title: Investigating National Curriculum Implementation in Papua New Guinea (PNG)

authors: Kekeya, Joseph Lingawa

subjects: curriculum, learning, student, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, mediation, internationation, activity, macro-curriculum, micro-curriculum, student-experienced curriculum, teaching

abstract: There is a national concern in Papua New Guinea (PNG) about re-construction of social systems because the education offered was irrelevant to the needs of the PNG society. The Government of PNG reformed its national education system and developed and implemented a new national curriculum for human and societal development for elementary, primary and secondary education sectors. The purpose of this study was to investigate some PNG teachers’ pedagogical decisions and actions and the nature of student learning and development in the implementation of this new national curriculum in contemporary classroom contexts. The study was carried out in two PNG schools - one an urban church school and the other a rural government school. The understanding, perceptions and ‘lived-experiences’ were explored in the implementation of the new national PNG curriculum of twelve teachers and forty-eight students (six teachers and twenty-four students in each school). Within an interpretive research paradigm, a qualitative case study approach was employed to generate data, using interviews, video observations and documentary analysis as data gathering tools. The data were analysed inductively and grouped into themes around the key research questions. The findings of the study were underpinned by theoretical frameworks of behaviourist and constructivist pedagogies of curriculum development and delivery. The study found that the PNG teachers adapted the new national curriculum by applying iterative interpretation processes to construct their own interpretation. The teachers identified and selected appropriate international knowledge and integrated this with suitable and relevant PNG indigenous knowledge. This integration is the basis on which the teachers constructed new knowledge or realities, which they delivered to the students using both constructivist teaching approaches and traditional behaviourist teaching approaches. Although the teachers’ constructed realities or knowledge appeared to be superficial rather than deep and problem solving in nature, the PNG students mediated on the teachers’ realities, and constructed their own individual and shared realities. The student learning is being described in this thesis as the long-term learning that results from micro-curriculum implementation.

text: Investigating National Curriculum Implementation in Papua New Guinea (PNG) There is a national concern in Papua New Guinea (PNG) about re-construction of social systems because the education offered was irrelevant to the needs of the PNG society. The Government of PNG reformed its national education system and developed and implemented a new national curriculum for human and societal development for elementary, primary and secondary education sectors. The purpose of this study was to investigate some PNG teachers’ pedagogical decisions and actions and the nature of student learning and development in the implementation of this new national curriculum in contemporary classroom contexts. The study was carried out in two PNG schools - one an urban church school and the other a rural government school. The understanding, perceptions and ‘lived-experiences’ were explored in the implementation of the new national PNG curriculum of twelve teachers and forty-eight students (six teachers and twenty-four students in each school). Within an interpretive research paradigm, a qualitative case study approach was employed to generate data, using interviews, video observations and documentary analysis as data gathering tools. The data were analysed inductively and grouped into themes around the key research questions. The findings of the study were underpinned by theoretical frameworks of behaviourist and constructivist pedagogies of curriculum development and delivery. The study found that the PNG teachers adapted the new national curriculum by applying iterative interpretation processes to construct their own interpretation. The teachers identified and selected appropriate international knowledge and integrated this with suitable and relevant PNG indigenous knowledge. This integration is the basis on which the teachers constructed new knowledge or realities, which they delivered to the students using both constructivist teaching approaches and traditional behaviourist teaching approaches. Although the teachers’ constructed realities or knowledge appeared to be superficial rather than deep and problem solving in nature, the PNG students mediated on the teachers’ realities, and constructed their own individual and shared realities. The student learning is being described in this thesis as the long-term learning that results from micro-curriculum implementation.

year: 2013

title: Reinvasion by ship rats (Rattus rattus) of forest fragments after eradication

authors: King, Carolyn M.

subjects: invasive predators

abstract: Reinvasions provide prime examples of source-sink population dynamics, and are a major reason for failure of eradications of invasive rats from protected areas. Yet little is known about the origins and population structure of the replacement population compared with the original one. We eradicated eight populations of ship rats from separate podocarp- broadleaved forest fragments surrounded by open grassland (averaging 5.3 ha, scattered across 20,000 ha) in rural landscapes of Waikato, New Zealand, and monitored the- re-establishment of new populations. Rats were kill-trapped to extinction during January to April 2008, and then again after reinvasion in April–May (total n = 517). Rats carrying Rhodamine B dye (n = 94), available only in baits placed 1–2 months in advance in adjacent source areas located 170–380 m (average 228 m edge to edge) away, appeared in 7 of the 8 fragments from the first day of the first eradication. The distribution of age groups, genders and proportions of reproductively mature adults (more immature juvenile males and fewer fully mature old females) was different among marked rats compared with all other rats (P = 0.001, n = 509); in all rats caught on days 7+ of the first eradication compared with on days 1–6 (P = 0.000); and in the total sample collected in fragments by trapping to and after local extinction compared with in brief, fixed-schedule sampling of populations in continuous forests (P = 0.000). Genotyping of 493 carcases found no significant population-level differentiation among the 8 fragments, confirming that the rats in all fragments belonged to a single dynamic metapopulation. Marked rats of both genders travelled up to 600 m in a few days. Conservation of forest fragments is compromised by the problem that ship rats cannot be prevented from rapidly reinvading any cleared area after eradication.

text: Reinvasion by ship rats (Rattus rattus) of forest fragments after eradication Reinvasions provide prime examples of source-sink population dynamics, and are a major reason for failure of eradications of invasive rats from protected areas. Yet little is known about the origins and population structure of the replacement population compared with the original one. We eradicated eight populations of ship rats from separate podocarp- broadleaved forest fragments surrounded by open grassland (averaging 5.3 ha, scattered across 20,000 ha) in rural landscapes of Waikato, New Zealand, and monitored the- re-establishment of new populations. Rats were kill-trapped to extinction during January to April 2008, and then again after reinvasion in April–May (total n = 517). Rats carrying Rhodamine B dye (n = 94), available only in baits placed 1–2 months in advance in adjacent source areas located 170–380 m (average 228 m edge to edge) away, appeared in 7 of the 8 fragments from the first day of the first eradication. The distribution of age groups, genders and proportions of reproductively mature adults (more immature juvenile males and fewer fully mature old females) was different among marked rats compared with all other rats (P = 0.001, n = 509); in all rats caught on days 7+ of the first eradication compared with on days 1–6 (P = 0.000); and in the total sample collected in fragments by trapping to and after local extinction compared with in brief, fixed-schedule sampling of populations in continuous forests (P = 0.000). Genotyping of 493 carcases found no significant population-level differentiation among the 8 fragments, confirming that the rats in all fragments belonged to a single dynamic metapopulation. Marked rats of both genders travelled up to 600 m in a few days. Conservation of forest fragments is compromised by the problem that ship rats cannot be prevented from rapidly reinvading any cleared area after eradication.

year: 2011

title: The Research Data Landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand: A report undertaken in partnership with the Aotearoa New Zealand Committee on Data in Research (CoDiR)

authors: Sterling, Rogena

abstract: Data and datasets are often described as a core strategic asset for Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) and indispensable for the government’s ambition of being a small nation with an advanced, adaptive, and inclusive economy. In the context of our research, science and innovation (RSI) ecosystem, the value of data cannot be overstated. 
The purpose of this report is to provide a review (the Review) of Aotearoa’s research data landscape. Research data are data that are used as primary sources to support technical or scientific enquiry, research, or artistic activity; as evidence in the research process; and/or are commonly accepted in the
research community as necessary to provide a foundation for, or validate research findings and results. The Review covers four core areas:

• Te Tiriti o Waitangi and data sovereignty
• research data ecosystems
• research data infrastructure
• research data cultures.

Although informed by international data landscape reviews, this Review emphasises the unique considerations and structural features of the Aotearoa data landscape. Based on our analysis and observations from a series of targeted workshops, we provide a set of recommendations on how to strengthen the system and advance shared aspirations for better outcomes. The recommendations are organised under the five headings from Nosek’s Pyramid of Social Change, setting out a phased strategy for culture and behaviour change. In implementing these recommendations, we recognise that the articles of Te Tiriti should be embedded throughout, consistent with sector requirements (MBIE, 2023d).

text: The Research Data Landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand: A report undertaken in partnership with the Aotearoa New Zealand Committee on Data in Research (CoDiR) Data and datasets are often described as a core strategic asset for Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) and indispensable for the government’s ambition of being a small nation with an advanced, adaptive, and inclusive economy. In the context of our research, science and innovation (RSI) ecosystem, the value of data cannot be overstated. 
The purpose of this report is to provide a review (the Review) of Aotearoa’s research data landscape. Research data are data that are used as primary sources to support technical or scientific enquiry, research, or artistic activity; as evidence in the research process; and/or are commonly accepted in the
research community as necessary to provide a foundation for, or validate research findings and results. The Review covers four core areas:

• Te Tiriti o Waitangi and data sovereignty
• research data ecosystems
• research data infrastructure
• research data cultures.

Although informed by international data landscape reviews, this Review emphasises the unique considerations and structural features of the Aotearoa data landscape. Based on our analysis and observations from a series of targeted workshops, we provide a set of recommendations on how to strengthen the system and advance shared aspirations for better outcomes. The recommendations are organised under the five headings from Nosek’s Pyramid of Social Change, setting out a phased strategy for culture and behaviour change. In implementing these recommendations, we recognise that the articles of Te Tiriti should be embedded throughout, consistent with sector requirements (MBIE, 2023d).

year: 2023