title: Technology education teacher development in solomon islands: Enhancing teachers’ perceptions and classroom practices

authors: Sade, David

abstract: Technology education in the Solomon Islands is in the process of change with the curriculum being developed into a more broad technological literacy approach, comprising of technological knowledge, technological practices, and the nature of technology. This paper is based on a two-year study (2005 and 2006) with secondary technology education teachers in the Solomon Islands. The first year of the research revealed that technology teachers in the Solomon Islands held narrow perspectives of technology and technology education, with views centering on narrow technical aspects. Classroom practices were teacher-dominated and authoritarian. Most teaching approaches included rote learning. A professional development programme based on the principles of teacher reflection, teacher support, and on-going professional development was undertaken. Workshop days were interspersed with classroom practice. The programme focussed on developing teachers’ views of the nature of technology and learning in technology education, assisting teachers in planning for effective technology teaching and introducing the concept of assessment for effective technology learning. It impacted on teachers’ perceptions and classroom practices. Changes included the teachers’ perceptions of technology and technology education, the teachers’ teaching documents, the teaching pedagogy, the teachers’ assessment practices and the students’ learning styles.

text: Technology education teacher development in solomon islands: Enhancing teachers’ perceptions and classroom practices Technology education in the Solomon Islands is in the process of change with the curriculum being developed into a more broad technological literacy approach, comprising of technological knowledge, technological practices, and the nature of technology. This paper is based on a two-year study (2005 and 2006) with secondary technology education teachers in the Solomon Islands. The first year of the research revealed that technology teachers in the Solomon Islands held narrow perspectives of technology and technology education, with views centering on narrow technical aspects. Classroom practices were teacher-dominated and authoritarian. Most teaching approaches included rote learning. A professional development programme based on the principles of teacher reflection, teacher support, and on-going professional development was undertaken. Workshop days were interspersed with classroom practice. The programme focussed on developing teachers’ views of the nature of technology and learning in technology education, assisting teachers in planning for effective technology teaching and introducing the concept of assessment for effective technology learning. It impacted on teachers’ perceptions and classroom practices. Changes included the teachers’ perceptions of technology and technology education, the teachers’ teaching documents, the teaching pedagogy, the teachers’ assessment practices and the students’ learning styles.

year: 2007

title: Modelling and simulation: An overview

authors: McAleer, Michael

subjects: modelling

abstract: The papers in this special issue of Mathematics and Computers in Simulation cover the following topics: improving judgmental adjustment of model-based forecasts, whether forecast updates are progressive, on a constrained mixture vector autoregressive model, whether all estimators are born equal: the empirical properties of some estimators of long memory, characterising trader manipulation in a limit-order driven market, measuring bias in a term-structure model of commodity prices through the comparison of simultaneous and sequential estimation, modelling tail credit risk using transition matrices, evaluation of the DPC-based inclusive payment system in Japan for cataract operations by a new model, the matching of lead underwriters and issuing ﬁrms in the Japanese corporate bond market, stochastic life table forecasting: a time-simultaneous fan chart application, adaptive survey designs for sampling rare and clustered populations, income distribution inequality, globalization, and innovation: a general equilibrium simulation, whether exchange rates affect consumer prices: a comparative analysis for Australia, China and India, the impacts of exchange rates on Australia’s domestic and outbound travel markets, clean development mechanism in China: regional distribution and prospects, design and implementation of a Web-based groundwater data management system, the impact of serial correlation on testing for structural change in binary choice model: Monte Carlo evidence, and coercive journal self citations, impact factor, journal inﬂuence and article inﬂuence

text: Modelling and simulation: An overview The papers in this special issue of Mathematics and Computers in Simulation cover the following topics: improving judgmental adjustment of model-based forecasts, whether forecast updates are progressive, on a constrained mixture vector autoregressive model, whether all estimators are born equal: the empirical properties of some estimators of long memory, characterising trader manipulation in a limit-order driven market, measuring bias in a term-structure model of commodity prices through the comparison of simultaneous and sequential estimation, modelling tail credit risk using transition matrices, evaluation of the DPC-based inclusive payment system in Japan for cataract operations by a new model, the matching of lead underwriters and issuing ﬁrms in the Japanese corporate bond market, stochastic life table forecasting: a time-simultaneous fan chart application, adaptive survey designs for sampling rare and clustered populations, income distribution inequality, globalization, and innovation: a general equilibrium simulation, whether exchange rates affect consumer prices: a comparative analysis for Australia, China and India, the impacts of exchange rates on Australia’s domestic and outbound travel markets, clean development mechanism in China: regional distribution and prospects, design and implementation of a Web-based groundwater data management system, the impact of serial correlation on testing for structural change in binary choice model: Monte Carlo evidence, and coercive journal self citations, impact factor, journal inﬂuence and article inﬂuence

year: 2013

title: Activating belonging: Towards a critcial ensemble pedagogy

authors: Brown, Gaenor

abstract: Contemporary research shows school belonging as a key determinant of learner health and wellbeing. Teachers, and teaching practices, are pivotal in developing safe, supportive communities in which students can learn and thrive, where they can belong. In this thesis the high school drama education ensemble in Aotearoa New Zealand is presented as a site for the exploration and activation of belonging. Framed through a self-study of teacher education practice, using (S-STEP) methodology, the research reimagines ensemble pedagogy for dramatic inquiry process through a lens of critical belonging. The research opens with a contextual review of contemporary scholarship and evolving theories about school belonging and ensemble pedagogy, mapping how both fields are relationally, spatially and temporally situated. The contextual review highlights the importance of drama education and school belonging practices and pedagogies in the generation of transdisciplinary knowledge.

Six principles of practice for drama educators have been developed to support the activation of belonging, relating to Identity, Process, Provocation, Space and Place, Performativity and Reflexivity. These principles are informed by semi-structured interviews with participants experienced in ensemble-based teaching and learning, and by autoethnographic reflective responses prompted by interview dialogues. In this research autoethnography is identified as a form of wayfinding, a traditional Pacific concept, drawing on the mātauranga Māori concepts and values of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga, to weave affective, political and socio-ecological belonging into a critical perspective of ensemble practice.

The six principles of practice have been trialled in dramatic inquiry workshops, with pre- service drama educators, in a design incorporating process drama, image theatre and forum theatre. Drama conventions as boundary objects, bridging the fields of drama education and belonging, provide structure to the workshops, further informing development of the principles of practice. Through an ongoing dialogic cycle of workshop enactment, participant feedback and drama educator reflection, the principles are reassessed, redefined and refined.

This research argues for a critical ensemble pedagogy that makes space for the ensemble as both site and practice. The study advocates for a pedagogy which honours indigenous ways of knowing in drama education, catalyses creative expression and activates critical belonging.

text: Activating belonging: Towards a critcial ensemble pedagogy Contemporary research shows school belonging as a key determinant of learner health and wellbeing. Teachers, and teaching practices, are pivotal in developing safe, supportive communities in which students can learn and thrive, where they can belong. In this thesis the high school drama education ensemble in Aotearoa New Zealand is presented as a site for the exploration and activation of belonging. Framed through a self-study of teacher education practice, using (S-STEP) methodology, the research reimagines ensemble pedagogy for dramatic inquiry process through a lens of critical belonging. The research opens with a contextual review of contemporary scholarship and evolving theories about school belonging and ensemble pedagogy, mapping how both fields are relationally, spatially and temporally situated. The contextual review highlights the importance of drama education and school belonging practices and pedagogies in the generation of transdisciplinary knowledge.

Six principles of practice for drama educators have been developed to support the activation of belonging, relating to Identity, Process, Provocation, Space and Place, Performativity and Reflexivity. These principles are informed by semi-structured interviews with participants experienced in ensemble-based teaching and learning, and by autoethnographic reflective responses prompted by interview dialogues. In this research autoethnography is identified as a form of wayfinding, a traditional Pacific concept, drawing on the mātauranga Māori concepts and values of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga, to weave affective, political and socio-ecological belonging into a critical perspective of ensemble practice.

The six principles of practice have been trialled in dramatic inquiry workshops, with pre- service drama educators, in a design incorporating process drama, image theatre and forum theatre. Drama conventions as boundary objects, bridging the fields of drama education and belonging, provide structure to the workshops, further informing development of the principles of practice. Through an ongoing dialogic cycle of workshop enactment, participant feedback and drama educator reflection, the principles are reassessed, redefined and refined.

This research argues for a critical ensemble pedagogy that makes space for the ensemble as both site and practice. The study advocates for a pedagogy which honours indigenous ways of knowing in drama education, catalyses creative expression and activates critical belonging.

year: 2025