title: The Nature of Conversation of Primary Students in Technology Education: Implications for Teaching and Learning

authors: Fox-Turnbull, Wendy

subjects: Technology Education

abstract: Classroom conversations are core to establishing successful learning for students. This research explored the nature of conversation in technology education in the primary classroom and the implications for teaching and learning. Over a year, two units of work in technology were taught in two primary classrooms. Most data was gathered in Round 2 during the implementation of the second unit titled ‘Props for the School Production’. It used qualitative methodology and an ethnographic approach using participant observations, Stimulated Recall interviews with autophotography, semi-structured interviews with participants and their teachers, and students’ work samples, to develop a rich description of classroom conversation in technology. 
Initial data identified four significant stages of learning within the second technology unit; these included Stage 1 Character and Function, Stage 2 Planning, Stage 3 Mock-up and Stage 4 Construction. Four over-arching elements of conversation, each with various sub elements, were identified as flowing through the classroom conversations. These were Funds of Knowledge, Making Connections and Links, Management of Learning, and Technology Knowledge and Skills. These elements describe the sources and the purpose of conversation. For example, conversations identified as Funds of Knowledge showed students brought knowledge and or skills learned from home and their community to their technology learning. In Making Connections and Links, students implemented knowledge from school based learning. Management of Learning included classroom conversations initiated by both teachers and students, which enhanced or managed students’ learning in some way. In the fourth element, technological knowledge and skills learned were evidenced. 
Further analysis of the elements identified three over-arching themes of conversations. The first, ‘Deployment’, describes knowledge and skills brought by students to their technological practice and included the elements Funds of Knowledge and Making Connections and Links. The second, ‘Conduit’, described techniques and strategies used by teachers and students to maximise learning opportunities acting as a conduit between other knowledge and technological knowledge, and was mainly situated within the Management of Learning element. The third theme, ‘Knowledge’, showed the exact nature of technology learning obtained by the students though the bringing together of the first two themes, rather like a set of interconnected cogs.
The study makes a significant contribution to understanding how students learn in technology education. It develops current understanding of the nature of talk and the role it plays in learning technology. It also presents new findings on the Funds of Knowledge students bring to technology and it challenges existing findings on students’ ability to transfer knowledge from one domain to other. Finally, it identifies a gap in existing research into students’ abilities to investigate and select appropriate materials for intermediate and final outcomes.

text: The Nature of Conversation of Primary Students in Technology Education: Implications for Teaching and Learning Classroom conversations are core to establishing successful learning for students. This research explored the nature of conversation in technology education in the primary classroom and the implications for teaching and learning. Over a year, two units of work in technology were taught in two primary classrooms. Most data was gathered in Round 2 during the implementation of the second unit titled ‘Props for the School Production’. It used qualitative methodology and an ethnographic approach using participant observations, Stimulated Recall interviews with autophotography, semi-structured interviews with participants and their teachers, and students’ work samples, to develop a rich description of classroom conversation in technology. 
Initial data identified four significant stages of learning within the second technology unit; these included Stage 1 Character and Function, Stage 2 Planning, Stage 3 Mock-up and Stage 4 Construction. Four over-arching elements of conversation, each with various sub elements, were identified as flowing through the classroom conversations. These were Funds of Knowledge, Making Connections and Links, Management of Learning, and Technology Knowledge and Skills. These elements describe the sources and the purpose of conversation. For example, conversations identified as Funds of Knowledge showed students brought knowledge and or skills learned from home and their community to their technology learning. In Making Connections and Links, students implemented knowledge from school based learning. Management of Learning included classroom conversations initiated by both teachers and students, which enhanced or managed students’ learning in some way. In the fourth element, technological knowledge and skills learned were evidenced. 
Further analysis of the elements identified three over-arching themes of conversations. The first, ‘Deployment’, describes knowledge and skills brought by students to their technological practice and included the elements Funds of Knowledge and Making Connections and Links. The second, ‘Conduit’, described techniques and strategies used by teachers and students to maximise learning opportunities acting as a conduit between other knowledge and technological knowledge, and was mainly situated within the Management of Learning element. The third theme, ‘Knowledge’, showed the exact nature of technology learning obtained by the students though the bringing together of the first two themes, rather like a set of interconnected cogs.
The study makes a significant contribution to understanding how students learn in technology education. It develops current understanding of the nature of talk and the role it plays in learning technology. It also presents new findings on the Funds of Knowledge students bring to technology and it challenges existing findings on students’ ability to transfer knowledge from one domain to other. Finally, it identifies a gap in existing research into students’ abilities to investigate and select appropriate materials for intermediate and final outcomes.

year: 2013

title: The potential for Charophyte re-establishment in large, shallow, eutrophic lakes with special reference to Lake Waikare, New Zealand.

authors: Hopkins, Aareka

subjects: lake restoration

abstract: Lake Waikare is a large, shallow eutrophic lake devoid of submerged macrophytes. I investigated potential methods for re-establishing submerged macrophytes in the lake. Specifically, I subjected charophyte (Chara corallina) plantlets to two treatments of exposure in the lake (in areas exposed and sheltered from wind) to test for survival and growth under these conditions, and inside and outside fish exclosures to test for growth and survival in the presence of fish. 

While plantlets grew outside the exclosures in winter, their accumulated biomass over 21 days was less than protected plantlets. In winter, the accumulated biomass was lower outside than inside exclosures (by ~40%) at the sheltered site and was lower outside than inside exclosures (by 43%) at the exposed site. Overall, growth rates in winter were higher at the sheltered site (compared to the exposed site) by ~7%. In summer, charophyte accumulated biomass inside the exclosures increased by 85%, while at the sheltered site accumulated biomass increased by 58%. Outside the exclosures in summer the plantlets were completely removed at both sites. Overall, growth rates where higher at the exposed site than the sheltered site by 31%. Fish were responsible for the partial removal of plantlets in winter and total removal of plantlets in summer, and therefore affect the survival and growth of charophytes in Lake Waikare. The embayment at the sheltered site provides the best location in winter for re-establishment of charophytes from oospores because better growth rates were obtained there, and its sheltered location provides protection from severe wave action found at the exposed site. Oospores did not germinate after being submersed in the lake for 90 days due to heavy sedimentation.

To induce an improvement in the present light climate, Alum was tested to determine its effectiveness and longevity for settling lake sediments to allow charophytes to establish and grow. Examining the settling rates of Lake Waikare sediments and water treated with Alum over a range of suspended sediment concentrations and time intervals, sediments settled faster with Alum than without for at least 15 days (at 200 g l^1 suspended sediment concentration) and it remained active to 60 days but at reduced effectiveness. At the other concentrations tested (100 g l^1 and 300 g l^1 suspended sediment concentration), Alum responses were insignificant.

An improved light climate achieved by fish removal or Alum treatment will likely not be sufficient to permit the re-establishment of submerged macrophytes due to the turbid, algal-dominated state of the lake. The present nutrient and sediment levels, wave climate and fish influence must be mitigated so charophyte plantlets can be established.

text: The potential for Charophyte re-establishment in large, shallow, eutrophic lakes with special reference to Lake Waikare, New Zealand. Lake Waikare is a large, shallow eutrophic lake devoid of submerged macrophytes. I investigated potential methods for re-establishing submerged macrophytes in the lake. Specifically, I subjected charophyte (Chara corallina) plantlets to two treatments of exposure in the lake (in areas exposed and sheltered from wind) to test for survival and growth under these conditions, and inside and outside fish exclosures to test for growth and survival in the presence of fish. 

While plantlets grew outside the exclosures in winter, their accumulated biomass over 21 days was less than protected plantlets. In winter, the accumulated biomass was lower outside than inside exclosures (by ~40%) at the sheltered site and was lower outside than inside exclosures (by 43%) at the exposed site. Overall, growth rates in winter were higher at the sheltered site (compared to the exposed site) by ~7%. In summer, charophyte accumulated biomass inside the exclosures increased by 85%, while at the sheltered site accumulated biomass increased by 58%. Outside the exclosures in summer the plantlets were completely removed at both sites. Overall, growth rates where higher at the exposed site than the sheltered site by 31%. Fish were responsible for the partial removal of plantlets in winter and total removal of plantlets in summer, and therefore affect the survival and growth of charophytes in Lake Waikare. The embayment at the sheltered site provides the best location in winter for re-establishment of charophytes from oospores because better growth rates were obtained there, and its sheltered location provides protection from severe wave action found at the exposed site. Oospores did not germinate after being submersed in the lake for 90 days due to heavy sedimentation.

To induce an improvement in the present light climate, Alum was tested to determine its effectiveness and longevity for settling lake sediments to allow charophytes to establish and grow. Examining the settling rates of Lake Waikare sediments and water treated with Alum over a range of suspended sediment concentrations and time intervals, sediments settled faster with Alum than without for at least 15 days (at 200 g l^1 suspended sediment concentration) and it remained active to 60 days but at reduced effectiveness. At the other concentrations tested (100 g l^1 and 300 g l^1 suspended sediment concentration), Alum responses were insignificant.

An improved light climate achieved by fish removal or Alum treatment will likely not be sufficient to permit the re-establishment of submerged macrophytes due to the turbid, algal-dominated state of the lake. The present nutrient and sediment levels, wave climate and fish influence must be mitigated so charophyte plantlets can be established.

year: 2006

title: Place imaginaries: Photography and place-making at Te Awa River Ride

authors: Hill, Rodrigo

subjects: photography

abstract: Contemporary photographic practice has evolved into a field of possibilities, which includes a flux of representational modes that depict experiences, feelings and emotions. This PhD with Creative Practice Components investigates how photography is embedded within ways of knowing, experiencing and making places and the subsequent visual constructions of place imaginaries.  Drawing on contemporary photographic practice and theory, I position myself as a qualitative researcher engaged in creative practice, specifically lens-based approaches and modes of photographic representation. In contrast to photography’s dominant discourse centred on indexical and objective assumptions, I understand photographic practices and images as constructions of multiple meanings.

I use Te Awa River Ride as my research locale, a place where different practices and discourses entangle, forming a diverse set of dynamic and intersecting meanings. Te Awa River Ride is a shared pathway, with a planned total length of 70 kilometres, that edges the banks of the Waikato River from Ngāruawāhia to Cambridge, in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. I understand Te Awa River Ride as a place-composite, layered by multiple place imaginaries, including indigenous Māori, Pākehā and European ways of meaning and place-making. In this thesis I draw upon place imaginaries as a way of expressing visual possibilities, constructions and affective responses to my own and others’ experiences at this unique research location. 

My photography practice aims to actualise particular place imaginaries through curation and sequencing of lens-based explorations of light, movement and water. This process and the compilation of imagery into curatorial products, such as photography installations, generate novel ways of perceiving the Waikato River and Te Awa River Ride, revealing the centrality of photography in place-making processes.

text: Place imaginaries: Photography and place-making at Te Awa River Ride Contemporary photographic practice has evolved into a field of possibilities, which includes a flux of representational modes that depict experiences, feelings and emotions. This PhD with Creative Practice Components investigates how photography is embedded within ways of knowing, experiencing and making places and the subsequent visual constructions of place imaginaries.  Drawing on contemporary photographic practice and theory, I position myself as a qualitative researcher engaged in creative practice, specifically lens-based approaches and modes of photographic representation. In contrast to photography’s dominant discourse centred on indexical and objective assumptions, I understand photographic practices and images as constructions of multiple meanings.

I use Te Awa River Ride as my research locale, a place where different practices and discourses entangle, forming a diverse set of dynamic and intersecting meanings. Te Awa River Ride is a shared pathway, with a planned total length of 70 kilometres, that edges the banks of the Waikato River from Ngāruawāhia to Cambridge, in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. I understand Te Awa River Ride as a place-composite, layered by multiple place imaginaries, including indigenous Māori, Pākehā and European ways of meaning and place-making. In this thesis I draw upon place imaginaries as a way of expressing visual possibilities, constructions and affective responses to my own and others’ experiences at this unique research location. 

My photography practice aims to actualise particular place imaginaries through curation and sequencing of lens-based explorations of light, movement and water. This process and the compilation of imagery into curatorial products, such as photography installations, generate novel ways of perceiving the Waikato River and Te Awa River Ride, revealing the centrality of photography in place-making processes.

year: 2019