title: Developments in technology education in New Zealand 1993-1995: an analysis of the reflections of key participants

authors: Compton, Vicki

abstract: As of February the 15ᵗʰ 1999, Technology Education came into New Zealand’s education system as a legal requirement for students from years 1 to 10. All schools under the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s jurisdiction were required to implement technology into their school curriculum for these year levels in order to meet this requirement. Schools and teachers were supported in doing this by a national curriculum statement in technology that had been released in 1995. Developments that occurred during the 1993 to 1995 time period leading up to the release of the technology curriculum statement were critical both to the curriculum development and subsequent developments in the field of technology education in New Zealand. 

Technology’s entry into New Zealand education as a learning area in its own right reflects a worldwide trend whereby technological literacy has been identified as a worthwhile goal for formal schooling. Alongside the arguments for economic growth and the future wellbeing of societies, educationalists have supported this entry by way of educative arguments based on technology providing a site for the synthesis of theory and practice. New Zealand’s movement into technology education reflects all the international rationales, but contains another dimension that sets it apart. That is, an emphasis on the sociological aspects of technological developments and practice. It is this aspect of technology education that provides the potential for technology education in New Zealand to support student empowerment through the development of a liberatory technological literacy. 
Working from a conflation of interpretivist, praxis-oriented and postmodernist methodological discourses, this thesis provides an explanation of the developments between 1993 and 1995 in terms of the interactions of people involved, rather than the outcomes alone. Such an explanation can also provide opportunities for the future developments in field of technology education as people from both within and outside the developments come to better understand the complex interactions that determined the nature of technology education’s past. 

An analytical framework reflecting sociocultural theories was developed to fulfil this intent. This framework specifically uses components of practice theory developed by Bourdieu, and notions of learning through participation in communities of practice as developed by Lave and Wenger. It provides a framework by which the reflections and perceptions of individuals involved in key groups within the developments can be brought together to provide an interpretive account of the groups themselves as a collective. Research data was therefore gathered from participants involved in two key groups in the development of the technology education in New Zealand. These being the Curriculum Development Group and the 1995 Facilitator Training Group. From such an analysis the explanatory account developed would be more robust in that it would be developed from multiple, and often contradictory, perspectives. 

This thesis concludes that the nature and direction of the field of technology education in New Zealand has been determined by a very small number of individuals within the development. This aspect of its developmental history has resulted in barriers to technology education’s potential for educational reform. However, this thesis also concludes that these barriers are not insurmountable and potential does still exist for technology education in New Zealand to provide opportunities for students to develop liberatory technological literacy. 

The literature review, data analysis and resultant explanation provided in the form of this thesis should go some way towards addressing teachers’ and teacher educators’ feelings of confusion and alienation that have arisen from the centre-peripheral nature of curriculum development adopted and the lack information and consultation identified during the 1993 to 1995 time period. The resolution of such feelings will remove one of the identified barriers to reform.

text: Developments in technology education in New Zealand 1993-1995: an analysis of the reflections of key participants As of February the 15ᵗʰ 1999, Technology Education came into New Zealand’s education system as a legal requirement for students from years 1 to 10. All schools under the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s jurisdiction were required to implement technology into their school curriculum for these year levels in order to meet this requirement. Schools and teachers were supported in doing this by a national curriculum statement in technology that had been released in 1995. Developments that occurred during the 1993 to 1995 time period leading up to the release of the technology curriculum statement were critical both to the curriculum development and subsequent developments in the field of technology education in New Zealand. 

Technology’s entry into New Zealand education as a learning area in its own right reflects a worldwide trend whereby technological literacy has been identified as a worthwhile goal for formal schooling. Alongside the arguments for economic growth and the future wellbeing of societies, educationalists have supported this entry by way of educative arguments based on technology providing a site for the synthesis of theory and practice. New Zealand’s movement into technology education reflects all the international rationales, but contains another dimension that sets it apart. That is, an emphasis on the sociological aspects of technological developments and practice. It is this aspect of technology education that provides the potential for technology education in New Zealand to support student empowerment through the development of a liberatory technological literacy. 
Working from a conflation of interpretivist, praxis-oriented and postmodernist methodological discourses, this thesis provides an explanation of the developments between 1993 and 1995 in terms of the interactions of people involved, rather than the outcomes alone. Such an explanation can also provide opportunities for the future developments in field of technology education as people from both within and outside the developments come to better understand the complex interactions that determined the nature of technology education’s past. 

An analytical framework reflecting sociocultural theories was developed to fulfil this intent. This framework specifically uses components of practice theory developed by Bourdieu, and notions of learning through participation in communities of practice as developed by Lave and Wenger. It provides a framework by which the reflections and perceptions of individuals involved in key groups within the developments can be brought together to provide an interpretive account of the groups themselves as a collective. Research data was therefore gathered from participants involved in two key groups in the development of the technology education in New Zealand. These being the Curriculum Development Group and the 1995 Facilitator Training Group. From such an analysis the explanatory account developed would be more robust in that it would be developed from multiple, and often contradictory, perspectives. 

This thesis concludes that the nature and direction of the field of technology education in New Zealand has been determined by a very small number of individuals within the development. This aspect of its developmental history has resulted in barriers to technology education’s potential for educational reform. However, this thesis also concludes that these barriers are not insurmountable and potential does still exist for technology education in New Zealand to provide opportunities for students to develop liberatory technological literacy. 

The literature review, data analysis and resultant explanation provided in the form of this thesis should go some way towards addressing teachers’ and teacher educators’ feelings of confusion and alienation that have arisen from the centre-peripheral nature of curriculum development adopted and the lack information and consultation identified during the 1993 to 1995 time period. The resolution of such feelings will remove one of the identified barriers to reform.

year: 2001

title: Organomanganese compounds in organic synthesis

authors: Prasad, Narendra Jai

subjects: cyclomanganated chalcones

abstract: This thesis describes the preparation and reactions of some cyclomanganated chalcones, dienones and aryl ketones. Investigation has previously been undertaken into the reaction of cyclomanganated chalcones and dienones with alkynes to give both pyranyl and cycloheptadienyl Mn(CO)₃ complexes. In the current study, the reaction was further investigated with a cyclomanganated dienone derived from a cyclic ketone which gave only the (pyranyl)Mn(CO)₃ complex (2-6) and not the cycloheptadienyl product as consistent with a mechanism previously proposed. Also extended in the current study was previous work involving the methylmanganese pentacarbonyl-mediated transformation of enynes to cyclopropanated bicyclic compounds and cyclopentanes bearing an exocyclic double bond. In the current study, benzylmanganese pentacarbonyl was used instead of methylmanganese pentacarbonyl under similar conditions. In the current study however, the type of product that formed in diethyl ether (3-4) was the one dominant in acetonitrile in the MeMn(CO)₅ study, and that formed in acetonitrile (3-5) was the dominant product type in diethyl ether (3-4). There was no apparent explanation for this reverse reactivity. Ferrocenyl pyrylium salts of the type 5-5 have been prepared using a new route to ferrocenyl pyrylium from cyclomanganated chalcones and ferrocenylethyne. UV-visible and electrochemical properties of the pyrylium salts have been investigated. The ferrocenyl pyrylium salt (5-5) was obtained by the oxidation of [2-ferrocenyl-4,6-diphenyl-ɳ₅]-pyranyltricarbonylmanganese (5-6). The crystal structure of 5-6 was also determined.

text: Organomanganese compounds in organic synthesis This thesis describes the preparation and reactions of some cyclomanganated chalcones, dienones and aryl ketones. Investigation has previously been undertaken into the reaction of cyclomanganated chalcones and dienones with alkynes to give both pyranyl and cycloheptadienyl Mn(CO)₃ complexes. In the current study, the reaction was further investigated with a cyclomanganated dienone derived from a cyclic ketone which gave only the (pyranyl)Mn(CO)₃ complex (2-6) and not the cycloheptadienyl product as consistent with a mechanism previously proposed. Also extended in the current study was previous work involving the methylmanganese pentacarbonyl-mediated transformation of enynes to cyclopropanated bicyclic compounds and cyclopentanes bearing an exocyclic double bond. In the current study, benzylmanganese pentacarbonyl was used instead of methylmanganese pentacarbonyl under similar conditions. In the current study however, the type of product that formed in diethyl ether (3-4) was the one dominant in acetonitrile in the MeMn(CO)₅ study, and that formed in acetonitrile (3-5) was the dominant product type in diethyl ether (3-4). There was no apparent explanation for this reverse reactivity. Ferrocenyl pyrylium salts of the type 5-5 have been prepared using a new route to ferrocenyl pyrylium from cyclomanganated chalcones and ferrocenylethyne. UV-visible and electrochemical properties of the pyrylium salts have been investigated. The ferrocenyl pyrylium salt (5-5) was obtained by the oxidation of [2-ferrocenyl-4,6-diphenyl-ɳ₅]-pyranyltricarbonylmanganese (5-6). The crystal structure of 5-6 was also determined.

year: 2009

title: Estimated catchment loads of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes

authors: McBride, Chris G.

abstract: The Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes are central to the identity of their region, of immense historical and cultural importance, and provide ecosystem services that underpin biodiversity, conservation and socioeconomic aspirations of the community. The diversity of water quality in the lakes reflects their catchments, which are diverse in topography, hydrogeology and intensity of land use, ranging from the largely undeveloped land around lakes Tikitapu and Okataina, to highly developed forestry and pastoral land around lakes Rerewhakaaitu, Rotorua and Okaro. Lake water quality is strongly linked to nutrients received by each lake from surface flows and groundwater springs. It therefore follows that management of lake water quality requires a good understanding of nutrient loads derived from the landscape, as does the assessment or prediction of the in-lake effects of catchment-based management initiatives aimed at improving lake water quality.

text: Estimated catchment loads of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes The Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes are central to the identity of their region, of immense historical and cultural importance, and provide ecosystem services that underpin biodiversity, conservation and socioeconomic aspirations of the community. The diversity of water quality in the lakes reflects their catchments, which are diverse in topography, hydrogeology and intensity of land use, ranging from the largely undeveloped land around lakes Tikitapu and Okataina, to highly developed forestry and pastoral land around lakes Rerewhakaaitu, Rotorua and Okaro. Lake water quality is strongly linked to nutrients received by each lake from surface flows and groundwater springs. It therefore follows that management of lake water quality requires a good understanding of nutrient loads derived from the landscape, as does the assessment or prediction of the in-lake effects of catchment-based management initiatives aimed at improving lake water quality.

year: 2021