvenienced by them. The
comparison was both mismatched and unfair. “By placing the early Hawaiian penal system
side by side with the benign rules and consequences of a contemporary elementary school, the
teacher has created a situation in which precontact Hawaii will inevitably appear frightening
and oppressive in comparison” (p. 32). Kaomea suggests that comparisons could have been
made, instead, with contexts such as the US penal system.
90
Johnstone, R. (1987). ‘They don’t eat like us’: Prejudice and a social studies unit. SET: Research Information
for Teachers, 1(7).
91
Kaomea, J. (2005). Indigenous studies in the elementary curriculum: A cautionary Hawaiian example.
Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 36(1), pp. 24–42.
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cultural differences between Whites and Native Americans. For example, the teacher asked the
students to discuss how True Son would see Fort Pitt, compared with how a white settler might
see it. The students used the words ‘ugly’, ‘treeless’, and ‘prison’ to describe the fort from True
Son’s perspective and ‘home’ and ‘safe’ to describe it from the settlers’ perspective. The teacher
also asked the students to imagine what they would do if they were in True Son’s position.
This led students to make further distinctions, with Native Americans being characterised
as ‘better people’, ‘religious’, and ‘sacred’ and Whites as ‘kind of jerks’ who ‘take over’ and
‘control the land’. Wills comments that in these activities, interactions between Whites and
Native Americans were invisible. Differences between Whites and Native Americans were
positioned as cultural conflict, and power relations between the two groups went unexplored.
Wills argues that “the primary focus should be on social interaction, on society, and not on the
cultures of distinct groups” (p. 54).
92
Wills, J. S. (2001). Missing in interaction: Diversity, narrative, and critical multicultural social studies. Theory
and Research in Social Education, 29(1), pp. 43–64.
93
Alton-Lee, A., Nuthall, G., & Patrick, J. (2000). Reframing classroom research: A lesson from the private world
of children. In B. M. Brizuela, J. Pearson Stewart, R. G. Carrillo, & J. Garvey Berger (Eds.), Acts of inquiry in
qualitative research. Massachusetts: Harvard Educational Review.
Alton-Lee, A. & Densem, P. (1992). Towards a gender-inclusive school curriculum: Changing educational
practice. In S. Middleton & A. Jones (Eds.), Women and education in Aotearoa. Wellington: Bridget Williams
Books.
ibid.
94
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T: Europeans, we were, ‘we’ positions those of non-
European descent as excluded
from the class community.
Joe: (talking to Ricky) Nigger! Racist remark, and kicking
follows
T: Watch this way please, Ricky! – were
often wanting to get things …
Joe: (talking to Ricky) Black man! Samoan!
(a few minutes later)
Ricky: (talking to Joe) Idiot! You get out!
Joe: (talking to Ricky) You kicked me first,
you nigger!
Ricky: (talking to Joe) Did not, you honkie honk.
I’m not a nigger, you flippin’ honkie
honk!
(a few more minutes later)
Joe: (talking to Ricky) Shut up!
T: Ricky, could you try and watch here Ricky, not Joe, was admonished
please? for causing a disturbance through
misbehaviour (p. 254).
The positioning of the teacher and the European students in the class in the ‘we’ led to Ricky,
a Màori student, finding himself excluded from the class community, kicked, and the recipient
of racist remarks from Joe, a student of European descent. The teacher involved, reflecting on
the incident, expressed surprise and disappointment that the exchange had taken place, given
his desire to deal effectively with race and gender issues in the classroom.
Just as the teacher’s ‘we’ included only Europeans, it included only males. Mia, as a European,
was nevertheless able to identify with ‘we’ when it referenced white males: she said that the
early settlers of New York were ‘like us’ and that they were ‘there before us’. Ricky, on the
other hand, was excluded by the teacher’s ‘we’ and located among the ‘they’. The teacher had
inadvertently positioned him as ‘other’ in the class community.
Levstik96 compared how grade 5–8 students viewed matters of historical significance with how
20 preservice and 12 inservice teachers viewed them. She noticed that the students – like the
teacher in the New York and Middle Ages studies mentioned above – tended to use the first
person plural in their explanations. Students and teachers were given captioned historical
pictures and asked to select those they thought were important enough to be included on a
timeline of the past 500 years. As they talked about American history, “the first person plural
came naturally … ‘We’ fought the revolution, ‘We’ discovered a cure for polio … historical
Levstik, L. S. (2000). Articulating the silences: Teachers’ and adolescents’ conceptions of historical significance.
96
In P. N. Stearns, P. Seixas, & S. Wineburg (Eds.), Knowing teaching and learning history: National and
international perspectives (pp. 284–305). New York: New York University Press.
97
Alton-Lee, A., Densem, P., & Nuthall, G. (1990). ‘I only think of the men … I don’t think of the women’. SET:
Research Information for Teachers, 2, pp. 1–8.
98
Town, S. J. H. (1998). Is it safe to come out now? Sexuality and the education of ten young gay men. Unpublished
doctoral thesis, Victoria University of Wellington.
“Just make homosexuality and homosexual lifestyles, culture and society more visible
… I don’t see why it isn’t” (p. 207).
Town suggests the use of resources and activities “which enable young males to explore subject
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positions other than the ‘single’ heroic” position and recommends that schools “identify silences
and disrupt certainties of gender and sexuality” (p. 230).
Similar suggestions were made by Renold99 in her study concerning the difficulties faced by boys
who adopted non-hegemonic masculinities. She studied 59 year 6 children in two semi-rural
English primary schools, focusing on the construction of gender and sexual identity. Through
ongoing participant observation and unstructured, exploratory interviews in friendship groups,
Renold found that two-thirds of the boys “went to great lengths to avoid studious behaviours,
particularly boys who were deemed high achievers … some boys deployed humorous techniques
(including the teasing and ridiculing of others) and some boys engaged in disruptive, ‘rule-
breaking’ behaviours. Others played down their achievements. Each strategy was a means
of concealing conformist attitudes to schooling and to avoid being positioned as studious”
(p. 373). While the study was not designed to reveal the nature of pedagogies that support such
occurrences, the authors found that the “conflation of non-hegemonic forms of masculinity,
femininity, and ‘studiousness’ makes academic study problematic for all boys, but particularly
difficult for boys (high and low achievers) who would like to, or choose to, invest in and take
up alternative masculinities” (p. 382). Pedagogies that promote such conflation are, therefore,
likely to be unhelpful in promoting desired learning goals for diverse male learners.
Two students in Town’s study had shifted from a school with a culture that had left them
feeling isolated and ‘at risk’ (like the schools described by Macgillivray100, which are permeated
by homophobic and heterosexist attitudes that leave LGBTIQ101 students vulnerable) to one
where “issues of sexuality in general and (homo)sexuality in particular were more visible”
(p. 202)102. They mentioned, for instance, that in their new school they found information
about support groups for gay/lesbian youth on the noticeboards. The provision of such support
and information contributed to another student’s positive feelings about learning, something
that he had not experienced at another school, where such information was not visible. As
a consequence, “he attended more frequently, was aware of the attendance and assessment
requirements and felt more able to believe in himself and his achievements” (p. 204). This
feedback aligns with the theoretical argument put forward by Rogow and Haberland103, who
advocate grounding sexuality and relationships education within a social studies framework
that emphasises gender and social context. They suggest that there is value in a stronger and
earlier emphasis “on the social context in which sexual attitudes form, sexual decisions are
made and sexual scripts enacted” (p. 335). The arguments they put forward for including such
a focus in social sciences education include:
• social studies has analytical thinking and critical reflection components, which have
typically been applied to themes relating to “social movements, communities, government,
culture and contemporary social issues” (p. 337);
• sexuality-related issues are fundamentally social matters;
99
Renold, E. (2001). Learning the ‘hard’ way: Boys, hegemonic masculinity and the negotiation of learner identities
in the primary school. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22(3), p. 369.
100
Macgillivray, I. K. (2004). Sexual orientation & school policy: A practical guide for teachers, administrators,
and community activists. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
101
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer.
102
Town (1998), op. cit.
103
Rogow, D. & Haberland, N. (2006). Sexuality and relationships education: Toward a social studies approach.
Sex Education, 5(4), pp. 333–344.
“I’ll be happy to wait on you if you’ll just move to those seats in the rear,” the clerk said in a low voice.
“There’s nothing wrong with these seats,” Martin’s father said. “We are quite comfortable here.”
“Sorry,” said the clerk, “but you will have to move to the rear of the store.”
“We’ll either buy shoes sitting here,” Martin’s father said, “or we won’t buy shoes at all.”
“Stop being so high and mighty!” the clerk said angrily. “That is the only place we serve black
people.”
After reading the passage, the teacher asked, “How do you think Martin and his father felt?”
The students responded variously with words such as ‘annoyed’, ‘discouraged’, ‘sad’, and ‘cruel’.
The teacher summarised their responses by saying that the treatment meted out to Martin
and his father ‘didn’t seem fair’. The nature of the task restricted students’ opportunities to
discuss the understandable black opposition to segregation or to discuss white investment in
segregation.
Wills critiques the above activity: although intended to relate to how conflicts can be resolved,
it omits the white voice. By focusing almost entirely on the thoughts and feelings of young
Martin as he experiences discrimination in a segregated society, the curriculum in use
104
Wills, J. S. (1996). Who needs multicultural education? White students, U.S. history, and the construction of a
usable past. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 27(3), pp. 365–389.
105
Wills, J. S. (2001). Missing in interaction: Diversity, narrative, and critical multicultural social studies. Theory
and Research in Social Education, 29(1), pp. 43–64.
106
Myers, W. D. (1992). Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn.
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If it is important to understand diverse groups as agents in history, argues Wills, then teachers
need to focus on the “face-to-face interactions between diverse groups but do so in ways
that situate these interactions within cultural systems and social, economic and political
structures” (p. 55). Wills’ alternative approaches would position Martin’s father and the clerk
as participants within a social system.
In a further example from the same study, the teacher assigned students roles as one of
six different participants in the Boston Tea Party and then posed the question: “From your
perspective, how do you feel about what’s happening?” (p. 54). Wills says that this question
encouraged students to think about reactions rather than actions and set up cultural differences
as the primary focus. Again, this activity failed to focus on the interactions.
Given the resource they had been given, the students could only imagine how the people
involved might have reacted. Also, by including only one African American role and only
one Native American role, students were given the implicit message that there was a single
reaction from each people. The alternative that Wills proposes is to structure conversations
that include more than one perspective from any one cultural group. He suggests that a better
strategy for making African Americans visible in the curriculum would have been to use a
dialogue between a radical white patriot (Samuel Adams), an African American who supported
the colony’s break with England, and an African American who sided with the British. He
suggests using questions such as: “What is in the best interests of African Americans?”, “Who
should African Americans align themselves with?”, and “Which side represents liberty and
equality for African Americans?”
Comments from social studies learners reported in a study by Mangat107 highlight the need
for teachers to be critical when selecting resource material and to examine ways in which it
may promote stereotypes. Ten students from grades 11 and 12 in Canadian high schools were
given a short story on the impact of the Air India bombing on Toronto’s Indian community. The
central character and narrator of the story was an Indian woman. Interviews with Meena and
Simi, two of the five Indian students in the group, showed that while the girls liked the story
and were happy to read a resource that made non-dominant mainstream perspectives visible,
they were concerned that their classmates would see those representations as fixed and ‘true’
and would have cultural stereotypes reinforced. On first reading the story, Meena asked, “Why
did it have to be a story about an Indian person instead of just a person?” (para. 11). Simi said,
“There were a lot of cultural references to Indian culture and Indian way of life. And I think
that if other people read the story they’re going to think that Indian culture is a certain way.
People already have lots of stereotypes about Asia and the East and the Orient and I think that
this story just further implements these stereotypes” (para. 12). Meena commented, “Like you
never hear ‘a typical American tradition is …’ – there’s no such thing as ‘typical’. It’s actually
making a generalisation … If people see an Indian person generalising about their culture
other people think they can too” (para. 16). Simi added that the story “makes it seem like all
Indians are that way” (para. 16). The five European Canadians were asked to comment on
the possibility that the story might confirm stereotypes. The researcher reports that “they
appeared unconcerned with the notion that readers might walk away from the story with
unsubstantiated beliefs about India” (para. 17).
Mangat, J. (2002, Spring). Culture, gender, representation and response: High school students interacting with
107
108
Gordy, L. L., Hogan, J., & Pritchard, A. (2004). Assessing “herstory” of WWII: Content analysis of high school
history textbooks. Equity & Excellence in Education, 37(2), pp. 80–91.
109
Kaomea, J. (2000). A curriculum of aloha? Colonialism and tourism in Hawai‘i’s elementary textbooks.
Curriculum Inquiry, 30(3), pp. 319–345.
110
Nairn, K. (1997). Hearing from quiet students: The politics of silence and voice in geography classrooms. In
J. P. Jones, H. Nast & S. Roberts (Eds.), Thresholds in feminist geography (pp. 93–115). Lanham: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers.
111
New Internationalist (circa 1986). A women’s world series: The price of marriage and the struggle for land.
(Video)
112
Nairn, K. (1995). Quiet students in geography classrooms: Some strategies for inclusion. New Zealand Journal
of Geography, October, pp. 24–31.
113
Alton-Lee, A. G., McBride, T., Greenslade, M., & Nuthall, G. (1997). Gendered discourses in social studies:
Intermediate students’ learning and participation during studies of Antarctic work and survival focused on
women. Report to the Ministry of Education: Understanding Learning and Teaching Project 3. Wellington:
Ministry of Education.
114
McBride, T. (1997). Planning, preparing and teaching gender-inclusive curriculum: Evaluation and implications
from a teacher’s perspective. Report to the Ministry of Education: Understanding Learning and Teaching Project
3. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
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The impact of the direct encounter with the women who had been to Antarctica was
sufficiently strong to challenge the male-only / male norm implicit schemata the students
brought to the unit. There are multiple reasons for the impact of the visitors. For example:
the vividness of the experience of the visitors, the greater time afforded to the visitors in
the unit programme, the accompanying slides and artifacts (clothing) and the pedagogical
quality of the intensive series of tasks associated with their visits: class discussion, question
generation, question asking … note taking, peer discussion and report writing (p. 41).
The authors also found that “although the boys were participating more frequently than girls
in public discussion at the outset of the units, as the focus on women increased, the girls
participated on average more frequently in public discussion in both classes” (p. 2). The
prevalence (not mere inclusion) of images and instances of women with Antarctic experience
facilitated greater participation from the girls.
The McBride116 and Alton-Lee et al.117 research shows the impact that deliberate alignment of
resources can have in shifting student understandings. In unit pretesting and brainstorming
on the subject ‘People living and working in Antarctica’, the students did not think to mention
women: they “knew nothing of the research work or explorations carried out by women” in
Antarctica (p. 9). At the end of the four-day unit, when asked to name people who had been
to Antarctica, the five case study students remembered nine women and 13 men. This result
was attributed, at least in part, to the careful analysis of resources in terms of their gender
inclusiveness. It was this analysis that enabled the teacher to select resources that were aligned
with the gender-inclusive goal of the unit – and to reject those that weren’t. In the view of the
researchers, those resources – particularly the women who came and shared their experiences
– were responsible for disrupting the implicit male-only discourse.
Kaser and Short118 also noted increased participation stemming from the use of resources that
feature people with whom children can connect. Investigating the use of literature in a family
studies unit, they found that Joe, an American Indian student, “felt a sense of identity with the
Indian characters in the books he read, and was more participatory in discussion about these
books”.
Similarly, Levstik and Groth119 reported the importance of treating gender as a ‘fundamental
point of analysis’, not an ‘add-on’, and of giving adolescents opportunities to “build a vocabulary
for discussing human rights issues and engage in critiquing current practices in regard to
gender and sexuality” (p. 233). Their study concerned students who were carrying out inquiries
into, for instance, women’s involvement in the US reform movement and industrialisation. By
making gender visible as a key focus for the analysis, students were encouraged to engage in
discussion about current gender and sexuality issues. Students in the study reported positively
on their learning in social studies, saying that it helped them to be ‘open-minded’ and to refine
their views on different issues. They also commented that they “felt safe to explore ideas
and opinions in their social studies class”. They knew their peers well and felt reasonably
115
Alton-Lee, McBride, Greenslade, & Nuthall (1997), op. cit.
116
McBride (1997), op. cit.
117
Alton-Lee, A. G., McBride, T., Greenslade, M. and Nuthall, G. (1997), op. cit.
118
Kaser, S. & Short, K. G. (1998). Exploring culture through children’s connections. Language Arts, 75(3),
pp. 185–192.
119
Levstik, L. S. & Groth, J. (2002). “Scary thing, being an eighth grader”: Exploring gender and sexuality in a
middle school US history unit. Theory and Research in Social Education, 30(2), pp. 233–254.
Laney, J. D., Wimsatt, T. J., Moseley, P. A., & Laney, J. L. (1999). Children’s ideas about aging before and after
120
Alignment
“’Cause it was so much stuff that I learned and I would learn more stuff and … I know
it’s there, but there’s just so much stuff.”
121
Alton-Lee, A. & Nuthall, G. (1998). Inclusive instructional design: Theoretical principles emerging from the
Understanding Learning and Teaching Project. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
122
VanSledright, B. (1995). ‘I don’t remember – the ideas are all jumbled in my head’: Eighth graders’ reconstructions
of colonial American history. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 10(4), pp. 317–345.
123
ibid.
Table 9: Percentage of post-test items already known at the start of the Antarctica unit
Teine started with considerably less topic-relevant knowledge than Paul. The significance of
this for his learning can be seen by the fact that, on completion of the unit, Teine had either not
learned, or had mislearned, 35.8% of the content; the corresponding figure for Paul was 20%.
Table 10: Percentage of post-test items not learned or mislearned during the Antarctica unit
The task of uncovering prior knowledge and then designing learning experiences to help move
all students towards the same end point was complicated by the limited overlap in the prior
knowledge of different students. As Table 11 shows, 15–20% of prior knowledge was unique or
nearly so in that it was shared by no more than one other student.
124
Ausubel (1968). Educational psychology: A cognitive view. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
125
Marzano, R. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in
schools. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
126
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1997). Student learning in the classroom. Report to the Ministry of Education:
Understanding Learning and Teaching Project 3. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
127
Nuthall, G. (2007). The hidden lives of learners. Wellington: NZCER.
The uniqueness of prior knowledge is not always this extreme (in another social studies unit,
the equivalent percentages for four students ranged from 38.1% to 62.1%). Nevertheless, these
findings are clear: prior knowledge influences performance in end-of-topic assessments; a
relatively high proportion of the content to be learned is already known at the beginning; what
is known differs from student to student. These findings collectively reinforce the importance
of identifying the nature of student knowledge prior to and during teaching so that learning
experiences can be aligned not only to the intent of new learning but also to the existing
knowledge of individual students.
Alignment
Identifying student prior knowledge alerts teachers to the transfer of
existing understandings that may inhibit new learning
As students participate in learning experiences, they interact with new information and attempt
to make sense of it by making connections between it and existing knowledge structures or
schema128. These schema may contain understandings that inhibit the acquisition of new
knowledge.
Nuthall and Alton-Lee129 describe how a student’s understanding of the concept of ‘village’,
developed in one context (the student’s own experience), influenced her understanding of a new
concept: ‘Greenwich Village’ in New York.
The process that Mia used to construct her new understanding depended on an understanding
that was fine in the original context but which inhibited development of the different
understanding required by the new context. That is, her construction of an accurate, new
understanding was subverted by prior knowledge (p. 833). Had the teacher known that when
Mia heard the name Greenwich Village, she was picturing the kind of place she thought of as a
village, Mia’s misconceptions could have been avoided or addressed.
Alton-Lee et al.130 explain how schema influence what students remember about female agency
in activities traditionally dominated by male discourses. Just as schema influenced what
students remembered about females and males in the Middle Ages (the ‘William of Arc’ effect
described on pages 73–74), schema also influenced what students learned in a unit about living
in Antarctica. In the course unit, Jane, a year 7 student, studied the story of Irene Peden in two
different texts but could not recall her. Another student confused Peden’s contribution with
128
The term ‘schema’ is used to refer to the knowledge structures in long-term memory. They are organised
hierarchically, with more generalised ideas at higher levels and specific details at lower levels. (See Nuthall,
G., The anatomy of memory in the classroom: Understanding how students acquire memory processes from
classroom activities in science and social studies units. American Educational Research Journal, 1999, 36(2)).
129
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1993). Predicting learning from student experience of teaching: A theory of student
knowledge construction in classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 30(4), pp. 799–840.
130
Alton-Lee, A. G., McBride, T., Greenslade, M., & Nuthall, G. (1997). Gendered discourses in social studies:
Intermediate students’ learning and participation during studies of Antarctic work and survival focused on
women. Report to the Ministry of Education: Understanding Learning and Teaching Project 3. Wellington:
Ministry of Education.
131
Lipson, M. (1983). The influence of religious affiliation on children’s memory for text information. Reading
Research Quarterly, 18, pp. 448–457.
132
Hammann, L. A. & Stevens, R. J. (2003). Instructional approaches to improving students’ writing of compare–
contrast essays: An experimental study. Journal of Literacy Research, 35(2), p. 731.
133
Harnett, P. (1993). Identifying progression in children’s understanding: The use of visual materials to assess
primary school children’s learning in history. Cambridge Journal of Education, 23(2), p. 137.
Alignment
knowledge and experiences (‘they weren’t as smart’, ‘they didn’t have scientists’).
• Chauvinism: depicting the customs of other cultures as ‘weird’ and ‘funny’.
• Stereotypes: some have a basis in fact (‘the English ride subways’), others are
misconceptions (‘there are no schools in Africa’, ‘the Egyptians live in pyramids’).
• Limited awareness of the relationship that exists between people’s lives and the
surrounding physical environment. The following response from a grade 1 student,
illustrates, for example, an explanation based on personal preference rather than
geography:
Q: American people eat a lot of beef but Chinese people eat a lot of chicken. Why is
that? American people eat a lot of bread but Chinese people eat a lot of rice. Why is
that?
A: ’Cause they like chicken more than beef, and we like beef more than chicken.
Because rice is better for the chopsticks to pick up. And bread they can’t pick up
very good with chopsticks, and they don’t have bread where China is (p. 42)135.
If teachers are aware of such misunderstandings, they can be alert to the importance of planning
to address them. Kaomea136, for example, showed how an independent inquiry pedagogy and an
outdated resource did not challenge grade 4 students to deal explicitly with the misconceptions
embedded in their prior knowledge of early Hawaiian life. As a consequence, students’ final
presentations exaggerated sadism and violence and misrepresented the kapu system. In New
Zealand, Knight’s research (cited in Smythe137) revealed that year 12 students who had studied
African geography appeared to be more prejudiced towards Africans than those who had
not, suggesting that the teaching they had received had affirmed rather than addressed their
misconceptions.
134
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2005). Primary-grade students’ knowledge and thinking about transportation. Theory
and Research in Social Education, 33(2), pp. 218–243.
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2006). Children’s thinking about cultural universals. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
135
Brophy & Alleman (2006), op. cit.
136
Kaomea, J. (2005). Indigenous studies in the elementary curriculum: A cautionary Hawaiian example.
Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 36(1), pp. 24–42.
137
Smythe, K. (1992). The social concepts of children. In R. Openshaw (Ed.), New Zealand social studies: Past,
present and future. Palmerston North: The Dunmore Press.
138
Osborne, R. & Freyberg, P. (1985). Children’s science. In R. Osborne & P. Freyberg (Eds.), Learning in science:
The implications of children’s science (pp. 5–14). Auckland: Heinemann Education.
139
Barr, H. (2002). There’s too much B.S. in New Zealand social studies. The Journal of the Aotearoa New Zealand
Federation of Social Studies Associations, 10(2), pp. 21–22.
140
Gawith, G. (2005). ‘Enquiring’ into inquiry pedagogy. Good Teacher Magazine, Term 4.
Alignment
not find a strong correlation between the knowledge assessed by the recognition measures and
that accessed by the recall measure. They concluded that the two approaches revealed quite
different aspects of students’ prior knowledge and, therefore, that there was no single, ideal
measure for diagnosing prior knowledge. In their words:
Recognition measures serve the function of reminding students of information that they
know about the topic. Interviews (recall measures) give them the opportunity to share
knowledge they have that is relevant to them personally but not necessarily widely shared
(p. 231).
Harwood and Jackson142 evaluated three approaches to assessing 9- to 11-year-old students’
conceptual understanding of the landscape: oral interview, picture recognition, and picture
drawing. When the researchers compared students’ responses to the oral interview with their
responses to the picture recognition test, they found that only one of the nine had consistent
results across the two approaches; one student was consistent only for one concept. Pictures
revealed what the oral test failed to reveal, and vice versa. They concluded (p. 78) that there
were “significant dangers in using a single, narrowly-focused” diagnostic strategy because
a single approach risked underestimating children’s comprehension and overlooking their
misconceptions.
Appendix B outlines strategies that researchers have used to access prior knowledge related
to social science outcomes.
141
Valencia, S., Stalman, A., Commeyras, M., Pearson, D., & Hartman, D. K. (1991). Four measures of topical
knowledge: A study of construct validity. Reading Research Quarterly, 26(3), pp. 204–233.
142
Harwood, D. & Jackson, P. (1993). ‘Why did they build this hill so steep?’: Problems of assessing primary
children’s understanding of physical landscape features in the context of the UK national curriculum. Geographic
and Environmental Education, 2(2), pp. 64–79.
143
Kunowski, M. A. (2005). Teaching about the Treaty of Waitangi: Examining the nature of teacher knowledge
and classroom practice. Queensland: Griffith University.
Treating every moral opinion as equally worthy encourages children in the false
subjectivism that ‘I have my opinion and you have yours and who’s to say who’s right?’
This moral understanding does not take the demands of democratic justice seriously …
(pp. 56–58).
Seixas147 also argued that, in the absence of skilled teacher direction, there is a risk that too
much interpretive leeway in discussions may result in the construction and reinforcement of
“untenable views of the past and of their place in historical time” (p. 320).
Other researchers have noted that content and resource selection requires judgment, and that
such judgment is impaired when disciplinary knowledge is lacking. As Wineburg148 (1998)
commented, with reference to the teaching of history, “teachers cannot teach what they do
not know. They cannot choose that of which they are ignorant” (p. 237). If we want children
to develop historical empathy, “we must give them teachers who understand the subjects they
intend to teach … teachers who haven’t understood a subject cannot hope to teach that subject
with any deep understanding – or sophistication – to their students” (p. 241).
On a related theme, and in the context of daycare centres in Sweden, Nasman and von Gerber149
expressed concern that teachers’ lack of knowledge about the application of economic concepts
to everyday life, combined with their generally negative attitude towards consumer culture,
impacts on their ability to recognise the teachable moment and on their ability to draw out the
conceptual, as distinct from the moral, understanding of economic issues in everyday life.
Lee-Thomas et al.150 described how the attempts of four early childhood teachers to facilitate
gender equity were unsuccessful, since their children “continued to engage in gender-
stereotyped play” (p. 22). The researchers’ explanation for this failure was that the teachers
concerned placed heavy emphasis on socialisation theory to explain gender construction. In
other words, they believed that children’s gender construction is a result of their exposure to
models in the social context (parents, peers, media personalities, siblings, and others with
whom the child has regular contact), which informs their understanding of how to think, feel,
144
Kaomea, J. (2005). Indigenous studies in the elementary curriculum: A cautionary Hawaiian example.
Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 36(1), pp. 24–42.
145
Makler, A. (1994). Social studies teachers’ conceptions of justice. Theory and Research in Social Studies 22(3),
pp. 249–280.
146
Gutmann, A. (1987). Democratic Education. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
147
Seixas, P. (1993). The community of inquiry as a basis for knowledge and learning: The case of history.
American Educational Research Journal, 30(2), pp. 305–324.
148
Wineburg, S. (1998). A partial history. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(2), pp. 233–243.
149
Nasman, E. & von Gerber, C. (2002). Pocket money, spending and sharing: Young children’s economic
understanding in their everyday lives. In M. Hutchings, M. Fulop, & A. M. Van den Dries (Eds.), Young people’s
understanding of economic issues in Europe (pp. 79–104). Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.
150
Lee-Thomas, K., Sumsion, J., & Roberts, S. (2005). Teacher understandings of and commitment to gender
equity in the early childhood setting. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(1), pp. 21–28.
Alignment
minute intervals, the learning of between three and six students as they participated in social
studies and science units. 25 case study students and 36,000 quarter- or half-minute intervals
of class time were involved, and 3442 item files were created153. For data gathering, the studies
employed a number of methods: continuous observation of case study student engagement,
audio recording of public talk, video recording, and audio recording of case study students’
private conversation.
The researchers analysed the relationship between the classroom experiences of the case
study students and changes in their knowledge and attitudes, as revealed by pre- and post-
unit testing and in interviews carried out at the ends of units and a year later. For each
student, the records of all the experiences in which they may have been able to learn about a
particular concept or idea were collated into a single item file. For each student, all of the items
were classified, following an analysis of pre-test, immediate post-test, and long-term post-test
data, as:
• already known (at pre-test) or
• not learned (wrong on pre-test and immediate post-test) or
• learned and forgotten (wrong on pre-test, correct on immediate post-test, wrong on long-
term post-test) or
• learned and remembered (wrong on pre-test, correct on immediate and long-term post-
tests) (p. 804)154.
The item files also contained information about the behaviours that the students engaged in:
number of teacher/peer interactions, lesson activities, critical incidents from observations or
recordings, and relevant transcripts. Item files detailed:
• the content (how explicit it was, or how aligned to the concept);
• the source (teacher, book, other student, and so on);
151
Yelland, N. & Grieshaber, S. (1998). Blurring the edges. In N. Yelland (Ed.), Gender in early childhood. London:
Routledge.
152
Alton-Lee, A. (1984). Understanding learning and teaching: An investigation of pupil experience of content
in relation to immediate and long-term learning. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch.
Alton-Lee, A. & Nuthall, G. (1990). Pupil experiences and pupil learning in the elementary classroom: An
illustration of a generative methodology. Teaching & teacher education: An international journal of research
and studies, 6(1), pp. 27–45.
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. G. (1990). Research on teaching and learning: Thirty years of change. Elementary
School Journal, 90(5), pp. 547–570.
153
Alton-Lee, A. (2006). How teaching influences learning: Implications for educational researchers, teachers,
teacher educators and policy makers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22(5), pp. 612–626.
154
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1993). Predicting learning from student experience of teaching: A theory of student
knowledge construction in classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 30(4), pp. 799–840.
155
Brophy, J. (2006). Graham Nuthall and social constructivist teaching: Research based cautions and qualifications.
Teaching & Teacher Education, 22, pp. 529–537.
156
Nuthall, G. (1996). What role does ability play in classroom learning? Paper presented at the New Zealand
Association for Research in Education, Nelson.
Alignment
2. The intended understanding is implicit or partially embedded in the learning experience.
(For example, describing the Magna Carta as ‘a great charter that sets out the rights of
free men’ partially addresses the intended learning about why charters were important;
significant parts of the intended learning are included in, or can be logically inferred
from, this statement.)
3. The learning experience incorporates additional information, explanation, and examples
(for example, definitions and descriptions of key elements; background and related
information; reasons and explanations; analogies and synonyms for key elements;
examples, instances, or subsets; negative examples and instances; students’ own
experience related to the answer).
4. Preparatory activity or discussion, and contextual information describing the focus or
purpose of the activity, are included.
5. Keywords (spoken, read, written, or included in a picture or diagram) are mentioned.
6. Activities and procedures (for example, carrying out a procedure that produces an answer,
or making a model or representation of a key concept).
7. Instructions for relevant activities are included.
8. Visual resources are visible and available in the room but not the focus of activity or
discussion.
(p. 339)158
Using this classification, the researchers were able to determine from student’s responses the
level of alignment necessary to generate student learning. This is illustrated in Figure 11 below.
Only learning experiences classified as content codes 1–4 generated the intended learning but,
significantly, content code 1 (explicitly aligned) experiences were pivotal. Students could learn
without a content code 1 experience but, to do so, they needed more frequent opportunities to
engage.
157
While the New York example illustrates how alignment operates, the content of that process may be open to
question given that Mia has moved from one incomplete generalisation (New York is ‘posh’) to another (‘New
York has gangs’). One stereotype has been broken but another has been acquired.
158
Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies
unit. The Elementary School Journal, 99(4), pp. 303–341.
Content code
1. Explicit encounter with content
2. Implicit or partial encounter with content
3. Additional information, explanation, and examples
4. Preparatory and contextual information
5. Mention of keywords and synonyms
6. Activities and procedures
7. Instructions
8. Peripheral resources.
Figure 11: Relationship between type of content and requirements for connecting representations
The first school that colonial children went to was called Dame School. Children had to read books
written for grown-ups because there were no story books for kids. In school, there were no pencils;
therefore, children wrote with a piece of lead. Girls needed to learn how to spin, cook and clean a
house; thus they stayed home until after they finished Dame School. After Dame School, most boys
continued to go to school, since the law said they had to go (p. 113).
The 243 students in the study were all from three Title 1 schools. The students were
predominantly Hispanic (76.5%) and African American (22%); 93% were recipients of state aid.
The content was based on the themes: homes, school, and jobs, in three historical communities.
Students were assigned to one of three conditions:
Williams, J. P., Nubla-King, A. M., Pollini, S., Brooke Stafford, K., Garcia, A., & Snyder, A. E. (2007). Teaching
159
cause and effect text structure through social studies content to at-risk second graders. Journal of Learning
Disabilities, 40(2), pp. 111–120.
Table 12: Activities for the explicit-teaching and content-only groups compared
Alignment
Clue words
Vocabulary Vocabulary
Cause–effect questions
The effects of the different approaches were analysed in terms of strategy use, content recall,
and comprehension. The following three tables summarise the results:
Underlying causes 70 4 2
Vocabulary definitions 48 56 13
Non-causal question 77 76 42
Cause question 61 46 38
Effect question 30 8 5
The tables illustrate the effect of alignment. Firstly, both the taught groups did better than
the no-instruction group on all 10 measures. In other words, instruction aligned to either the
structure or content of the resources was more effective than no instruction. More importantly,
the explicit-teaching group performed significantly better on the strategy and comprehension
(especially comprehension of effect) measures than the group that received content-only
instruction. While the content-only group performed slightly better on the content recall items
than the explicit-teaching group (reinforcing the effectiveness of alignment), it appears that
strategy instruction also had a positive impact on content recall – rather more, in fact, than the
impact that content-only instruction had on strategy understanding. The implication of this
finding for teachers is that strategy instruction appears to offer the dual benefits of reinforcing
content and enhancing comprehension of cause and effect. When the researchers tested for
transfer of the cause–effect strategy to other resources, they found that the explicit-teaching
group generally outperformed the content-only group, especially in their understanding of
effect in one-cause–multiple-effects contexts.
Hammann and Stevens’ experimental study160 involving grade 8 students illustrates two different
dimensions of alignment. The first is the importance of directly aligning strategy instruction
with intended strategy performance. Students who were taught summarising skills based on a
single text performed less well on compare–contrast writing tasks than students who had been
taught using two texts. In other words, the general alignment of summarising to compare–
contrast was not as effective as the specific alignment. These researchers also found that the
compare–contrast instruction was more effective when students had less prior knowledge of
the text. They speculated that if students think they already understand the material, they
may not see the need for a strategy, and in such situations, they may organise their writing
using their existing conceptual schema rather than the strategy they have been taught. This
speculative finding suggests that it may be necessary to align not only the instruction and the
intended outcome but also the instruction and learner prior knowledge.
Similarly, Kellett et al.161 describe a study in which a group of 10-year-olds participated
in a programme aimed at equipping them, through the deliberate teaching of research
knowledge and skills, to design their own research. This process empowered the students to
160
Hammann, L. A. & Stevens, R. J. (2003). Instructional approaches to improving students’ writing of compare–
contrast essays: An experimental study. Journal of Literacy Research, 35(2), p. 731.
161
Kellett, M., Forrest, R., Dent, N., & Ward, S. (2004). Just teach us the skills please, we’ll do the rest: Empowering
ten-year-olds as active researchers. Children and Society, 18(5).
Alignment
solving nature of searching for relevant information needed to be made explicit to learners:
In the real world, information seeking takes a long time. It is characterised by blind alleys
and false scents and answers need to be constructed following critical consideration of the
available information (p. 28).
She found that few students were prepared for this reality:
It seemed that students had a simple rule for finding information – think of a question,
identify its keywords, look up the subject index for a Dewey number, go to the shelves and
find the answer in the exact form it is wanted. If any part of that sequence failed they often
seemed surprised and confused (p. 28).
This reinforces the need for alignment that extends beyond skills teaching – for alignment of
the teaching method to the problem-solving, multi-solution nature of the task.
Wall and Higgins163 developed a research instrument designed to encourage children to talk
about their learning. They found that this tool also had pedagogical benefits, because, by
having children complete the thought bubbles and speech bubbles on pictures relating to the
learning context, it provided scaffolding for their thinking and speaking. In other words, the
bubbles were directly aligned to the processes that the students were being encouraged to use.
The researchers commented:
We believe that the thought and speech bubble combination supports or scaffolds responses
where the pupils’ thinking about their learning, or their metacognitive thinking, is brought
out. This may be because the template encourages them to distinguish between what they
might say (to someone else) about their learning and what they themselves think about it
(using the cartoon convention of a thought bubble) (p. 45).
The researchers also found that the sequence of speech and thought bubbles mattered:
Where learners were not familiar with a vocabulary about learning, it was found that by
starting with the speech bubble, the more easily attributable aspects of the learning process,
and then moving on to the thought bubble, a ‘scaffold’ was provided for the children in
moving from the concrete to the more abstract aspects of learning. Thus even children
less accustomed to talking about their learning could be supported by the structure of the
template to begin to engage with and reflect on their learning (p. 50).
162
Moore, P. (1995). Information problem solving: A wider view of library skills. Contemporary Educational
Psychology, 20, pp. 1–31.
163
Wall, K. & Higgins, K. (2006). Facilitating metacognitive talk: A research and learning tool. International
Journal of Research and Method in Education, 29(1), pp. 39–53.
164
Twyman, T., Ketterlin-Geller, L. R., McCoy, J. D., & Tindal, G. (2003). Effects of concept-based instruction on
an English language learner in a rural school: A descriptive case study. Bilingual Research Journal, 27(2),
pp. 259–274.
165
Twyman, T., McCleery, J., & Tindal, G. (2006). Using concepts to frame history content. The Journal of
Experimental Education, 74(4), pp. 331–349.
Figure 12 on the following page is reprinted with the permission of the Helen Dwight Reid Educational
Foundation. Published by Heldref Publications, 1319 Eighteenth Street, NW, Washington DC 20036-1802.
0
1 2 3 4 5
Scenario
Alignment
Figure 12: Problem-solving task trend data
166
Stephan, W. G. & Stephan, C. W. (1985). Inter group anxiety. Journal of Social Issues, 41, pp. 157–175.
167
Banks, J. A. (2006). Cultural diversity and education (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
168
Richards, Z. & Hewstone, M. (2001). Subtyping and subgrouping: Processes for the prevention and promotion
of stereotype change. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(1), pp. 52–73.
169
Hahn, C. & Avery, P. G. (1985). Effect of value analysis discussions on students’ political attitudes and reading
comprehension. Theory and Research in Social Education, 8(2), pp. 47–60.
Connelly, P. & Hoskin, K. (2006). The general and specific effects of educational programmes aimed at promoting
170
awareness of and respect for diversity among young children. International Journal of Early Years Education,
14(2), pp. 107–126.
Alignment
Group Mean number of non-stereotypical responses
(number of items = 24)
In this intervention, the classification training and the rule-based training were specifically
aligned to breaking down gender stereotypes, while in the control group, learning about gender
stereotypes was incidental. Commenting on the rule-based training, Bigler and Liben argue
that it illustrates the value of “directly teaching children non-sexist criteria for determining who
can perform various occupations, and in giving children practice in simultaneously attending
to both the gender and occupational roles of individuals” (p. 1361). Interestingly, the study
also found that stereotypical responses were less influenced by general classification training,
which involved sorting objects by shape and colour (rather than people and occupations). This
reinforces the importance of direct – rather than general, incidental, and, in this case, abstract
– alignment on student learning.
171
Bigler, R. S. & Liben, L. S. (1992). Cognitive mechanisms in children’s gender stereotyping: Theoretical and
educational implications of a cognitive-based intervention. Child Development, 63(6), pp. 1351–1363.
172
Buford, R. & Stegelin, D. (2003). An integrated approach to teaching social skills to preschoolers at risk.
Australian Journal of Early Childhood Education, 28(4), pp. 22–28.
173
ibid.
174
Denham, A., Hatfield, S., Smethurst, N., Tan, E., & Tribe, C. (2006). The effect of social skills interventions in
the primary school. Educational Psychology in Practice, 22(1), pp. 33–51.
175
Twyman, T., Ketterlin-Geller, L. R., McCoy, J. D., & Tindal, G. (2003). Effects of concept-based instruction on
an English language learner in a rural school: A descriptive case study. Bilingual Research Journal, 27(2),
pp. 259–274.
176
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Sinatra, G. M., & Loxterman, J. (1991). Revising social studies text from a text-
processing perspective: Evidence of improved comprehensibility. Reading Research Quarterly, 26(3), pp. 251–
276.
The revised text reduces the cognitive load177 on readers because they no longer have to use
working memory capacity to search through the text to make sense of the content. In the
original, students had to read and infer from sentence O2 that Britain won the war. In the
revised text, this is not necessary. As Beck et al.178 point out, this particular revision also has
Alignment
the effect of presenting the content in a way that is more consistent with most students’ schema
for war (it begins by naming the winner). In the original version, students had to hold onto the
idea (02) that ‘France was driven out of North America’ and connect it with the idea (03) that
‘Britain would now rule Canada’. To make this connection, they would have had to have known
that Canada was part of North America. By providing this information in the narrative (R9), the
revised version removes this potential stumbling block.
To test the effects of revisions such as this, the researchers compared the comprehension of
a group of students who read the original text with a group who read the revised text. They
reported that recall was reliably higher for the students who read the revised text. But the
amount recalled was only part of the story: there was also a difference in the nature of what
was recalled. Those who read the revised text were more able to explain “the actions of the text
and to move the chain of events forward … it wasn’t just that they would understand ‘the events
themselves’ but also why the events occurred and how events and ideas were related to one
another” (p. 272). That is, they were better able to establish the ‘causal-connective’ information
necessary for fuller comprehension. A logical inference is that if teachers are seeking causal
historical thinking from their students, there is benefit in aligning the organisation of text to
this purpose. The researchers point out, however, that fewer than half of the the students who
used the revised text demonstrated improved comprehension. It may be that, in spite of this
deliberate attempt to reduce the cognitive load, the inherent difficulty of the content was such
that the overall load remained high.
Notwithstanding this latter qualification, McKeown et al.179 found in a related study that without
text revision students were less able to bring to the text whatever background knowledge they
had in their possession. Two groups of grade 5 students were given 35 minutes of identical
background information prior to reading the text. One group of 24 students then read the
original text; another group of 24 read the revised text. The authors found that those who read
the revised text were more able to “focus on and remember the most important information
from the text” (p. 91), especially in relation to the principal motivating actions. Significantly,
they also found that:
students who read the original text, although they received the same background information,
were less likely to exploit the advantage provided by that information. It seems that the
177
Cooper, G. (1998). Research into Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design at UNSW. Retrieved from
http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/CLT_NET_Aug_97.html
Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty and instructional design. Learning and Instruction,
4, pp. 295–312.
178
Beck et al. (1991), op. cit.
179
McKeown, M. G., Beck, I. L., Sinatra, G. M., & Loxterman, J. A. (1992). The contribution of prior knowledge and
coherent text to comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 27(1), pp. 78–93.
180
McNamara, D. S., Kintsch, E., Songer, N. B., & Kintsch, W. (1996). Are good texts always better? Interactions
of text coherence, background knowledge and levels of understanding in learning from text. Cognition and
Instruction, 14(1), pp. 1–43.
181
Rubin, B. (2003). Unpacking detracking: When progressive pedagogy meets students’ social worlds. American
Educational Research Journal, 40(2), p. 539.
182
Nystrand, M., Gamoran, A., & Carbonaro, W. (2001). On the ecology of classroom instruction: The case of
writing in high school English and social studies. In P. Tynjala, L. Mason, & K. Lonka (Eds.), Writing as a
learning tool: Integrating theory and practice (pp. 57–82). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
183
Katz, L. G. (2001). Another look at what young children should be learning. The Spectrum, Fall.
184
Sewell, A. (2006a). Teachers and children learning together: Developing a community of learners in a primary
classroom. Draft doctoral thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North.
Alignment
In a detailed study involving two teachers teaching grade 8 history, Aulls187 showed how each
teacher’s preferred pattern of discourse shaped the learning. Although both had similar goals
and used the same texts and learning experiences, their forms of discourse were different, and
this difference significantly influenced their students’ experience of history. Mark’s discourse
was predominately routine and declarative (content focused). David used a much wider range of
discourse, but it was predominately collaborative and it integrated declarative and procedural
knowledge (skills and procedures). As a result, students in Mark’s class came to experience an
‘accommodation approach’ to history, which was largely teacher-led, while David’s students
experienced an integrated content and strategy-instruction approach that developed not only
their knowledge of history but their understanding of how to learn in history. As Aulls188
commented, “When the form of activity and classroom discourse are mismatched, the intended
learning goals are not likely to be supported during a learning event” (p. 522).
In a similar study, Grant189 described the contrasting approaches of two teachers when
teaching a unit on the US civil rights movement. He also contrasted the students’ historical
understanding in terms of how they viewed historical knowledge and significance, and in terms
of their historical empathy. The first teacher, referred to as George Blair, used a narrative
instructional style. In his class, the emphasis was on lectures and extensive recounting of
factual detail. He focused on “individuals’ actions and experiences, including his own [and]
the facts serve as threads with which he weaves a dramatic account” (p. 75). His students were
mainly engaged in copying notes and asked few questions. They came to see history primarily
as immutable facts. They did not recognise the impact of the past on their present lives, and
their responses were not empathetic. By contrast, the teacher referred to as Linda Strait
drew from a range of sources and provided “various instructional activities and experiences
designed to provide multiple opportunities for students to engage the ideas and emotions
of the times” (p. 75). These included watching video material, participating in small-group
discussions and activities, doing simulations, and writing reviews and essays. The author
describes, for example, a powerful simulation activity in which students took on roles relating
185
Levstik, L. S. & Smith, D. B. (1996). “I’ve never done this before”: Building a community of historical inquiry
in a third grade classroom. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Advances in research on teaching, Volume 6 (pp. 85–114).
Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Inc.
186
Leinhardt, G. (1993). Weaving instructional explanations in history. British Journal of Educational Psychology,
63, pp. 46–74.
187
Aulls, M. W. (1998). The contributions of classroom discourse to what content students learn during curriculum
enactment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(1), p. 56.
Aulls, M. W. (2002). The contributions of co-occurring forms of classroom discourse and academic activities to
curriculum events and instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(3), pp. 520–538.
188
ibid.
189
Grant, S. G. (2001). It’s just the facts, or is it? The relationship between teachers’ practices and students’
understandings of history. Theory and Research in Social Education, 29(1), pp. 65–108.
190
Nuthall, G. (1996). What role does ability play in classroom learning? Paper presented at the New Zealand
Association for Research in Education, Nelson.
191
Abram, P. L., Scarloss, B. A., Holthuis, N. C., Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., & Schultz, S. E. (2001). The use
of evaluation criteria to improve academic discussion in cooperative groups. Asia Journal of Education, 22,
pp. 16–27.
192
Britt, A. & Aglinskas, C. (2002). Improving students’ ability to identify and use source information. Cognition
and Instruction, 20(4), pp. 485–522.
Alignment
Figure 13: Sourcer’s Apprentice193
As they read the pages, students complete the note card at the bottom of the screen, which
prompts them to consider not only content but also information about the source (the writer,
their position, how they are known, possible motives for writing, and date). Students either
type the information directly into the spaces provided or drag and drop it into ‘buckets’. The
tutorial allocates points to the student for correctly placing material on the note card or, for
incorrect entries, provides increasingly specific hints. When they press the ‘done’ button,
students are asked a series of questions about sources and content, and then required to write
an on-screen essay on the topic, supported by the note cards completed earlier.
In a series of three experiments, this intervention was found to significantly improve students’
ability to attend to source information when studying historical documents. The first two
experiments found that, “after the Sourcer’s Apprentice training, students mentioned more
source features in their notes and answered more source questions correctly on a transfer test
relative to students not given the Sourcer’s Apprentice training” (p. 511). This was the case for
two different modules, on the Vietnam War and Homestead, and for students from both rural
and urban settings. The group exposed to the tutorial also did better on the essay writing task,
because they were able to draw on more content and to explicitly refer to sources. The essays
of those in the tutorial group were also better connected than those of the students who had
read the source material in textbook format.
While the researchers suggest that multiple factors are likely to have influenced the success
of this intervention, for example, the problem-solving context and the game environment,
194
Wood, B. (2005). Beacon schools for senior programmes in social studies: Final report. Wellington: Ministry of
Education.
195
Katims, D. S. & Harmon, J. M. (2000). Strategic instruction in middle school social studies: Enhancing academic
and literacy outcomes for at-risk students. Intervention in School and Clinic, 35(5), pp. 280–289.
Alignment
196
Newmann, F. M. (1990). A test of higher-order thinking in social studies: Persuasive writing on constitutional
issues using the NAEP approach. Social Education, 54(6), pp. 369–373.
Newmann, F. M. (1990). Qualities of thoughtful social studies classes: An empirical profile. Journal of Curriculum
Studies, 22(3), pp. 253–275.
Newmann, F. M. (1991). Promoting higher order thinking in social studies: Overview of a study of 16 high school
departments. Theory and Research in Social Education, 14(1), pp. 324–340.
Newmann, F. M. & Wehlage, G. G. (1993). Five standards of authentic instruction. Educational Leadership,
50(7), pp. 8–12.
Newmann, F. M., Marks, H. M., & Gamoran, A. (1996). Authentic pedagogy and student performance. American
Journal of Education, 104(4), pp. 280–312.
Scheurman, G. & Newmann, F. M. (1998). Authentic intellectual work in social studies: Putting performance
before pedagogy. Social Education, 62(10), pp. 23–25.
197
Newmann (1991), op. cit.
198
Newmann, Marks, & Gamoran (1996), op. cit.
This figure is a visual representation of the ideas presented on pages 288–290 of Newmann, F. M., Marks, H. M.,
199
& Gamoran, A. (1996). Authentic pedagogy and student performance. American Journal of Education, 104(4),
pp. 280–312.
Alignment
performance.
The quality of teachers’ instruction (in other words, the extent to which teachers met the
authentic instruction criteria) had a much stronger influence on student performance than
gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic status, providing evidence that the model improves the
academic performance of all students. Newmann et al.202 have noted elsewhere that while
the model does not eliminate inequalities between groups of students, “it does not seem
to exacerbate the problem”, and, in the case of African American students, the spread of
achievement is significantly less than the spread found for traditional tests.
The strongest correlation (r = 0.686) reported in the Avery203 study was between authentic
instruction and authentic student performance. In other words:
the more instruction and assessment tasks focus on constructing knowledge using
disciplined inquiry to explore issues that have value beyond the classroom, the more student
performance is likely to reflect a high level of thinking and the use of significant disciplinary
concepts and methods204.
In a second study, of 45 teachers who participated in a four-day training seminar on authentic
instruction, the researchers observed205, on the basis of comparisons of student work at
the beginning and end of the project, that the instruction did lead to improved disciplinary
understanding and communication but that the degree of improvement was modest. There
were only small improvements in students’ enjoyment of social studies. What this may indicate
is that while the training the teachers received improved their ability to engage students
in higher-order thinking and deep knowledge (thereby improving their overall ‘authentic
instruction’ scores), there was no similar shift in assessment practice. In other words,
teaching and assessment were not strongly aligned, potentially undermining the intended
effects of the teaching and, perhaps, communicating to students the idea that traditional test
knowledge was still the most valuable. The researchers reported that although the emphasis
on ‘remembering information’ was reduced as a result of the project, a majority of the students
(51.7%) still had a recall emphasis. The extent to which the assessment encouraged students
to consider alternatives and use elaborated written communication actually declined, and
there was no change in students’ ‘connectedness to the world beyond the classroom’. The
200
Avery, P. G. (1999). Authentic assessment and instruction. Social Education, 63(6), p. 368.
201
Newmann, Secada, & Wehlage (1995), op. cit.
202
Newmann, Marks, & Gamoran (1996), op. cit.
203
Avery (1999), op. cit.
204
Avery, P. G. & Freeman, C. (2001). Linking authentic instruction to students’ achievement using peer coaching.
Minnesota: University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development: Center for Applied Research
and Educational Improvement.
205
ibid.
Students need three to five aligned experiences not more than two
days apart
The ULTP researchers determined that the number and timing of learning experiences is critical
to student learning. As the contrasting examples of Kim and Mia206 (see p. 107) illustrate, “a
student needs a succession of encounters with specific information in order for processes to
take place in working memory that result in long-term learning” (p. 306)207. Mia engaged on
multiple, close-in-time occasions with the idea that there was a high crime rate in New York.
She was successful in her learning even though her prior understandings (‘New York is posh’)
were quite different. Kim, however, marked the wrong answer on the immediate post-test,
and, when faced with the long-term post-test, had no idea what the answer might be. Kim’s
understanding was ‘muddled’ because he hadn’t engaged with relevant content on enough
occasions. On the basis of such findings from a range of studies in social studies and science,
the researchers generated two rules for learning208:
• For a pupil to learn and remember an idea or concept, there need to be three to five
different occasions when the student engages with that idea in some way. The type of
content or information affects how many and what type of subsequent encounters are
required. For example, Figure 11 shows that when the relevant information encountered
is type 2, 3 or 4, it needs to be connected to information of type 1, or alternatively, to two
encounters with information of types 2 or 3.
206
Based on Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1993). Predicting learning from student experience of teaching: A theory of
student knowledge construction in classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 30(4), pp. 799–840.
207
Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies
unit. The Elementary School Journal, 99(4), pp. 303–341.
208
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1994). How pupils learn. SET: Research Information for Teachers, 2(3), pp. 1–8.
Alignment
limited time. This representation is connected with other semantically-related representations
in the working memory. If no such connections are made, it is lost from the working memory.
Once a sufficient number of representations (three to five) are connected in the working
memory, the construct becomes established in the general (long-term) memory and available
as background knowledge (p. 813). Figure 15 outlines this learning process:
Background
knowledge Representation
is connected
Semantically with the other
related semantically related
representation representation(s) in
exists in prior the working memory.
knowledge.
Student has A
encounter representation
with Student has
of that
concept- information/ three to five Representations are
relevant experience encounters of connected with those NEW
information is stored in concept-relevant other semantically KNOWLEDGE
or is the working information/ related representations CONSTRUCT
involved in memory for a experience in the working (LEARNING)
a concept- within two days memory.
limited period
relevant of each other.
of time.
experience.
No semantically
related Representation is lost
representations from the working
exist or are memory. The concept
made within is not learned or is
two days. forgotten.
209
Nuthall (1999), op. cit.
210
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1993). Predicting learning from student experience of teaching: A theory of student
knowledge construction in classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 30(4), pp. 799–840.
211
Figure developed to represent the model of the learning process outlined by Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A.
(1993). Predicting learning from student experience of teaching: A theory of student knowledge construction in
classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 30(4), p. 813.
Figure 16: Not learning about the Magna Carta; learning about crime in New York
Alignment
method (STM). This method involved consistently chronological (from time present to time
past) presentation of historical material, consistent use of timelines in every lesson, specific
skills-based activities, and opportunities in each lesson for open-ended discussion using time-
related vocabulary. The STM, therefore, was characterised by strong alignment between the
learning activities and the intention (to develop understanding of chronology) and by repeated
and differentiated opportunities for students to engage with the idea of chronology.
Hodkinson used the pre- and post-test results of five class groups (two experimental and three
control) to assess the impact of multiple, aligned learning experiences on the development of
the desired conceptual understandings. He found that, compared with those who received
the regular teaching, those who experienced the STM improved markedly in their ability to
correctly use AD and BC notation with dates. The value of repetition is underscored by the
finding that the group that experienced the STM for three terms increased its mean score and
outperformed the group that had experienced it for only one term as well as the two control
groups.
The following exchange is representative of those who had not experienced the STM. It was
prompted by the two questions: ‘Who came first, the Romans or the Vikings?’ and ‘How long
ago did the Vikings arrive in Britain?’
(p. 110)
By contrast, when asked when the Romans left Britain, the students who had experienced the
STM for three terms gave responses of which the following is representative:
212
Gersten, R., Baker, S., Smith-Johnson, J., Dimino, J., & Peterson, A. (2006). Eyes on the prize: Teaching complex
historical content to middle school students with learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 72(3), pp. 264–
280.
213
Hodkinson, A. (2004). Does the English curriculum for history and its schemes of work effectively promote
primary-aged children’s assimilation of the concepts of historical time? Some observations based on current
research. Educational Research, 46(2), p. 99.
The authors also found that the STM students made much less use than the other students
of vague and subjective references when expressing their understanding of history. The
researchers concluded that “it appears that whereas … children [who had not received the
STM] are prone to this subjectivity, [those who had] … have referenced history to either a
numerical expression of years or to a distinctive historical period … the STM has enabled the
children to better comprehend how the past can be differentiated into a numerical continuum
or definitive historical periods” (p. 112).
In a study of a grade 4–5 class of 33 learners from diverse cultural backgrounds and with
diverse language abilities, Bickmore214 examined how children can develop their capacity to
handle social and interpersonal conflict at the same time as they pursue social studies (and
language) objectives. In this intervention, the aim was to develop this capacity by focusing on
‘conflict’ in a unit (‘Conflicts in school, Ontario, and the world’) that explored both interpersonal
and global issues. The learning sequence was developed around three themes aligned to the
broader concept of ‘conflict’: 1. What is conflict? 2. Sources of conflict: how do conflicts reflect
different human needs and perspectives? and 3. Managing conflict: what are the consequences
of different choices? The teacher took a non-linear approach rather than an expanding
horizons approach, which meant that politically controversial and complex international
material was included early and frequently in the unit. As the theme was developed over
an eight-month period, the students consistently experienced multiple representations of the
concept. They were also offered many entry points to understanding by the wide range of
learning activities employed: brainstorms, dramas, drawing, tableaux, reading, describing,
sharing and summarising points of view, and ‘in-role’ writing – all focused on various kinds
of conflict.
This approach resulted in positive outcomes for the learners in terms of conceptual
understandings and capacity to participate. At the beginning of the unit, only 11 out of 33
students raised their hands when asked to indicate if they ‘knew’ the term ‘conflict’, and only
about half of those were able to give examples of conflict. Eight months later, “most of this
class of 9 and 10 year old children had developed a remarkable familiarity with and capacity
to use some major concepts and generalisations associated with conflict, conflict resolution,
alternatives to violence, and the social contexts that give rise to particular kinds of conflicts”
(p. 66). The findings of this study point to the value of sustained engagement with a major
idea on multiple levels (local, national, global), via multiple learning experiences that draw on
different perceptual modes (visual, oral, written, kinaesthetic).
Berti215 researched the impact of a particular pedagogical approach to the teaching of political
concepts on the understanding of 30 students from two grade 4 classes in a school in a small
214
Bickmore, K. (1999). Elementary curriculum about conflict resolution: Can children handle global politics?
Theory and Research in Social Education, 27(1), pp. 45–69.
215
Berti, A. E. & Benesso, C. (1998). The concept of nation-state in Italian elementary school children: Spontaneous
concepts and effects of teaching. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 120(2), pp. 121–143.
Alignment
by direct reading of the text, by a strategy that concentrated on critical attributes, or by a
strategy that stressed the use of exemplars. The study found that a structured, sequenced
approach to the teaching of concepts was superior to a reading-only approach in which the
nature of the concepts to be learned was not made explicit. It also found that the exemplar
approach was superior to the attribute approach. In the researcher’s view, when students
were given a clear exemplar and expected to compare newly encountered examples with it,
this assisted ‘prototype formation’ (p. 221) in their memories. The author argued that, because
the attribute approach requires students to commit lists of attributes to long-term memory, it
is more difficult for students than the exemplar approach, which treats the concepts in a more
holistic way.
McKinney et al.217 also examined the effectiveness of three different approaches to teaching
social studies concepts. In their study, grade 4 students were taught the three concepts arable
farming, tertiary production, and cultural diffusion. The first approach involved presenting
students with examples and non-examples of the concepts (in random order), asking them to
decide whether each was or was not an example of the concept, and then asking them to explain
why. This approach was found to be superior to the second approach, in which students read
text that included examples and definitions, and superior also to the third approach, in which
students were simply presented with examples and non-examples.
Laney and Laney et al.218 examined the role of multiple learning experiences – and the role
of the teacher – in helping to shape student understanding of basic economic concepts such
as resource, product, scarcity, and opportunity cost. In this study, which involved 120 grade
1 and 2 students, the authors compared the impact of a cooperative learning approach with
the impact of an approach that combined cooperative learning with mastery learning. Eight
teachers were given training in the economic concepts and the instructional methods to be
used. They then taught 18 45-minute lessons over a period of six weeks. The teachers and
their students were assigned to one of four conditions: cooperative learning, mastery learning,
cooperative and mastery learning, or control.
216
Yoho, R. F. (1986). Effectiveness of four concept teaching strategies on social studies concept acquisition and
retention. Theory and Research in Social Education, 14(3), pp. 211–223.
217
McKinney, C. W., Larkins, A. G., Ford, M. J., & Davis, J. C. (1983). The effectiveness of three methods of teaching
social studies concepts to fourth grade students: An aptitude-treatment interaction study. American Educational
Research Journal, 20(4), pp. 663–670.
218
Laney, J. D. (1989). Experience- and concept-label-type effects on first-graders’ learning, retention of economic
concepts. Journal of Educational Research, 82(4), pp. 231–236.
Laney, J. D., Frerichs, D. K., Frerichs, L. P., & Pak, L. K. (1995). The effect of cooperative and mastery learning
methods on primary-grade students learning and retention of economic concepts. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, Chicago.
Table 18: Mean scores of written and oral tests on economics concepts
These results show that while the results for the cooperative and mastery learning approaches
were generally superior to those for the control, neither cooperative learning nor mastery
learning was able, on its own, to achieve as much as the two approaches working together.
Alignment
though the most effective treatment in this study (cooperative and mastery) was significantly
more effective than the other treatments, it resulted in only 50% of the students achieving
mastery. The authors suggested that vicarious experiences (for example, fables, activities,
and games) may in themselves be insufficient and better used for reinforcing prior, real-
life experiences. In other words – and this is consistent with Laney’s 1993 study221 – direct
experience offers an initial, potentially more powerful way of engaging understanding.
Kohlmeier222 sought to increase the historical empathy of her 52 grade 9 students. She used
an action-research methodology to determine whether giving students consistent practice
with group discussion would increase their motivation and their ability to empathise with the
authors of historical texts. Using a Socratic seminar approach, the students worked through
three cycles of interpreting primary source documents written by women: one each from the
Renaissance, Russia under Stalin, and China’s Cultural Revolution. The teacher/researcher
based her assessment of her students’ developing historical empathy on transcripts of the three
Socratic seminars, on the debriefing sessions that followed them, and on an end-of-semester
interview with a sample of students.
Prior to each seminar, the students read the historical texts and constructed a reading web in
response to three focus questions: ‘What is the document describing?’, ‘How was the document
written?’, and ‘Why was the document written?’ When participating in the seminars, all but four
of the students sat in a circle with their names displayed. Four volunteer observers sat outside
the circle, noting the number of times each person spoke and watching for the use of three
target behaviours: referencing the text, addressing others by name, and asking QEU (‘Questions
that Expand Our Understanding’) questions. The teacher, sitting in the circle, started each
seminar with a question designed to encourage empathetic thought: ‘Was Magdalena happy?’,
‘What would Irina consider the greatest contributing factor to her suffering?’, ‘Will Ji Li be a
true revolutionary?’.
Kohlmeier compared the responses of a sample of 10 students to the three different Socratic
seminars (which were spaced across the semester) and, by doing this, was able to observe
shifts in their thinking. With increasing sophistication, they were able to recognise difference
between the historical period and the present, distinguish between different perspectives, and
defend their own analysis of the author’s perspective (using evidence). The two excerpts that
219
Hedges, H. (2002). Subject content knowledge in early childhood curriculum and pedagogy. Unpublished
master’s thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North.
220
Laney et al. (1995), op. cit.
221
Laney, J. D. (1993). Experiential versus experience-based learning and instruction. Journal of Educational
Research, 86(4), pp. 228–236.
222
Kohlmeier, J. (2006). “Couldn’t she just leave?”: The relationship between consistently using class discussions
and the development of historical empathy in a 9th grade world history course. Theory and Research in Social
Education, 34(1), pp. 34–57.
Teacher: When we’re talking about her responsibilities, are we clear on how
this business is arranged and who is doing what? What information
are we lacking in order to understand her situation more accurately?
Zach: What a normal woman did during that time.
Jordan: Whether it was common for husbands to be away and the wife doing
all this, or if more husbands were home to do the yard work and
stuff.
Teacher: OK, what would we assume are her responsibilities?
Several students: Taking care of the house and the kids.
Jordan: Is her work with the wine her home job or a different job?
Teacher: Well, where do you get the sense that that shop is located?
Jordan: In town.
Erica: Some town, I don’t know where.
Teacher: Balthasar goes to other towns to buy and sell stuff, and he would set
up a booth at the market. So where do you suppose most of the
shipments are coming, and where is the stuff he buys coming?
Someone: To her house?
Teacher: That’s right; it’s coming to their home. They run the businesses from
their home.
First discussion cycle: Magdalena, Renaissance Germany, 1500s (p. 44)
Notice the guidance that the teacher is giving to encourage the students to check their
historical assumptions (“What information are we lacking …?”, “What would we assume
are her responsibilities?”, “Where do you get the sense …?”). Not only is she helping build
empathy, she is scaffolding the need to go back to the source document for evidence. In the
third discussion cycle, later in the semester, the teacher’s guidance role was much diminished.
By this stage, her students were successfully expressing historical empathy and questioning
each other’s perspectives.
Liz: I think that what this all has to do with is money. The people who are poor
are turning on the people who are rich.
Teacher: But I’m not sure that Ji Li would think that would be bad. I mean I think that
she says she was supportive of the revolution, the idea of equality … If we go
back to the ‘four olds’ chapter she was right there with the breaking of the
sign, and there wouldn’t have been these distinctions between rich and poor.
Jordan: Don’t you think with the breaking of the signs, I remember when I was twelve
I liked to break things, so that’s really the point, a twelve year old is getting to
go around and do things they weren’t allowed to do. We like to drive over the
speed limit just because we know we’re not supposed to, so I think she just
wanted to break the signs just because it was fun.
Teacher: So you’re saying she didn’t really understand the political significance of what
she was doing, she was more caught up in the vandalism.
Whitney: I disagree because when they were going home they were naming all sorts of
other signs that could be renamed and were giving them new names that fit
Alignment
Whitney: But it’s not like she can go up to people and ask them do you agree with this
stuff, because they might have a big mouth and then they’ll just keep doing
stuff to her.
Jordan: She could have started something back with the part about the teachers …
Instead of writing something, she could have stood up and said I’m not going
to write anything about the teachers, she psychologically could have started
that, she just didn’t.
Brandon: She’s twelve years old and maybe she doesn’t know … If Chairman Mao says
it’s right, then everyone says it’s right. When you’re young you believe things
are right because your parents tell you it’s right. The majority, when you
grow up, whatever your politics, if you’re Republican or Democrat, or your
religion, if you’re Christian or whatever else, you’re going to be that because
your parents were. She’s doing this because she’s growing up around it and
everyone else is believing it. She’s not going to say, that’s not right, because
she doesn’t know what else to think. I think she’s starting to get it.
Whitney: Yeah, she can’t just be like I don’t agree with this because it’s not part of her
religion … she’s following Chairman Mao because everyone is doing it and
that’s what you’re supposed to do.
Third discussion cycle: Ji Li, China’s Cultural Revolution (p. 49)
While there were clearly other factors at work here (for example, the deliberate use of resources
that were difficult to interpret but that told stories that students cared about, the differences
between the source documents themselves, and the use of the pre-reading activity [the reading
web – see page 119]), the teacher/researcher attributed much of this shift to the practice
provided by the seminars.
September
40
35.98 December
35
of total nouns and verbs used
30 28.48
Mean percentage
25
20
16.68
15
10.88
10
5.14
5 3.19
0
timeless verb generic noun nouns on
constructions constructions topical theme
Language type
Figure 17 shows that children increasingly talked about ‘what happens’ (timeless verb
constructions), instead of ‘what happened’ and increasingly used generalised language, such
as ‘operators’ (generic noun constructions), instead of ‘the operator’; these constructions made
it clear how a concept could be related to other contexts, settings, and times.
Duke, N. K. & Kays, J. (1998). “Can I say ‘once upon a time’?”: Kindergarten children developing knowledge of
223
Frequency
30
25
20 16 15
14
15
10 7 6 5
3 3 4 3
5 1 1 0 0
0
uses of general
statement openings
statement openings
technical vocabulary
vocabulary
classificatory structure
structure
comparative/contrastive
comparative/contrastive
children using general
children using
uses of technical
children using
uses of classificatory
children using
uses of
Alignment
Language type
Figure 18 shows the increased number of children using, and uses of, generalised statements,
such as ‘firefighters put out fires and save people’ – language that identifies a main idea. The
children were also increasingly able to describe, classify, compare, and contrast information.
These shifts in language use meant that the children were able to express their understandings
in ways that are consistent with the aims of social studies. To be able to examine and
communicate significant ideas about society, students need to be able to express generalisations,
summarise important ideas, and classify information about groups of people. They also need
to understand social science ideas that are expressed in language of these kinds and to explore
the expository texts that are essential to the developing of conceptual ideas.
Duke and Kays224 suggested that the shifts they found were unlikely to be attributable entirely
to maturation and familiarity with the researcher. Given the short period involved, the
magnitude of the shifts suggests that the increased engagement with information books was
responsible. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that shifts in the children’s pretend
readings of fictional narratives did not parallel those for non-fiction books.
An intervention designed to develop the communication, conversation, and social interaction
skills of a grade 3 student with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (autism/Asperger’s syndrome)
illustrates the value of repeated opportunities to learn225. The student, Terry, was given a
folder with pockets containing pictures or symbols of the daily curriculum and special events:
one side for morning, the other for afternoon. He learned and rehearsed the meaning of
each card – sometimes in a game situation – several times a day, for at least a week. Once it
was clear that he understood the cards, the planner was implemented with direct assistance,
simultaneously with the class also using their planners. After much repetition of the process,
Terry became quicker and more involved in choosing and placing the cards. After two months
of use, observers noted that Terry was more comfortable in using the planner, was better
organised (for example, getting the appropriate books out), had a clearer sense of class routine,
and was off-task less. The researcher concluded that the slow and methodical implementation
of the cards and planner was important to the success of the intervention.
Pardo, C. (n.d.). Developing and using a daily organizer to assist an autistic student relieve stress and anxiety
225
related to transition times in the classroom. Retrieved March 2005, from www.oecta.on.ca/pdfs/organizer.pdf
226
Vine, E. W. (2003). “My partner”: A five-year-old Samoan boy learns how to participate in class through
interactions with his English-speaking peers. Linguistics and Education, 14(1), pp. 99–121.
Alton-Lee, A., Diggins, C., Klenner, L., Vine, E., & Dalton, N. (2001). Teacher management of the learning
environment during a social studies discussion in a new-entrant classroom in New Zealand. The Elementary
School Journal, 101(5), pp. 549–566.
227
Kelley, L. (2006). Learning to question in kindergarten. Social Studies Research and Practice, 1(1), pp. 45–
54.
228
Katims, D. S. & Harmon, J. M. (2000). Strategic instruction in middle school social studies: Enhancing academic
and literacy outcomes for at-risk students. Intervention in School and Clinic, 35(5), pp. 280–289.
229
Britt, A. & Aglinskas, C. (2002). Improving students’ ability to identify and use source information. Cognition
and Instruction, 20(4), pp. 485–522.
230
Berliner, D. (1987). “Simple views of effective teaching and a simple theory of classroom instruction”. In D.
Berliner & B. Rosenshine, Talks To Teachers. New York: Random House.
Berliner, D. (1990). “What’s all the fuss about instructional time?” Retrieved from http://courses.ed.asu.edu/
berliner/readings/fuss/fuss.htm
231
Nuthall, G. (2004, 21 February). Interview with Kim Hill on National Radio.
232
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: Theory and practice. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.
Alignment
and move beyond the simplistic explanations typical of textbooks to the fundamental ideas,
principles, and issues that underlie disciplines such as history and political science.
These comments could give rise to two misunderstandings: one, that it is the teacher alone who
decides relative importance and selects the content of new learning, and two, that alignment
is unidirectional – from intended purpose to learning experience. First, it is critical that
students are actively involved in decisions about their learning. A focus on important ideas
does not necessarily imply teacher direction. In fact, such a focus leaves a lot of scope for
selecting content to illustrate ideas and for students to derive their own ideas – potentially
increasing student control. Second, many teachers do not plan linear paths from intention to
experience. This is especially true in early childhood contexts, where teachers typically create
the experience and then derive the learning from it. In this case, selection (of the learning
experience) is still based on relative importance, as is the derived learning (for the individual
child).
233
Sinatra, G. M., Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (1992). A longitudinal characterization of young students’
knowledge of their country’s government. American Educational Research Journal, 29(3), pp. 633–661.
234
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1993). Predicting learning from student experience of teaching: A theory of student
knowledge construction in classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 30(4), pp. 799–840.
126
Individual’s choices of activities, task completion, and involvement (engaged with relevant content / disengaged from relevant content)
Day 2 Brainstorm session: students were asked to write down their knowledge of Antarctica and report their ideas to the class.
Class talked about people they knew who had been to Antarctica.
Develop questions. Worked with Joy and Worked with Jane but did
prepared a question about not prepare a question.
mountains.
Day 3 Read a set of articles Read an article about a Read a Mt Erebus article. Read an article about a Read an article about a woman scientist.
about women scientists woman scientist. woman scientist.
working in Antarctica.
Summarise the article. Member of fragmented Member of a group Member of a group supposed to be
group, but focused on supposed to be summarising article, but group fragmented
producing the summary. summarising article, but until the end of the time. Wrote a heading and
group fragmented until drew a decorative border.
the end of the time; fooled
Rejoined Jane and others to produce the
around and joked about
summary.
lava.
Read out group’s summary to class.
Teacher gave Jim the task
of listing interesting facts. Dispute with Jane about who was to control
the written summary. Teine gave up and
returned to heading, not listening to the rest
of the class discussion, which focused on
Erebus as an active volcano.
Day 4 Questions to prepare for Reported liking the view of Read an article about a
visiting speakers Erebus. woman scientist.
Responded to Ben’s
statement: “I was going to
ask her that. Nah!”
Day 5 First visiting speaker, re her work as a youth worker on an Antarctic conservation project. Discussed Mt Erebus and showed a coloured slide.
Homework mapping task Completed a blank map of Completed a blank map of Completed a blank map of
Antarctica for homework. Antarctica for homework. Antarctica for homework.
Included mountain symbols
Included mountain
and identified Mt Erebus on
symbols and identified Mt
the map.
Erebus on the map.
End of Report about Antarctica No references to Mt Erebus No references to Mt Erebus No references to Mt Erebus Included two references to No references to Mt Erebus in report
unit learning in report in report in report Erebus in report.
Placing Mt Erebus on a map Learned Forgotten Not Learned Not Learned Learned Remembered Not Learned
Writing Mt Erebus’ name Learned Remembered Not Learned Learned Forgotten Learned Forgotten Learned Forgotten
Circling Mt Erebus’ name Learned Remembered Already Known Learned Remembered Learned Remembered Learned Remembered
Site of air crash Already Known Already Known Learned Remembered Already Known Not Learned
Lava in crater Learned Remembered Learned Forgotten Learned Remembered Already Known Already Known
Summary of learning outcomes Well informed, knew Well informed, but didn’t Well informed, included Well informed, knew Learned little about Mt Erebus. Included
location and included know Erebus location. Erebus among significant location and included Erebus among significant places on short-
Erebus among significant places in Antarctica but Erebus among significant term test but not 12 months later.
places in Antarctica. didn’t know its location. places in Antarctica.
127
235
Based on Nuthall (1999), op. cit.
Alignment
The above table illustrates the uniqueness of students’ classroom learning. It details the
number, timing, and sequence of the learning experiences of five students doing a unit on
Antarctica. The tasks in blue are those in which the individual student engaged with relevant
content; those in orange are where the student experienced but did not engage with relevant
content. Notable contrasts are the experiences of Jane and Paul, and those of Teine. Each of
the students participated on day 2 in an initial brainstorm session and a class talk about people
they knew who had been to Antarctica. Each listened to two visiting speakers on days 5 and 6.
Jane experienced six other occasions when she engaged with relevant content, and Paul, four
other occasions. By contrast, Teine was disengaged from three of the learning experiences,
spending her time writing headings, drawing borders, and playing with a microphone. As a
consequence, she learned little about Mt Erebus, while Jane and Paul learned and remembered
most of what they experienced. These comparisons illustrate that it is not only the alignment of
learning experiences and intended outcomes that matters but also the extent to which students
actually engage with those experiences – and, where there is disengagement, the gaps that
develop between one content-relevant learning experience and the next.
The significance of prior knowledge is also illustrated by the following example. The teacher is
speaking to students who are expected to understand who owned the land in England following
the Battle of Hastings:
“Remember when we talked about the feudal system, about the king owning the land and
giving some of the land to his loyal barons. The barons couldn’t use it all, so they gave
some to their knights. Um, these overlords had promised protection of the people who, um,
[were] in their care, and the people in their care had to promise they would be loyal to their
overlord” (p. 809).
Students would only have been able to connect this information to the expected understanding
if they already knew (or found out subsequently) that the teacher was referring to the period
after the Battle of Hastings. In the absence of prior knowledge or subsequent learning, the
intended learning from this particular experience would have been lost.
Alignment
The specific social and cultural position that a student holds within the wider society and
within the ‘lived culture’ of the classroom affects the student’s cognitive processing in
the following ways. It determines the range and availability of background knowledge
and experience the student can use to interpret and elaborate classroom experience. It
determines the ways in which a student can share and obtain relevant experience and
knowledge within the classroom (p. 39).
The relevance of this to teachers lies in the power they have to connect learning to prior
knowledge, to relate content to students’ interests, and to promote students’ involvement and
participation (as well as their engagement with relevant, aligned content) in relevant activities.
Teachers support learning by attending to the social and cognitive aspects of the learning
process when making teaching decisions. Wilkinson and Anderson (p. 162) 238 acknowledge
that this monitoring of individual engagement and learning is demanding in the context of
classes of more than 30 students but claim that it is “the only form of assessment that can do
justice to the individual differences among students and to the dynamic change process that
is learning”.
As a consequence of such findings, the ULTP researchers recommend that teachers239:
• design tasks that engage students’ interest and focus their mind on relevant content (tasks
that are both motivating and aligned);
• make connections with the realities of students’ lives;
• minimise peripheral activities, such as drawing margins, pasting, and colouring
headings;
• constantly monitor pupil involvement and avoid and correct misunderstandings;
• attend to the social interactions that take place in learning experiences, recognising how
social dominance, status, ability, and knowledge collectively impact on students’ learning
about their abilities as well as their learning of the content;
• structure tasks that enable students to think seriously about content for sufficient time.
236
Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies
unit. The Elementary School Journal, 99(4), pp. 303–341.
237
Alton-Lee, A. & Nuthall, G. (1992). Students’ learning in classrooms: Curricular, instructional and sociocultural
processes influencing student interaction with curriculum. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
238
Wilkinson, I. & Anderson, R. (2007). Teaching for learning: A summary. In G. Nuthall (Ed.), The hidden lives of
learners. Wellington: NZCER.
239
Brophy, J. (2006). Graham Nuthall and social constructivist teaching: Research based cautions and qualifications.
Teaching & Teacher Education, 22, pp. 529–537.
240
Wall, K. & Higgins, K. (2006). Facilitating metacognitive talk: A research and learning tool. International
Journal of Research and Method in Education, 29(1), pp. 39–53.
241
Crisman, F. & Mackey, J. (1990). A comparison of oral and written techniques of concept instruction. Theory
and Research in Social Education, 18(2), pp. 139–155.
242
Kourilsky, M. & Wittrock, M. C. (1987). Verbal and graphical strategies in the teaching of Economics. Teaching
& Teacher Education, 3(1), pp. 1–12.
Alignment
in her words, “faithfully applied”) but to the inappropriateness of groupwork as a dominant
pedagogy. It “failed to provide the concrete instructional support that struggling students
needed to meet the higher academic expectations of the detracked (destreamed) classroom”
(p. 567). The researcher observed that these students “need more than their peers to raise
their academic skills. Indeed it does not seem realistic to expect that students in small groups
will put their peers’ learning above their own desires for a good product or a good grade”
(p. 568). Nuthall245 likewise observed the self-fulfilling nature of this problem:
Students who, for reasons of cultural and ethnic difference, may have difficulty participating
in a learning activity, not only fail to acquire the knowledge they need to understand and
acquire further knowledge; they ‘learn’ that their ability to acquire knowledge is inferior.
In this way differential participation in classroom activities becomes the basis for acquired
differences in memory and learning processes (p. 133).
Drawing on the experience of a cluster of studies in New Zealand classrooms, Alton-Lee and
Nuthall246 discussed how student access to meaning may be inhibited by an over-reliance on
group (and individual) work. They draw attention to the role that skilful, whole-class teaching
can play in addressing ‘critical points of vulnerability’ in the learning process. Teachers need,
for example, to draw explicit attention to what counts as a resource (and what, therefore,
contributes relevant information) as well as alerting students to the value of sharing each
other’s resources. This is especially important for disabusing them of the notion that learning
is ‘magical’, and, therefore, out of their reach. This brief exchange illustrates the point:
Ben’s reply, later reinforced by the loan of one of his books, alerts Teine to the possibility that
the resource – and the learning – is also available to her.
Rubin247 describes how Tiffany, an African American student, missed out on reading and
writing opportunities because she was assigned by her group to a drawing role. Alton-
Lee and Nuthall248 also explain the vulnerability of students if they do not have access to
243
Alton-Lee, A. & Nuthall, G. (1998). Inclusive instructional design: Theoretical principles emerging from the
Understanding Learning and Teaching Project. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
244
Rubin, B. (2003). Unpacking detracking: When progressive pedagogy meets students’ social worlds. American
Educational Research Journal, 40(2), p. 539.
245
Nuthall, G. (2000). The role of memory in the acquisition and retention of knowledge in science and social
studies units. Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), pp. 83–139.
246
Alton-Lee & Nuthall (1998), op. cit.
247
Rubin (2003), op. cit.
248
Alton-Lee & Nuthall (1998), op. cit.
“The observations and insights of others showed me points I had not thought about
before. For example, the questions about religion: Were her beliefs the causes of lots of
grief? Or the question that Jordan asked about if the children were the cause of her
grief. These things made me think about what Irina had been going through, and how
hard it would have been to be her. How I would have thought or felt in her shoes. Also
it revealed a lot of information I hadn’t really noticed before” (p. 48)249.
Chris’s comments capture the essence of this mechanism: Jordan was learning (by finding
an answer to the question she raised), but Chris was also learning through Jordan’s question
because it raised something new that required his consideration. In learning communities,
students learn with and from each other – through discussion, the co-construction of ideas, and
Community
the sharing of responsibility and power (p. 36)250. Learning communities are not be confused
with social interaction. As Reitveld251 explains, learning communities are not “just nice fuzzy
stuff about all being happily social together”, they are about intertwining cognitive and social
learning through including students in “a facilitative, authentic way”. This mechanism has
particular significance in the social sciences because it explains learning at the same times as
it is a valued outcome of learning.
Peterson252 sees the pervasive influence of learning communities as an explanation of learning,
arguing that:
Community in itself is more important to learning than any method or technique. When
community exists, learning is strengthened – everyone is smarter, more ambitious, and
productive. Well-formed ideas and intentions amount to little without a community to bring
them to life (p. 2).
The particular importance of learning communities in the social sciences is a reflection of
the domain’s commitment to the rights of children and young people. Shier 253, mindful of the
priority that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child gives to the participation
of children, argues for their participation at five levels. These levels mirror the characteristics
of learning communities: children are listened to, are supported in expressing their views,
have their views taken into account, are involved in decision-making processes, and share
power and responsibility for decision making. The New Zealand Curriculum254 states that the
social sciences learning area is about “how people can participate as critical, active, informed,
249
Kohlmeier, J. (2006). “Couldn’t she just leave?”: The relationship between consistently using class discussions
and the development of historical empathy in a 9th grade world history course. Theory and Research in Social
Education, 34(1), pp. 34–57.
250
Scardamalia, M. & Bereiter, C. (1996). Student communities for the advancement of knowledge. Communications
of the ACM, 39(4), pp. 36–37.
251
Rietveld, C. (Personal communication, 12 October, 2005).
252
Peterson, R. (1992). Life in a crowded place: Making a learning community. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
253
Shier, H. (2001). Pathways to participation: Openings, opportunities and obligations. Children and Society, 15,
pp. 107–117.
254
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
255
Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whàriki: He whàriki màtauranga mò ngà mokopuna o Aotearoa / Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
256
Smith, A. (2005). Children and young people’s participation rights in education. Paper presented at the New
Zealand Association for Research in Education, Dunedin.
257
Nuthall, G. (2007). The hidden lives of learners. Wellington: NZCER.
Community
working relationships with his students. These relationships were characterised by:
• stronger cognitive connections (for example, responding to ideas in ways that generated
new understandings);
• stronger social connections (for example, sharing responsibility for learning decisions);
• stronger emotional connections (for example, allowing the students to know something
about other roles in his life and being open and honest about the emotions involved);
• spatial connections (for example, sitting with the students, at their level).
The students noticed these changes and regarded them positively. They began to feel more
comfortable with Rhys and viewed him as less of an authority figure:
Era: Well, it just feels like he is not the head any more.
Ikani: It feels like he is one of us … we feel comfortable.
Sakura: He cares about us when we are sick or we done wrong.
Caleb: When he sits down with us …
Era: … we are the feet and he is the ankle.
Caleb: It’s like he’s more part of the class.
Hill and Hawk’s259 study of 89 teachers in low-decile, multicultural schools provides evidence,
from secondary school contexts, that relationships are significant for learning. Following
lesson observations in a broad range of year 7–13 subjects (including social science subjects) as
well as interviews with teachers and discussions with students, Hill and Hawk concluded:
258
Sewell, A. (2006a). Teachers and children learning together: Developing a community of learners in a primary
classroom. Draft doctoral thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North.
259
Hill, J. & Hawk, K. (2000). Making a difference in the classroom: Effective teaching practice in low decile,
multicultural schools. Retrieved May, 2005, from www.minedu.govt.nz/index.dfm?layout=document&documen
tid=6135&data=l
Sakura: If you don’t know people you can’t really cooperate with them.
Caleb: You have to know a teacher real well to learn … (p. 119)
Just as the students in Sewell’s study responded positively to this greater sense of connection
with their teacher, the students in Hawk and Hill’s study appreciated their teacher putting
them on the same level as himself:
“He communicates well. He talks like us and makes it easy for us to know he respects
us. He laughs with us and teases us like we tease him” (student, p. 28).
“I tell them about me first, before I expect them to open up to me. I start with myself,
my husband and children. I talk about my interests outside of school. They are very
impressed at my frankness. Otherwise, why should I expect them to be?” (teacher,
p. 30).
“At the beginning of the year, she told us about her life and her family. We ask her
about herself and she tells us about her holidays and weekends” (student, p. 30).
The importance of establishing emotional connections with students as a basis for learning
is consistent with the findings from Wendt Samu’s260 and Silipa’s261 work with Pacific Islands
students. Wendt Samu sought to understand more about the underachievement of Pacific
Islands students. Like the students in the Hawk and Hill study, those in her study spoke of the
value they placed on the teacher–student relationship:
Wendt Samu emphasised that students need to know that their teachers are sincerely interested
in them and have an understanding of who they are. This means, she says, “making use of
instructional language that does not make students feel incompetent about their own abilities”
(p. 18).
Community
Silipa likewise drew attention to the value of strong teacher–student relationships and of
opportunities for students to hear from teachers about their own lives:
“Man! Sometimes the teacher shares with us her own story about her family and
where they spent Christmas or the weekend and stuff like that. It kinda makes you feel
confident to share your own story and stuff. Cus, it’s like saying your story aloud
before writing it down. Doing this in a group is choice, better than saying it in front of
the whole class. The teacher is just choice. (Ata, year 11)
In a study of storytelling practices, Rex et al.262 cite a teacher comment to illustrate the reciprocal
effects of sharing:
“When I am willing to share things that have happened to me in my life, my students
begin to share as well. I know that this approach is working when even the most quiet and
reticent students begin to speak up. Some students will not share, and they know that’s
okay in our class …” (p. 788).
That final caveat is important. As Nuthall263 suggests, teachers need to consider the importance
of protecting the rights of students who do not want to share:
Getting closer to students and their hidden peer culture raises ethical as well as teaching
concerns. Elementary teachers who stay with the same class of students through most of
the school day are in a much better position to understand the peer culture than are high
260
Wendt Samu, T. (1995). An accidentally ethnographic exploration of a Pacific Island liaison role, and Pacific
Islands underachievement in an Auckland suburban secondary school. Unpublished masters course project
report.
261
Silipa, S. R. (2004). Nurturing coolness and dignity in Samoan students’ secondary school learning in Aotearoa/
New Zealand. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Canterbury, Christchurch.
262
Rex, L. A., Murnen, T. J., Hobbs, J., & McEachen, D. (2002). Teachers’ pedagogical stories and the shaping
of classroom participation: “The dancer” and “Graveyard shift at the 7–11”. American Educational Research
Journal, 39(3), pp. 765–796.
263
Nuthall, G. (2007). The hidden lives of learners. Wellington: NZCER.
90 81%
(102)
80
70
60
Percentage
50
40
30
20 9% 10%
(11) (12)
10
0
Child Relationships Structures
Frequency of discourses
264
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T., Teddy, L., Clapham, S., & Walker, R. (2006). Te Kotahitanga.
Whanaungatanga: Addressing the problem of improving Màori student achievement. Paper presented at the
Annual Meeting of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education.
265
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Tiakiwai, S., & Richardson, C. (2003). Te Kotahitanga: The experiences of year 9 and
10 Màori students in mainstream classrooms. Wellington: Ministry of Education (p. 44).
50
Percentage
40
27%
30 (19)
15%
20 (11)
10
0
Child Relationships Structures
Frequency of discourses
The researchers noted that the majority of students did not blame teachers or absolve themselves;
“rather they saw that problems and solutions lay between people, in the way that they and their
teachers related and interacted” (p. 44). The following comments capture the essence of good
teacher–student interaction, according to one student. They sound remarkably similar to the
student comments already quoted from the Hawk and Hill study:
“Have a smile on your face. Look pleased to see us. Treat us respectfully. Look like
Community
you want to be here. Say ‘hi’ to us as we come in. Have a joke with us. Don’t bawl us
out. If you don’t like something we’re doing, tell us quietly.
Just ’cause we’re a C class don’t expect us to be dumb. We might be there because we
were naughty at Intermediate. Don’t have us writing all the time and being quiet. Let
us talk quietly to each other about what we’re doing. We know we have to be quiet
sometimes – like tests.
Give us fun things to do like quizzes in groups, discussions, debates, art activities,
practical maths, solving problems in groups with things like Lego. We won’t nick
[steal] it if you don’t think we will.
Be keen about your subject so we want to come. Loosen up. We are all on the same
planet. Let us cooperate about the work. Yeah we have good ideas, good, sensible
ideas about how to do things. Just ask us. Mark our work often. Tell us when we’re
doing good. Better still, tell our family.
They have gotta want to be with us and they have gotta be enthusiastic and they’ve
gotta be not boring and they’ve gotta talk with us about the stuff in the lesson – like
what we already know or how we might have a go at things” (pp. 240–241)267.
On the basis of their interviews with students, whànau, principals, and teachers, the
researchers developed an ‘Effective Teaching Profile’ that consisted of six dimensions; caring
and relationships figure prominently:
1. Manaakitanga: teachers care for the students as culturally located human beings.
2. Mana motuhake: teachers care for the performance of students.
3. Ngà whakapiringatanga: teachers create a secure, well-managed learning environment.
4. Wànanga: teachers engage in effective teaching interactions.
ibid., p. 81.
266
ibid.
267
Table 20: Sample of year 9 social studies scores across the school
Target class
Module 1 Module 2
Màori students 63 60 58 54
Non-Màori students 68 61 66 50
Module 1 Module 2
(pp. 240–241)270
268
Keddie, A. (2004). Research with young children: The use of an affinity group approach to explore the social
dynamics of peer culture. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 25(1), p. 35.
269
Airini (2004). What helps effective transition in early childhood education: Perceptions of good practice in
Samoan ECE. In V. N. Podmore (Ed.), Progress and milestone report to the Ministry of Education (pp. 1–17).
Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Podmore, V. N. (2005). Further update report on action research at the A‘oga Fa‘a Samoa: Progress report for
the Ministry of Education. Wellington: A‘oga Fa‘a Samoa.
270
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Tiakiwai, S., & Richardson, C. (2003). Te Kotahitanga: The experiences of year 9 and
10 Màori students in mainstream classrooms. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Class climate
Byer272 asked 185 grade 8 US social studies students to respond to 20 statements in a ‘classroom
climate’ questionnaire. The first 10 statements related to classroom involvement; the remainder,
to classroom affiliation. The questionnaire asked, for example:
• how often students daydream, clockwatch, pay attention (indicators of involvement);
• how many students take part, doodle, are only half-awake, do extra work (indicators of
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involvement);
• to what extent students enjoy the class, get to know each other, show interest in each
other, form friendships, help each other with homework, not get along (indicators of
affiliation);
• how easy it is for students to get a group together (indicator of affiliation).
Self-concept was assessed by asking students to respond to the following statements, using a
six-point continuum:
1. Compared to others my age I am good at social studies.
2. I get good marks in social studies.
3. Work in social studies is easy for me.
4. I’m hopeless when it comes to social studies.
5. I learn things quickly in social studies.
Byers found a statistically positive relationship between classroom climate (based on student
perceptions of involvement and affiliation) and academic self-concept in social studies. The
researchers recommend that teachers use the same or similar tools in their own classrooms,
noting the items for which their students have a poor perception, discussing ideas for
improvement with students, and intervening to improve perceptions.
In a study of English classrooms in three New Zealand schools, Anderson et al.273 found that
classroom climate was significantly related to participation, engagement, and task completion.
They reported that “classrooms high in levels of affiliation are also higher on all levels of
motivated behaviour used in this study: teacher-reported levels of participation in class, self-
reported engagement and task completion” (p. 220). They also noted that the effects associated
271
Sewell, A. (2006b). Teachers and children learning together: Developing a community of learners in a primary
classroom. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Massey University, Palmerson North.
272
Byer, J. L. (2000). Measuring the positive effects of students’ perceptions of classroom social climate on academic
self-concept. Journal of Social Studies Research, 24(1), pp. 25–34.
273
Anderson, A., Hamilton, R., & Hattie, J. (2004). Classroom climate and motivated behaviour in secondary
schools. Learning Environments Research, 7.
Huber, J., Murphy, M. S., & Clandinin, J. (2003). Creating communities of cultural imagination: Negotiating a
275
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children in one of the three age groups studied (the 8–8.5-year olds, or taiohi) were “more likely
to perform at or above the median [for the tikanga task] if they reported that they sometimes
or always had relatives visit at home; they always enjoyed themselves at kura; they always got
all the help they need at kura; the kaiako judged that they had a reasonable understanding
of Màori; and their kaiako was fluent in Màori” (p. 149). While the latter two factors are less
directly related to the establishment of community, this comment generally reinforces the
significance of whànau – and enjoying being part of the school community.
276
Cooper, G., Arago-Kemp, V., Wylie, C., & Hodgen, E. (2004). Te rerenga a te pirere: A longitudinal study of
kòhanga reo and kura kaupapa Màori students. Purongo tuatahi phase 1 report. Wellington: New Zealand
Council for Educational Research.
277
Bevan-Brown, J. (2006). Beyond policy and good intentions. International Journal of Inclusive Education,
10(2–3), pp. 221–234.
278
Rietveld, C. (2003). Parents, preschools/schools and professional: Impact of relationships on children’s
inclusion. Paper presented at the Child and Family Policy Conference, Dunedin.
(p. 5)279
See Case 1, based on five-year-old Ian, one of the learners in Rietveld’s research. This case
highlights how social and cognitive learning are intertwined, and the interplay between
biological and contextual factors.
De Groot Kim’s research280 reveals how practices intended to support the inclusion of children
with special needs may in fact limit their opportunities to engage with their peers in ways
that support their learning. The author described Kevin, a three-year-old boy with motor
difficulties, who required the help of a walker or adults when moving from one place to another.
He was assigned an assistant, Katie, who was with him for all but the last half-hour of each
of his sessions at the early childhood centre. For five months, de Groot Kim made weekly
observations of Kevin. The first 18 observations were made in the mornings, and during these
times, he was not seen to engage with other children in meaningful ways. When Katie was
with him, he communicated almost exclusively with her. It was a comment from the teacher
that “Kevin’s like a totally different child” when Katie wasn’t present (p. 165) that prompted
the researcher to do afternoon observations. What she saw at these times was a three-year-
old initiating social play with other children. When he said that he had to “get to the market”,
he was supported by the teacher to get to the play area and then left with the other children.
Kevin joined in play based around the themes of shopping, cooking dinner, and going to bed.
In the play area – unlike at table activities where he was constantly ‘supported’ by Katie – Ken
and the other children were able to “create elaborate, meaningful, pretend play themes with
others, communicate verbally and nonverbally, negotiate and reconcile differences of opinions,
and as a result develop social competence, including the development of friendships” (p. 167).
The dramatic play area provided Kevin with a context in which he, too, could bring his own
representations of social and cultural experiences. The study reveals how ‘support’ can
actually constrain access to learning opportunities in which those with special needs could
communicate meaningfully with peers.
ibid.
279
de Groot Kim, S. (2005). Kevin: “I gotta get to the market”: The development of peer relationships in inclusive
280
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‘Why are social interactions and relationships important?’ and then providing information
and prompts designed to get the paraprofessional to add to their initial response;
• clarify the paraprofessional’s role in facilitating interactions – by asking them how they
could act as a bridge, rather than a barrier, to the student’s interactions with their peers;
• increase the paraprofessional’s repertoire of strategies that facilitate interactions by
teaching them strategies they could use in the classroom with their student;
• model ways to interact – highlighting similarities between students, identifying the
strengths of the target student, teaching interaction skills, interpreting behaviours, and
actively partnering students.
Strategies and behaviours promoted by the facilitators and subsequently displayed by the
paraprofessionals included:
• situating the target student physically closer to peers;
• structuring the target student’s ‘break time’ to minimise time out of the classroom;
• redirecting verbal queries about the target student to the student;
• ‘fading’ assistance to allow opportunities for more natural peer interactions;
• partnering the target student with peers during academic tasks;
• arranging for the target student to use technology in the classroom instead of in a
separate setting;
• verbally highlighting similarities between the target student and peers;
• creating communication cards for use by the target student and focused on social
exchanges;
281
Schuler, A. L. (2003). Beyond echoplaylia: promoting language in children with autism. Autism, 7(4), pp. 455–
469.
282
Causton-Theoharis, J. N. & Malmgren, K. W. (2005). Increasing peer interactions for students with severe
disabilities via paraprofessional training. Exceptional Children, 71(4), pp. 431–444.
Malmgren, K. W., & Causton-Theoharis, J. N. (2006). Boy in the bubble: Effects of paraprofessional proximity
and other pedagogical decisions on the interactions of a student with behavioral disorders. Journal of Research
in Childhood Education, 20(4), pp. 301–312.
Pre-intervention Post-intervention
1.6 1.6 1.6
Frequency (per minute)
1.4
1.2
1.0 1.0
0.8
0.6 0.5
0.4 0.3
0.2 0.2
0.2 0.1 0.1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Adele (PP)
Alvin (S)
Barb (PP)
Barry (S)
Carla (PP)
Charles (S)
Dustin (S)
Don (PP)
Figure 21: Facilitative behaviours for four paraprofessionals and their severely disabled students
283
ibid.
284
ibid.
285
Frederickson, N., Warren, L., & Turner, J. (2005). “Circle of friends” – An exploration of impact over time.
Educational Psychology in Practice, 21(3), pp. 197–217.
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found that the class discussion part of the intervention had the greatest impact on ratings and
was most effective in increasing the social inclusion of the focus children. The weekly CoF
meetings produced no further, measurable improvements.
(p. 206)286
The researchers reported that the impact of the intervention was positive not only for the
focus child but for their peers, since their attitudes towards the focus child changed. For
most of the sample of 14 students, an initial significant increase in acceptance (and decrease
in rejection) had been replaced by the time of the 18-week post-test by reduced acceptance
ibid.
286
287
ibid.
288
Nairn, K. (1999). Embodied fieldwork. Journal of Geography, 98, pp. 272–282.
Nairn, K. (2005). The problems of utilising ‘direct experience’ in geography education. Journal of Geography
and Higher Education, 29(2), pp. 293–309.
“Victor, you listened to the song carefully, and you clearly understood the deep message
of the lyrics. This is important information for your group. What do you think your
group’s song should be about?”
Assigned competence has been found to impact on what students expect of themselves and also
on relationships between low-status students and others in the group – in terms of both the
social and the cognitive aspects of learning. The researchers are careful to distinguish between
‘unconditional reinforcement’, which is when a teacher gives praise for any contribution, and
‘assigning competence’, which is highly specific, valid, and reinforces only actual abilities. They
also comment that the evidence for the impact of assigning competence is clearer at primary
than secondary level, where status associated with peer popularity may be a complicating
factor.
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Caring and respectful relationships have a greater impact on cognitive outcomes when a
focus on learning is embedded in those relationships. Sewell290 reported distinct changes
in students’ identities as learners, and in their participation, when Rhys changed his style of
interaction. There was less emphasis on behavioural compliance and task completion and
more on learning; less on working alone and more on working together, creating ideas with
others, and sharing expertise:
[The teacher] realised that he had asked the children what they wanted to ‘do’ to take the
next step in their transport theme. Not surprisingly, the children suggested craft type
activities such as making clay models of animals used for transport or folding newspaper
into cars. Some children did suggest activities to reinforce their learning, such as making
a facts quiz or acting in a play, but no-one came up with an idea that would promote new
learning (p. 110).
As the teacher and the researcher reflected, they noted a need to refocus the children on
learning rather than doing, by using learning language. This resulted in the teacher setting
new goals: ‘to make learning more visible to the children’ and ‘to continue bringing learning
to the surface’ (p. 110).
[The teacher] made a conscious effort to use words that reflected a learning ethos such as:
“are you switched on for learning?” “you’re here to learn” “what’s the learning in that?”
“let’s do some learning”. Later observations revealed language that emphasised learning
together such as when Rhys said: “we need to work together” “nice support” “our community”
“thanks for working with me” “it’s our job to learn” “we’re learning together”. My final 35
minute observation, recorded 18 references to learning compared to only seven references
in six hours of observations over Term One (p. 110)291.
289
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., Scarloss, B. A., & Arellano, A. R. (1999). Complex instruction: Equity in cooperative
learning classrooms. Theory into Practice, 38(2), pp. 80–86.
290
Sewell, A. (2006b). Teachers and children learning together: Developing a community of learners in a primary
classroom. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Massey University, Palmerson North.
291
Sewell, A. (2006a). Teachers and children learning together: Developing a community of learners in a primary
classroom. Draft doctoral thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North.
292
Katz, L. G. (2001). Another look at what young children should be learning. The Spectrum, Fall.
293
Nuthall, G. (2000). The role of memory in the acquisition and retention of knowledge in science and social
studies units. Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), pp. 83–139.
294
McGee, C., Jones, A., Cowie, B., Hill, M., Miller, T., Harlow, A., & McKenzie, K. (2003). Teachers’ experiences
in curriculum implementation: English, languages, science and social studies. National school sampling study
no. 2. Hamilton: University of Waikato.
Students learn content when they talk together about that content
Boykin et al.295 examined what effect of two different approaches had on the learning of 69 grade
4–5 African American geography students. The students were assigned to either ‘communal
learning’ or ‘individual learning’ conditions. Over eight days, the 36 students in the communal
learning condition worked in groups of three to learn material about Africa from a textbook.
Those in the communal learning setting were instructed in this way:
“I would like you to help each other learn this geography lesson I’ve placed on the table.
You will be learning about the geography of Africa and will have 15 minutes to study the
information with your group. At the end of the 15 minutes, you will be given a short quiz.
It is important for each member of the group to do the best that they can so that the whole
group will do well. You are encouraged to help each other learn the information. Your
group is counting on you to do your best. You should be helpful and considerate and give
for the good of the group. This should be easy because you all live in the same area, have
similar friends and go to school together. Remember also that your group is working to get
Community
the most out of this time together. How well the group does depends on how much you all
take part in the learning. Does everyone understand? I will remain in the room for the
entire time if you should have any questions. I will tell you when to begin” (p. 233).
The 33 students in the individual learning condition worked with the same passages of text but
were instructed in this way:
“During this lesson, you are to work by yourselves and without help from any of your
classmates. Each of you will receive your own reading and writing materials for you to use
by yourself. The information you will be learning about is the geography of Africa. Just
like in your classroom, you are not to work together and no-one else may help you read or
learn the material. It is important to learn and work on this lesson by yourselves because
your performance will be based on what you can do on your own. If you have any questions,
quietly raise your hand and ask me, not your neighbor. You will have 15 minutes to study.
There will be a short quiz after the 15 minutes, and so it is important that you work hard to
do your best on the quiz. Remember to make the most out of your individual study time so
that you can do well. Does everyone understand? I will remain in the room for the entire
time if you have any questions. I will tell you when to begin” (p. 233).
Students in both conditions completed a quiz of nine information recall questions immediately
after each session. At the end of the third week of the study, they all completed an end-of-unit
exam consisting of 18 questions. Both the quizzes at the end of each session and the exam at
the end of the third week revealed a significant effect for the communal learning condition.
The means for the quizzes were significantly higher for the students in this group (7.60 vs
4.20). And in the end-of-unit exam, these students retained the information better than those
in the individual learning condition (a mean of 15.47 vs 9.11). The authors put these marked
differences down to opportunities for verbal interchange: participants who were encouraged to
draw on each other in a social learning context were able to gain and retain information that
those working by themselves were not.
Boykin, A. W., Lilja, A. J., & Tyler, K. M. (2004). The influence of communal vs individual learning context on
295
the academic performance in social studies of grade 4–5 African-Americans. Learning Environments Research,
7, pp. 227–244.
296
Kutnick, P., Blatchford, P., & Baines, E. (2002). Pupil groupings in primary school classrooms: Sites for learning
and social pedagogy? British Educational Research Journal, 28(2), pp. 187–206.
297
Baldwin, J. (2002). A study of teachers’ use of groupwork in New Zealand primary education. Unpublished
doctoral thesis, University of Tasmania.
298
Cohen, E. G. (1994). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for productive small groups. Review of Educational
Research, 64(1), pp. 1–35.
Cohen, E. G., & Lotan, R. A. (1995). Producing equal-status interaction in the heterogeneous classroom.
American Educational Research Journal, 32(1), pp. 99–120.
299
Littleton, K., Mercer, N., Dawes, L., Wegerif, R., Rowe, R., & Sams, C. (2004). Talking and thinking together at
key stage 1. Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development. Retrieved 19 January, 2006,
from http://anubis.open.ac.uk/thinking/publications.cfm?filter=2
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• All relevant information is shared.
• The group seeks to reach agreement.
• The group takes responsibility for decisions.
• Reasons are expected.
• Challenges are accepted.
• Alternatives are discussed before a decision is taken.
• All in the group are encouraged to speak by other group members.
During the lessons, each group was encouraged to develop its own user-friendly version of
the ground rules. Class 5D, for example, came up with these guidelines: “1. Discuss things
together – ask everyone for their opinion, ask for reasons why, listen to people; 2. Be prepared
to change your mind; 3. Think before you speak; 4. Respect other people’s ideas – don’t just use
your own; 5. Share all the ideas and information you have; 6. Make sure the group agrees after
talking.” Particular skills were named, modelled, and practised. Students were given tally
sheets for recording the number of questions they asked. As a consequence of this deliberate
skill building, the students in the intervention increased fourfold their use of the three key
features of exploratory language:
• ‘because’ (indicative of reasoning);
• ‘I think’ (recognising the hypothetical nature of claims);
• ‘Do you agree?’ (agreement-seeking).
Student talk in the control groups was little changed.
Mercer, N., Wegerif, R., & Dawes, L. (1999). Children’s talk and the development of reasoning in the classroom.
300
301
Rojas-Drummond, S., Perez, V., Velz, M., Gomez, L., & Mendoza, A. (2003). Talking for reasoning among
Mexican primary school children. Learning and Instruction, 13, pp. 653–670.
302
Mercer, N., Wegerif, R., & Dawes, L. (1999). Children’s talk and the development of reasoning in the classroom.
British Educational Research Journal, 25(1), pp. 95–111.
303
Rojas-Drummond et al. (2003), op. cit.
(p. 663)304
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to demonstrate appropriate ways of interacting. Following teacher–student discussion, a T-
chart was developed to make explicit what the skill ‘looks like’ and ‘sounds like’. This served
as an ongoing reminder in the classroom. Feedback was provided by the teacher and student
observers. Reminders were couched in the same language as the T-chart (for example, “I saw
John looking with his eyes”) and tallies were kept. Reflection was promoted through the use of
a booklet in which performance against goals (for example, “I helped my partner by listening”)
was recorded in the form of smiley faces. Following initial skills practice, further practice
opportunities were structured into the mathematics, oral language, and ‘topics’ curriculum,
using a doughnut format (concentric circles and turn taking).
The researchers found that the specific teaching of skills, supported by structured practice
opportunities integrated into the curriculum, can significantly increase and then maintain
the skills of listening, turn taking, and encouraging. They also found that the whole-class
intervention had greater benefits than would have been the case if the intervention had been
implemented with individual students. The students got to know each other more quickly,
and a better feel was generated in the classroom. As one teacher commented, “Everyone was
included, and everyone was very accepting of one another.”
The long-term effects of deliberate skill building are also illustrated in studies by Gillies306,307.
In her 2000 study, Gillies compared the performance of two groups of grade 2 children in
Australia. A group of 64 students had participated the previous year in two one-hour training
sessions in cooperative behaviour skills, where they were taught, for example, how to break
an activity into sub-tasks for which group members accepted personal responsibility, how
to listen to others, how to share resources, and how to encourage and facilitate each other’s
learning. A second group had not received any such training. Both the trained and untrained
304
ibid.
305
Pardy-Comber, C., Walker, J., & Moore, D. (2004). Learning social and co-operative skills in year 1 classrooms.
SET: Research Information for Teachers, 2, p. 35.
306
Gillies, R. M. (2000). The maintenance of cooperative and helping behaviours in cooperative groups. British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, pp. 97–111.
307
Gillies, R. M. (2002). The residual effects of cooperative-learning experiences: A two year follow up. The Journal
of Educational Research, 96(1), p. 15.
308
ibid.
309
Cohen, E. G. (1994). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for productive small groups. Review of Educational
Research, 64(1), pp. 1–35.
310
Gillies, R. M. & Boyle, M. (2005). Teachers’ scaffolding behaviours during cooperative learning. Asia-Pacific
Journal of Teacher Education, 33(3), pp. 243–259.
Community
The teachers’ increased use of communications that challenged thinking served as a model
for the children to use with each other. This is illustrated in the following extract, in which a
cooperative group, with the help of teacher scaffolding, investigated the impact of people on
the environment311:
T: Where are we up to?
S: Up to the solution.
T: You’ve found the problem. So what have you decided the problem’s going to be? [T
is challenging the students to identify the problem.]
S: People riding their bikes in Bargain Town Shopping Centre.
T: It looks as if you’ve got a solution. Whose solution is that? Is it yours Matthew?
And what is the solution you’ve got? Tell them why they shouldn’t ride in Shopping
Town. [T is seeking clarification on a possible solution.]
T: Right now you all agree that’s a good solution. OK the others thinking up another
possible solution. You’ve got one ready, have you Nick? Have you discussed it with
the rest of your group? [T is encouraging group discussion to reach consensus.]
T: So what’s yours Nick?
S: Ask the police to patrol the shopping centre so the bike riders won’t come through
the shopping centre.
T: More police patrols in that area? So do you think that ... [T is probing the students
to help them identify a possible solution.]
S: Ask the centre management if it’s all right.
T: So approach the shopping centre management first. Why would you do that? [T is
extending the children’s thinking by asking them to provide additional reasons.]
S: Because they might not approve of it.
ibid.
311
In the researchers’ view, the model that the teacher provides in this exchange exemplifies for
students “not only how to engage in problem-solving discourse or thinking about thinking … but
also the behaviours that invite participation as partners in developing shared understandings
of the issue at hand” (p. 256). The students responded to their teachers’ explicit probing,
challenging, confronting, and validating behaviours by using those strategies themselves
in group interactions. The children encouraged others, challenged the thinking of others,
asked for the opinions and ideas of others, and asked others for information. Gillies and Boyle
conclude: “When teachers are explicit in the types of thinking they want children to engage
in, it encourages children to be more focused and explicit in the types of help they provide”
(p. 243)312.
ibid.
312
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Ed: Then what does Susan have?
Nancy: She, she’s doing the sketch of the thing and I’m doing the legend.
This dialogue illustrates what Cohen et al.316 refer to as ‘sequential’ interaction, because
the students contribute their bit one after the other without necessarily building on, or even
engaging with, the previous student’s ideas.
Laney et al.317 note the importance of deliberately structuring tasks so that students cooperate.
They suggest telling the students that everyone in a group must agree on one set of answers
and be able to give and explain them; they also suggest providing each group with only one
set of materials, one pencil, one sheet of paper, and one game. Cohen et al. argue, however,
that more than this is required. They assert that, in order to facilitate reciprocal rather than
sequential interactions, groupwork needs to be developed around complex tasks that require
productive dialogue and collaboration, and the teacher needs to publicly reinforce the value of
multiple abilities and assign competence to a range of requisite abilities.
313
Anderson, J. R., Reder, L. M., & Simon, H. A. (1996). Situated learning and education. Educational Researcher,
25(4), pp. 5–11.
314
Cohen (1994), op. cit.
315
Bausmith, J. & Leinhardt, G. (1998). Middle school students’ map construction: Understanding complex spatial
displays. Journal of Geography, 97, pp. 93–107.
316
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., & Holthuis, N. C. (1995). Talking and working together: Conditions for learning in
complex instruction. In M. T. Hallinan (Ed.), Restructuring schools: Promising practices and policies (pp. 157–
174). New York: Plenum Press.
317
Laney, J. D., Frerichs, D. K., Frerichs, L. P., & Pak, L. K. (1995). The effect of cooperative and mastery learning
methods on primary-grade students’ learning and retention of economic concepts. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, Chicago.
318
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., & Holthuis, N. C. (1997). Organizing the classroom for learning. In E. G. Cohen &
R. A. Lotan (Eds.), Working for equity in heterogeneous classrooms: Sociological theory in practice (pp. 31–43).
New York: Teachers College Press.
Nairn, K. (2005). The problems of utilising ‘direct experience’ in geography education. Journal of Geography
and Higher Education, 29(2), pp. 293–309.
319
Cohen, E. G., Bianchini, J. A., Cossey, R., Holthuis, N. C., Morphew, C. C., & Whitcomb, J. A. (1997). What
did students learn? 1982–1984. In E. G. Cohen & R. A. Lotan (Eds.), Working for Equity in Heterogeneous
Classrooms: Sociological Theory in Practice, pp. 137–165. New York: Teachers College Press.
320
Alton-Lee, A. & Nuthall, G. (1998). Inclusive instructional design: Theoretical principles emerging from the
Understanding Learning and Teaching Project. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
321
Cohen, E. (1994). Designing groupwork (2nd edition). Teachers College Press: New York.
Cohen, Lotan, & Holthuis (1997), op. cit.
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., Scarloss, B. A., & Arellano, A. R. (1999). Complex instruction: Equity in cooperative
learning classrooms. Theory into Practice, 38(2), pp. 80–86.
322
ibid.
323
ibid.
The students seem anxious to start. But Ms Garcia wants to keep them
focused for just a few more moments:
“You need to organize yourselves and be productive. During the wrap-up, you
will present your products and explain them to the class. Let me remind you
The teacher made
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that for these activities you need many different abilities. You will read, write,
and draw. You need to be able to analyse visuals and interpret songs. Finally, the multiple abilities
you will need to be creative and have the ability to visualize and build a three required explicit to the
dimensional sculpture. Remember: No one of us has all these abilities, but learners.
each one of us has some of the abilities we will use today. Listen carefully
to one another; you all are important resources for your group. You have 35
minutes. Check the role chart. You know what to do.”
On this cue, the students turn to each other and begin to organize themselves.
After checking the role chart, they put on their role badges. The ‘materials
managers’ scurry about the classroom, picking up folders containing the
activity card and the resource materials: audio tapes, colorful photos, maps,
or charts. From the ‘materials area’ they grab markers, scissors, glue, colored
paper, yarn, and other interesting-looking items.
As they settle into examining their materials, students focus on the reasons
for immigration to the United States from a particular Latin American country.
They discuss how political persecution, economic hardship, personal
ambitions, and professional opportunities result in decisions to emigrate.
They also consider the heavy costs of moving: breaking up families, leaving
the only home people have ever known, and having to adjust to a new place.
In the group by the window, two boys and two girls listen intently to a corrido,
a Mexican folk song. Swaying to the music and tapping their fingers, they
follow the lyrics of the song, printed on the resource card.
“This guy sure got around. Traveled to lots of places all over the country. It
must have been fun,” says Carolina.
“I’d rather stay home and not have to wash dishes all day,” Hector remarks.
Later, the students negotiate what details to include in their group project, a
song reflecting why some Mexicans would move to the United States.
“Let’s use a tune we all know,” suggests Veronica.
“OK, but what will the song be about?” asks Hector. The group members fall
silent for a moment. Carolina, recorder for the day, takes out a piece of paper
and a pencil.
Victor, the fourth member of the group, shrugs his shoulder, looks away, and,
as usual, mumbles something quietly. “I’m sure this guy didn’t have too much
fun. Sounds to me like he worked really hard. He fixed the rails and picked
tomatoes and mixed cement. For only 50 cents an hour! I’d be tired and
disappointed.”
Carolina begins to write what she has decided will be the first line of their
song. Ms Garcia, who has been watching the group from a discreet distance,
interjects:
“Victor, you listened to the song carefully and you clearly understood the deep The teacher publicly
message of the lyrics. This is important information for your group. What do assigns competence to
you think your group’s song should be about?” low-status students.
“I’m not sure,” Victor answers hesitantly. “I just know that my family didn’t
come here because they wanted to be movie stars. They came because there
were no jobs in Mexico. My father says he wanted to work so we could have a Another student picks up
better life.” on Victor’s comment and
“Maybe we can put those ideas in our song.” Veronica is ready to compromise. suggests its inclusion.
As they offer examples of how they might do this, Ms Garcia moves away, now
The teacher doesn’t
reassured that Victor’s contribution will be heard by his group.
‘hover’. Having assigned
Ms Garcia is pleased as she looks over her classroom. The students are competence to a student
talking and working together; they are engaged and interested. They all make whose contribution
an effort to understand and contribute to their group’s product. For their might otherwise have
homework assignment, students will complete the individual reports and been ignored, she leaves
write about the discussion in their groups. Tomorrow and the next day the so that the conversation
groups rotate so that each group will get to do two more tasks. Ms Garcia is remains centred on the
looking forward to her students writing thoughtful essays and answering the students.
questions in next week’s test.
ibid.
324
“No one is going to be good at all these abilities. Everyone is going to be good at at
least one” (p. 123).
Students in this group were also given in writing a list of specific abilities (organisational skills,
speaking ability, visual thinking, musical appreciation, teaching ability, reading comprehension,
interpretation, and writing skills) that they would need to successfully complete a multimedia
presentation on one of six topics.
Bower found that the amount of dialogue in the multiple ability group was greater than in the
traditional group, for both high- and low-status students. The dominance of the high-status
students was, however, clear in both groups. He also found that the gain scores of the low-
and high-status students in the multiple ability group were greater than those of the students
in the traditional group and that the achievement gap between the low- and high-status
students was narrower in the multiple ability group. Bower did not claim that the treatment
was a panacea – it did not, for example, lead to equal participation by low-status students,
and teachers commented on the excessive amount of groupwork within the short timeframe.
However, he did conclude that the intervention, by “successfully challenging students to use a
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far greater array of human abilities”, could assist social studies educators committed to “equal
participation and cooperation by diverse groups” (p. 133).
Rubin326 draws attention to the possibility that multiple ability groupwork may, for some
students, inhibit the learning of new abilities. She describes, for example, a ‘preparing for a
press conference’ task in which a lower-achieving student, Frankie, was assigned the ‘actor’
role by his group while the higher achievers, Tommy and Sasha, became ‘journalist’ and ‘press
agent’. As a result, Tommy and Sasha were “sharpening their historical knowledge through
reading and discussion, while Frankie took his instruction from his peers and was told only
what they felt he needed to know to credibly fulfill his role” (p. 564). Rubin observed that:
in many small group situations … the students who were deemed least skilled were
given tasks with the least opportunity for gaining and practising skills, while the most
academically competent students were given frequent opportunities to hone their already
ample skills (p. 564).
A teacher in the same study also commented that it was difficult to convince the students that
abilities other than reading and writing were valuable:
“I think it’s hard to undo the sense that the smart kids are the ones that can write and
read well. To get students to understand on a simple level that somebody can represent
something, say, visually in a really creative way and that’s as much of a strength as the
strength that another kid might be able to write really well. Not everybody will be good at
all of these things, but everybody will be good at at least one of them. That kind of mantra.
I think that’s important definitely, but it only goes so far in the context where there’s still for
a lot of kids, strong internalized values built up over the years” (p. 552)327.
325
Bower, B. (1997). Effects of the multiple-ability curriculum in secondary social studies classrooms. In E. G.
Cohen & R. A. Lotan (Eds.), Working for equity in heterogeneous classrooms: Sociological theory in practice
(pp. 117–133). New York: Teachers College Press.
326
Rubin, B. (2003). Unpacking detracking: When progressive pedagogy meets students’ social worlds. American
Educational Research Journal, 40(2), p. 539.
327
ibid.
328
Watson, M. & Battistich, V. (2006). Building and sustaining caring communities. In C. M. Evertson & C. S.
Weinstein (Eds.), Handbook of classroom management (pp. 253–280). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
329
Rubin (2003), op. cit.
330
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., Scarloss, B. A., & Arellano, A. R. (1999). Complex instruction: Equity in cooperative
learning classrooms. Theory into Practice, 38(2), pp. 80–86.
331
Parker (2006). Public discourses in schools. Educational Researcher, 35(8), pp. 11–18.
Community
and reinforcement of “untenable views of the past and of their place in historical time”
(p. 320). Hootstein338 found that while students (albeit a relatively small proportion of them)
ranked discussion second (after role playing and simulations) as the strategy most effective in
motivating them to learn about US history, history teachers did not rate discussion as one of
their top ten teaching strategies. This may reflect its difficulty. Parker339 (citing Greene, 1954)
calls discussion one of the “great difficult things” of classroom teaching.
332
Hess, D. (2002). Discussing controversial public issues in secondary social studies classrooms: Learning from
skilled teachers. Theory and Research in Social Education, 30(1), pp. 10–41.
333
Torney-Purta, J., Lehmann, R., Oswald, H., & Schulz, W. (2001). Citizenship and education in twenty-eight
countries: Civic knowledge and engagement at age fourteen. Delft: IEA.
334
Hess, D. & Posselt, J. (2002). How high school students experience and learn from the discussion of controversial
public issues. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 17(4), pp. 283–314.
335
Kahne, J., Rodriguez, M., Smith, B., & Thiede, K. (2000). Developing citizens for democracy? Assessing
opportunities to learn in Chicago’s social studies classrooms. Theory and Research in Social Education, 28(3),
pp. 311–388.
336
Aulls, M. W. (1998). The contributions of classroom discourse to what content students learn during curriculum
enactment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(1), p. 56.
337
Seixas, P. (1993). The community of inquiry as a basis for knowledge and learning: The case of history. American
Educational Research Journal, 30(2), pp. 305–324.
338
Hootstein, E. W. (1995). Motivational strategies of middle school social studies teachers. Social Education,
59(1), pp. 23–26.
339
Parker (2006), op. cit.
T: OK, so we’ve kind of covered leadership and some of the things that Washington
brought with it. Why else did they win? Leadership is important, that’s one.
S: France gave ’em help.
T: OK, so France giving aid is an example of what? France is an example of it
obviously.
S: Aid from allies.
T: Aid from allies, very good. Were there any other allies who gave aid to us?
S: Spain.
T: Spain. Now, when you said aid, can you define that?
S: Help.
Dillon, J. T. (1994). Using discussions in classrooms. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
340
Dillon, J. T. (1985). Using questions to foil discussion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 1(2), pp. 109–121.
341
T: So you feel that he was justified in what he was doing, as far as he was
concerned – he could justify it to himself.
Diane: Yeah, he could justify it to himself. But then, before then they really didn’t
have a separation. So all he could see was an allegory. And he wanted to pull
back on that.
T: All right, Marty raised an interesting point just a few seconds ago. He said that
… [continues about Communists and Nazis in Chicago] … It’s getting away
from France, but again it’s speaking about the same idea – acceptance of
groups that are going against the norms of your society. What’s your opinion
on groups of this type? Should they be allowed, should they be censored,
should it be washed over, should there be guidelines, stipulations – should
there be control like Louis XIV tried to control them, to be done away with? –
Julie.
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Julie: I think that they should be allowed to speak their opinion, because …
[continues] … But they should be allowed to speak their opinion, you don’t
have to listen. [T: OK, Sean.]
Sean: I think Marty was wrong, because … [continues] … Look what they did like,
back I think in the 50s with the Communists, and McCarthy, and then during
World War II with the Japanese. So, it’s still going on today.
T: Right, and the concentration camps which we have had inside the United
States during World War II, to house Japanese-Americans … All right, so he’s
totally disagreeing with what you had to say, Marty.
Marty: Yeah, well … No, he brought up a good point … [continues] … But I mean, I
don’t think Thomas Jefferson and those guys who signed the Constitution
would like Nazis around here. Especially after what they did. I think that’s
why –
George: They come over here from another country for three months and they earn an
ADC [welfare] check! My parents have been working for 25 odd years, and
they’re not getting half the money that [ethnic epithet] are getting nowadays.
T: Yes, we know … [continues].
Notice the greater use of teacher statements and signals, the more extended nature of the
student talk, and the higher level of interaction between students. A similar pattern can be
observed in the transcript of the discussion on Ji Li (page 120), where the teacher asks no
questions at all.
There is clearly a range of complex factors at work in these examples: the content, the students’
background knowledge, and their prior experience of this form of discussion (especially true
for the Ji Li example). While Dillon does not suggest that recitation/review is inappropriate
(rather, it serves a different purpose), he does consider that teacher talk significantly influences
the pattern of interaction. For him, the key to greater student talk and enhanced student–
student interaction is for teachers to replace their questions with statements, signals, and
silences (see Table 25).
A. Statements
Declaration State a thought that “But I’m not sure that Ji Li would think that would be bad …”
occurs to you as a
result of what the
speaker has just said.
Reflective State your “So you feel that he was justified in what he was doing, as
restatement understanding of what far as he was concerned – he could justify it to himself.”
the speaker has said.
“So you’re saying she didn’t really understand the political
significance of what she was doing …”
Statement of Describe your state “OK, I can see where you are coming from but I don’t know
mind of mind in relation to if I can entirely agree with that …” or “OK, I’ll go along with
what the speaker has that.”
just been saying.
Statement of State what interests “I’d like to hear more of your views on that.”
interest you in what the
“It would help me to understand it better if I had an
speaker has just been
example.”
saying.
Speaker referral State the relationship “All right, so he’s totally disagreeing with what you had to
between what say, Marty.”
different speakers
“OK, I think. Ah. We can go backwards to Marilyn’s point
have said.
and take off from that a bit. She said, and I think that some
of you are agreeing with her – that X is the case. But Stacey
said, and I think that Bonnie was saying the same thing, X is
a case of Y.”
Self-report Give an account of “One problem I know I have when I think about this question
your own knowledge, …”
feelings, or
“Well, that’s good, I’m glad to hear some of these things.
experience in relation
’Cause, see, I’ve lived in my own little world here for so
to the issue at hand.
many years, and I don’t run into a lot of people that would
have a different opinion from what I have. So that’s why I
always tell you people that you got about 30 good ideas in
here against one of mine, and that’s why I like to discuss
things with you.”
B. Signals
(pp. 80–91)342
Dillon343 cites other evidence for the relative impact of statements and questions. In one lesson
that he observed, students responded for an average of 8 seconds to the teacher’s questions
and 13 seconds to his statements; student–student interactions followed teacher statements
but not teacher questions; and student–student interactions included references to each other’s
contributions. In another lesson, he noted that even praise and discussion-like questions
(“What do you think?” “How do you mean?”) generated shorter student responses than did
statements (15 seconds vs 40 seconds). The graph below illustrates a segment of this lesson.
The horizontal axis shows whether the teacher used a statement (X) or a question (Q). The
vertical axis shows the length of the student response in seconds. The first statement generated
an 83-second response but the two immediately following questions generated much shorter
responses. Note that, for the rest of the data collection period, response length rises and falls
depending on whether the teacher asked a question or made a statement. In connection with
this particular lesson, Dillon noted that not only did students talk more in response to teacher
statements, they talked differently: “their talk has a pronounced flavour of exploration, personal
revelation, interpretation of experience, questioning and interconnectedness” (p. 115).
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80 Refers to
Steve and Paul
70
Student response (s)
60 Refers to Tommy
Chris and Boy
50 Refers to
Steve and Regina
40
30
Refers to
20 Regina
10
0
1 2 3 4 5b 5c 6 7 8 9 10b 10c 10d 10e
X Q Q X X X Q X Q Q X X X X
Regina Steve Anna Tommy Boy-1 Boy-2 Student Chris Tommy Regina
Exchange
Q = Question
X = Alternatives
Dillon’s work has been applied in other contexts. In collaboration with the teacher of a year
1 and 2 class in a New Zealand school, Orsborn et al.344 developed an intervention aimed at
increasing student talk at ‘morning news’ sessions – a context with potential for social science-
related content. She began the intervention by making this statement to her students:
“Today I am not going to ask any questions during morning news. This does not mean that
I am not interested in what you are saying or that you are wrong, but I will be giving you a
chance to share with everyone, and to ask each other questions if you want” (p. 352).
342
Dillon, J. T. (1994). Using discussions in classrooms. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
343
Dillon, J. T. (1985). Using questions to foil discussion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 1(2), pp. 109–121.
Figure 22 is reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
344
Orsborn, E., Patrick, H., Dixon, R. S., & Moore, D. W. (1995). The effects of reducing teacher questions and
increasing pauses on child talk during morning news. Journal of Behavioral Education, 5(3), pp. 347–357.
Other researchers have noted similar changes in student talk in response to qualititive
changes in teacher dialogue. Wood and Wood345, for example, found that deaf children spoke
at greater length and with greater initiative in response to teacher statements (3.7 words
per turn and 83% initiative) than they did in response to teacher questions (2.5 words per
turn and 46% initiative). Whereas excessive questioning led to misunderstandings, phatics
(acknowledgments and expressions of interest) encouraged learners to contribute. Evans346
observed what happened to 19 shy kindergarten children when their teachers decided to be
less controlling of conversations in show-and-tell time. The teachers asked fewer questions,
choosing instead to express personal views and phatics. The study compared the impact
of each of three conditions: normal (the teachers’ usual style), high control (many teacher
questions), and low control (the experimental style). Table 27 summarises student responses
to 20 teacher initiatives:
345
Wood, H. & Wood, D. (1984). An experimental evaluation of the effects of five styles of teacher conversation on
the language of hearing impaired children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 25, pp. 45–62.
346
Evans, M. A. (1992). Control and paradox in teacher conversations with shy children. Canadian Journal of
Behavioural Science, 24(4), pp. 502–516.
Verbosity: 36.2 37 48
(total words spoken)
(p. 511)
In the low-control condition, these shy children participated more, as measured by verbosity
(total words spoken), fluency (number of spontaneous words spoken), and mean length of turn.
Evans summarises:
While it cannot be said that the children became effusive conversational partners and,
while there were individual differences in the children’s response to the various speaking
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styles, the changes were large enough to produce significantly different quantitative results
in the mean number of words spoken, mean number of spontaneous words spoken, and
mean length of turn (p. 512).
The following transcript from a show-and-tell session illustrates the relative impact of low- and high-
control teacher initiatives. Notice how the child (C) is more responsive after the teacher (T)
contributes a personal view (T2–C2 and T3–C3) than after a teacher question (T4–C4 and T6–C6):
Promote dialogue
Summary of findings
• Students learn content when they talk together about that content.
• Involving students in developing groupwork norms improves group functioning and
increases contribution.
• Explicit skills teaching develops cooperation and dialogue.
• Teacher modelling during groupwork helps students develop dialogue skills.
• Dialogue is encouraged by complex tasks.
• Whole-class discussion enables students to experience social sciences in action.
• Discussion is enhanced by teacher statements rather than questions.
347
Orsborn, E., Patrick, H., Dixon, R. S., & Moore, D. W. (1995). The effects of reducing teacher questions and
increasing pauses on child talk during morning news. Journal of Behavioral Education, 5(3), pp. 347–357.
348
Smith, A. (2005). Children and young people’s participation rights in education. Paper presented at the New
Zealand Association for Research in Education, Dunedin.
349
Schultz, B. D. & Oyler, C. (2006). We make this road as we walk together: Sharing teacher authority in a social
action curriculum project. Curriculum Inquiry, 36(4), pp. 423–451.
350
Mahoney, G. & Wheeden, C. A. (1999). The effect of teacher style on interactive engagement of preschool-aged
children with special learning needs. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14(1), pp. 51–68.
At first Subsequently …
I thought all the learning had to come from I thought learning was about ‘us’ – I could
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me – otherwise it would not happen … share the teaching – the children sharing
teaching was all down to me … it was my with each other and with me. I came to
responsibility. believe that the more power shared, the
more power there was … you as the teacher
don’t actually lose anything by sharing it
– everyone gains more. I came to realise
how important it was to create the space for
children to be responsive to each other.
Rhys thought about teaching as planning, Rhys thought about teaching as a learning
organising and arranging activities and relationship with children, where there is
resources. mutual trust and power sharing.
Sakura: Yes, and he thinks he’s one of us because he just doesn’t think he knows
everything. When we did our research, we suggested to him what we
wanted to do. He helps us and he tries to suggest new ideas to make our
research better.
Era: It makes us feel that age doesn’t matter, just because you are older doesn’t
mean you know more.
Sakura: Instead of telling us what to do, he doesn’t do that, he actually sits down
and helps us. We are all learners and teachers in our classroom.
351
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., & Holthuis, N. C. (1995). Talking and working together: Conditions for learning in
complex instruction. In M. T. Hallinan (Ed.), Restructuring schools: Promising practices and policies (pp. 157–
174). New York: Plenum Press.
352
Sewell, A. (2006b). Teachers and children learning together: Developing a community of learners in a primary
classroom. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Massey University, Palmerson North.
353
Ladson-Billing, G. (1995). But that’s just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory into
Practice, 34(3), pp. 159–165.
354
Lotan, R. A. (2004). Stepping into groupwork. In E. G. Cohen, C. M. Brody, & M. Sapon-Shevin (Eds.), Teaching
cooperative learning: The challenge for teacher education, pp. 167–182. Albany, NY: State University of New
York Press.
355
McNeight, C. (1998). “Wow! These sorts of things are similar to our culture!”: Becoming culturally inclusive
within the senior secondary school curriculum. Unpublished graduate research report, Department of Teacher
Education, Victoria University of Wellington.
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read about. In the next one [reading not know what to do at first. Then later,
assignment in history] I might make up he [David] explained. He told me to write
my own questions in my mind as I read where they were built, and important facts
and take notes and then answer them. that describe the pyramids. This helped
I would ask ones that go along with the me do this at home. I wrote down too
text mostly. I think that would make much information. I had to cancel a lot of
it a little easier for making notes I can it in class. When Mr. C [David] hinted at
use. See, with the pyramids, I might ask what was important, what kind, how big,
myself what each type looked like, when and who made them, then I knew how to
it was built. I might ask if I could imagine put less. When he showed his notes on
what it looked like by basically making a the pyramids [on an overhead projector],
picture in my mind. I’d ask questions as I underlined the right parts and took out
I did my reading and stop to answer until the rest that I had from the notes I made
I finish. at home. Thought we were supposed to
get a question guide to read this like the
(Interview, Lesson 10)
ones before. Without the question guide
well … I did not know what to do.
(Interview, Lesson 11)
The student who had experienced the strategy instruction was in a better position to accomplish
the task and was thinking in ways that would be transferable to other situations. Aulls noted
that such instruction generally changed the distribution of responsibility in the classroom,
to the benefit of the low-achieving students: “Changes in who poses academic questions and
statements during a lesson [made] students become more active and [helped] low achievers to
accomplish academic activities and become more independent of the teacher” (p. 531). Larry,
who had experienced the accommodation instruction, was much more dependent on the
teacher; he had come to rely on the teacher-provided question guide and, in its absence, did
not know what to do.
Aulls, M. W. (2002). The contributions of co-occurring forms of classroom discourse and academic activities to
356
[S] Today we made a concept map. I lirnt a lot about the first fleet. Conecpt maps
are like the meaning of samething and a bit lige a jig saw pusel you write the
thing you want to write about and put it down like a map
[T]: Good thinking Jenny. What did you learn by doing the concept map?
[S]: I learnt what a concept map was …
[S]: Today we talked about the aboritines and mrs swan red us a story about the
aborigines lirnt same wase to get water and to cook anmils for food
[T]: What questions do you have about our work on Aborigines?
[S]: … why did the wite men take all of Australia? Mrs Swan I feal sory for the
aborigines. Is ther same way we can help
[S]: The Aborigines want some of their land back. They are asking the Government
to give it to them.
(pp. 94–96)
The thinking books became a source of metacognitive learning for these students; they also
helped the teacher better understand her students’ learning processes. Swan and White report
on a follow-up, five years later, in which the students reported remembering the thinking books
approach and said that they had continued to think about their learning.
A collaborative action research project by Dellett et al.358, involving grade 3 and 4 students,
reported on the impact of a metacognitive environment that integrated: direct teaching of
thinking skills; ‘thinking journals’, in which students responded to metacognitive prompts;
and “class meetings, Venn diagrams, Meta Moments, and reflective chats [as] springboards
for students to articulate and recognise the efficacy of various thinking strategies” (p. 32).
Pre- and post-intervention data were gathered by means of a ‘metacognition survey’ that asked
students about their awareness of thinking and learning strategies.
At the start of the intervention, students “demonstrated little understanding about their
thinking processes, and they were reluctant to try” (p. 31). The metacognitive approach
resulted in students demonstrating “increased self-reliance, a new awareness of thinking
capabilities, an ability to make connections to prior knowledge, the ability to take a risk
as they explored solutions to particular problems, and an emerging awareness of thinking
strategies”. Such learning is illustrated by Kurt, who explained that he deduced the answer
to a test question about Virginia by eliminating useless information and by comparing what
he knew with a graphic that was provided. More generally, it can be seen in the difference
in responses to a learning strategy question that was posed at the beginning and end of the
Swan, S. & White, R. (1994). The thinking books. London: The Falmer Press.
357
Dellett, K., Fromm, G., Karn, S., & Cricchi, A. (1999). Developing metacognitive behaviors in third and fourth
358
What do you do when you are in the middle of an assignment and you realise you don’t
know what to do?
I get help from mom and dad. I think back at what the dreictons
[directions] were [re another Q].
Kourilsky and Wittrock359 showed that students can benefit from a metacognitive environment
that helps them focus on thought processes likely to block their learning. These researchers
investigated what impact a generative, cooperative group approach had on teaching the concept
‘market equilibrium’ to 142 grade 12 students from a lower to middle socio-economic area of
California. The students in the experimental group were compared with those of a control
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group that covered the same material with the same teacher, using cooperative groups but not
the generative approach. Those in the experimental group were given two hours of instruction
in which the teacher: introduced them to the principles of generative teaching (see below);
explained the three mindsets that have been shown to result in economic misconceptions (see
also below); provided examples of each of these mindsets (for example, confusing scarcity
with rarity); and encouraged them to come up with their own examples of incorrect mindsets
from previous economics learning and discuss how they had succeeded in replacing them
with correct mindsets. The experimental and control groups both participated in 15 lessons.
Approximately 80 percent of the dialogue was student-generated. The difference was that those
in the experimental group were challenged to ‘get into each other’s minds’ by thinking aloud
about the concepts, identifying incorrect mindsets, and helping each other correct them.
Kourilsky, M., & Wittrock, M. C. (1992). Generative teaching: An enhancement strategy for the learning of
359
The researchers found that the students from the ‘generative teaching, cooperative learning’
group performed better than those from the cooperative learning-only group in terms of their
comprehension of economics: they possessed significantly less misinformation and fewer
misconceptions. The researchers attributed this to the collaborative, metacognitive learning
in which they had engaged:
Apparently the instruction in learning to recognize and to modify each other’s preconceptions
about principles of economics influenced the revision of some of these misconceptions
into more useful or more sophisticated conceptions of economics. These re-learnings of
concepts of economics appear to be involved in the increase in economics comprehension
that generative teaching produced in this study (p. 874).
The researchers also reported that the experimental group demonstrated more confidence in
their answers than the control group. This suggests that generative teaching, in addition to
improving conceptual understanding, may also have had a positive effect on students’ attitudes
towards economics. Given the relatively minimal nature of the intervention (two additional
lessons), these are significant findings and illustrate the potential benefits of challenging
students to engage in conversations with each other about their thinking.
360
ibid.
361
ibid.
362
Kourilsky, M (1993). Economic education and a generative model of mislearning and recovery. The Journal of
Economic Education, 24(1), pp. 23–33.
This comment from Amy, 12 months after a unit on medieval times, illustrates how students
attach memories about what they learn to the way in which they learn it. Whereas the focus
of Mechanism 2 was on ensuring that student learning experiences are explicitly aligned to
important outcomes and prior knowledge and experience, the focus of this mechanism is on
making those experiences memorable and on how learning activities can stimulate motivation
to learn. It is through learning experiences (activities) that students encounter the knowledge,
understandings, skills, values, and participatory opportunities that are important in the
social sciences. But those activities first need to capture their interest. As Hansen364 explains,
discussing Dewey’s conception of the teaching and learning environment:
Engagement, involvement and engrossment, but not learning per se, [is] the immediate aim
of teaching. If teachers cultivate and support conditions that engage students in an activity,
whether it be interpreting a poem, conducting an experiment, or debating the cause of an
historical event, learning will more likely be the outcome, or so Dewey suggests (p. 277).
Csikszentmihalyi365 puts the importance of this motivational orientation even more directly:
The chief impediments to learning are not cognitive. It is not that students cannot learn;
it is that they do not wish to. If educators invested a fraction of the energy they now spend
Interest
trying to transmit information in trying to stimulate the students’ enjoyment of learning,
we could achieve much better results (p. 116).
This mechanism explains how learning activities can be designed to increase engagement and
interest and, as a result, generate learning that is memorable. It draws on evidence in three
categories:
• Diverse motivations. Learners are not all motivated in the same way: what interests one
may not interest another. For this reason, it is important to understand and take account
of different motivations for learning.
• Interesting activities. Although student motivations are diverse, some activities are more
intrinsically interesting than others and, therefore, have greater potential to generate learning.
We provide evidence of the potential of particular types of activity to engage students.
• Variety of activities. Variety of experience makes learning more memorable. As Nuthall366
explains:
When students experience a narrow range of classroom activities they rapidly lose the
ability to distinguish one activity from another in memory. As a consequence, they lose the
363
Nuthall, G. (2000). The role of memory in the acquisition and retention of knowledge in science and social
studies units. Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), pp. 83–139.
364
Hansen, D. T. (2002). Dewey’s conception of an environment for teaching and learning. Curriculum Inquiry,
32(3), pp. 267–280.
365
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Literacy and intrinsic motivation. Daedalus, (spring), pp. 115–140.
366
Nuthall, G. (2000). The role of memory in the acquisition and retention of knowledge in science and social
studies units. Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), pp. 83–139.
367
D’Addesio, J. A., Grob, B., Furman, L., Hayes, K., & David, J. (2006). Social studies: Learning about the world
around us. Young Children, September, pp. 50–54. National Association for the Education of Young Children:
Washington.
368
Wlodkowski, R. J. (2003). Diversity and motivation: culturally responsive teaching. San Francisco, Calif.:
Jossey-Bass.
369
Rossi, J. A. (1995). In-depth study in an issues-oriented social studies classroom. Theory and Research in
Social Education, 23(2), pp. 88–120.
370
Edgington, W. D. (1998). The use of children’s literature in middle school social studies: What research does
and does not show. The Clearing House, 72(2).
371
Milson, A. J. (2002). The internet and inquiry learning: Integrating medium and method in a sixth grade social
studies classroom. Theory and Research in Social Education, 30(3), pp. 330–353.
372
Brophy, J., VanSledright, B., & Bredin, N. (1992). Fifth graders’ ideas about history expressed before and after
the subject. Theory and Research in Social Education, 10(4), pp. 440–489.
373
Rickinson, M. (1999). People-environment issues in the geography classroom: Towards an understanding of
students’ experiences. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 8(2), pp. 120–
139.
Interest
findings also reinforce the fact that no one strategy is motivating for all students. Only 22% of the
students (13) ranked the top-rated strategy (role playing characters) as their best motivator.
What these findings show is that teachers need to find out what motivates their students. One
approach is to list teaching methods/approaches (such as role playing, reading historical novels,
participating in small-group projects) and ask students to rank these in order of preference.
Another approach, used by Schneider et al.376, involved an instrument developed and validated
by Csikszentmihalyi and Larson377 that enables students to record their subjective experience
of tasks as they engage in them and keep a log of their experiences as they move from one
activity to another. The instrument is based on general principles of motivation and comprises
the following items:
374
Levstik, L. S. (2000). Articulating the silences: Teachers’ and adolescents’ conceptions of historical significance.
In P. N. Stearns, P. Seixas, & S. Wineburg (Eds.), Knowing teaching and learning history: National and
international perspectives (pp. 284–305). New York: New York University Press.
375
Hootstein, E. W. (1995). Motivational strategies of middle school social studies teachers. Social Education,
59(1), pp. 23–26.
376
Schneider, B., Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Knauth, S. (1995). Academic challenge, motivation, and self-esteem: The
daily experiences of students in high school. In M. T. Hallinan (Ed.), Restructuring schools: Promising practices
and policies (pp. 175–195). New York: Plenum Press.
377
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Larson, R. (1987). Validity and reliability of the Experience-Sampling Method. Journal
of Nervous and Mental Disease, 157, pp. 525–536.
Kilpatrick, W. H. (1918). The project method. Teachers College Record, 19(September), pp. 319–335.
378
Bartlett, J. (2005). Inquiry-based curriculum integration in the secondary school. SET: Research Information
379
for Teachers, 3.
Although this was only a small project with 70 children from our school we still think
it has shown us some interesting data. We had an impression before we started that
children would be much more discontented about how their parents’ work affected
their family life (we’re not sure we can explain why, it’s an impression that just sort of
‘is around’) and yet we found quite the opposite. Perhaps this is because of the age. At
nine and ten we think we are a lot more grown up than adults sometimes think we are.
A lot more children thought that their parents’ work hours were ‘just right’ rather than
‘too long’ even though we think children would want to spend more time with their
parents they are realistic about the situation and understand that parents have to work
to earn money. The other really interesting conclusion is that children feel that more
parents seem to come home ‘tired’ than ‘irritable’ or ‘angry’.
If we could do this project over again we would change some things to make it better.
Because we tried to be sensitive about some children not having a mum or a dad or
having several mums and dads or having a mum or dad who was unemployed we
probably made the questionnaire too detailed and complicated. We found that we
didn’t need all the data we collected and only analysed the parts of the questionnaire
that told us about children’s feelings about their parents’ jobs. If we could do this
again we would probably make the questionnaire much simpler and perhaps only ask
about one parent. Also it would be really interesting to do a comparison between what
six-year-olds feel and what ten-year-olds feel about their parents’ jobs because we
think there would be a big difference. Perhaps this is something we can investigate in
the future (p. 336).
Interest
These students’ emphasis on how interesting they found the data, and their attention to
implications for future research, are just two of the indications that this approach engaged
them in worthwhile learning. It is also clear that they were learning about important ideas
(the impact of employment on young family members) and that they were engaged in ways that
developed their inquiry skills (gathering information from a range of sources, reporting key
aspects of their process, summarising key findings, considering a range of perspectives, and
reflecting on the learning process).
The element of choice was also central to the approach reported by Schultz381 (see page 187), in
which the students’ own concerns provided the basis for a social-action project. By focusing on
concerns that were a priority for students, the teacher was trying to “take the curriculum away
from the scripted lesson plans and give it to the students to develop their unique interests”
(p. 168).
380
Kellett, M., Forrest, R., Dent, N., & Ward, S. (2004). Just teach us the skills please, we’ll do the rest: Empowering
ten-year-olds as active researchers. Children and Society, 18(5).
381
Schultz, B. D. (2007). “Not satisfied with stupid band-aids”: A portrait of a justice-oriented, democratic
curriculum serving a disadvantaged neighborhood. Equity & Excellence in Education, 40(2), pp. 166–176.
As can be seen, the word find helped Teine remember some place names in Antarctica, but
it also included mistakes (for example, ‘North Pole’). In this way, it served to reinforce a
misconception for Teine.
382
Nuthall, G. (1996). What role does ability play in classroom learning? Paper presented at the New Zealand
Association for Research in Education, Nelson.
383
ibid.
384
ibid., p. 49.
Jim Arctic O O 3 O O 3 O O
circle
Paul 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Unlike Jane, Joy, and Jim, who all learned and remembered the location of the South Pole,
Teine persisted in her understanding that the North Pole was in Antarctica. One reason for
this is that the teaching did not explicitly refer to the location of the South Pole; a second reason
is that, by choosing the word finding activity and lacking appropriate feedback, Teine learned
nothing new – neither did she correct the knowledge that she brought to this task.
Interest
6.3 Maximise student interest
Student interest is often used to explain why particular approaches work in terms of social
sciences learning: an activity arouses student interest, interest leads to engagement, engagement
leads to learning. While there is a substantial literature on generic motivational strategies
(such as use of rewards, highlighting the instrumental value of activities, or various forms
of competition), this report focuses on those that are specific to social sciences teaching and
learning.
Skerrett White, M. N. (2003). Kia mate ra ano a Tama-nui-te-ra: Reversing language shift in kohanga reo.
385
Riel, M. (2000). Learning circles: Virtual communities for elementary and secondary schools. Retrieved May,
386
This example shows how motivating it can be for students to experience first-hand, real material,
from real students, for a real purpose. The contents of the welcome packs could have been
collated and arranged by the teacher, but it was the ‘realness’ of the exchange that generated
the high levels of student interest. Riel went on to report a range of positive outcomes for the
diverse learners involved in the project, including at-risk students. These outcomes included
intellectual accomplishments, enhanced self-images, and improved behaviour.
Interest
The teachers at Campus Kindergarten turned the unexpected arrival of an abandoned shopping
trolley into a learning opportunity387, empowering the children to take responsibility and be
active citizens in their community. With the help of their teachers, the children engaged in
a series of real experiences: they wrote a letter to the supermarket management; offered to
return the trolley; visited the supermarket and suggested that signs warning against trolley
theft be repositioned where thieves would be more likely to see them; and made signs. They
also wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, addressed to the perpetrators:
This project is testament to the benefits of giving students first-hand experience in responding
to a local issue. A similar approach was taken by a teacher and students at a school called Byrd
Davis, J. & Pratt, R. (2005). Creating cultural change @ Campus Kindergarten: The sustainable planet project.
387
388
Schultz, B. D. (2007). “Not satisfied with stupid band-aids”: A portrait of a justice-oriented, democratic
curriculum serving a disadvantaged neighborhood. Equity & Excellence in Education, 40(2), pp. 166–176.
Schultz, B. D. & Oyler, C. (2006). We make this road as we walk together: Sharing teacher authority in a social
action curriculum project. Curriculum Inquiry, 36(4), pp. 423–451.
389
Schultz (2007), op. cit.
Laney390 compared the use of real-life objects (for example, a limited set of art supplies, a
limited amount of money, samples of alternative food items) to develop grade 1 students’
understanding of opportunity cost with the use of illustrations of the same objects. The real-
life objects (direct experience) and illustrations (vicarious experience) were used in conjunction
with a story about producer and consumer dilemmas. Laney found that the students with the
Interest
real-life objects made real decisions; those with the illustrations made hypothetical decisions.
While little immediate difference in conceptual understanding could be attributed to the two
conditions, a delayed post-test showed that long-term understanding was enhanced by the
direct experience. The findings of this study were complicated by the researcher’s aim to
simultaneously test whether understanding would be improved if students were encouraged
to devise their own labels for concepts (for example, ‘next best’ for ‘opportunity cost’). He
found that the most powerful long-term effect came from combining real-life experience with
student-devised labels.
These findings on the impact of real experience were consistent with those of a similar Laney
study391, which examined whether direct experience was sufficient on its own to make a
difference to students’ understanding of 10 economics concepts. The classroom of 31 grade 1
students was set up as a market economy. For the first week, students were paid in play money
for daily attendance. They were then able to set up their own ‘stores’ and purchase a limited
number of items (for example, pencils, markers, pads) from a ‘factory warehouse’ operated
by the teacher. The students then engaged in two 20-minute ‘market days’ each week for six
390
Laney, J. D. (1989). Experience- and concept-label-type effects on first-graders’ learning, retention of economic
concepts. Journal of Educational Research, 82(4), pp. 231–236.
Laney, J. D. (2001). Enhancing economic education through improved teaching methods: Common sense
made easy. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Subject-specific Instructional Methods and Activities (Advances in Research on
Teaching, vol. 8). New York: Elsevier.
391
Laney, J. D. (1993). Experiential versus experience-based learning and instruction. Journal of Educational
Research, 86(4), pp. 228–236.
Elder, L., Seligsohn, A., & Hofrenning, D. (2006). Experiencing New Hampshire: The effects of an experiential
392
learning course on civic engagement. Journal of Political Science Education, 3(2), pp. 191–216.
“Prior to NH I followed politics briefly. After being 100% involved in the middle of
something so exciting and political it peeked [sic] my interests. I find now that I follow
politics far more closely than I ever did on a very regular basis” (p. 205).
“My political experience allowed abstract issues to become more tangible and following
politics on a day-to-day basis more relevant” (p. 205).
Interest
Beaumont et al.393 studied 21 courses in a variety of US colleges and universities that also
focused on promoting political engagement. All incorporated experiences such as:
• extensive student discussion or reflection;
• interaction with political leaders/activists as guest speakers;
• politically related internships;
• community placements or politically focused service-learning;
• research or action projects.
Pre- and post-surveys were completed by 481 students and revealed significant positive change
in the students’ political knowledge and skills, democratic participation, and expectation of
future political activity.
Beaumont et al. noted that the impact of a course on students related, to some extent, to the
level of political interest that they had before starting.
Beaumont, E., Colby, A., Ehrlich, T., & Torney-Purta, J. (2006). Promoting political competence and engagement
393
in college students: An empirical study. Journal of Political Science Education, 2(3), pp. 249–270.
Politically Low initial interest 3.45 1.09 3.95 .97 .001 .49
engaged
identity High initial 4.86 .79 4.82 .88 n.s.
interest
Foundational Low initial interest 3.19 1.10 3.90 1.05 .001 .66
political
knowledge High initial 4.56 .82 4.66 .83 .038 .12
interest
Skills of Low initial interest 2.99 1.13 3.63 1.09 .001 .58
political
influence and High initial 4.06 1.09 4.26 .98 .002 .19
action interest
Expected Low initial interest 3.65 1.05 3.96 1.10 .001 .29
participation
in High initial 4.66 1.05 4.68 1.06 n.s.
conventional interest
electoral
activities
Expected Low initial interest 3.29 1.04 3.55 1.13 .001 .24
participation
in political High initial 3.93 1.04 3.94 1.09 n.s.
voice interest
activities
For ‘low initial interest’ students, the interventions significantly enhanced their sense of
identity as politically engaged persons and the expectation that they would participate in a
range of political activities. The effect sizes were small-to-medium (Cohen’s d = .24 to .66).
‘High initial interest’ students showed smaller but still significant gains in understanding and
skills (d = .12 to .19). These results show that well-designed courses can effectively promote
various dimensions of political engagement in a diverse range of undergraduate students.
ibid., p. 256.
394
Alleman, J. & Brophy, J. (1994). Taking advantage of out-of-school opportunities for meaningful social
395
studies learning. The Social Studies, 85, pp. 262–267. This quote retrieved from website abstract:
http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/reports/ed-researchrep/97/97-nov-report1.htm
“Kare tàtou te Màori i te pirangi kia mate to tàtou reo i nga mahi pèhitanga a tauiwi.
Timatahia ènei kura kia kore ai e memehà te reo Màori i roto i ngà tau kei te haere
mai. Mà ènei kura ka taea te àwhina i te iwi ki te pupuri ki ngà tàonga tuku iho a kui
ma, a koro ma.”
In a study of year 10 students in Hong Kong, Lai399 reported that a field trip was generally
‘cherished’ because of its rarity and the freedom it afforded, and because it enabled students
to gain new perspectives on ideas they had encountered in the classroom. Teacher–student
rapport improved, and students were more proactive in their learning (though this did not
carry over into the classroom). Nundee400, studying a group of nine- to twelve-year-olds, found
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that fieldwork generated significantly greater cognitive and affective learning than would have
been possible in a regular classroom environment. Kanu401 found that a field trip to a sweat
lodge, together with the ensuing discussion, helped Aboriginal students develop pride in their
cultural ceremonies and the confidence to express their views in social studies.
396
Ramsay, K., Breen, J., Sturm, J., Lee, W., & Carr, M. (2006). Strengthening learning and teaching using ICT:
Roskill South Kindergarten Centre of Innovation 2003–2006 final research report. Retrieved from www.minedu.
govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=11712&data=l&goto=00
397
Te Tàhuhu o te Màtauranga (2006). Ngà Tauaromahi Marautanga o Aotearoa: Tikanga à Iwi. Wellington:
Learning Media and the Learning Centre Trust of New Zealand.
Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (c. 1820–91). Màori leader, guerilla, prophet, founder of the Ringatu religion.
398
ibid.
399
Lai, K. C. (1999). Freedom to learn: A study of the experiences of secondary school teachers and students in
a geography field trip. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 8(3), pp. 239–
255.
400
Nundee, S. (1999). The fieldwork effect: The role and impact of fieldwork in the upper primary school.
International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 8(2), pp. 190–198.
401
Kanu, Y. (2005). Does the integration of Aboriginal cultural knowledge/perspectives into the curriculum
increase school achievement for Aboriginal students? Some preliminary findings. Paper presented at the
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Montreal.
402
Rivers, J. (2006). Effectiveness of programmes for curriculum based learning experiences outside the classroom:
A summary of research by Judy Moreland, Clive McGee, Alister Jones, Louise Milne, Ariana Donaghy, and
Thelma Miller, University of Waikato. Retrieved November, 2006, from www.tki.org.nz/r/eotc/leotc/pdf/leotc_
effectiveness_of_programmes.pdf
403
Alton-Lee, A. & Nuthall, G. (1998). Inclusive instructional design: Theoretical principles emerging from the
Understanding Learning and Teaching Project. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
404
Alleman, J. & Brophy, J. (1994). Taking advantage of out-of-school opportunities for meaningful social
studies learning. The Social Studies, 85, pp. 262–267. This quote retrieved from website abstract:
http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/reports/ed-researchrep/97/97-nov-report1.htm
405
Rivers (2006), op. cit.
406
Laney, J. D. (1993). Experiential versus experience-based learning and instruction. Journal of Educational
Research, 86(4), pp. 228–236.
“I didn’t get to go on the long walk so I still don’t get some of the things that other
people do” (p. 278).
Cathy missed the walk – and the geographical knowledge to be gained on it. Nairn says that
incidents such as these reinforce and reiterate able-bodied discourses. In this situation (and in
others she documents with an undergraduate context), a pedagogy privileges physically able,
young bodies. Nairn suggests strategies for addressing such difficulties: for example, before
a fieldtrip, giving students the opportunity to communicate their expectations, along with any
issues relating to physical abilities, medical conditions, diet, or sleeping; and, during the trip,
accessing geographical knowledge via sound, smell, taste, and touch, as well as sight. She
does, however, argue that these strategies also need to be critically evaluated.
Ballantyne and Packer409 offer an interesting comparison to Nairn’s work. These researchers
surveyed 424 primary and secondary school students who had completed full- or half-day
environmental education programmes in natural areas in south-east Queensland. The authors
were able to confirm that “learning in natural environments is attractive to students and
encourages them to think about environmental attitudes and behaviour” (p. 228). Fifty-nine
percent of students said they had enjoyed their visit either ‘very much’ or ‘quite a lot’; primary
students were more enthusiastic than secondary. This enjoyment related mostly to actually
Interest
seeing the forest, interacting with the animals, and participating in games and outdoor
activities. Interestingly, only 4% of primary and secondary students reported that it was the
learning activities that they had enjoyed the most. This is probably not surprising, given the
novelty value and emotional appeal of the experience, but it does raise questions about the
nature of the learning that takes place on field trips. Nairn reported that the social, not the
cognitive outcomes were what students remembered most. Ballantyne and Packer suggest that
it may be best not to over-structure the cognitive aspect of learning during the actual field trip,
instead maximising the emotional experience and extracting the cognitive benefits through
preparatory and follow-up classwork. Another interesting finding from this study is that while
59% of students said that they enjoyed the out-of-class experience, 41% said they enjoyed it ‘a
little’ or ‘not at all’. Although the authors do not elaborate on the reasons for this statistic, it
does lend support to Nairn’s contention that the appeal of fieldwork may not be as widespread
as is often supposed.
407
Harwood, D. & Usher, M. (1999). Assessing progression in primary children’s map drawing abilities.
International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 8(3), pp. 222–238.
408
Nairn, K. (1999). Embodied fieldwork. Journal of Geography, 98, pp. 272–282.
409
Ballantyne, R. & Packer, J. (2002). Nature-based excursions: School students’ perceptions of learning in natural
environments. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 11(3), pp. 218–236.
410
Alton-Lee, A. G., McBride, T., Greenslade, M., & Nuthall, G. (1997). Gendered discourses in social studies:
Intermediate students’ learning and participation during studies of Antarctic work and survival focused on
women. Report to the Ministry of Education: Understanding Learning and Teaching Project 3. Wellington:
Ministry of Education.
411
McBride, T. (1997). Planning, preparing and teaching gender-inclusive curriculum: Evaluation and implications
from a teacher’s perspective. Report to the Ministry of Education: Understanding Learning and Teaching Project
3. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
412
Garbutcheon Singh, M., Abbott, M., Preece, M., & Elliott, K. (1999). Negotiating studies of Asia in years one
and two: Collaboration in the production and use of knowledge. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 24(2),
p. 28.
413
Laney, J. D., Wimsatt, T. J., Moseley, P. A., & Laney, J. L. (1999). Children’s ideas about ageing before and after
an integrated unit of instruction. Educational Gerontology, 25, pp. 531–547.
414
Lynott, P. P. & Merola, P. R. (2007). Improving the attitudes of 4th graders toward older people through a
multidimensional intergenerational program. Educational Gerontology, 33(1), pp. 63–74.
Table 30: Comparison of pre- and post-test mean scores for characteristics of older people415
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Characteristics of older people Pre-test mean Post-test mean
ibid., p. 71.
415
Note: Means are base on a 7-point scale. A higher score indicates a more positive attitude.
Kaimahi and Kairangahau416 also described intergenerational contact as important for learning,
this time in the context of a kòhanga reo. The following exchange between a kòhanga reo child
and a visiting kuia and researcher illustrates this:
The visiting kuia and researcher is approached on entering the kòhanga by a child who is
curious about the kuia’s moko. “He aha tena?” she asked, and traced the design and allowed
the kuia to draw with a finger on her chin. “Such curiosity and courage to happily converse
with a kuia is an indication of the child’s ability and confidence, and confirmation to staff
and whànau that their mokopuna are being well prepared and supported for success in their
life’s journey. Furthermore, the interaction illustrates the inter-generational transmission
of Màtauranga Màori which is integral to kohanga” (Hariata Pohatu, researcher).
In the intervention described by Kanu (see page 58), the students in the ‘experimental’ class
were visited on three occasions by aboriginal elders/experts417. Student comments indicate
the impact they made. Following the visit of a First Nations athlete and teacher, an Aboriginal
student said:
“Joe’s story was awesome. I can see myself going in that direction too …” (p. 19).
“I have often heard that the sweet-grass ceremony is superstition. Last week, I learned
from Les (the Aboriginal elder) that the sweat lodge, the drumming ceremony and the
sweet-grass are part of Aboriginal spirituality. We all have ways of expressing our
spirituality” (p. 19).
416
Kaimahi & Kairangahau, (2005). Te Kohanga Reo o Puau Te Moanui a Kiwa. Retrieved June, 2005, from www.
minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?id=8390.
417
Kanu, Y. (2005). Does the integration of Aboriginal cultural knowledge/perspectives into the curriculum
increase school achievement for Aboriginal students? Some preliminary findings. Paper presented at the
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Montreal.
418
Millar, R., Fitzgerald, K., & Brown, J. (2005). Goblins, witches and the Treaty! Supporting a teacher to use
drama to teach about the Treaty of Waitangi. Paper presented at the New Zealand Association for Research in
Education, Dunedin.
419
Dodd, L. (1996). The Nickle Nackle Tree. Wellington: Mallison Rendel.
420
Millar, R., Fitzgerald, K., & Brown, J. (2005), op. cit.
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Data from student surveys showed that the drama students made significant gains, not only in
their attitudes towards acting, but on the social sciences outcomes of metacognition, problem
resolution skills, and self-efficacy. The effect sizes for these dimensions are listed in the right-
hand column of Table 31:
421
Otten, M., Stigler, J., Woodward, J. A., & Staley, L. (2004). Performing history: The effects of a dramatic art-
based history program on student achievement and enjoyment. Theory and Research in Social Education,
32(2), pp. 187–212.
422
Catterall, J. S. (2007). Enhancing peer conflict resolution skills through drama: an experimental study. Research
in Drama Education, 12(2), pp. 163–178.
Self-efficacy .62
In the studies cited above, drama is the principal pedagogical approach. In other studies that
report positive impacts for drama, it is just one aspect of a unit that makes use of a range of
other experiences. Grant424 writes of Linda Strait, a history teacher whose students developed
complex and nuanced understandings of history (see also page 105 and Case 8). While the
success of her approach cannot be attributed solely to the use of drama, a drama activity used
during an eight-day series of lessons on civil rights was identified by both researcher and
students as particularly effective. The teacher herself became the owner of a 1950s skating
rink; the students were allocated various other roles. The scenario revolved around an attempt
by the owner of the rink to enforce a ‘whites only’ policy. The students, in role as mixed-race
customers, responded to that attempt. It was the teacher’s intention to give her students an
opportunity to apply concepts they had already learned and to feel the emotions of the 1950s
civil rights context. The importance of this active participation comes through in this comment
from James, one of the students:
“We actually encountered somebody who discriminated against black, minority groups
… [the simulation] got us more involved, [the activity] involved students more in
actually learning about it” (p. 93).
While the researcher does not claim that this activity (or even the sequence of activities) caused
the positive impact on student learning, he suggests that its influence is worth noting:
The skating rink activity, [James] said, gave him a “good idea” of what life was like for
minority citizens in the 1950s. Even so, James makes no assumption that this one exercise
gives him license to fully know how people felt at the time. “It’s hard to imagine what
black people actually encountered,” he said, “… and how degrading it must be … I couldn’t
imagine living [like that].” After a pause, James adds, “I don’t know about you, but I’d be
suicidal.” While this comment might be dismissed as hyperbole, James’s quiet and cautious
demeanor during the interviews suggests that his conclusion represents a fledgling attempt
to put himself in the shoes of another. His effort may be thin, but it may well represent an
important step toward empathic thinking (p. 100).
Grant, S. G. (2001). It’s just the facts, or is it? The relationship between teachers’ practices and students’
424
Museum theatre
Jackson and Rees Leahy426 studied the impact of theatre events experienced by students
when visiting two museums. The students encountered the ‘single character storytelling’
dramatisations as they moved around the museum (not in dedicated theatres). At one
museum:
the children are introduced to ‘Gabrielle’, a woman from St Kitts, who narrates and enacts
moments from the story of her life, from girlhood in the Caribbean to emigration to the
Mother Country in the early 1950s, and her ensuing experiences as an immigrant. While
there are various points at which interaction occurs between Gabrielle and the listeners, this
is quite clearly a performance; the ‘theatre’ is created out of the gallery space with children
gathered round the area set aside for Gabrielle’s chair. And the distinction between the
performance space and audience space is sustained, informally, throughout: when children
are invited at a key point in the play to offer Gabrielle advice by whispering in her ear, they
are entering the acting space, crossing an undeniable threshold. The piece also has a title,
No Bed of Roses (p. 307).
At the second museum:
the event takes place in the back garden of a life-size replica of a typical semi-detached
house set out as it would have been during the Second World War. There is no play as such.
The encounter is just one, albeit very distinct, ingredient within ‘the 1940s Experience’.
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The character, Muriel, is a housewife who greets the children as they emerge into the back
garden after walking around the house. The 25-minute session involves a ‘conversation’
between Muriel and her audience, during which the children find out about domestic life
during the war. In contrast to No Bed of Roses and the use of a distinct performance space,
at the IWM the immersive environment of the replica house and garden become the stage
set that actor and audience occupy together (p. 307).
At both museums, the dramatisations were accompanied by other activity-based tasks, also
intended to interest and involve students. The researchers compared the experience and
learning of groups that had witnessed the dramatisations on their museum visits with groups
that had not. They suggested that those who had experienced the dramatisations were more
likely to empathise, particularly with negative or problematic aspects of the period. Many of
the students were able to write letters ‘home’, as if they were in Gabrielle’s shoes or related to
her. By contrast, the groups that had not experienced the dramatisation were:
lacking the experience of the over-arching performed narrative to provide coherence and
personal meaning to the variety of stimuli that they encountered [and] faced the bigger
challenge of having to piece together the disparate elements of their visit. With the aid
of worksheets and circulating teachers, they had to construct their own narratives from
425
Roper, S. D. (2004). Teaching students how to be revolutionaries or reformers: A course simulation. Innovations
in Education and Teaching International, 41(3), pp. 245–253.
426
Jackson, A. & Rees Leahy, H. (2005). “Seeing it for real …?” – Authenticity, theatre and learning in museums.
Research in Drama Education, 10(3), pp. 303–325.
427
Minogue, J. & Jones, M. G. (2006). Haptics in education: Exploring an untapped sensory modality. Review of
Educational Research, 76(3), pp. 317–348.
428
LeGoff, D. B. (2004). Use of lego™ as a therapeutic medium for improving social competence. Journal of Autism
and Developmental Disorders, 34(5), p. 557.
429
Roach, A. & Gunn, V. (2002). Teaching medieval towns: Group exercises, individual presentations and self-
assessment. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 39(3), pp. 196–204.
430
Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., & Holthuis, N. C. (1997). Organizing the classroom for learning. In E. G. Cohen &
R. A. Lotan (Eds.), Working for equity in heterogeneous classrooms: Sociological theory in practice (pp. 31–43).
New York: Teachers College Press.
Interest
2. Binary opposites. These order complex knowledge. The most “powerfully engaging
opposites – like good/bad, security/fear, competition/cooperation – are emotionally
charged and, when attached to content, imaginatively engaging” (p. 3).436
3. Concern for affective responses (how people feel; their motivations). “To present
knowledge cut off from human emotions and intentions is to reduce its affective meaning.
This affective meaning, also, seems especially important in providing access to knowledge
and engaging us in knowledge” (p. 30).437
431
Rivers, J. (2006). Effectiveness of programmes for curriculum based learning experiences outside the classroom:
A summary of research by Judy Moreland, Clive McGee, Alister Jones, Louise Milne, Ariana Donaghy, and
Thelma Miller, University of Waikato. Retrieved November, 2006, from www.tki.org.nz/r/eotc/leotc/pdf/leotc_
effectiveness_of_programmes.pdf
432
Jackson, A. & Rees Leahy, H. (2005). “Seeing it for real ...?” – Authenticity, theatre and learning in museums.
Research in Drama Education, 10(3), pp. 303–325.
433
Schram, P. (1994). Collections from the people of the story. In The National Storytelling Association (Ed.), Tales
as Tools: The Power of Story in the Classroom (pp. 176–178). Jonesborough, TN: The National Storytelling
Press.
434
Egan, K. (1988). Teaching as storytelling. London: Routledge.
Egan, K. (1989). Layers of historical understanding. Theory and Research in Social Education, 17(4), pp. 280–
294.
435
Egan (1988), op. cit.
436
Egan, K. (2005). An imaginative approach to teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
437
Egan (1988), op. cit.
Colin exclaimed, “you’re like making some kinda pattern with all your stories you
brought in here … like sad stories. But true.” Baby Jay added, “Like stuff we see in
our neighborhood” (p. 158)442.
438
Levstik, L. S. (1986). The relationship between historical response and narrative in a 6th grade classroom.
Theory and Research in Social Education, 14(1), pp. 1–19.
Levstik, L. S. (1989). Historical narrative and the young reader. Theory into Practice, 28, pp. 114–119.
439
Levstik, L. S. & Pappas, C. C. (1987). Exploring the devlopment of historical understanding. Journal of Research
and Development in Education, 21, pp. 1–15.
440
Tyson, C. A. (2002). “Get up offa that thing”: African American middle school students respond to literature to
develop a framework for understanding social action. Theory and Research in Social Education, 30(1), pp. 42–
65.
441
Tyson, C. A. (1999). “Shut my mouth wide open”: Realistic fiction and social action. Theory into Practice, 38(3),
pp. 155–159.
442
ibid.
443
Tyson (2002), op. cit.
Jameelah
“I want to add that you can like stand
“[Social action is] standing up for yourself and take care of the
up for yourself.” environment too. You could take care
of older people too.”
Michael
“[Social action is] the way that you “It’s like how you help someone, I still
interact with others, with those around mean that, but it is an action taken on
you. How you interact with people behalf of yourself too, or others in the
around you to help someone.” community.”
(pp. 51–52)
After reading and discussing just two of the five texts, including SeedFolks, the number of
students able to express some understanding of social action went from three to 19. It can be
seen from the right-hand column of Figure 25 that Sunny, Jameelah, and Michael also broadened
their definitions of social action to include other people and environmental concerns and to
link their own and others’ interests. Both of Tyson’s studies show how literature with themes
Interest
reflecting contemporary issues was able to provide “opportunities for these students to develop
a sense of social and political identity” (p. 55). Literature helped the students to understand
and consider “possibilities for transforming individual, communal, and societal problems and
injustices through social action” (p. 44). It fostered, says Tyson, “a ‘metadiscourse’ that helped
students to define social action and their own positionality and identity with regard to potential
social action” (p. 60). Stories were also identified by Kanu444 as one component of an approach
that successfully integrated Aboriginal content into social studies in ways that led to improved
student participation and achievement.
Literature, although not explicitly designed for social studies purposes, was also shown by
Hoodless445 to support the development of children’s understanding of parallel times. Her
findings come from a study of how 35 children perceived time and chronology in story books.
After reading stories such as Where the Wild Things Are446 to small groups and then discussing
them, she noticed the potential of story books to support contemporaneity. She explains:
In history, children need skills in making their own ‘jumps’ in time in order to place events
in appropriate periods. The notion of parallel times would contribute to their skill in placing
444
Kanu, Y. (2005). Does the integration of Aboriginal cultural knowledge/perspectives into the curriculum
increase school achievement for Aboriginal students? Some preliminary findings. Paper presented at the
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Montreal.
445
Hoodless, P. A. (2002). An investigation into children’s developing awareness of time and chronology in story.
Journal of Curriculum Studies, 34(2), pp. 173–200.
446
Sendak, M. (1963). Where the wild things are. Harper & Row.
447
Laney, J. D., Wimsatt, T. J., Moseley, P. A., & Laney, J. L. (1999). Children’s ideas about ageing before and after
an integrated unit of instruction. Educational Gerontology, 25, pp. 531–547.
448
Fisher, S. (1996). Teacher research as a reflective practice: A social studies-English-drama project. Social
Studies Review, 36(1), pp. 43–45.
449
Edgington, W. D. (1998). The use of children’s literature in middle school social studies: What research does
and does not show. The Clearing House, 72(2), pp. 121–125.
450
Egan, K. (1998). Teaching as storytelling. London: Routledge.
451
Barton, K. C. (1997b). “I just kinda know”: Elementary students’ ideas about historical evidence. Theory and
Research in Social Education, 25(4), pp. 407–430.
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Rita: Um hum.
(p. 849)
Rita told a believable story in a convincing way, demonstrating skilful use of motives, outcomes,
drama, and imagination. But her story contained a number of conflations. She confused the
motives that drove initial exploration with the motives behind fur trading and colonisation.
She confused ideas about North American contacts with Europe with ideas relating to the
exploration, settlement, and statehood of Michigan. And she lacked understanding about the
need for reasonable evidence.
The authors suspected that this shift to storytelling style “might be a result of their fifth-grade
teacher’s pedagogical emphasis on historical fiction, although it could be a more generalized
phenomenon related to the study of history” (p. 851). They also noticed that the students’
responses included ‘fanciful elaborations’ in which accurate information was mixed with
misconceptions. In response to these findings, they suggest that:
[the] historical treatment of any particular time and place needs to be contextualised within
the broad sweep of history with reference to timelines, landmark events and inventions,
and social and political developments … it needs to be taught within a context that will
allow [students] to draw inferences about causal relationships that avoid the kinds of naive
conceptions and conflations that were elicited during our interviews (p. 853).
VanSledright, B. & Brophy, J. (1992). Storytelling, imagination, and fanciful elaboration in children’s historical
452
453
Egan, K. (1989). Layers of historical understanding. Theory and Research in Social Education, 17(4), pp. 280–
294.
454
Barton, K. C. (1997a). History – it can be elementary: An overview of elementary students’ understanding of
history. Social Education, 61(1), p. 13.
Barton, K. (1996). Narrative simplifications in elementary students’ historical thinking. In J. Brophy (Ed.),
Advances in Research on Teaching, Volume 6 (pp. 51–83). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Inc.
455
Grant, S. G. (2001). It’s just the facts, or is it? The relationship between teachers’ practices and students’
understandings of history. Theory and Research in Social Education, 29(1), pp. 65–108.
The narrative went like this Amy is asked why William Caxton was famous
Teacher Amy
It [the feudal system] was becoming more like, um, I thought it might have been for the peasants’ revolt
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a sort of market society where you worked and were … We had the peasants’ revolt.
given … money for the work you did … and also
Interviewer
about this time there were lots of new inventions …
um, for example, Yes, you remember doing something about the
peasants’ revolt.
Students
Amy
The printing. Printing.
Read a story.
Teacher
The printing press. William Caxton, he invented the
printing press. Right. And firearms were invented
too … anyway. To get back to the peasants’ revolt
… Wat Tyler isn’t actually mentioned in this story
… and if anyone is interested in this book, there is
some more information about the peasants’ revolt.
Hearing the story about the Peasants’ Revolt, including the aside about William Caxton’s
invention of the printing press, did not help Amy learn what was intended. Instead, it led her
to incorrectly reference the Peasants’ Revolt when trying to answer a question about Caxton.
Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies
456
Schema
Contextual Peasants’ Revolt
Representation
generic schema
Information about
William Caxton Narrative about the
Peasants’ Revolt Schema
Inventions/printing
press
The contextual generic schema – the nature of the learning context in which students encounter
an idea – affects what they learn and remember. So for Amy, the strength of the contextual
schema for the Peasants’ Revolt narrative led her to attach the information about William
Caxton to her Peasants’ Revolt schema instead of her inventions/printing press schema.
“I don’t understand 100 per cent but the slides really helped me … About Antarctica; I
was surprised that it was not a small island. From the slides I know now what it looks
like” (p. 14).
457
Thompson, L. W. (1911). Pictures in history classes. History Teacher’s Magazine, 2(8), p. 177.
458
Purnell, K. N. & Solman, R. T. (1991). The influence of technical illustrations on students’ comprehension in
geography. Reading Research Quarterly, 26(3), pp. 277–299.
Purnell, K. N., Solman, R. T., & Sweller, J. (1991). The effects of technical illustrations on cognitive load.
Instructional Science, 20, pp. 443–462.
459
Levstik, L. S. & Barton, K. (1994). They still use some of their past: Historical salience in elementary children’s
chronological thinking. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, New Orleans.
460
Alton-Lee, A. & Nuthall, G. (1998). Inclusive instructional design: Theoretical principles emerging from the
Understanding Learning and Teaching Project. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Interest
Figure 28: The five main characters from the Media Initiative for Children™
For the purpose of this intervention, three clips were chosen, featuring:
• Tom, who wears a corrective eye patch. This clip was chosen since teasing and name-
calling have been associated with visible disabilities.
• Kim, a Chinese character. This clip was chosen since Chinese are the largest minority
ethnic group in Northern Ireland.
• Two boys, one in a Rangers (Protestant) shirt, the other in a Celtic (Catholic) shirt.
461
Gersten, R., Baker, S., Smith-Johnson, Dimino, J., & Peterson, A. (2006). Eyes on the prize: Teaching complex
historical content to middle school students with learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 72(3), pp. 264–
280.
462
Connelly, P., Fitzpatrick, S., Gallagher, T., & Harris, P. (2006). Addressing diversity and inclusion in the
early years in conflict-affected societies: A case study of the Media Initiative for Children – Northern Ireland.
International Journal of Early Years Education, 14(3), pp. 263–278.
463
Available from www.pii-mifc.org. Figure 28 is provided courtesy of Peace Initiatives Institute, Media Initiative
for Children.
464
Purnell, K. N. & Solman, R. T. (1991). The influence of technical illustrations on students’ comprehension in
geography. Reading Research Quarterly, 26(3), pp. 277–299.
465
Mayer, R. & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational
Psychologist, 38(1), pp. 43–52.
(p. 292)466
The researchers made two important qualifications to their findings. Firstly, the effect was
only tested in relation to two particular types of technical illustration and that both of these
had a strong spatial component. Secondly, the combined effect of text and illustrations was
only significant when the content of the text and the content of the illustration overlapped each
other. It was not produced when the content of the text was related to, but did not overlap,
the content of the illustration. This suggests the importance of ensuring that resources are
mutually reinforcing and that illustrations are not used simply as pictorial enhancement.
In a related set of experiments, Purnell et al.467 examined the effect of another common practice
in geography: the use of a key or legend adjacent to diagrams. The researchers compared the
impact of having the key on the diagram itself (‘integrated’) versus the impact of having the
same information in an adjacent key (‘split’). The following two examples come from pages
447 and 448:
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Figure 29: An integrated presentation
466
Purnell & Solman (1991), op. cit.
467
Purnell, K. N., Solman, R. T., & Sweller, J. (1991). The effects of technical illustrations on cognitive load.
Instructional Science, 20, pp. 443–462.
Figures 29 and 30 are reprinted with the permission of Springer Science and Business Media.
By comparing the pre- and post-test scores for the participating students, the researchers
concluded that the integrated presentation was consistently better. This was true for items
involving recall of information and items that required inferences to be made, but the effect
was most evident for factual items. The authors explained these effects in terms of the extra
cognitive load created when students have to hold information in memory as they move back
and forth between two sources of information (key and diagram), both of which are necessary
for comprehension. This has been referred to as ‘the split-attention effect’468. It appears,
therefore, that there is value in teachers enhancing diagrams to align them more closely with
the cognitive processes involved in their interpretation.
468
Cooper, G. (1998). Research into cognitive load theory and instructional design at UNSW. Retrieved from http://
education.arts.unsw.edu.au/CLT_NET_Aug_97.html
Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty and instructional design. Learning and Instruction,
4, pp. 295–312.
469
Saye, J. W. & Brush, T. (1999). Student engagement with social issues in a multimedia-supported learning
environment. Theory and Research in Social Education, 27(4), pp. 472–504.
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“Our simulation pits students against one another on international terrorism, the future
of Iraq, and globalization. Students are assigned various roles and asked to develop goals
to achieve … Students research their country positions on multiple issues, discuss those
positions and develop an overall strategy to achieve their goals. Each group’s budget forces
them to consider the cost of their actions and plan strategies to increase their combined
resources. To take any action (publicly or secretly), students must fill out an action form.
The action form records the action taken, describes it and indicates the costs/benefits to
perform the action. Most important from a learning perspective, students must apply a
theory or concept from the course content to explain and/or justify each action taken”
(p. 23).
This particular simulation also involved the use of technology: email for communications and
negotiations, the Internet for posting and accessing documents and event summaries, and
spreadsheets for managing transactions and webcasts. ‘Media’ reported every 45 minutes
via an Internet site. Students rated themselves using a survey, and these ratings were used
by the researchers to evaluate how much the students had learned from the experience and
how much they had enjoyed it. Ratings were done using a 1–5 continuum, with 1 meaning
470
Britt, A. & Aglinskas, C. (2002). Improving students’ ability to identify and use source information. Cognition
and Instruction, 20(4), pp. 485–522.
471
Squire, K. (2006). From content to context: Video games as designed experience. Educational Researcher,
35(8), pp. 19–29.
472
Shellman, S. M. & Turan, K. (2006). Do simulations enhance student learning? An empirical evaluation of an
IR simulation. Journal of Political Science Education, 2(1), pp. 19–32.
Theories 3.56
Concepts 4.02
Country/Organization 4.52
Fun 4.35
Technology 3.74
Exercise 4.32
In the context of two introductory political studies classes (on American government),
Baranowski474 investigated the effect of short, simple simulations – not the complex, time-
consuming simulations that have typically been the subject of research. Similar conditions
prevailed in both the experimental and the control classes, and the students in each were
not significantly different in terms of their knowledge of legislative processes or other
characteristics. The simulation was used only with the experimental class:
“On the day of the simulation, I provided blank name tags (large Post-It Notes, actually)
for the students on which they filled out their name, chamber, party, and leadership or
committee position. I began by laying out the timetable for the exercise: 15 minutes for
setup and organization, 15 minutes for subcommittee consideration of the bill (20 minutes
in the Senate), 10 minutes for full committee consideration (15 minutes in the Senate), 10
minutes for House Rules Committee consideration, and the remaining 25 minutes for the
rest of the process. The class split into two halves, with the senators on one side of the
classroom and the representatives on the other. The House and Senate halves further split
into the Judiciary Committees, which were considering the legislation; the leaders of both
parties, who caucused to devise strategy, after which they dispatched their whips to get vote
counts and work the floor; and the few members not in the leadership or on a committee.
The deliberations started in a subcommittee of Judiciary, in which members, guided by the
chair and ranking minority member, discussed and marked up the legislation” (p. 36).
On a post-test, the class that had participated in the simulation performed significantly better
in terms of knowledge of legislative processes than the non-simulation class. The simulation
class also scored significantly higher on a related exam: its mean score was 86.9% compared
to 79.1% for the control (a difference that is statistically significant at the .05 level).
Baranowski also performed a multivariate analysis on the post-test data, analysing the
relationship between the dependent variable of ‘correct answers to legislative process questions’
and the independent variable of instructional techniques (which included: participation in
the simulation, being in attendance for the lecture material on Congress, and reading the
chapter on Congress in the text). Of the three instructional techniques, only participation in
ibid., p. 27.
473
Baranowski, M. (2006). Single session simulations: The effectiveness of short congressional simulations in
474
introductory American government classes. Journal of Political Science Education, 2(1), pp. 33–49.
Interest Alignment
Design experiences that Align experiences to
interest students important outcomes
Interesting activities that are aligned to important outcomes foster student engagement of the
kind that leads to achievement in the social sciences. This is clear from the studies cited in the
previous sections, where, for example, researchers noted:
• the interest and engagement shown by students on museum visits – but also the need for
teachers to plan and to prepare students for the visits in ways that maintained a focus on
important learning goals (alignment);
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• the student interest and engagement sparked by drama/simulations – but also the need for
teachers to debrief their students in ways that focused them on important concepts;
• the student interest and engagement sparked by intergenerational contact – but also the
need for teachers to debrief students in ways that highlight the important concepts and
facilitate communication relating to those concepts.
Interesting activities, then, are necessary but not sufficient. Tumblety476 notes this point in
relation to role play in history: “[It] may lead to greater student interest in the topic but almost
certainly does not lead to better academic performance in itself” (p. 4). While teachers need
to be aware of the extent to which activities interest and engage their students, they must
also attend to the longer-term goal of the enterprise, which is the achievement of important
learning outcomes.
Tumblety, J. (2004). Evaluating role play in history teaching. Paper presented at the 6th annual Conference for
476
477
Nuthall, G. (2000). The role of memory in the acquisition and retention of knowledge in science and social
studies units. Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), pp. 83–139.
478
Mercer, N. (1995). The guided construction of knowledge: Talk amongst teachers and learners. Clevedon,
England: Multilingual Matters.
479
ibid., p. 27.
480
Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies
unit. The Elementary School Journal, 99(4), pp. 303–341.
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1995). Assessing classroom learning: How students use their knowledge and
experience to answer classroom achievement test questions in science and social studies. American Educational
Research Journal, 32(1), pp. 185–223.
Rata: Yeah, we did a chart on it, but I can’t remember what we put on it now … this big
picture on this big piece of paper on the wall and our group has to do something on
weather and you had to write these, the North, South, East, and West, on it and see,
and put which weather brings the hottest (laugh).
Interviewer: Right, and your group did that?
Rata: Yes, and you had to put it up on the wall.
Interviewer: Right, and do you remember which was the warm dry one?
Rata: No (laughs).
Interviewer: Can you picture it in your mind, the one your group did? Who did the
writing on the chart?
Rata: Bruce.
Interviewer: Did he. Did you help?
Rata: Um no, the other two didn’t help us, only me and Bruce done it. I did some of the
writing on it and he, he wrote it out, and I wrote weather, and he, um, we both thought
Interest
it up, and looked on our chart [weather records] to see which one was warm.
Rata had been asked if she remembered which wind brought the hottest weather to her city.
She couldn’t remember the answer, but, as the extract above shows, she recalled in some detail
the activity designed to support the learning. Immediately after a unit on medieval times, Amy
was able to recall the teacher saying that the Magna Carta was ‘a record of the rights of free
men’, that there had been a class discussion, and that they had completed an activity sheet with
a picture, text, and questions. Twelve months later, she couldn’t remember what the Magna
Carta was, but she did remember the activities:
“We had a sheet about it … it was just an activities sheet. Had a bit about it and some
questions … I remember doing it but I don’t remember a thing about it”484.
Skerrett White described how Hinepau, a five-year-old in a Màori immersion setting, was able
to retell – both in English and in Màori – the story of Hatupatu and the Birdwoman. The
researcher attributed this learning to Hinepau’s multiple and varied learning experiences:
481
Nuthall (1999), op. cit., p. 337.
482
ibid., pp. 303–341.
483
ibid.
484
Nuthall, G. (2000). The role of memory in the acquisition and retention of knowledge in science and social
studies units. Cognition and Instruction, 18(1), p. 112.
Consistent with other findings about the use of multiple types of activity, Laney et al.487 (see
page 196) showed how shifts in student attitudes resulted primarily from the combination of
carefully selected, memorable children’s books and pictures, and intergenerational activities
– with the teacher helping the students to draw the key understandings from these learning
experiences.
485
Skerrett White, M. N. (2003). Kia mate ra ano a Tama-nui-te-ra: Reversing language shift in kohanga reo.
Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton.
486
Te Tàhuhu o te Màtauranga (2006). Ngà Tauaromahi Marautanga o Aotearoa: Tikanga à Iwi. Wellington:
Learning Media and the Learning Centre Trust of New Zealand.
487
Laney, J. D., Wimsatt, T. J., Moseley, P. A., & Laney, J. L. (1999). Children’s ideas about ageing before and after
an integrated unit of instruction. Educational Gerontology, 25, pp. 531–547.
Al
ig
nm
ent
This synthesis has sought to identify and explain teaching mu
nity
st
om ere
Int
approaches that enhance outcomes for diverse learners in the
C
domain of social sciences / tikanga à iwi. These outcomes were
Con
ne
broadly defined to encompass knowledge and skills outcomes,
cti
n
o
participatory and affective outcomes, and outcomes related to
cultural identity. Through a process consisting of a systematic
search of the literature, analysis, and synthesis, a set of four
underlying mechanisms was identified:
Mechanism 1: Connection
Make connections to students’ lives
Mechanism 2: Alignment
Align experiences to important outcomes
Mechanism 3: Community
Build and sustain a learning community
Mechanism 4: Interest
Design experiences that interest students
These broad and explanatory mechanisms were derived from a synthesis of the main themes
evident in the research studies. The themes have been discussed in detail in the body of this
BES. In column 2 of the following table they are framed as advice for teachers on how to
activate the different mechanisms. Recognising that highly-abstracted findings are liable to
be over-simplified or misinterpreted, column 3 seeks to clarify what each of the findings is and
is not saying.
Appendices A, B, C
Conclusion,
Appendices A, B, C
experiences that students find their learning interesting and enjoyable,
interest
Conclusion,
that interest experiences also need to be aligned to, and designed to meet,
students Use a variety of learning goals.
activities
teachers should use their favourite motivational activity – as far
as student engagement and achievement go, what matters about
an activity is how interesting and motivating students find it.
students always need multiple ways to learn – what they need
are memorable anchors that help them recall their learning.
meaningful experiences automatically generate learning –
students need to be debriefed so that the important learning can
be drawn out and new understandings scaffolded.
s Particula
finding r studie
General Advice
Teaching inquiry s
t
What might work best?
nisms t conten
Mecha relevan What could I try?
Draw on
t
conten Using evidence of effective strategies from other
inclusive
tion Ensure contexts to inform strategies that are most likely
Connec
wledge to help students learn
prior kno
Identify
to inte nded
resources
ivities and
outcom
es
Align act
Teaching
ties
opportuni processes design
Provide and learning
ent concep
ts Focusing inquiry
Alignm to revisit
ual
individ
rning of Student What is most important and
to the lea ts
Attend studen
outcomes therefore worth spending time on?
tive
produc ps
Establishent relationshi Establishing valued outcomes based on the
tud curriculum, community expectation, and student
teacher–s
needs and dispositions
dialogue Teaching
Promote
nity studen
ts action
Commu er with
Share pow
erse
Meet dival needs Learning inquiry
tion
motiva
t interes
t What happened?
studen
Maximise Why did it happen?
ivities
Interest iety of act Considering evidence from own context about
Use a var
what happened as a result of the teaching, and
implications for future teaching
Figure 33: The Social Sciences / Tikanga à Iwi BES as an informant of Teaching as Inquiry
By using the mechanisms and advice in this way, teachers acknowledge that the design,
evaluation, and improvement of social sciences teaching is evidence informed. They also
Appendices A, B, C
recognise the importance of collaboration, dialogue, and open-mindness when considering
Conclusion,
alternative approaches – and the importance of reflecting on the outcomes for each learner.
Inevitably, this BES is structured so that each of the four mechanisms is reported in a separate
section. A consequence of this is that studies tend to be reported within the framework of a
single mechanism, when, in most instances, a complex combination of the mechanisms was at
work. To highlight this complexity, appendix D presents a series of cases that are drawn from
the research evidence. Most are structured as in Table 35:
Introduction A summary of the pedagogy and outcomes involved in the research and the
nature of the research
Targeted learning A statement about the learning outcomes set by the teacher/s involved in the
outcomes research
Learners and learning A summary of the relevant characteristics of the student/s involved in the
context research. Typical details include age, level, gender, ability.
Outcomes A statement or data about the learning outcomes for students. Sometimes
the outcomes are based on a before-and-after analysis of achievement. In
other cases, they are based on a comparison of different students or groups of
students.
How the learning An explanation of how the learning relates to the four mechanisms. Where
occurred appropriate, student voice is used to support explanations.
Implications for Some implications for wider social sciences teaching and learning
pedagogy
Inquiry questions Questions to consider when using this piece of evidence to inform a focusing
inquiry, teaching inquiry, or learning inquiry
Appendices A, B, C
a study that examined the impact of an intervention that involved deliberate and intensive
Conclusion,
integration of Aboriginal cultural knowledge and perspectives. It reveals the positive
impact that this integration had on Aboriginal students’ achievement.
488
Ministry of Education (1997). Social studies in the New Zealand curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
489
Te Tàhuhu o te Màtauranga (2000). Tikanga à Iwi i roto i Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning
Media.
490
Ministry of Social Development (2005). The social report 2005. Wellington: Ministry of Social Development.
491
Putnam, R. D. (2001). Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. London: Simon &
Schuster.
492
Aitken, G. (2005). Social studies curriculum design: Learning from the past. Unpublished doctoral thesis, The
University of Auckland.
493
Barr, H. (1998). The nature of social studies. In P. Benson & R. Openshaw (Eds.), New horizons for New Zealand
social studies. Palmerston North: ERDC Press.
494
McGee, J. (1998). Curriculum in conflict: Historical development of citizenship in social studies. In P. Benson
& R. Openshaw (Eds.), New horizons for New Zealand social studies. Palmerston North: ERDC Press.
495
Openshaw, R. (1996). Social studies in the New Zealand curriculum? Critical citizenship or crucial cop out?
Delta: Policy and Practice in Education, 48(2), pp. 159–172.
496
Hohepa, M. (1990). Te kòhanga reo hei tikanga ako i te reo Màori. Unpublished Master of Arts in Education
thesis, The University of Auckland.
497
ibid., pp. 9–11.
498
Silipa, S. R. (2004). Nurturing coolness and dignity in Samoan students’ secondary school learning in Aotearoa/
New Zealand. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.
Knowledge outcomes
The development of conceptual understanding is central to this outcomes set. ‘Conceptual
understanding’ refers to understanding of concepts expressed as single words (for example,
‘conflict’, ‘culture’, ‘government’) or elaborated as ideas or generalisations (for example, “conflict
is inevitable between individuals and groups, and within and between groups” (p. 16)507.
Development of conceptual understanding has been a strong feature of social science
Appendices A, B, C
learning since the early 1960s508. Taba argued that learning in the social sciences was not
Conclusion,
about accumulating vast quantities of facts; it was about concepts and ideas. Bruner’s509
499
Ministry of Social Development (2005). The social report 2005. Wellington: Ministry of Social Development,
p. 26.
500
ibid., p. 86.
501
ibid., p. 88.
502
ibid., p. 144.
503
ibid., pp. 132–135.
504
ibid., p. 136.
505
ibid., p. 29.
506
Wylie, C., Thompson, J., Hodgen, E., Ferral, H., Lythe, C., & Fijn, T. (2004). Competent children at 12.
Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
507
Department of Education (1977). Social studies syllabus guidelines. Wellington: Department of Education.
508
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: Theory and practice. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.
Taba, H., Durkin, M. C., Fraenkel, J. R., & McNaughton, A. H. (1971). A Teacher’s handbook to elementary
social studies. California: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
509
Bruner, J. (1960). Process of education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
510
Nuthall, G. (2004, 21 February). Interview with Kim Hill on National Radio.
511
Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whàriki: He Whàriki màtauranga mò ngà mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
512
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
513
Te Tàhuhu o te Màtauranga (2000). Tikanga à Iwi i roto i Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning
Media.
514
The six sets of contributing ideas are location, distance and accessibility; patterns, processes and regions;
interaction; change; systems; culture and perception (Department of Education, 1990, p. 21).
515
The six important economics ideas are scarcity; choice and opportunity cost; specialisation and interdependence;
exchange; allocation; and optimisation (Department of Education, 1990, pp. 18–19).
516
Department of Education (1989). History forms 5 to 7 syllabus for schools. Wellington: Department of
Education.
517
Doig, B., Piper, K., Mellor, S., & Masters, G. (1992). Conceptual understanding in social education: Australian
Council for Educational Research.
518
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2000). Primary-grade students’ knowledge and thinking about Native American and
pioneer homes. Theory and Research in Social Education, 28(1), pp. 96–120.
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2001). What primary grade students say about their ideal future homes. Journal of
Social Studies Research, 25(2), pp. 23–35.
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2005). Primary-grade students’ knowledge and thinking about transportation. Theory
and Research in Social Education, 33(2), pp. 218–243.
519
Smythe, K. (1992). The social concepts of children. In R. Openshaw (Ed.), New Zealand social studies: Past,
present and future. Palmerston North: The Dunmore Press.
520
Smythe, K. (1991). Successful social studies (6th ed.). Hamilton: Developmental Publications.
521
Lindsay, J. (1994). Children’s concepts of chronology. The New Zealand Journal of Social Studies, 3(1), pp. 20–
25.
Appendices A, B, C
differential achievement of boys and girls, particularly in this curriculum area that aspires to
Conclusion,
value diversity and to empower all students to participate in a changing society as informed,
confident, and responsible citizens.
522
Flockton, L. & Crooks, T. (1998). Social studies assessment results 1997. National Education Monitoring
Report 8. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
Flockton, L. & Crooks, T. (2002). Social studies assessment results 2001. National Education Monitoring Report
22. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
523
Flockton & Crooks (1998), op. cit.
524
Crooks, T., Flockton, L., & Meaney, T. (2006). Social studies assessment results 2005. National Education
Monitoring Report 34. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
525
Alton-Lee, A. & Praat, A. (2001). Questioning gender: Snapshots from explaining and addressing gender
differences in the New Zealand compulsory sector. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
526
Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whàriki: He whàriki màtauranga mò ngà mokopuna o Aotearoa / Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
527
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
528
For example, at level 1: Apply skills and ideas with direction in a geographic context; at level 2: Apply skills and
ideas in a geographic context; and at level 3: Select and apply skills and ideas in a geographic context.
529
Board of Geography Teachers (1992). G6: Skills in geography: Forms 5–7: Teacher resource material rev. ed.
Christchurch: Geography Resource Centre.
530
For example, at level 1: Carry out an historical investigation; interpret historical sources; and communicate
historical ideas.
Participatory outcomes
Participatory outcomes relate to students’ ability to participate, contribute, become involved,
interact, and engage in dialogue. They relate both to confidence (for example, speaking
publicly, making a contribution to a group) and to appropriateness (demonstrated, for example,
by inclusive personal behaviour [such as anti-racist and anti-sexist interactions with peers]).
Participatory outcomes have knowledge and skills components and, for that reason, also fit
into the conceptual understanding and skills categories. The skills involved in participation
encompass clusters such as those outlined by Elliott and Busse531:
• cooperation: helping others, sharing and abiding by rules;
• assertiveness: initiating behaviours, making requests and responding to others’
behaviour;
• responsibility: communicating with adults and demonstrating care;
• empathy: expressing concern for others;
• self-control: responding appropriately to conflict or corrective feedback from adults.
The key feature of participatory outcomes that warrants a separate category for them, however,
is the combination of knowledge and skills that enables contribution to communities and
enhances participation.
That this set of outcomes is important can be seen from the outcomes found in the various
curriculum statements: develop respect for, and ease of communication with, those who are
different from themselves (Te Whàriki532); develop a sense of responsibility for the needs and
well-being of the group533; make choices about preferred actions and justify those choices
(Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum534); participate as critical, active, informed,
and responsible citizens (The New Zealand Curriculum535). The social studies curriculum has
a strong emphasis on building participatory outcomes through the use of a sequenced process
for examining societal issues (a process referred to in The New Zealand Curriculum as ‘social
inquiry’) and by exploring perspectives on, and conflicts associated with, these issues. Likewise,
Appendices A, B, C
there is a strong, explicit, decision-making element in both geography and economics.
In spite of this emphasis in the curriculum, data relating to participation in the democratic Conclusion,
process at its various levels has given cause for concern. Voter turnout for the 2001 local
body elections was the lowest in five elections, leading the Minister of Local Government to
comment that New Zealanders are “apathetic and indifferent” and to call for compulsory voting
(Lee cited in Orsman536). By 2004 the situation had deteriorated even further, with fewer
than 45% of eligible voters voting. The new minister called for an inquiry, claiming that
such a low turnout was “bad for democracy” (Carter cited in Tunnah537). Even when there is
531
Elliott, S. N. & Busse, R. T. (1991). Social skills assessment and intervention with children and adolescents:
Guidelines for assessment and training procedures. School Psychology International, 12, pp. 63–83.
532
Ministry of Education (1996), op. cit.
533
ibid.
534
Ministry of Education (1997). Social studies in the New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
535
Ministry of Education (2007), op. cit.
536
Orsman, B. (2001, October 15). Banks set to roll on roads. New Zealand Herald.
537
Tunnah, H. (2004, October 11). Poll apathy dismays minister. New Zealand Herald.
538
Williams, J. (2005). Keynote address. New Zealand Social Sciences Conference: SocCon05, Wellington.
539
Flockton, L. & Crooks, T. (2006). Social studies assessment results 2005. National Education Monitoring
Report 36. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
540
Flockton, L.. & Crooks, T. (1998). Social studies assessment results 1997. National Education Monitoring
Report 8. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
541
Flockton, L. & Crooks, T. (2002). Social studies assessment results 2001. National Education Monitoring
Report 22. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
542
Crooks, T., Flockton, L., & Meaney, T. (2006). Social studies assessment results 2005. National Education
Monitoring Report 34. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
543
Taylor, N., Smith, A. B., & Nairn, K. (2001). Rights important to young people: Secondary student and staff
perceptions. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 9, pp. 137–156.
Appendices A, B, C
Conclusion,
Simon and Smith550 report that many teachers in native schools acted “as if the cultural identity
of the pupils did not need to be acknowledged in the classroom” (p. 119). In Competent at 12,
544
McFarlane, A. H. (2004). Kia hiwa ra! Listen to culture. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational
Research.
545
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
546
Flockton, L.. & Crooks, T. (1998). Social studies assessment results 1997. National Education Monitoring
Report 8. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
547
Ministry of Education (2005). Attendance, absence and truancy in New Zealand schools in 2004. Wellington:
Research Division, Ministry of Education.
548
Hill, J. & Hawk, K. (2000). Making a difference in the classroom: Effective teaching practice in low decile,
multicultural schools. Retrieved May, 2005, from www.minedu.govt.nz/index.dfm?layout=document&documen
tid=6135&data=l
549
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Tiakiwai, S., & Richardson, C. (2003). Te Kotahitanga: The experiences of year 9 and
10 Màori students in mainstream classrooms. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
550
Simon, J. & Smith, L. T. (2001). A civilising mission? Perceptions and representations of the New Zealand
native schools system. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
551
Wylie, C., Thompson, J., Hodgen, E., Ferral, H., Lythe, C., & Fijn, T. (2004). Competent children at 12.
Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
552
Lee, D. (2004). Early childhood social sciences: Social justice education or social engineering? The first years:
Ngà tau tuatahi. New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education, 6(1), pp. 30–34.
553
Harrison, K. (1998). Social studies in the New Zealand curriculum: Dosing for amnesia or enemy of ethnocentrism?
In P. Benson & R. Openshaw (Eds.), New Horizons for New Zealand Social Studies. Palmerston North: ERDC
Press.
Appendices A, B, C
Conclusion,
Figure 34: The funnel interview technique
554
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2000). Primary-grade students’ knowledge and thinking about Native American and
pioneer homes. Theory and Research in Social Education, 28(1), pp. 96–120.
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2001). What primary grade students say about their ideal future homes. Journal of
Social Studies Research, 25(2), pp. 23–35.
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2005). Primary-grade students’ knowledge and thinking about transportation. Theory
and Research in Social Education, 33(2), pp. 218–243.
555
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2006). Children’s thinking about cultural universals. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, p. 5.
556
Brophy, J. & Alleman, J. (2002). Primary grade students’ knowledge and thinking about government as a
cultural universal. Chicago: Spencer Foundation, p. 195.
557
Brophy & Alleman (2005), op. cit.
558
Yeager, E., Foster, S. J., & Greer, J. (2002). How eighth graders in England and the United States view historical
significance. The Elementary School Journal, 103(2).
559
Schug, M. C. & Jean Birkey, C. (1985). The development of children’s economic reasoning. Theory and Research
in Social Education, 13(1), pp. 31–42.
560
Porath, M. (2003). Social understanding in the first years of school. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 18,
pp. 468–484.
561
Sutton, C. R. (1980). The learners’ prior knowledge: A critical review of techniques for probing its organisation.
European Journal of Science Education, 2(2), pp. 107–120.
562
Osborne, R. & Freyberg, P. (1985). Children’s science. In R. Osborne & P. Freyberg (Eds.), Learning in Science:
The Implications of Children’s Science (pp. 5–14). Auckland: Heineman Education.
“It’s a hot place, everyone is talking to each other, no-one gets hurt, they come from
different countries, races and colours, they are different ages. All are getting along.”
Appendices A, B, C
Conclusion,
563
Keddie, A. (2004). Research with young children: The use of an affinity group approach to explore the social
dynamics of peer culture. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 25(1), p. 35.
564
Tuhiwai Smith, L., Smith, G. H., Boler, M., Kempton, M., Ormond, A., Chueh, H., & Waetford, R. (2002). “Do
you guys hate Aucklanders too?” Youth voicing difference from the rural heartland. Journal of Rural Studies,
18, pp. 169–178.
565
A tribunal established by the New Zealand Government in 1975 to hear claims by Màori against the Crown.
566
Mercer, N., Wegerif, R., & Dawes, L. (1999). Children’s talk and the development of reasoning in the classroom.
British Educational Research Journal, 25(1), pp. 95–111.
567
Mortimer, H. (2004). Hearing children’s voices in the early years. Support for Learning, 19(4), pp. 169–174.
568
Inman, S. & Turner, N. (2007). Researching cultural harmony through the student voice. Education, Citizenship
and Social Justice, 2(2), pp. 119–133.
Children know more than they know they know. They surely know more about what they
know than the researcher does. Most of what they know, they know implicitly. Knowledge
is not filed away in pupils’ heads in answer form waiting for the stimulus of the perfect
question to release it. No researcher has ever found out what it means to be a new age
traveller’s child or a foster child or a teenage mother by asking directly, ‘What does it
mean to be a …?’
569
Barnard, P. (2001). Using image-based techniques in researching pupil perspectives. Conference paper,
ESRC Network Project: Consulting Pupils about Teaching and Learning, 2001. Retrieved September, 2005 from
www.consultingpupils.co.uk
570
Berti, A. E. & Benesso, C. (1998). The concept of nation-state in Italian elementary school children: Spontaneous
concepts and effects of teaching. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 120(2), pp. 121–143.
571
Alton-Lee, A. (1983). Organising for learning: The results of an ecological study. SET: Research Information for
Teachers, 2(5). See p. 6.
572
Berti & Benesso (1998), op. cit.
573
Berti, A. E. & Monaci, M. (1998). Third graders’ acquisition of knowledge of banking: Restructuring or accretion.
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574
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575
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576
Hollingsworth, S., Gallego, M., & Standerford, N. S. (1995). Integrative social studies for urban middle schools:
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577
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Research, 86(4), pp. 228–236.
578
Laney, J. D., Frerichs, D. K., Frerichs, L. P., & Pak, L. K. (1995). The effect of cooperative and mastery learning
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Appendices A, B, C
579
Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies
Conclusion,
unit. The Elementary School Journal, 99(4), pp. 303–341.
580
Nuthall, G. & Alton-Lee, A. (1993). Predicting learning from student experience of teaching: A theory of student
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581
Twyman, T., Ketterlin-Geller, L. R., McCoy, J. D., & Tindal, G. (2003). Effects of concept-based instruction on
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582
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583
Hollingsworth, S., Gallego, M., & Standerford, N. S. (1995). Integrative social studies for urban middle schools:
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584
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585
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586
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587
Taylor, N., Smith, A. B., & Nairn, K. (2001). Rights important to young people: Secondary student and staff
perceptions. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 9, pp. 137–156.
588
Barton, K. & Levstik, L. S. (1996). “Back when God was around and everything”: Elementary children’s
understanding of historical time. American Educational Research Journal, 33(2), pp. 419–454.
589
Foster, S. J., Hoge, J. D., & Rosch, R. (1999). Thinking aloud about history: Student interpretations of historical
photographs. Theory and Research in Social Education, 27, pp. 179–215.
Harnett, P. (1993). Identifying progression in children’s understanding: The use of visual materials to assess
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Harwood, D. & Jackson, P. (1993). ‘Why did they build this hill so steep?’: Problems of assessing primary
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Lee P., Dickinson A., & Ashby R. (1997). “Just another emperor”: Understanding action in the past. International
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Levstik, L. S. (2000). Articulating the silences: Teachers’ and adolescents’ conceptions of historical significance.
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Porath, M. (2003). Social understanding in the first years of school. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 18,
pp. 468–484.
von Karolyi, C. (2006). Grappling with complex global issues – Issue awareness in young, highly gifted children:
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590
Gallas, K. (1991). Arts as epistemology: Enabling children to know what they know. Harvard Educational
Review, 61(1), pp. 40–50.
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Table 36: Studies that reveal either the nature or the trajectory of students’ knowledge, understanding,
skill, participation, or attitudes
Ashby, R., Lee, P., & Outlines stages in The authors argue
Shemilt, D. (2005). the development that their model does
Putting principles of students’ not describe the ways
into practice: ideas about in which the ideas of
teaching and evidence, based any individual student
planning. on systematic should develop;
research of rather, it provides
classroom a generalisation
experience. applicable to the
majority of students.
Analogy: pathways
across a mountainside
– may or may not take a
particular path (p. 165).
Barton, K. & Students were Historical time 58 children “Visual images proved
Levstik, L. S. asked to place in grades to be particularly
(1996). “Back when two pictures in 1–6 good stimuli for
God was around chronological conversation, not
and everything”: sequence, then just with emergent
Elementary to locate a further readers but with all
children’s seven photos in of the children we
understanding of relation to the first interviewed” (p. 447).
historical time. two. They were
asked to justify
their positioning.
Appendices A, B, C
Conclusion,
the concept of shop
profit by 3rd grade
children.
Foster, S. J., Hoge, Think aloud with History Grade 3 “As students matured
J. D., & Rosch, R. photographs they appeared
(1999). Thinking more able to make
aloud about credible inferences
history: Student about the lives of
interpretations people portrayed in
of historical historical photographs.
photographs. Presumably this
occurred as their
knowledge of United
States history
increased. However,
despite this general
pattern, inconsistencies
in performance
existed within each
age level group …
we detected some
differences in black
and white students’
interpretations of the
photographs.”
Appendices A, B, C
progression and 11 described the pictures,
Conclusion,
in children’s and sequenced them
understanding: in time order. The
The use of visual researcher reported
materials to assess a progression in
primary school historical thinking and
children’s learning in the ability to sequence
history. and date (chronological
understanding).
Lee, P. & Ashby, R. Providing pairs of Thinking about 7- to 14- Teachers compare
(2000). Progression stories about the historical evidence year-olds student reponses with
in historical same historical the levels outlined by
understanding period but the researchers:
among students drawing different
The past is given.
ages 7–14. conclusions, and
then asking, does The past is inaccessible.
this mean: … no (‘We can’t know
one knows what because we weren’t
happened? … it there.’)
is just a matter of
The past as interpreting
opinion? … there is
stories (Differences in
no single answer?
accounts are the result
… one of the
of mistakes and gaps in
stories must be
information.)
wrong?
The past as reported in
a more or less biased
way
The past as selected
and organised from a
viewpoint (Differences
in accounts are the
result of selection.)
The past as
Appendices A, B, C
reconstructed in
Conclusion,
answer to questions in
accordance with criteria
(It is the nature of
accounts to differ,
depending on the
author’s position and
choice.)
Levstik, L. S. (2000). Students and Compared grade Grades Levstik noted that
Articulating the teachers were 5–8 students’ 5–8 plus 20 “the first person plural
silences: Teachers’ provided with views of historical preservice came naturally to these
and adolescents’ captioned significance with and 12 students, teachers and
conceptions historical pictures the views of 20 inservice teacher candidates as
of historical and asked preservice and 12 teachers they talked about an
significance. to select the inservice teachers. American past. ‘We’
events that were fought the revolution.
important enough ‘We’ discovered a cure
to include on a for polio … historical
timeline of the events took on
past 500 years. significance when they
formed ‘us’, ‘changed
us’, or ‘made us a
nation’. This tendency
towards a single shared
story is problematic
from the point of view of
relegating the activities
of other cultural groups
to ‘sidebars to the main
events’, but it is also
problematic from the
point of view of the
students’ experience.
Assumptions about ‘we’
and ‘other’ in student
comments to each
other may cause some
students to drop out of
conversations.
Appendices A, B, C
Conclusion,
von Karolyi, C. Self-report and Gifted students’ Highly The researcher found
(2006). Grappling responses to awareness of gifted 7- to that “as a group highly
with complex global drawings issues 9-year- gifted children were
issues – Issue olds were unambiguously shown
awareness in compared as having superior
young, highly gifted with their understanding of
children: Do the peers issues; both the issues
claims hold up? that they and their
parents identified as
being of importance
to them, and the
environmental and
human rights issues
depicted in drawings”.
While self-report from
Appendices A, B, C
the students did not
Conclusion,
reveal significant
differences, the highly
gifted students’
responses to issue-
laden drawings
revealed considerably
more issue awareness.
Waniganayake, Pre-school
M. & Donegan, B. children’s political
(1999). Political understandings
socialisation during
early childhood.
Wiegand, P. & Stiell, Children were Relief mapping 111 5- to The researchers
B. (1997). Children’s asked to map 11-year- developed an age-
relief maps of model four landscape olds related progression in
landscapes. models of differing relief mapping.
complexity
that had been
constructed from
smooth damp
sand.
Yeager, E., Foster, S. Interview Views of historical Grade 8 This research sheds
J., & Greer, J. (2002). significance students light on issues of
How eighth graders in England national/ cultural bias
in England and and the and personal relevance
the United States United and lessons to be
view historical States learned from history
significance. as lenses through
which to view historical
significance (p. 199).
1 Facilitative inclusion Rietveld Rietveld, C. (2002). The transition from preschool to school
for Ian and his peers for children with Down syndrome: A challenge to regular
education? Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of
Canterbury, Christchurch.
2 Making links McNeight McNeight, C. (1998). “Wow! These sorts of things are
between cultures: similar to our culture!”: Becoming culturally inclusive within
ancient Roman the senior secondary school curriculum. Unpublished
and contemporary graduate research report, Department of Teacher Education,
Sàmoan Victoria University of Wellington.
3 To speak or not to Nairn Nairn, K. (1997). Hearing from quiet students: The politics
speak: creating of silence and voice in geography classrooms. In J. P.
spaces for quiet Jones, H. Nast, & S. Roberts (Eds.), Thresholds in feminist
students in geography (pp. 93–115). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield
classroom talk Publishers.
4 Teaching complex Gersten Gersten, R., Baker, S., Smith-Johnson, J., Dimino, J., &
historical content et al. Peterson, A. (2006). Eyes on the prize: Teaching complex
to middle school historical content to middle school students with learning
students with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 72(3), pp. 264–280.
learning disabilities
7 Tò tàtou Tiriti Millar Millar, R., Fitzgerald, K., & Brown, J. (2005). Goblins,
– Karawhiua! et al. witches and the Treaty! Supporting a teacher to use drama
Our Treaty – Go for it! to teach about the Treaty of Waitangi. Paper presented at
the New Zealand Association for Research in Education
conference, Dunedin.
8 The master Grant Grant, S. G. (2001). It’s just the facts, or is it? The
storyteller and the relationship between teachers’ practices and students’
master arranger understandings of history. Theory and Research in Social
Education, 29(1), pp. 65–108.
9 Cultural continuity Kanu Kanu, Y. (2006). Getting them through the college pipeline:
Critical elements of instruction influencing school success
among Native Canadian high school students. Journal of
Advanced Academics, 18(1), pp. 116–145.
Cases
This case highlights how pedagogical approaches impact on outcomes for learners with and without
impairments, particularly on participatory outcomes but also on cultural identity, skills, and affective
outcomes. It contrasts the lack of inclusion experienced by Ian (who has Down syndrome) when at
Introduction kindergarten with his “inclusion as an equal same-status participant engaging in a full range of roles”
when at school (p. 8). It also highlights how the pursuit of participatory outcomes for Ian promoted positive
outcomes for his non-impaired peers in terms of their ability to engage with others and solve problems.
The focus child in this case was Ian, a five-year-old boy with Down syndrome, who was observed as he
made the transition from kindergarten to school.
Learner/s
and learning
context
In the transition from kindergarten to school, Ian experienced markedly different pedagogical
approaches:
• At kindergarten, he experienced ‘illusory inclusion’: he was treated as an object, and as an object of
Pedagogy charity.
• At school, he experienced ‘facilitative inclusion’: he was able to participate in reciprocal equal-status,
relationships and engage in the full range of roles on offer.
At kindergarten, Ian experienced illusory inclusion, which restricted his ability to participate with his
peers and to engage in meaningful learning interactions. In contrast, at school he experienced genuine
inclusion and became a valued participant of the class and the school community. The following two
examples highlight the outcomes of these two distinctly different pedagogical approaches:
Example 1: Example 2:
Illusory inclusion at kindergarten Inclusion at school
Ian and William are looking at the same book. Block corner [developmental] time. Each of the
Ian labels all the zoo animals correctly. William four children present including Ian, has made
ignores Ian’s vocalisations and makes up a story their own house. Ian puts a car in Alex’s house.
about the animals. William incorrectly labels
Alex to Ian: “No. Not in my house – in your
the camel a kangaroo. Ian points out and says,
[emphasised] house.” Ian takes the car out, puts
“Monkey.” Another child looks on. William says
it in his own house, and says to Alex, “In there.
Outcomes to the child, “I’m not reading you a story. I’m
See.”
reading Ian a story.” William’s mother arrives.
William hands the book to Ian and says to his Alex to Ian: “Yes. You need to make a roof …
mother, “I’m reading Ian a story.” His mother like this … like this, Ian.” He shows Ian. Ian
asks, “Are you?” William and his mother adds blocks in the same way Alex is showing
depart. [Observer comment: No farewell him.
greeting to Ian.]
Alex to Ian: “See the roof, Ian.” Ian repeats,
After a similar incident on another day, the “Roof.”
teacher rewards the typically developing child
for reading to Ian: “That was very kind of you.” Alex to Ian: “The house is all complete. It’s a
good house.”
Ian to Alex: “Thank you.” Ian adds some blocks
to the house …
Alex to Ian: “We need to make a new road now.”
Ian repeats, “Road.”
Crucial to achieving outcomes inclusive of all children was a social construction model of disability
rather than a deficit, personal tragedy, or medical model. The theories of disability underpinning the
pedagogical approaches used by Ian’s teachers and teacher aide directly impacted on his experience of
school and his learning. Their approach recognised that social and cognitive learning are intertwined
and that relationships are central to the scaffolding of learning.
Community The teacher and teacher aide avoided framing Ian as problematic. Instead,
they showed his peers how to solve problems and give feedback in ways that
Build and sustain a encouraged the development of inclusive, productive relationships.
learning community
The teacher recognised the inappropriateness of excessive hugging and
picking up. She interpreted some of Ian’s unconventional behaviours
positively, in ways that valued him. There was an emphasis on building
respectful relationships.
How the
learning Alignment The teacher recognised that experiences supporting Ian’s inclusion in a peer
group were important and had to take precedence over other considerations.
occurred Align experiences This can be seen in her decision not to intervene when Ian and his peers
to important were having fun together stamping their feet when they were meant to be
outcomes eating their lunch.
Connection The teacher helped the students develop language strategies that would
include Ian. (For example, “If there’s a problem, tell Ian what it is. Tell Ian if
Make connections there’s too many cars, it’ll break. Tell him where he can put the cars and
to students’ lives blocks.”)
Interest Ian’s competencies and interests were highlighted in a class culture that was
inclusive of diverse children’s interests.
Design experiences
that interest
students
Cases
Responses
• Well-intentioned pity or charity
• Compensation rather than Response
education Manage the context and environment to provide appropriate educational
• Denial of dignity and respect experiences for all students, including those with identified impairments.
Mechanism 4:
Ian experienced exclusion or Ian and his peers experienced inclusion. Interest
illusory inclusion. Cognitive and social learning were intertwined.
These findings highlight the significant impact that contextual factors have on outcomes for learners with
impairments. Such factors include teaching/learning practices, beliefs, support, and the nature of the
school and the wider system of which it is part. It is important that teachers recognise the interplay of
Implications biological and contextual factors and that interactions and relationships create a pattern of facilitative
for inclusion for all learners, rather than a pattern of exclusion, which may be active (such as teasing) or
passive (such as ignoring). Educators should be able to distinguish between facilitative/authentic
pedagogy
inclusion, in which learners participate with equal status and engage in the full range of roles that are
typical in the context, and ineffective/illusory inclusion, in which, for example, some are assigned inferior
roles.
Pedagogy
• Focus on the student’s functioning within his/her immediate context
• Attention to the interplay of biological and contextual factors
• Consideration of the broader social, political, and structural factors impacting on that
functioning
• Learning as the quality of the student’s interaction and relationships with more expert
Implications learners.
for
pedagogy
Becoming a valued, Being treated as an Participation in the
included member of the equal, valued, and Facilitative full range of culturally
classroom and contributing processes valued roles in that
its subgroups member of the centre, setting
class, and school
Intended outcomes
The evidence presented in this case can be used to inform teachers’ inquiries into their own practice.
Suggested questions:
• Why is inclusion as a valued participant in the peer culture of the classroom essential for optimal
learning? Have you given attention to how learners with impairments participate in the peer culture?
• Do your pedagogical practices reflect a ‘personal tragedy’ or ‘social constructivist’ model of
impairment? Where are the fundamental differences between these two models?
• How could you facilitate the inclusion of a child with an intellectual impairment in your classroom?
This classroom programme was designed to address, for a group of Sàmoan girls, their sense of being
Targeted culturally excluded by curriculum content and classroom processes, and to increase their engagement
learning with learning. The particular curriculum focus was conceptual understandings about the religious
practices of ancient Rome and the impact of Christianity on those practices.
outcome/s
Four 17- to 18-year-old Sàmoan girls from low socio-economic status families had a history of limited
engagement with school and limited academic achievement. While generally attentive, they were
Learner/s “cautious and tentative” when responding to questions in class. They had close and strong connections to
and learning their Sàmoan community and deep commitment to their religious and cultural values. The intervention
context described in this case was introduced during a unit on Roman Religion and The Aeneid, part of the
classical studies programme.
The teacher used two key strategies. First, she demonstrated how the students could engage in
purposeful discussions about classroom learning with a significant other (for example, a mother, sister, or
friend) from their own culture. The discussion was to be purposeful by involving an active search for
similarities and differences between classical Roman and contemporary Sàmoan culture. No attempt was
made to identify these similarities and differences at school; this was left for the home discussions, where
the students could draw on cultural knowledge as well as school learning. These discussions highlighted,
for example, similarities in the nature and purpose of artefacts, gender roles, religious rituals and beliefs,
relationships, social occasions, communications, and history.
Second, the teacher set up one-on-one discussions and small, teacher-directed focus groups where the
similarities and differences that had been identified at home could be recalled at school and their
meaning reflected on and elaborated.
Pedagogy
Cultural practices
Cultural practices Similarities and relating to the girls’
relating to Roman differences Sàmoan cultural
religion
identity
Discussions at home
Discussions at school
(with a friend or relative)
Comments from the girls showed that the intervention heightened their sense of inclusion and that they
found it empowering to discover how their own experiences connected with the content of their learning.
A comparison of pre- and post-test evidence revealed that the girls’ conceptual understanding was
Outcomes significantly greater than before. In the mid-year exam before the intervention, the four girls achieved
marks of 22, 22, 26, and 38 percent. Both exam and intervention were assessed by the same teacher,
required similar writing skills, and involved comparable content (in terms of conceptual understandings).
The girls’ marks in the exam that followed the intervention were more than double what they were at
mid-year.
Connection The teacher made the girls’ own lives and cultural experiences a point of
reference for their learning about an unfamiliar historical and cultural
Make connections context. By embedding the girls’ cultural knowledge in their learning, this
to students’ lives approach provided cultural continuity. The information that the girls gained
from their discussions at home and brought back to school was new to the
teacher.
By identifying similarities and differences, the students were able to draw
parallels between the distal context and their own experience. This
metacognitive strategy has been found to be a powerful learning tool
(Mazarno et al., 2001), and it explains, in part, the shifts in outcomes for
these learners.
Interest The home discussions were set up in such a way that the girls could attend to
the aspects of ancient Roman and contemporary Sàmoan culture that most
Design experiences interested them. This meant that there was far more discussion about
that interest religious beliefs and rituals than about any of the other aspects: artefacts,
students gender roles, relationships, social occasions, communications, and history.
The students were directly involved in a range of discussion activities, both
in and out of school. The varied activities and contexts helped them recall
the content that was embedded in the discussions.
Alignment By discussing her learning and the links between ancient Roman and
How the contemporary Sàmoan cultures with her mother, not only did Mi‘i become
learning Align experiences much more involved with course content, but also she and her mother were
to important empowered by the experience. Mary and Charlotte, who described their
occurred home discussions as “rehearsals” for their discussions at school, also
outcomes
reported that those home discussions had helped them clarify their ideas.
The combination of home and school discussions provided a variety of
learning opportunities, all explicitly aligned to the teaching purpose.
said:
Man! Sometimes the teacher shares with us her own story about her family
and where they spent Christmas or the weekend and stuff like that. It kinda
makes you feel confident to share your own story and stuff. Cus, it’s like
saying your story aloud before writing it down. Doing this in a group is
choice, better than saying it in front of the whole class. The teacher is just
choice (Ata, year 11).
For evidence relating to the impact of the similarities–differences strategy, see Marzano, R., Pickering, D.,
& Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student
Supporting achievment. Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
evidence Silipa, S. R. (2004). Nurturing coolness and dignity in Sàmoan students’ secondary school learning in
Aotearoa/New Zealand. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
The evidence presented in this case can be used to inform teachers’ inquiries into their own practice.
Source Nairn, K. (1995). Quiet students in geography classrooms: Some strategies for inclusion. New Zealand
Journal of Geography, October, pp. 24–31.
Nairn, K. (1994). Quiet students in geography classrooms. Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, University of
Canterbury, Christchurch.
The word ‘space’ is used in the title of this case to refer to the ‘public verbal space’ in which classroom
talk takes place. Whether students speak or do not speak in the classroom is important, given the
relationship between talking and learning. Nairn investigated why some students remain silent in the
forum of class discussion and why girls are overrepresented in the silent group of students in
Introduction coeducational classrooms. She also designed an intervention with the aim of increasing the verbal
participation of quiet girls and examined its impact. The ‘women-focused curriculum’ intervention
involved content that was carefully selected for its interest and relevance to girls and teaching strategies
that were designed to encourage public participation by minimising the risks involved.
The objectives for the geography lesson featured in this case centred on understanding how people’s
perspectives are shaped by their culture and lifestyle and how “each society perceives and interprets its
own and other environments through the perspective of its own culture”. Further to these objectives, the
researcher and teacher also aimed to increase the public participation of girls in geography classes.
Nairn emphasises that participating in the public verbal space (talking) is critical for learning in
geography and other subjects. She also points out a longer term reason for developing students’ verbal
skills: their ability to compete in the labour and training markets.
Nairn proposes that active participation in classroom discussion is important for five reasons:
Targeted
learning 1. Talking is central to the learning process because, through talking, we “remake knowledge for
ourselves” (Barnes 1976).
outcome/s
2. Students who talk aloud in class influence what gets taught (Alton-Lee, Nuthall, & Patrick, 1993).
3. There is a relationship between talking in class and the acquisition of new knowledge: students
generate “knowledge constructs as they engage in the process of making meaning out of curriculum
content” (ibid.).
4. Teachers can check students’ understanding and correct any misunderstandings when students are
talking aloud.
5. Class discussions are opportunities for female students to practise talking in public – an important
skill in terms of future participation in society (p. 97).
Finding out who takes up the public verbal space in 5L, 5N, 7H, and 7L
Nairn investigated public teacher–student interactions in two year 11 and two year 13 geography classes
from two schools – one in a small rural town and the other in a city. The year 11 students were working
on a population studies topic and the year 13 students on a cultural process topic: migration. She found
that “There were inequalities in the average public participation patterns of female and male students
and also inequalities within gender groups” (1994, p. 65).
Observations of the four classes over two months revealed that:
Learner/s • 39% of all student–teacher interactions were with female students (and 61% with males);
and learning • between 30 and 58% of female students and between 14 and 44% of male students in each class
context were silent;
Cases
• the girls who took up the most public verbal space relative to other girls took up much less than
the most talkative boys.
Female 0 0 4 4 3
Male 2 5 7 4 0
Strategies to engage
How the Women-focused content
with that content in ways
Increased verbal
learning – examples and issues participation of quiet
that facilitate public
occurred involving women students
participation of all learners
Alignment The activities and resources were deliberately aligned to the purpose of
engaging all students with the learning. By using the video featuring
Align experiences Daslima – a girl of similar age but different race and class, the intervention
to important ensured that the students’ interests, particularly those of the quiet girls,
outcomes were attended to. The turn-taking strategy promoted the engagement of all
students, not just those who typically occupied the public verbal space.
Community Turn taking encouraged the public participation of all students. The risks
were minimised since the criteria for evaluating participation were the same
Build and sustain for everyone:
a learning
It is not enough to introduce women-focused content and expect female
community
students to automatically begin participating in public. The structure
that facilitates public participation must be changed to provide minimal
risk opportunities for quiet female students to take up and gain
confidence; turn taking provides one such structure (pp. 111–112).
Three protocols governed the turn-taking strategy. These were particularly
important in establishing relationships that would promote dialogue in this
How the classroom:
learning
1. Students were not put on the spot – they had time to prepare.
occurred
2. Students were not judged – others were not to interrupt or make
evaluative comments.
3. Students were not compelled to speak – this demonstrated respect for the
students and recognised that there were other ways of participating,
including listening and watching.
Mae and Nina suggest why the strategy succeeded for them:
Mae: Yeah I thought that was good … because everybody got a chance to
have their say and because everybody had to say it they were all sort
of equal and nobody could … disagree with their answer because they
could just say their own thing as well so it was just what you thought
and it was easier because everybody said what they thought (p. 29).
Nina: It was quite good I thought, the way that she went around the
classroom and got everyone to say something … because that way
people get used to saying it and they are not really as worried about
it and also if you are asking everyone to do it, you don’t think oh I’m
going to the the only one, if you are not used to calling out or
something (p 29).
Interest When the researcher asked students why they had participated more during
the women-focused lesson, their interest in the content was a common
Design experiences theme:
that interest
Mae: I think I answered more than I would have because I found it
students
interesting so I watched it and got involved in it … I watched it more.
Cases
Zoe: I think I might have put a bit more in than usual … Because I found it
interesting, it wasn’t the usual boring geography lesson, it was more
interesting.
Nairn says that developing women-focused content to empower female students is a complex task:
Content must realistically portray the positive and negative aspects of women’s existence, and it must
value women’s traditional (often unpaid) achievements as much as their non-traditional achievements.
Teaching
inquiry Focusing inquiry
What is most important and therefore worth
Teaching spending time on?
design
Student Focusing Teaching inquiry
outcomes inquiry What might work best? What could I try?
Teaching
action Learning inquiry
What happened? Why did it happen?
Inquiry Learning
inquiry
Suggested questions:
• Think of a time when you were asked or expected to talk in a group situation. Which (if any) of the
three protocols were in place? How did this affect your participation and the participation of the
others?
• Who are the quiet students in your class/es? Which students occupy most public verbal space?
• Think of the content in your programme. For which students is it of interest or most/least relevant?
• What risks do your quiet students run when participating in the public space? How might these be
overcome?
• In what contexts could turn taking or a similar strategy be used?
Nairn, K. (1996). (Appendix to quiet students in geography classrooms article): Some strategies to try.
Other New Zealand Journal of Geography, 23.
references New Internationalist (circa 1986). A Women’s World series: The price of marriage and the struggle for
land. (Video).
Cases
Learners with reading difficulties are often disadvantaged in social sciences by teaching/learning
approaches that rely on reading expertise. This can often be seen in their superficial knowledge of key
concepts (memorised names and dates, for example) or in the lower expectations that teachers have of
them.
Introduction This study provides evidence of an approach that enabled learners with reading difficulties – and
competent readers, too – to develop higher-level, conceptual understandings. In a randomised control
trial, the content was delivered in a traditional manner to a control group and interactively to an
experimental group. It was found that students with learning difficulties were able to develop complex
historical understandings when they could access the content via highly interactive learning
opportunities.
Learner/s Half the students were classified as ‘learning disabled’ (LD), with reading difficulties and problems with
organisational strategy. On average, they were reading at a 9- to 10-year age level (several years behind
and learning their chronological age) and reading 40% fewer words per minute than their peers.
context
Learning-disabled students were assigned randomly to either the control group or the experimental
group.
Resources
• the video Eyes on the Prize (two-hour edited version)
• relevant extracts from the textbook and from magazines of the era.
Learning experiences
1. Both groups:
• viewed the video over a period of five weeks in 18 four to 10-minute segments, read written
resources, and responded to questions based on the video and those resources;
Pedagogy • completed four compare–contrast worksheets that drew attention to contemporary comparisons
and examples of decisions made by different people;
• were helped to construct vivid narratives of the period by responding throughout the unit to the
question or “How would you feel if [you were in that situation or were that person]?”
2. The control group (traditional approach):
• responded to video-related questions posed by the teacher and students at the end of each day’s
segment;
• answered questions on their own, before whole-class discussion;
• read text passages on their own;
• completed compare–contrast worksheets on their own.
Students from both groups were assessed on three measures, but only the LD students were assessed
using the content interview. This interview was an acknowledgment that a written assessment would not
adequately capture what these students understood.
Assessment measure Control group Experimental group Effect size Control group Experimental group Effect size
Content interview 21.9 26.1 .72
(out of 30)
Written exam 6.3 9.3 1.0 10.1 12.0 .76
(out of 20)
LD students in the experimental group outperformed LD students in the control group on all measures.
Effect sizes for the content interview and written exam were large.
Non-LD students in the experimental group outperformed non-LD students in the control group, indicating
that the approaches used specifically for the benefit of LD students also benefited non-LD students.
Using curriculum resources that students found accessible improved the learning of all students –
significantly more so when this was done in conjunction with interactive approaches.
It was the interactive assessment measure (the content interview) that gave the LD students the best
opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Compare, for example, Jaime’s answers to the question “Why
Outcomes did Eyes on the Prize begin with the Emmett Till segment?”
1. Jaime’s response (written examination)
Because he got deformed from the [unclear]. And he was from the South and had an open casket
ceremony.
2. Jaime’s response (content interview)
Jaime: Maybe because that started the Civil Rights Movement.
Interviewer: How did it start it?
Jaime: Maybe they just got mad about it and decided to do something about it.
Interviewer: Who got mad?
Jaime: The African Americans. And so … because they killed him. They killed Emmett Till.
And they were like tired of it so they like tried to do something.
Interviewer: OK. What did they try to do?
Jaime: They would like try to go on to marches and stuff. They were … so they would be
able, wouldn’t be like discriminated.
Interviewer: Tell me a little bit about Emmett Till. Who was he and what happened?
Cases
Jaime: He was a boy from the North. They weren’t really racist up there. So he wasn’t used
to that. In the South, he went down to visit and he talked to a European American
and he got killed for just doing that.
Interviewer: And then what happened to the people who killed him?
Jaime: They didn’t get … they weren’t accused of it. But later TV like stations paid them to
tell the truth, their side of the story. And they said that they didn’t kill him.
Note how much richer the interview response is, though not initially. Note also that the incremental
nature of the interaction enabled Jaime to demonstrate his knowledge of the content. He did not,
however, explicitly answer the required question, so he scored in the middle range.
Implications • deliberate repetition of the same information from different sources (in this case, the video and
extracts from a textbook and magazine);
for
• the use of empathy questions (such as “How would you feel if …?”) to help students personalise
pedagogy historical events;
• the use of brief discussion (in this case, at intervals during the video screening, which appeared not to
interrupt the flow of the content);
• allowing students to demonstrate their understanding in oral interviews.
The evidence presented in this case can be used to inform teachers’ inquiries into their own practice.
Teaching
inquiry Focusing inquiry
What is most important and therefore worth
Teaching spending time on?
design
Student Focusing Teaching inquiry
outcomes inquiry What might work best? What could I try?
Teaching
action Learning inquiry
What happened? Why did it happen?
Learning
inquiry
269
Cases
5 Partnering and participation
Vine, E. W. (2003). “My partner”: A five year-old Samoan boy learns how to participate in class through
interactions with his English-speaking peers. Linguistics and Education, 14(1), pp. 99–121.
Source
This case focuses on the experience of one student, five-year-old Fa‘afetai, during a social studies unit.
Fa‘afetai was new to the classroom, having recently arrived in New Zealand from Sàmoa, and was a new
learner of English. At the beginning of the sequence of social studies lessons, it was clear that Fa‘afetai
did not understand the partnering process.
Introduction
Given multiple opportunities to practise partnering with another learner, Fa‘afetai was able not only to
participate but also to negotiate partnering and, ultimately, to use it for his own purposes. Instead of
being limited to follower roles in social studies activities, he became an active participant.
This unit of work focused on different perspectives on and experiences of Christmas, particularly those of
Targeted people with disabilities and of people who have to spend Christmas in hospital. It was an objective of the
learning unit that all students would be able to participate in the learning.
outcome/s
Arriving recently from Sàmoa, Fa‘afetai had spent just six weeks in Ms Nikora’s class in this decile 3
school of 125 students on the outskirts of a metropolitan area near Wellington. He came from an extended
Learner/s family in which three languages – Sàmoan, Niue, and English – were spoken. There were 8 girls and 10
and learning boys in the year 0–1 class. Ms Nikora was Màori and spoke Màori but not Sàmoan. Half of the students in
her class were Màori. The one other Sàmoan spoke only English. The other students in the class were all
context
European New Zealanders. The learning described in this case took place during a three-day intensive
social studies unit, Christmas in Hospital (Smythe, 1996).
Ms Nikora used partnering 16 times in the course of the unit, at least once each session. The partnering
activites consisted of:
• choosing a partner (Fa‘afetai’s peers modelled what to say and do);
• talking with a teacher-allocated partner:
– following a story;
– about a picture;
– in response to a visiting speaker;
Pedagogy
– to share ideas;
– after listening to a recorded phone interview;
– to reflect on the morning’s activities;
• working in a small group to discuss a video:
What I want you children to do is this: I’m going to give you a picture, and I want you to have a look at the
pictures, and you’re going to do this with partners [she picks up the pictures from the floor], and you’re
going to talk about what you can see in the picture.
Alignment Fa‘afetai gained an understanding not only of the word ‘partner’ but also how
to choose a partner when asked to, engage with a partner, and initiate
Align experiences partnership with a peer. He was able to do this because the teacher provided
to important him with repeated opportunities to practice partnering as he engaged with
outcomes the different activities in the unit.
How the
Community Fa‘afetai’s engagement was promoted by the opportunities he was given to
learning observe others partnering and was reinforced by the expectation of his
occurred Build and sustain teacher and peers that he, too, would be a partner. His teacher was struck by
a learning how much Fa‘afetai learned from his fellow students:
community
“He just learned so much from his peers. And I think that’s a really valuable
lesson that it’s taught me. I know that they learned in spite of the teacher, but
I just didn’t realise how quickly the growth would occur and how much of a
change it would actually make over such a short period of time” (Fa‘afetai’s
teacher, six months later).
1. Teachers need to be aware of the complexity of the challenge facing ESOL students, who must
simultaneously learn in three domains: classroom practice, English language, and curriculum
Implications content.
for 2. It is important to provide opportunities for students to engage with all three domains in activities
pedagogy that involve them in interaction with their peers, because such opportunities allow them to manage
their own learning.
Cases
Teaching
inquiry Focusing inquiry
What is most important and therefore worth
Teaching spending time on?
design
Student Focusing Teaching inquiry
outcomes inquiry What might work best? What could I try?
Teaching
Inquiry action Learning inquiry
What happened? Why did it happen?
Learning
inquiry
Suggested questions:
• Has your approach with ESOL students emphasised classroom practice, English language, or
curriculum content? Have you promoted participation in ways that allow them to learn
simultaneously in all three domains?
• Can you think of learners whose participation could be supported by partnering activities?
Smythe, K. (1996). Christmas in hospital: A social studies unit for junior and middle levels. Hamilton:
Developmental Publications.
Vine, E. W. (2003). A five-year old Sàmoan boy interacts with his teacher in a New Zealand classroom. In
R. Barnard & T. Glynn (Eds.), Bilingual children’s language and literacy development (pp. 108–135).
Other Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
references Vine, E. W. (2006). “Hospital”: A five-year-old Sàmoan boy’s access to learning curriculum content in his
New Zealand classroom. Language and Education, 20(3), pp. 232–254.
Vine, E. W., Alton-Lee, A., & Klenner, L. (2000). Supporting curriculum learning and language learning
with an ESOL learner in a mainstream class. SET: Research Information for Teachers, 3, pp. 4–8.
The researcher believed that, for students to learn how to participate in society, they need opportunities to
take on real roles and responsibilities in the classroom. When she shared her sociocultural ideas with the
teacher in this case (Rhys), the two began a journey of collaborative action-research in which his practice,
based for the most part on a one-sided pedagogy, came to incorporate practice based on a pedagogy of
joint participation. His changed perspective on teaching/learning and the resulting shifts in the practice
led to significant advances in the conceptual understandings of his learners, in their ability to participate
Introduction together, and in their identities as intentional learners. For Rhys and his class, social studies was no
longer about preparing for future participation: it was about embedding learning; in the here-and-now
community of their own classroom.
Rhys came to understand that you can’t teach children about social participation – they have to live it.
Rhys’s class was working on a social studies unit based on the concepts ‘culture and heritage’ and ‘social
organisation’. His aim was for his students to develop conceptual understandings about ‘community’,
‘roles’, and ‘responsibilities’ as they related to the classroom context.
Targeted
learning Rhys also wanted to progress the broader aims of social studies as they relate to participation in society:
he wanted his students to be involved in making decisions about and sharing responsibility for learning
outcome/s in their classroom. Pursuing these broad aims, he supported his students as they made the transition
from passive recipients of knowledge to active supporters of each other’s learning, and as they learned to
build on each other’s ideas to create new understandings.
As part of the dialogic processes of collaborative action-research, Rhys questioned some of his taken-for-
granted perspectives on learning and teaching:
As Rhys’s class established itself as a community of learners, a culture of learning developed that was not
confined to social studies. The outcomes summarised below were evident across the curriculum.
1. Conceptual understandings
The success of the approach can be seen in the way in which a group of students co-constructed an
analogy for ‘community’:
A community is like a jigsaw, it has pieces …
Each piece relates to another piece …
The pieces are people …
You need to learn off other people …
The pieces connect together to make the community …
You can make your own puzzle/community …
People bring skills, feelings, and attitudes to their community …
The glue is communication and the connections between people in the community.
Outcomes 2. Learning identities: metacognitive and affective outcomes
Sakura “A good learner is good at finishing “My classmates and the teacher help me
things on time and not rushing their learn ... you can share your ideas ... We
work.” are all teachers and learners in here!”
Ikani “A good learner sits up properly and “A good learner sits beside people they
writes properly.” can learn with.”
Caleb “A good learner listens very carefully.” “Learning is sharing your mind and
stuff.”
Era “A good learner would get on with their “The learning intentions are really good
work and finish it at the right time.” to help you learn.”
Cases
276
One-sided pedagogy Joint participation pedagogy: evidence of reciprocal connections
Rhys was: Rhys: Rhys’s voice Student voices (responding to the researcher’s question
“Why did you make a class quilt?”)
• telling information; • invited students to contribute their ideas about “Let’s sit down
• arranging activities; learning goals; and talk about Era: It’s because so that um …
• modelled how to respond to someone else’s thinking that.”
• focusing on finishing tasks; Ikani: … It’s so you can um learn …
so that ideas were listened to, built upon, and “I agree with
• giving instructions; Era: … learn about community …
challenged (dovetailing); that …”
• asking his questions;
• provided opportunities for students to dovetail their Ikani: … and about people
• judging outcomes. “But I think …”
ideas to form new ideas together;
Era: … so that you knew you were in a community …
• positioned himself as a learner with the students. “I’d like to pick
the whole class actually made it …
up on …”
Ikani: … just like a puzzle …
Sakura: We all share ideas about … how you are unique
and where you need everyone to give ideas.
Rhys was: Rhys: Realising that a new class of five-year-olds Student voice
was starting at their school, the class
• making all planning • made learning decisions with the students; Caleb:
wanted to help them develop a sense of
decisions; • wrote learning intentions and success criteria with belonging to the school community. He’s given us choices instead
• taking sole responsibility for students; They decided to co-author a booklet called of saying “Do this, do that” …
managing behaviour and • shared responsibility for managing behaviour – The Book of Jubilee School. Rhys and He doesn’t force us to do
learning; created space for dialogue about behavioural issues; the students shared decisions about things … [I’m] happy because
• holding all the power. the content, their responsibilities for someone is actually paying
• gave opportunities for students to negotiate aspects
developing the book, and how it would attention to what we want to
of their learning as it progressed;
be used. do instead of just doing their
• provided forums for students to share and reflect
own thing.
together on their new learning.
Rhys: Rhys: Rhys used a daily ritual, ‘What’s on Top?’, Student voices
in which he and the students sat in a circle
• valued students for who they • established rituals where he and the students could Caleb: Rhys is like an open
and had the opportunity to share an event
were and cared deeply about share their out-of-school lives; book … You know
or an issue from their out-of-school lives.
making a difference in their • talked explicitly about what it means to be a what he is thinking.
It was a genuine and honest sharing of
lives; respectful listener; their minds and hearts in response to Ikani: We feel comfortable.
• believed in relational-based • valued students’ honesty and openness about what tragedy, joy, or mundane events. What’s
teaching; on Top? often began with Rhys or a Sakura: He cares about us
was going on in the classroom;
student saying “Let’s catch up on each when we are sick or
• but kept an emotional • valued the diversity of expertise that learners bought
other.” we done wrong.
distance from the students, to the classroom;
excluding them from knowing
• was open and honest with students about his own life
him in his different roles.
in ways that allowed them to appreciate his different
roles.
277
Cases
Connection Rituals such as What’s on Top? provided a forum in which students and the
teacher could hear about each other’s lives. By listening to students (rather
Make connections than deciding what to teach and then letting the students know), the teacher
to students’ lives had insight into their lives and, as a result, could ensure that the content of
learning was relevant to them.
Alignment While the study was centred around the classroom as a learning community,
the impact of this particular mechanism is also apparent. The teacher
Align experiences modelled a number of participation modes to support the learners with
to important developing their own participatory skills. He modelled, for example, how to
outcomes dovetail conversations, so that his students could learn how to talk to each
other in ways that would build shared knowledge. By embedding learning
about community deep within the programme instead of restricting it to
dedicated social studies time, the teacher ensured that the students were
repeatedly engaging with the concept.
Alignment between pedagogy and student outcomes is also apparent in the
teacher’s shift from a focus on ‘doing’ to a focus on ‘learning’. This shift,
aligned with the goals he had for his learners, led to a corresponding shift of
emphasis for the students – from ‘finishing activities’ to thinking and talking
about ‘learning’.
How the
learning
occurred Community The comparison of one-sided and joint participation pedagogies on page 274
shows how the development of cognitive, social-emotional, and physical
Build and sustain connections in all learners, including the teacher, supported shifts in student
a learning achievement and participation.
community
This research highlights the role of sensitive, caring relationships focused on
learning. The researcher noted a link between student learning and the
honest expression of feelings and valuing of each other’s expertise. In Rhys’s
classroom, she saw acts of compassion, sacrifice, humility, and loving
kindness that contributed to a climate in which learning could flourish
(2006b, p. 132).
This research also highlights the importance of sharing power in learning
relationships:
When teachers vested authority in children to address their own inquiry
questions, and when they guided their attempts to do so, some children in
the present study came to view learning as more than searching for other
people’s knowledge, it came to be about ‘sharing their minds’ with their
peers, their teachers and outsiders to create new knowledge (p. 220).
Further, the study shows the potential for learning when dialogue is given a
central place in social studies – there were ongoing opportunities for students
to share their ideas with each other and to reflect on their own learning.
The findings illustrate the importance of teachers and students learning together in joint participation
models where both contribute support and direction to shared activities. In a community of learners,
students not only construct conceptual understandings about social studies but also develop identities as
intentional learners and learn responsive and caring ways of relating to others. Before trying to establish
joint participation pedagogies, teachers should first question their own taken-for-granted perspectives on
Implications teaching and learning. This re-evaluation is a prerequisite for the paradigm shift necessary to
understand and develop the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical reciprocities characteristic of
for
communities of learners.
pedagogy
The sociocultural approach provides a different way of thinking about teaching practice and how young
people learn. If it is true that learning is embedded in the social and cultural context, then it is our
professional responsibility as teachers to distinguish between one-sided and joint participation models
and to develop new pedagogical practices in which the historical boundaries between teachers and
students are removed.
Teaching
inquiry Focusing inquiry
What is most important and therefore worth
Teaching spending time on?
design
Student Focusing Teaching inquiry
outcomes inquiry What might work best? What could I try?
Teaching
action Learning inquiry
What happened? Why did it happen?
Learning
Inquiry inquiry
Suggested questions:
• Can you identify instances of reciprocity in a recent lesson? How might you have enhanced the
cognitive, social, and emotional connections with your learners?
• How might one of your lowest or highest-achieving students perceive your pedagogy – as one-sided or
joint participation?
• Identify the students in your class who you know would most benefit from joint participation pedagogy.
What learning needs do they have that you are not currently addressing?
• What barriers might you face in providing opportunities for your students to participate together as a
community of learners?
• How might others (students, parents, teachers) perceive the introduction of joint participation
strategies in your classroom? How might you talk with them about those perceptions?
Cases
This classroom programme was designed to support a teacher to use drama to teach a year 7 class about
the Treaty of Waitangi. Recent (Flockton & Crooks, 2001) NEMP results showed that, despite changes to
Targeted the social studies curriculum, year 4 and 8 students have limited knowledge and understanding of the
learning Treaty and early New Zealand history. The aim of this intervention was to reinvigorate teaching and
learning around the Treaty by integrating social studies and drama. The social studies focus was an
outcome/s
exploration of why different groups of people hold different points of view about the same events. The
main drama objective was for students to plan and develop a drama based on the Treaty.
This year 7 class of 32 students in a city intermediate school: consisted of 22 Pàkehà, eight Màori, and two
Korean students. The teacher was in her fifth year of teaching and had expressed a strong interest in
The Learner/s drama. She had previously taught units on the Treaty of Waitangi and was keen to use drama as a way to
and learning explore differing perspectives. When planning and implementing the programme, the classroom teacher
context was supported by a Màori adviser, a social studies adviser, and a drama adviser. It was identified in the
early stages of the programme that the students needed to learn how to work cooperatively.
The major activity was a process drama based on The Nickle Nackle Tree (Dodd, 1996). The students
created a fictional world of birds, in which they took on the role of newly arrived inhabitants. The need
for a treaty with the original inhabitants soon became apparent. The Nickle Nackle Tree served as a
metaphor for the treaty.
Pedagogy
The process drama was followed by a variety of other learning activities, all aimed at developing
understandings of the different perspectives that people had, and continue to have, on the Treaty of
Waitangi. The sequence of activities, together with student reflections, is outlined more fully in further
sections of this case.
Outcomes
Before After
The students: The students:
• had a general understanding of treaties and • identified some of the key people/roles involved
agreements but these were not in the Treaty of Waitangi;
contextualised to Aotearoa New Zealand • elaborated more and gave more examples;
and the Treaty of Waitangi;
• addressed more perspectives;
• were unsure of the identity and perspectives
• expressed ideas with greater confidence;
of key figures;
• could discuss the complexities and understand
• responded tentatively and required multiple
the dilemmas that confronted people (that is,
prompts;
they could recognise the ‘grey’ and see
• (in one case) believed that Europeans settled different perspectives).
New Zealand before Màori.
Interview 1 Interview 2
Who do you think those people are in the Tell me about the people in the picture.
picture?
Yes – these two people – this man looks like a
They could, it looks like one of them is a Màori Màori chief because he is quite old, and this
man, and I think there’s a couple of Europeans might be his son, like he could be the next Màori
as well, down the back, and it looks like this is chief? And this here is a British official, this
like a Màori chief, and he’s coming to this person man here has a Bible in his arm and he’s a
to say welcome to New Zealand, these are our missionary, they are like Christian people who
people now, they are joining us. wanted to make Christians and all that, and this
man here with this barrel thing, he’s a grog
seller, he sells beer, and when they get drunk
they start fighting a lot, and this man is a
farmer, and he has got land, and I think this guy
here is pointing to the Màori chief and maybe
asking him something? And this guy, he might
not speak English, and this one will, and he’s
trying to ask him what is he saying? Yeah.
Cases
Interview 1 Interview 2
Who do you think these people are? Now with this picture, six people standing in a
row, start from here and explain to me who
The main people from the Màori and the
each person is.
English people?
Well he’s … can’t remember his name … well he
wasn’t an English people, and he’s a missionary,
yeah, he’s with the grog seller, grog seller
alcohol on the right, he’s the farmer, he’s the
Màori Chief.
Outcomes
Apples – concluding statement
Interview 1 Interview 2
Maybe that guy is his friend, and they are And this guy is the farmer who is thinking
pointing at each other’s friend, I dunno! should they do it or should they not because he
is thinking it is maybe not a good idea or maybe
it is ’cause he doesn’t know much about it. This
guy is thinking and talking to the chief saying
what should we do, should we do it or not? And
the chief he is saying should I trust these guys?
He is pointing to them, he is pointing to the
chief.
In this case, all four mechanisms worked together in such a way that diverse learners were able to deepen
their understandings about the different points of view that people have on the Treaty of Waitangi.
Connection • The learners in the class were all introduced to The Nickle Nackle Tree.
This provided a shared experience to connect with when engaged in the
Make connections other learning activities.
to students’ lives • The Nickle Nackle Tree analogy supported their learning about the Treaty.
Alignment • The teacher’s need for content knowledge was addressed by the
involvement of the drama adviser and the Màori adviser.
Align experiences • Students’ misconceptions were explicitly addressed. Advisors supported
to important the teacher in clarifying student misconceptions.
outcomes
How the • Multiple learning opportunities in a range of modes were provided:
learning drama, written activities, conversations, picture interpretation.
occurred • All activities were aligned to the learning goal.
Interest • The active nature of many of the activities, and the opportunities they
provided for students to take on roles and talk with others, aroused
Design experiences interest in the learning.
that interest • Student interest was captured through the appealing analogy of the
students Nickle Nackle Tree.
On expectations
“They are so intelligent, I can’t believe their intelligence, it’s so much higher than what I would have
suspected, and they are supportive of each other … they’ve just got so many great things to say … When I
have had time to listen, perhaps because there’s been a few people in the classroom, they are saying just
amazing things.”
Aotearoa The traditional Màori name for New Zealand, usually translated as ‘The land of the
long white cloud’
Màori The indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand
Ngài Tàhu The principal Màori iwi (tribe) of Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island) of New Zealand
Glossary
Pàkehà Applied to non-Màori New Zealanders, usually of European descent
Treaty of Waitangi Signed in 1840 by the British Crown and Màori chiefs and considered to be the
founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand
Whare House – in schools, often a room designated for Màori studies
Arbury, J. (1993). Exploring time: A history of New Zealand for children. Auckland: Jacqui Arbury.
Dodd, L. (1996). The Nickle Nackle Tree. Wellington: Mallinson Rendel.
Flockton, L., & Crooks, T. (2002). Social studies assessent results 2001. National Education Monitoring
Report 22. Dunedin: University of Otago, Educational Assessment Research Unit.
Le Fevre, D. (2002). Best new games. Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics.
Ministry for Culture and Heritage (2004). The Nine Tall Trees of Ngai Tahu. Retrieved May 8, 2005 from
http://www.treatyofwaitangi.govt.nz/casestudies/ngaitahu.php
Other Ministry of Education (1997a). Social studies in the New Zealand curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
references
Ministry of Education (1997b). In tune. Wellington: Learning Media.
Cases
Ministry of Education (1999). Social studies resource kit. Levels 1–4. Wellington: Learning Media; JAM
publications.
Ministry of Education (2000). The arts in the New Zealand curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Naumann, R. (2002). Our treaty: The Treaty of Waitangi 1840 to the present. Auckland: New House.
Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu (n.d.). Claim history overview. Retrieved April 20, 2006 from http://www.
ngaitahu.iwi.nz/About%20Ngai%20Tahu/The%20Settlement/Claim%20History%20Overview
284
the mechanisms were activated
Drama games. For example, knots, a game in which groups of 5–10 It made the class really close social-wise.
students stand shoulder to shoulder in a circle. They put their hands into
a clump in the centre. They close their eyes and, when told to, find two
hands to clasp. On opening their eyes, the challenge is to untangle into a
circle without losing hand contact. Used to practice cooperative skills
and build the group (Le Fevre, 2002).
Process (no script) drama based on The Nickle Nackle Tree (Dodd, 1996). It related to real life because the birds were fighting over berries and Using the Nickle Nackle Tree as a
Used for building an imagined community. Summary of stages: humans do the same over land and resources. metaphor for a treaty and involving the
1. The story was shared. The Nickle Nackle Tree rocked. You should do the learning as drama students in the process drama helped
as well ’cause you really get stuck into it. students understand the treaty concept
2. Groups ‘built the culture’ of one of the groups of birds – including and brought their learning to life,
rules and reasons for leaving homeland and reasons for valuing The Nickle Nackle Tree is like real life because we all care about making it memorable.
berries (resources) – and ‘met’ the Ballyhoo birds, the original where we live and don’t want to lose it.
inhabitants of the tree.
3. The Ballyhoo birds ‘learnt’ from the other birds. The analogy between their experience in
the process drama and real life helped
4. The Ballyhoo bird assistant (teacher in role) was introduced –
them to understand social studies
appalled at how the new birds used the berries.
concepts.
5. Tension built up – the need for a treaty was established.
6. War council.
Mapping activity. Used to link places that people have moved from and It’s like watching how people in England moved to New Zealand The mapping activity helped show the
to (for example, Britain to Australia, Spain to Peru, Holland to because of poverty and famine. It is like today. connection between migration in the
Indonesia). The world is large, and we start in one area and consume all the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
land in that area, and then we spread in another part of the world. making the learning more significant
and motivating.
This activity was hard but interesting. My partner and I worked Working with a partner supported this
through it and we finished. Yeah! learner with the challenge of the activity.
Readings (segments) about early Màori village life, and miming (Arbury, I remember sharing the roles in society, in that everyone had a part The Màori adviser supported the teacher
1993). to play in the community to make it. in addressing the misconceptions that
Jane, the Màori adviser, elaborated and answered questions about the This was one of my favourite activities because it was so awesome to some students had.
readings. get to bring back these moments of making, creating, building,
fighting and solving things.
Debrief in groups so that students could pool what they knew. The
debrief raised further questions. The Màori adviser or teacher answered
these questions and elaborated on the students’ ideas. They also asked
the students, “What helped you to learn?” (Drama, discussion,
cooperative learning …?)
Freeze frame plus spoken thoughts “I loved doing the freeze frame. It was so fun and it brought me The freeze frame activity developed not
closer to my classmates.” only cognitive outcomes relating to the
Treaty of Waitangi but also affective and
participatory outcomes.
Creative visualisation of Claudia Orange’s description in In tune “I remember seeing a visual picture in my mind with people in red The visualisation activity was quite
(Ministry of Education, 1997b). coats marching around and lots of people in the boats and a few different from the others, which had
Response (drawing or writing). “Heads on your desks, and turn on your shops.” been drama- and paper-based. It was
TV set in your mind, and see these pictures.” “The English flag high in the sky and the governor being made fun of effective for many students, including a
with the boats out in the harbour.” visually impaired learner.
“I could see a very clear image in my mind” [visually impaired
learner].
Freeze frame. The Press picture of the signing of the Treaty at Akaroa “We learnt a lot because we explained what we thought our
characters was saying.”
Role play: Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal (Ngài Tahu claim) “It was such a wonderful act. It felt so real. I was a lawyer.” The role play activity generated a lot of
Roles: tribunal member, Ngai Tahu, Prime Minister, lawyers, judges interest. Students found it relevant and
(Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2004) significant because they got to
Reflective circles “I think that the class discussions were great because it helps you to Dialogue was key for this learner: talking
learn and remember.” with the class supported their learning.
“The class discussions were great cause I’ve found that when I talk
about something it helps me.”
285
Cases
8 The master storyteller and the master arranger
Grant, S. G. (2001). It’s just the facts, or is it? The relationship between teachers’ practices and students’
understandings of history. Theory and Research in Social Education, 29(1), pp. 65–108.
Source
Grant observed two history teachers with distinctly different approaches teaching a civil rights unit.
Subsequent interviews with seven students revealed a strong correlation between the teachers’ practices
and their students’ ideas about history in general and the civil rights era in particular. The students of
Introduction one of the teachers had views of history that were much more thoughtful, nuanced, and complex than the
students of the other. Moreover, they saw history as a more vibrant and powerful influence on their lives
(p. 83). This case outlines the two different approaches and the contrasting outcomes for students.
Both teachers were at the same school, preparing students for the same high-stakes state examinations,
and both regarded the teaching of civil rights as important. The interviewed students were all European
Learner/s Americans: four female and three male. Six of them averaged grades in the 90s; the other had grades in
and learning the 80s.
context
Grant’s study contrasts the pedagogies of the two teachers’ who were teaching the same content in the
same school to similar students. The different features of their approaches can be seen in the transcripts
The below and the overview on page 290.
pedagogy
For the eight lessons in the civil rights unit, Linda Strait’s approach was to use a range of different
activities and resources and to involve everyone (including herself) as active participants in the learning.
One activity that was particularly significant for students’ learning was a simulation. In it, “students
imagine that they are living in the early 1950s and that a local skating rink owner refuses to admit
minority customers. In small groups, students are to create a strategy for winning access to the rink.”
Each of the groups has 10 minutes to plan its approach and six minutes in the simulation (p. 76). In the
transcript, the teacher – playing the skating rink operator – is seated on a chair in the middle of the room,
and each group approaches her in turn (p. 78):
The first group (Jerry, Sue, Linda, Rachel, and Terry – all white students) approach Strait. They do so
sheepishly and hesitantly. Strait immediately launches into her character. “How did you folks get in
Linda here?” she demands.
Strait’s
Sue: We want to skate.
pedagogy:
Strait: Sorry, whites only.
‘master
arranger’ Jerry: What’s the difference?
Strait: That’s the policy, that’s always been the policy … in this town.
Jerry: … that isn’t fair …
Linda: You’re going to lose customers.
Strait: … no problem so far … you (pointing to Jerry, presuming he is white and the others are
minorities) can skate, but they have to go.
Jerry: We have no choice but to protest.
Rachel: And we’ll encourage our friends not to come.
Strait: … I’m not too concerned … As you can see, it’s busy tonight …
“Eisenhower was conservative … But it will blow up in his face … He made several appointments to
the Supreme Court, but one at least is very liberal … and (emphatically) that shocks the hell out of
Eisenhower … Remember there was tremendous pressure … very serious things happen and early on
in Eisenhower’s presidency … He’s hit in the face with the Brown decision … Eisenhower disagrees,
but he has to enforce it and he does … and there is a serious confrontation in the South … Eisenhower
George also confronts the Soviets …(dramatically) We hate the Soviet Union, we fear the Soviet Union …
We’ve got the H-bomb, but we’re scared as hell. So the foreign policy John Foster Dulles comes up with
Blair’s … [is] a sad state of affairs … It’s called massive retaliation … [and it means] any aggression by the
pedagogy: Communists and we would retaliate with everything we have, massively, with everything we have …”
‘master
storyteller’ With that set-up, Blair begins a lecture on US foreign policy:
“Now the book doesn’t tell you this … In the 1956 Hungarian Revolution … the Hungarians ask for our
help and we don’t give it to them … (incredulously, loudly) Massive retaliation? We aren’t going to
retaliate at all! It’s just sword rattling and it doesn’t make any sense. We’re not going to blow up the
world. Who’re we trying to kid? …Massive retaliation; but we can’t do that … Massive retaliation …
what sense does that make? (quietly) But it shows how afraid we really are … John Foster Dulles uses
the idea of brinkmanship … pushing the Soviets to the brink of war … But how far can you push? …
The Soviets do the same thing … Much of the Cold War, we push and push and push … as far as we
possibly can and there’s tension, and stress, and anxiety. There’s not a lot of fighting, but there’s a
helluva lot of tension, stress, and anxiety. (A student, David, asks, “Were any shots fired?”) Yes …
Korea, Vietnam … between the US and the USSR? No … they never attack one another directly …”
Key outcomes for students in the two classes are outlined in the overview on page 290. Strait’s students
came to see history not just as a series of facts, but as complex, tentative, and ambiguous. Her students
were much more likely than Blair’s to see a connection between the past and their own lives, and they also
developed greater ability to see multiple perspectives and feel empathy.
The researcher cautioned that although the data suggested a correlation between teacher approach and
student learning outcomes, the evidence was not strong enough to support a claim that the approaches
Outcomes caused the outcomes:
While Strait’s and Blair’s instructional practices may not cause their students’ views of history, those
practices figure prominently in explaining the differences across their students’ views (p. 81) … I am
not proposing that teachers’ instruction causes their students to hold the views of history that they do.
Teaching and learning are richly complex activities … looking at students’ views on history in light of
their teachers’ instructional practices, then, is less about drawing a direct connection between the
two than it is about exploring points of coherence (p. 102).
Teaching
inquiry Focusing inquiry
What is most important and therefore worth
Teaching spending time on?
design
Student Focusing Teaching inquiry
outcomes inquiry What might work best? What could I try?
Teaching
action Learning inquiry
What happened? Why did it happen?
Inquiry Learning
inquiry
Suggested questions:
• In what ways is your typical teaching approach similar to, or different from, the approaches of Strait
and Blair?
• What aspects of your practice have helped or hindered students in developing awareness of the
complexity of historical knowledge and understanding?
• What aspects of your practice have helped or hindered students in developing historical empathy?
• Which of the achievement objectives in your students’ programmes might best be supported through a
scenario or simulation approach?
Grant, S. G. (2001b). An uncertain lever: Exploring the influence of state-level testing in New York State on
teaching social studies. Teachers College Record, 103(3), pp. 398–426.
Other
Grant, S. G. (2003). History lessons: Teaching, learning, and testing in US high school classrooms.
references Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cases
Alignment The activities and resources were aligned to the intended outcomes: The teacher did not focus exclusively on civil rights. He incorporated ideas into
while they dealt with different time periods, circumstances, and the context of the times. Civil rights were dealt with across several chapters in
Align groups of people, all of the lessons focused specifically on civil the textbook.
experiences to rights.
important
Students had multiple learning opportunities (eight lessons) in a
outcomes
range of modes: reading, writing, viewing, role-playing, video
followed by group discussions, magazine articles, quiz (identifying
civil rights / civil liberties), simulation, review activities.
Interest Students’ interest was maximised through their involvement in a The teacher emphasised facts in the stories and presented civil rights issues in
simulation centred on a 1950s civil rights scenario. The teacher and chronological order as per the textbook.
Design students were all assigned roles and were able to experience the
He used outline notes on overheads. The students copied these but rarely
experiences that emotions of the situation at the same time as they were learning
interrupted the teacher’s monologue/lecture.
interest students facts and concepts. The activity provided enabled students to go
beyond an intellectual grasp of, and generalised sympathy for, the
injustices suffered by African Americans and to gain an experiential
grasp of civil rights issues.
Community The teacher’s role was that of ‘knowledge giver’, ‘knowledge Used narrative instructional style to recount the stories of historical
evaluator’, and ‘creator of opportunities for students to work personalities and describe policies and events. He built dramatic stories with
Build and together’. the help of oratorical devices, such as vocal inflections, emotion, personal
sustain a reflections, and rhetorical questions.
The emphasis was on students applying their learning and feeling
learning
the emotions aroused by civil rights issues – in addition to learning
community
facts and concepts.
Connection In teaching her students about the civil rights movement, the teacher The teacher focused on the actions and experiences of certain key players.
did not restrict herself to the big events and the experiences of the
He emphasised the facts in the stories and presented civil rights issues in
Make major players; she also made use of lesser known events and people,
chronological order as per the textbook.
connections to which helped make the content more accessible for the students.
students’ lives They were able to connect more easily with the content because they
encountered it through the stories of ordinary people.
Empathy: disposition to consider others’ perspectives in relation to the Empathy: disposition to consider others’ perspectives but not in
learning context relation to the learning context
The interviews revealed that students had empathy in the sense that they were
The interviews revealed that students had empathy in the sense that they were disposed to
disposed to look for alternative perspectives on events, but they did not do this
look for alternative perspectives on events, and they did this in the context of civil rights –
in the context of civil rights, nor did they position themselves within those
considering, for example, the different perspectives that black and white people might have
perspectives. As Ann explained, “History is just given to you. This is your
brought to scenes in a documentary, and how those perspectives may well have changed
history, just learn it” (p. 102). Blair’s narrative approach did not bring them to
over time.
understand alternative points of view.
291
Cases
9 Cultural continuity
Kanu, Y. (2006). Getting them through the college pipeline: Critical elements of instruction influencing
school success among Native Canadian high school students. Journal of Advanced Academics, 18(1), pp.
116–145.
Kanu, Y. (2005, April 11–15). Does the integration of Aboriginal cultural knowledge/perspectives into the
Source curriculum increase school achievement for Aboriginal students? Some preliminary findings. Paper
presented at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting, Montreal.
Kanu, Y. (2007). Increasing school success among aboriginal students: Culturally responsive curriculum
or macrostructural variables affecting schooling? Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 1(1), pp.
21–41.
Kanu investigated two grade 9 social studies classes over the course of a year, comparing a ‘culturally
responsive’ teaching approach with a ‘traditional’ approach. In the culturally responsive, or enriched,
class, the teacher (Mr B) explicitly integrated Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives into the content,
resources, teaching, and assessment strategies. In the traditional class, the teacher (Mr H) did not
deliberately and consistently integrate Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives.
Introduction
While this was not strictly an experimental study, there were marked differences in the outcomes for the
Aboriginal students from the two classes in terms of social studies test scores, conceptual understanding,
and motivation for attending. Integration of Aboriginal cultural knowledge and/or perspectives was
linked to improved learning for all students but especially for Aboriginal students.
Both teachers reported that their teaching goals included developing their students’ conceptual
understanding of social studies topics, such as human rights, and their ability to apply learning beyond
the lessons.
Targeted The learning objectives in the enriched class were carefully designed to embed Native perspectives. The
learning teacher aimed for students to understand:
outcome/s the importance of respect in Native cultures, the vital role of elders, the importance of family and
community to Native identity, the importance of spirituality in learning and education and in the lives
of many Native peoples, the various effects of European contact and settlement on Native peoples, and
Native contributions to Canadian society (2006, p. 124).
There were 31 Aboriginal students (Ojibway, Dene, Cree, Metis, and Sioux) involved in this study, all from
low socio-economic status backgrounds. Fifteen were in the ‘enriched’ class, and 16 in the ‘regular’ class.
Learner/s Both classes had social studies twice per week.
and learning During the course of a school year, 63 observations were made of the enriched class and 34 of the control
context class (these were recorded in note, audio, and video form). Thirty-one Native students and ten non-Native
students were interviewed. Further data were obtained from students’ written work and reflections,
teacher and student journals, and records of attendance and participation.
Mr B had superior knowledge of unit topics, Mr H believed in the principle of inclusion but
Native issues, and history. He actively sought to felt uncomfortable focusing on Aboriginal
strengthen his own understandings in these perspectives because he believed that to do so
areas and to embed Aboriginal perspectives would be unfair to students from other
into his programme. minorities.
Data show that, in terms of their understanding of social studies concepts, higher-level thinking, and self-
confidence, regularly attending Aboriginal students in the enriched class achieved more highly than their
counterparts in the regular class. For example, one student was able to describe what he had learned in a
human rights unit in this way: “I now see the banning of Aboriginal ceremonies in the past as cultural
genocide, and I can defend my position on that if asked …”
More than 80% of the students in the enriched class passed their assessments on social studies content,
compared with just 44% of those in the control group, as the table shows:
When interviewed, students in the enriched class attributed their improved achievement to the following
elements in Mr B’s approach:
Interest Strategies used by the teacher included stories, discussion circles for sharing
views and ideas, visits from Native guest speakers, and field trips to
Design experiences Aboriginal communities (to experience a pow-wow and a sweat-lodge). The
that interest positive impact of these experiences was emphasised by students.
students
The theoretical framework that motivated this study, and which Kanu uses to explain the findings, is that
of cultural discontinuity. This framework is built on the idea that students’ cultural socialisation affects
how they learn in the school system – and how they “negotiate, mediate, and respond to curriculum,
instructional strategies, learning tasks, and communication patterns in the classroom” (2007, p. 24).
While discontinuity, or cultural mismatch, sets children up for failure, continuity of home and school
Implications cultures increases the chance of success. Kanu emphasises the critical role that teachers have in
for strengthening cultural continuity. Their knowledge, attitudes, and instructional approach have the power
pedagogy to make a positive difference for students:
Successful integration [of cultural perspectives] requires sensitive, caring teachers who are
knowledgeable about Aboriginal issues and topics and pedagogical strategies (or are willing to
acquire such knowledge) and value them sufficiently to integrate them into their curricula on a
consistent basis (2007, p. 37).
Cases
Teaching
inquiry Focusing inquiry
What is most important and therefore worth
Teaching spending time on?
design
Student Focusing Teaching inquiry
outcomes inquiry What might work best? What could I try?
Teaching
action Learning inquiry
What happened? Why did it happen?
Learning
Inquiry inquiry
Suggested questions:
• What knowledge do you have, or need to acquire, in order to maximise cultural continuity for all your
students?
• Do you / how could you engage students with counter-stories and ideas that go beyond what is readily
available in textbooks and other published resources?
• How might your students describe your relationship with them? Would they use the terms ‘respectful’
and ‘caring’?
• Do you integrate cultural knowledge – reflecting all the cultures represented in your class – into your
teaching in a deliberate, consistent manner, or only incidentally?
Gordy, L. L., Hogan, J., & Pritchard, A. (2004). Assessing “herstory” of WWII: Content analysis of high school history
textbooks. Equity & Excellence in Education, 37(2), pp. 80–91.
Index
Ministry of Social Development (2005). The social report 2005. Wellington: Ministry of Social Development.
Index
http://nzcer.org.nz/BES.php?id=BES137&xml=1
Index
References, Glossary,
Index
G
B
‘Base 6’ 182 gender differences 77, 81, 180–181, 229, 231, 236,
261–265
Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) Programme 10–11, 31–33,
34 gender identity and stereotyping 77, 80–82, 101
see also methodology generative teaching 177–178
brainstorming 71–72, 81, 88–89, 114, 116, 126, 128 geography 151, 232
bullying 229 fieldwork 148, 195
gender differences 180–181, 261–265
C resources 210, 212–214
cases 46, 253–296 syllabus 35–36, 230, 235
structure and summary 226–227 group work 102, 118–121, 131–132, 147–149, 150–164
citizenship 164–165, 228, 234 teacher supervision 173–174
classical studies 36, 68, 232–233 see also cases in Appendix D
Competent Children Project 229
Complex Instruction (CI) 160–162 H
conceptual understanding 48, 88, 98, 229–231, 258–260 history 202, 204–210, 230, 232
connections (to students’ lives) 49, 51, 54, 56–82, 222, books and documents 73, 98, 102–104, 106–107, 204
258–260 classroom examples 78–80, 105–106, 115–116, 266–
privacy 65–66 269, 286–291
content of learning 56, 125 connections with past 69–70, 71, 106, 258–260
cooperative learning 117–119, 155–158 discussion and its difficulties 119–121, 165–167
cultural identities 38, 57–65, 228–229 dramatisation and role play 79, 198–200, 217,
Curriculum, The New Zealand 35, 38–39, 133–134, 228, 280–287
230, 232, 233, 235 language bias 73–76
see also Te Whàriki prior knowledge 85–86, 128, 167
student motivation 181
D syllabus 35–36, 230, 235
delegation of authority see power sharing
dialogue and discussion 50–51, 55, 150–172, 234, I
261–265 illustrations (in resources) 210–217
disabled students 143–149, 172, 202, 211–212, 254–257 indigenous students see Aboriginal students in North
diverse learners 39–40, 76–82, 111–112 America
status issues 164 intergenerational contacts 196–198
see also gender differences International Association for the Evaluation of
drama 198–202 Educational Achievement (IEA) 165
economics 117–119, 130, 177–178, 232 te reo Màori 186, 193, 228–229
first-hand experiences 189–190 learning communities 50–51, 55, 133–178, 223, 273–277
s Particula
finding r studie
General Advice
Teaching inquiry s
nt
What might work best?
s nte
chanism evant co
Me
Draw on
rel What could I try?
content Using evidence of effective strategies from other
inclusive
tion Ensure contexts to inform strategies that are most likely
Connec
know ledge to help students learn
Identi fy prior
d
to intende
ources
and res
tivities outcomes
Align ac
Teaching
nities es
opportu
Provide and learning
process design
nt t concep
ts Focusing inquiry
Alignme to revisi al
individu
lea rning of Student What is most important and
to the dents
Attend stu
outcomes therefore worth spending time on?
ctive
h produ ips
Establisdent relationsh Establishing valued outcomes based on the
stu curriculum, community expectation, and student
teacher–
needs and dispositions
dialogue Teaching
Promote
ity students
action
Commun wer with
Share po
erse
Meet dival needs Learning inquiry
on
motivati
intere st What happened?
student
Maximise Why did it happen?
ities
Interest riety of activ Considering evidence from own context about
Use a va
what happened as a result of the teaching, and
implications for future teaching
Overview of findings
Focusing inquiry teachers should simply implement research findings – findings are informants
Teaching as of possible change, not instructions or recipes; they need to be carefully and
Teaching inquiry systematically monitored for their impact in the immediate classroom context.
Inquiry
Learning inquiry teachers’ own experience is not a useful informant of pedagogy – it is, but it is not
the only source of possibilities.
teachers’ own experience is less useful than research evidence – both are useful.
Teachers’ experiences are richly contextualised and immediately accessible.
Research offers access to new possibilities and makes claims based on rigorous,
transparent methods.
inquiry must always be intensive and time-consuming – deliberate, purposeful
inquiry is necessary for understanding what is really happening for students during
the teaching–learning process, but inquiry also takes place informally as teachers
make moment-by-moment decisions during their teaching.
that Teaching as Inquiry must follow a given sequence – there is no fixed sequence.
One teacher might notice something about a student, and so begin with the
learning inquiry. Another might read about a strategy that was successful for an
outcome they were working towards, and so begin with the teaching inquiry.