title: The use of Learning Stories as assessment in primary schools

authors: King, Amanda Jane

subjects: Learning Stories

abstract: New Zealand primary school teachers have shown interest in implementing learning through play programmes, and alongside this developing teaching pedagogy teachers are seeking an assessment method that appropriately aligns with the holistic nature of play.  Learning Stories, commonly used in New Zealand Early Childhood Education settings (Mitchell, 2008), are formative assessment documents used to assess observed learning during play.  Some primary school teachers with learning through play programmes have also started using Learning Stories to assess learning and progress of students.
Using a Sociocultural lens, this qualitative research explored how teachers from three New Zealand primary schools are using Learning Stories assessment.  Undertaken as an appreciative inquiry, this research, grounded in an interpretivist paradigm, used a multiple case study approach, collecting evidence through semi-structured interviews and gathering relevant documentation to investigate how the participant teachers from three case study primary schools were using Learning Stories.  
The research provides an insight into the participants’ views about the use of Learning Stories in their primary school settings.  There is little existing research about the use of Learning Stories in primary schools and this research provides interested educators with some of the benefits for using Learning Stories in a primary school context.  Key findings within this research indicate that Learning Stories are an effective way to assess both dispositional and academic progress, for highlighting learner strengths, and providing a framework to assess progress over time.

text: The use of Learning Stories as assessment in primary schools New Zealand primary school teachers have shown interest in implementing learning through play programmes, and alongside this developing teaching pedagogy teachers are seeking an assessment method that appropriately aligns with the holistic nature of play.  Learning Stories, commonly used in New Zealand Early Childhood Education settings (Mitchell, 2008), are formative assessment documents used to assess observed learning during play.  Some primary school teachers with learning through play programmes have also started using Learning Stories to assess learning and progress of students.
Using a Sociocultural lens, this qualitative research explored how teachers from three New Zealand primary schools are using Learning Stories assessment.  Undertaken as an appreciative inquiry, this research, grounded in an interpretivist paradigm, used a multiple case study approach, collecting evidence through semi-structured interviews and gathering relevant documentation to investigate how the participant teachers from three case study primary schools were using Learning Stories.  
The research provides an insight into the participants’ views about the use of Learning Stories in their primary school settings.  There is little existing research about the use of Learning Stories in primary schools and this research provides interested educators with some of the benefits for using Learning Stories in a primary school context.  Key findings within this research indicate that Learning Stories are an effective way to assess both dispositional and academic progress, for highlighting learner strengths, and providing a framework to assess progress over time.

year: 2021

title: Bio-informational capitalism

authors: Peters, Michael A.

subjects: Biocapitalism

abstract: This essay builds on the literatures on ‘biocapitalism’ and ‘informationalism’ (or ‘informational capitalism’) to develop the concept of ‘bio-informational capitalism’ in order to articulate an emergent form of capitalism that is self-renewing in the sense that it canchange and renew the material basis for life and capital as well as program itself. Bioinformational capitalism applies and develops aspects of the new biology to informaticsto create new organic forms of computing and self-reproducing memory that in turn has become the basis of bioinformatics. The paper begins with a review of the successes ofthe ‘new biology’, focusing on Craig Venter’s digitizing of biology and, as he remarks, the creation of new life from the digital universe. The paper then provides a brief account of bioinformatics before brokering and discussing the term ‘bioinformational capitalism’

text: Bio-informational capitalism This essay builds on the literatures on ‘biocapitalism’ and ‘informationalism’ (or ‘informational capitalism’) to develop the concept of ‘bio-informational capitalism’ in order to articulate an emergent form of capitalism that is self-renewing in the sense that it canchange and renew the material basis for life and capital as well as program itself. Bioinformational capitalism applies and develops aspects of the new biology to informaticsto create new organic forms of computing and self-reproducing memory that in turn has become the basis of bioinformatics. The paper begins with a review of the successes ofthe ‘new biology’, focusing on Craig Venter’s digitizing of biology and, as he remarks, the creation of new life from the digital universe. The paper then provides a brief account of bioinformatics before brokering and discussing the term ‘bioinformational capitalism’

year: 2012

title: The chronology of Waikato pā: A spatio-temporal investigation of pā in the middle Waikato basin

authors: McBride, Rowan

subjects: pā

abstract: This study considers the chronology of pā construction, proliferation, and development within the 
Middle Waikato Basin through a spatio-temporal investigation of palisade construction activity as 
identified at six pā (fortified places). The chronological approach applied in this thesis uses 14C 
wiggle-match dating to provide an accurate and precise calendar date for the felling of a tree 
(Felling Date) used to construct a palisade defence at a pā. These Felling Dates are interpreted using 
the theory of time perspectivism, focusing on three distinct scales of analysis: Event, Local, and 
Regional. The event scale of analysis successfully produced twenty high-precision felling dates on 
posts recovered from Lake Mangakaware 1 (MA1), Lake Mangakaware 2 (MA2), Lake Mangahia 
(MGA), Taraheke Pā (TAR), Te Uapata Pā (TEU) and Lake Rotokauri (ROT). The local scale 
analysis utilised these felling dates to track the development of the identified palisade defences 
over time, identifying multiple palisade construction phases, representing construction, repair and 
redevelopment episodes at MA1, MA2, MGA, TAR and TEU. Finally, the regional scale analysis 
integrated this evidence into a broader chronological framework, identifying shared episodes of 
palisade construction activity within the Middle Waikato Basin. This analysis highlights three 
critical periods of proposed socio-political stress and stability between the late fifteenth and early 
nineteenth centuries, related to hypothesised influential variables from the broader cultural and 
archaeological landscape that are proposed to be responsible for the emergence, proliferation and 
development of pā over time.

text: The chronology of Waikato pā: A spatio-temporal investigation of pā in the middle Waikato basin This study considers the chronology of pā construction, proliferation, and development within the 
Middle Waikato Basin through a spatio-temporal investigation of palisade construction activity as 
identified at six pā (fortified places). The chronological approach applied in this thesis uses 14C 
wiggle-match dating to provide an accurate and precise calendar date for the felling of a tree 
(Felling Date) used to construct a palisade defence at a pā. These Felling Dates are interpreted using 
the theory of time perspectivism, focusing on three distinct scales of analysis: Event, Local, and 
Regional. The event scale of analysis successfully produced twenty high-precision felling dates on 
posts recovered from Lake Mangakaware 1 (MA1), Lake Mangakaware 2 (MA2), Lake Mangahia 
(MGA), Taraheke Pā (TAR), Te Uapata Pā (TEU) and Lake Rotokauri (ROT). The local scale 
analysis utilised these felling dates to track the development of the identified palisade defences 
over time, identifying multiple palisade construction phases, representing construction, repair and 
redevelopment episodes at MA1, MA2, MGA, TAR and TEU. Finally, the regional scale analysis 
integrated this evidence into a broader chronological framework, identifying shared episodes of 
palisade construction activity within the Middle Waikato Basin. This analysis highlights three 
critical periods of proposed socio-political stress and stability between the late fifteenth and early 
nineteenth centuries, related to hypothesised influential variables from the broader cultural and 
archaeological landscape that are proposed to be responsible for the emergence, proliferation and 
development of pā over time.

year: 2024