title: Lake Ohinewai pest fish removal

authors: Daniel, Adam Joshua

abstract: Most riverine lakes in the Waikato region have deteriorated from a macrophyte-dominated state to an algal-dominated state. Pest fish have further compounded water quality issues by resuspending nutrient-rich sediment and are believed to be a major barrier to water quality improvements. The University of Waikato has an ongoing programme funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Environment, to produce pest fish management tools for end users that include removing pest fish from five lakes as an objective. The goal of the fish removals is to test the assumption that removing pest fish will improve water quality. Lake Ohinewai was selected as one of the five lakes to attempt a pest fish removal in 2009 and the removal operation was scheduled for January 2011. The Department of Conservation
agreed to assist with funding for consumables and the construction of an experimental barrier to assist with the Lake Ohinewai removal project. University of Waikato staff began removing pest fish from Lake Ohinewai in January 2011 with the assistance of the Department of Conservation and volunteers. A one-way fish barrier was designed and installed during May 2011 to prevent adult pest fish from recolonising the lake.

text: Lake Ohinewai pest fish removal Most riverine lakes in the Waikato region have deteriorated from a macrophyte-dominated state to an algal-dominated state. Pest fish have further compounded water quality issues by resuspending nutrient-rich sediment and are believed to be a major barrier to water quality improvements. The University of Waikato has an ongoing programme funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Environment, to produce pest fish management tools for end users that include removing pest fish from five lakes as an objective. The goal of the fish removals is to test the assumption that removing pest fish will improve water quality. Lake Ohinewai was selected as one of the five lakes to attempt a pest fish removal in 2009 and the removal operation was scheduled for January 2011. The Department of Conservation
agreed to assist with funding for consumables and the construction of an experimental barrier to assist with the Lake Ohinewai removal project. University of Waikato staff began removing pest fish from Lake Ohinewai in January 2011 with the assistance of the Department of Conservation and volunteers. A one-way fish barrier was designed and installed during May 2011 to prevent adult pest fish from recolonising the lake.

year: 2011-05-25

title: “The experiences I give them, that is going to be their opinion” : Formative assessment through dialogue in Technology Education

authors: Rangarajan, Swathi Rama

subjects: Interactive Formative Assessment

abstract: The purpose of the formative assessment is for the teacher to recognise the student’s learning and guide the student to the next step in their learning. This study focuses on Interactive Formative Assessment (IFA), which is formative assessment through dialogue. IFA through dialogue is especially critical in a subject like Technology Education (TE) where students design and develop products based on a given design brief. As every student is developing something independently, formal whole-class test may not be effective for formative assessment. Formative assessment in TE is carried out mainly through dialogue. However, to participate in a dialogue, the teacher needs to plan open, high-cognitive questions that can encourage dialogue. Technology Observation and Conversation Framework (TOCF) (Fox-Turnbull, 2018) was identified as a framework of high-cognitive questions specially designed for a technology classroom. In this study, the TOCF was modified for use as a formative assessment tool and is called Questioning
Framework for Technology - Primary (QFT-P). This study, thus, contributes to the research in formative assessment and dialogue in TE in primary schools - two areas that have limited research to date. This research addresses the research gap in the process of IFA in TE, teacher beliefs and knowledge for conducting IFA, and student learning through participating in the IFA dialogue.
In this qualitative, pragmatic, design-based research, the QFT-P was aligned with the New Zealand curriculum and provided to two primary teachers teaching Year 5-6 (ages 9-10). Design-based research has dual aims - implementing a resource in a naturalistic environment and understanding the theory behind the implementation process. In this research, 175 hours of classroom observations and 35 hours of audio-recording of teacher-student dialogue were the main sources of data. Interviews, video-recording,and photographs of classroom artefacts and student work were other sources of data. Teacher’s experiences with using the QFT-P dictated the iterations of the formative assessment tool.
The findings showed that the teachers used the QFT-P as a formative assessment tool and were able to have a deep and rich dialogue with the students. Through the dialogue, teachers were able to recognise student learning and guide them to the next step in their learning. Based on analysis of dialogue in the classroom, the existing model of IFA was expanded by the addition of two steps - Student action and Teacher follow-up and conceptualised as a spiral. IFA is recognised to be a complex process due to the teacher managing the spiral for multiple students at the same time. Teachers showed implicit knowledge about TE that they were not always able to translate into teaching TE. Teachers’ beliefs about the importance of student’s voice and teachers’ content knowledge of TE were important to conduct an effective IFA. When participating in IFA, students showed concrete learning in many of the curriculum objectives and teacher’s priority objectives. However, students did not always implement their feedback and it was seen in this study that if the feedback was not implemented within the next lesson, there was a loss of opportunity for the associated learning.
This thesis brings new insights in the field of IFA and formative assessment in TE and offers a formative assessment tool in the form of the QFT-P for primary, technology teachers.

text: “The experiences I give them, that is going to be their opinion” : Formative assessment through dialogue in Technology Education The purpose of the formative assessment is for the teacher to recognise the student’s learning and guide the student to the next step in their learning. This study focuses on Interactive Formative Assessment (IFA), which is formative assessment through dialogue. IFA through dialogue is especially critical in a subject like Technology Education (TE) where students design and develop products based on a given design brief. As every student is developing something independently, formal whole-class test may not be effective for formative assessment. Formative assessment in TE is carried out mainly through dialogue. However, to participate in a dialogue, the teacher needs to plan open, high-cognitive questions that can encourage dialogue. Technology Observation and Conversation Framework (TOCF) (Fox-Turnbull, 2018) was identified as a framework of high-cognitive questions specially designed for a technology classroom. In this study, the TOCF was modified for use as a formative assessment tool and is called Questioning
Framework for Technology - Primary (QFT-P). This study, thus, contributes to the research in formative assessment and dialogue in TE in primary schools - two areas that have limited research to date. This research addresses the research gap in the process of IFA in TE, teacher beliefs and knowledge for conducting IFA, and student learning through participating in the IFA dialogue.
In this qualitative, pragmatic, design-based research, the QFT-P was aligned with the New Zealand curriculum and provided to two primary teachers teaching Year 5-6 (ages 9-10). Design-based research has dual aims - implementing a resource in a naturalistic environment and understanding the theory behind the implementation process. In this research, 175 hours of classroom observations and 35 hours of audio-recording of teacher-student dialogue were the main sources of data. Interviews, video-recording,and photographs of classroom artefacts and student work were other sources of data. Teacher’s experiences with using the QFT-P dictated the iterations of the formative assessment tool.
The findings showed that the teachers used the QFT-P as a formative assessment tool and were able to have a deep and rich dialogue with the students. Through the dialogue, teachers were able to recognise student learning and guide them to the next step in their learning. Based on analysis of dialogue in the classroom, the existing model of IFA was expanded by the addition of two steps - Student action and Teacher follow-up and conceptualised as a spiral. IFA is recognised to be a complex process due to the teacher managing the spiral for multiple students at the same time. Teachers showed implicit knowledge about TE that they were not always able to translate into teaching TE. Teachers’ beliefs about the importance of student’s voice and teachers’ content knowledge of TE were important to conduct an effective IFA. When participating in IFA, students showed concrete learning in many of the curriculum objectives and teacher’s priority objectives. However, students did not always implement their feedback and it was seen in this study that if the feedback was not implemented within the next lesson, there was a loss of opportunity for the associated learning.
This thesis brings new insights in the field of IFA and formative assessment in TE and offers a formative assessment tool in the form of the QFT-P for primary, technology teachers.

year: 2022

title: Te Whariki revisited: How approaches to assessment can make valued learning visible

authors: McLachlan, Claire

abstract: In 2016, Te Whariki: He Whariki Matauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Te Whariki) (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017), New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum was updated for the first time in 20 years. Although the gazetted principles, strands and goals of the curriculum were not part of the update, the remainder of the curriculum was revised to meet the changing social and linguistic context, the revised national curriculum and associated documents, reviews of early childhood practice and relevant theory and research. The updated curriculum has reduced learning outcomes (from 118 to 20) and stronger guidance on the need for both informal and formal approaches to assessment to ensure children’s learning in each strand are assessed. This article reflects on the changes between the 1996 and 2017 version of the curriculum in relation to assessment and the rationale for the changes. Approaches to both ‘in the moment’ and planned assessment are explored and the usefulness of approaches which enable teachers to reflect on ‘discrepant data’ and support children’s learning in each strand are examined.

text: Te Whariki revisited: How approaches to assessment can make valued learning visible In 2016, Te Whariki: He Whariki Matauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Te Whariki) (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017), New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum was updated for the first time in 20 years. Although the gazetted principles, strands and goals of the curriculum were not part of the update, the remainder of the curriculum was revised to meet the changing social and linguistic context, the revised national curriculum and associated documents, reviews of early childhood practice and relevant theory and research. The updated curriculum has reduced learning outcomes (from 118 to 20) and stronger guidance on the need for both informal and formal approaches to assessment to ensure children’s learning in each strand are assessed. This article reflects on the changes between the 1996 and 2017 version of the curriculum in relation to assessment and the rationale for the changes. Approaches to both ‘in the moment’ and planned assessment are explored and the usefulness of approaches which enable teachers to reflect on ‘discrepant data’ and support children’s learning in each strand are examined.

year: 2018