title: The importance of culture in a New Zealand high school context: An exploration of whether the culture of overseas teachers is seen by students, in Years 12 and 13, to impact on the quality of their learning experiences.

authors: Mitchell, Iain

subjects: overseas teachers

abstract: New Zealand education has long been dependent on overseas teachers to fill vacancies in the secondary school system. Historically this supply of teachers tended to be from the UK, but as we move into the 21st century, the supply of teachers is now from a much wider group of countries. The focus of this work was to explore whether the multicultural nature of this workforce does have an impact on the learning experience of New Zealand students. The need for cultural responsiveness from both teachers and students is an important factor in classroom communication and teacher effectiveness. Although there is a large body of research on cultural responsiveness within New Zealand schools, there
has been little research on the student's perceptions of overseas teachers' levels of
cultural responsiveness. I believe that there is a need to study this aspect of the education system, given that the overseas teaching group make up a considerable percentage of teachers in the New Zealand secondary school system. The 30 students taking part in this study had experience of being taught by both New Zealand and overseas teachers and were from three high schools situated in a relatively isolated region of New Zealand. The questions asked of the students
were in the form of a taped, semi-structured group interview, undertaken at the students' respective schools. The interviews focused on the students' experiences and beliefs on the quality of their learning experience. Overall, the teacher's cultural responsiveness was found to be most important to the quality of the student-teacher relationship. A secondary factor emerging was the students report that clarity was the aspect that impacted the most on the quality
of individual lessons. The study adds to existing understanding of the importance of culture within the New Zealand classroom. While this study used students from the general student body rather than a specific ethnic group, the findings supported recent research undertaken with such specific ethnic groups.

text: The importance of culture in a New Zealand high school context: An exploration of whether the culture of overseas teachers is seen by students, in Years 12 and 13, to impact on the quality of their learning experiences. New Zealand education has long been dependent on overseas teachers to fill vacancies in the secondary school system. Historically this supply of teachers tended to be from the UK, but as we move into the 21st century, the supply of teachers is now from a much wider group of countries. The focus of this work was to explore whether the multicultural nature of this workforce does have an impact on the learning experience of New Zealand students. The need for cultural responsiveness from both teachers and students is an important factor in classroom communication and teacher effectiveness. Although there is a large body of research on cultural responsiveness within New Zealand schools, there
has been little research on the student's perceptions of overseas teachers' levels of
cultural responsiveness. I believe that there is a need to study this aspect of the education system, given that the overseas teaching group make up a considerable percentage of teachers in the New Zealand secondary school system. The 30 students taking part in this study had experience of being taught by both New Zealand and overseas teachers and were from three high schools situated in a relatively isolated region of New Zealand. The questions asked of the students
were in the form of a taped, semi-structured group interview, undertaken at the students' respective schools. The interviews focused on the students' experiences and beliefs on the quality of their learning experience. Overall, the teacher's cultural responsiveness was found to be most important to the quality of the student-teacher relationship. A secondary factor emerging was the students report that clarity was the aspect that impacted the most on the quality
of individual lessons. The study adds to existing understanding of the importance of culture within the New Zealand classroom. While this study used students from the general student body rather than a specific ethnic group, the findings supported recent research undertaken with such specific ethnic groups.

year: 2010

title: Stochastic and deterministic effects of a moisture gradient on soil microbial communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica

authors: Lee, Kevin C.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Antarctic soil supports surface microbial communities that are dependent on ephemeral moisture. Understanding the response to availability of this resource is essential to predicting how the system will respond to climate change. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the largest ice-free soil region in Antarctica. They are a hyper-arid polar desert with extremely limited moisture availability. Microbial colonization dominates this ecosystem but surprisingly little is known about how communities respond to changing moisture regimes. We utilized the natural model system provided by transiently wetted soil at lake margins in the Dry Valleys to interrogate microbial responses along a well-defined contiguous moisture gradient and disentangle responses between and within phyla. We identified a striking non-linear response among bacteria where at low moisture levels small changes resulted in a large impact on diversity. At higher moister levels community responses were less pronounced, resulting in diversity asymptotes. We postulate that whilst the main drivers of observed community diversity were deterministic, a switch in the major influence occurred from abiotic factors at low moisture levels to biotic interactions at higher moisture. Response between and within phyla was markedly different, highlighting the importance of taxonomic resolution in community analysis. Furthermore, we resolved apparent stochasticity at high taxonomic ranks as the result of deterministic interactions taking place at finer taxonomic and spatial scales. Overall the findings provide new insight on the response to moisture and this will be useful in advancing understanding of potential ecosystem responses in the threatened McMurdo Dry Valleys system.

text: Stochastic and deterministic effects of a moisture gradient on soil microbial communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica Antarctic soil supports surface microbial communities that are dependent on ephemeral moisture. Understanding the response to availability of this resource is essential to predicting how the system will respond to climate change. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the largest ice-free soil region in Antarctica. They are a hyper-arid polar desert with extremely limited moisture availability. Microbial colonization dominates this ecosystem but surprisingly little is known about how communities respond to changing moisture regimes. We utilized the natural model system provided by transiently wetted soil at lake margins in the Dry Valleys to interrogate microbial responses along a well-defined contiguous moisture gradient and disentangle responses between and within phyla. We identified a striking non-linear response among bacteria where at low moisture levels small changes resulted in a large impact on diversity. At higher moister levels community responses were less pronounced, resulting in diversity asymptotes. We postulate that whilst the main drivers of observed community diversity were deterministic, a switch in the major influence occurred from abiotic factors at low moisture levels to biotic interactions at higher moisture. Response between and within phyla was markedly different, highlighting the importance of taxonomic resolution in community analysis. Furthermore, we resolved apparent stochasticity at high taxonomic ranks as the result of deterministic interactions taking place at finer taxonomic and spatial scales. Overall the findings provide new insight on the response to moisture and this will be useful in advancing understanding of potential ecosystem responses in the threatened McMurdo Dry Valleys system.

year: 2018

title: Tā Pikitia Hei Āwhina Kōrero  Collaborative Drawing and Storying

authors: Kururangi, Aorere Helen Mary

subjects: collaborative drawing and storying

abstract: Creating a Māori medium context for beginning learners of te reo Māori to converse in genuine dialogue, was a real challenge for our mainstream bilingual unit. This study involved six Year 3-5 primary school students working in two groups of three. The bilingual unit is in a contributing school in an urban setting.

The teacher, a second language learner herself, found students seldom initiated any spontaneous Māori dialogue and tended to respond only to questions or formal teacher initiated direction. So the project sought to develop and explore the approach Tā Pikitia hei āwhina kōrero or Collaborative Drawing and Storying, to improve Children's Oral Language Acquisition in Māori, using a socially responsive approach (Glynn, Wearmouth,  Berryman, 2006)
 
This method encouraged students to initiate, respond and share their own learning in a social and interactive community of learners. The method also allowed students the freedom to generate conversations about their own interests, ideas and background experiences without teacher intervention or direction. The only requirement was me kōrero Māori i nga wā katoa (speak Māori all the time). A collaborative picture was created as each group of students quickly illustrated their ideas on a large piece of paper.

 Each student was pre tested and post tested using the Aromatawai Reo A Waha  - Kia Tere Tonu  (Berryman  Langdon, 2001).This test assessed each student's Māori vocabulary knowledge and their ability to speak spontaneously about a familiar item. The daily conversations created by each student group involved Tā Pikitia hei āwhina  kōrero was recorded on tape, then transcribed verbatim each day to assess changes over time. 

 Student ownership of the learning and their positive participation resulted in improved language outcomes. At the end of the ten week period there were encouraging gains in the post test, Aromatawai Reo A Waha - Kīanga or spontaneous phrases students were able to generate. Furthermore an improved ability to focus on an oral task, and improved engagement by the students were unexpected positive outcomes of this easy to implement activity.

text: Tā Pikitia Hei Āwhina Kōrero  Collaborative Drawing and Storying Creating a Māori medium context for beginning learners of te reo Māori to converse in genuine dialogue, was a real challenge for our mainstream bilingual unit. This study involved six Year 3-5 primary school students working in two groups of three. The bilingual unit is in a contributing school in an urban setting.

The teacher, a second language learner herself, found students seldom initiated any spontaneous Māori dialogue and tended to respond only to questions or formal teacher initiated direction. So the project sought to develop and explore the approach Tā Pikitia hei āwhina kōrero or Collaborative Drawing and Storying, to improve Children's Oral Language Acquisition in Māori, using a socially responsive approach (Glynn, Wearmouth,  Berryman, 2006)
 
This method encouraged students to initiate, respond and share their own learning in a social and interactive community of learners. The method also allowed students the freedom to generate conversations about their own interests, ideas and background experiences without teacher intervention or direction. The only requirement was me kōrero Māori i nga wā katoa (speak Māori all the time). A collaborative picture was created as each group of students quickly illustrated their ideas on a large piece of paper.

 Each student was pre tested and post tested using the Aromatawai Reo A Waha  - Kia Tere Tonu  (Berryman  Langdon, 2001).This test assessed each student's Māori vocabulary knowledge and their ability to speak spontaneously about a familiar item. The daily conversations created by each student group involved Tā Pikitia hei āwhina  kōrero was recorded on tape, then transcribed verbatim each day to assess changes over time. 

 Student ownership of the learning and their positive participation resulted in improved language outcomes. At the end of the ten week period there were encouraging gains in the post test, Aromatawai Reo A Waha - Kīanga or spontaneous phrases students were able to generate. Furthermore an improved ability to focus on an oral task, and improved engagement by the students were unexpected positive outcomes of this easy to implement activity.

year: 2008