title: Introduction to special issue: Mobile technologies and learning

authors: Calder, Nigel Stuart

abstract: The ways that mobile technologies are used for learning needs to be examined. Mobile technologies are a relatively recent addition to the way we communicate and engage with the world. They allow flexible ways to interact with people and in a diversity of environments and contexts. They have the potential to bring the world into our hands. Does this flexibility and potential in communication transfer to education? When digital technologies first entered onto the education landscape much was made of their promise to transform the learning process. In his seminal work Mindstorms: Children, computers and powerful ideas, Papert (1980) identified potential for digital environments to reshape the way that learning was engaged with, and hence for understanding to emerge in alternative ways (Calder, 2011). But has this potential been realised? Are educators using the same pedagogies but through digital media or are there fundamental changes in the way learning is occurring? Are mobile technologies opening up new ways of learning that might appeal to a more diverse range of learners? In this special issue, the focus is on mobile technologies and learning. The articles explore the use of mobile technologies in a variety of contexts, across a range of curriculum areas.

text: Introduction to special issue: Mobile technologies and learning The ways that mobile technologies are used for learning needs to be examined. Mobile technologies are a relatively recent addition to the way we communicate and engage with the world. They allow flexible ways to interact with people and in a diversity of environments and contexts. They have the potential to bring the world into our hands. Does this flexibility and potential in communication transfer to education? When digital technologies first entered onto the education landscape much was made of their promise to transform the learning process. In his seminal work Mindstorms: Children, computers and powerful ideas, Papert (1980) identified potential for digital environments to reshape the way that learning was engaged with, and hence for understanding to emerge in alternative ways (Calder, 2011). But has this potential been realised? Are educators using the same pedagogies but through digital media or are there fundamental changes in the way learning is occurring? Are mobile technologies opening up new ways of learning that might appeal to a more diverse range of learners? In this special issue, the focus is on mobile technologies and learning. The articles explore the use of mobile technologies in a variety of contexts, across a range of curriculum areas.

year: 2017

title: Primary school teachers' knowledge of phonemic awareness and its importance as a factor in learning to read

authors: Clark, Linda Kaye

subjects: phonemic awareness

abstract: The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the knowledge that teachers in New Zealand primary school classrooms have in regard to phonemic awareness, their understanding of its importance as a factor in learning to read, and the methods they use to assess and teach it.  International assessments continue to highlight an unacceptably large gap in reading achievement between good and poor readers in New Zealand primary schools (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Drucker, 2012; Tunmer, Chapman, Greaney, Prochnow, & Arrow, 2013a).  Up to 20% of children in New Zealand primary school classrooms are struggling to learn to read (Education and Science Committee, 2001, 2008; Education Review Office, 2005).  Research shows that explicit instruction in phonemic awareness will help children struggling with reading to learn to read (Ehri et al., 2001; Hatcher, Hulme, & Snowling, 2004; Nicholson, 2003; Pressley, 2006; Ryder, Tunmer, & Greaney, 2008; Strattman & Hodson, 2005; Torgesen et al., 2001).  Teachers’ knowledge of phonemic awareness becomes important in the context of providing this explicit instruction.  

     An online survey was used to assess 68 in-service teachers’ knowledge of phonemic awareness.  Four semi-structured interviews were also conducted which allowed the survey findings to be investigated further in four local contexts to add depth to the researcher’s understanding.  Results revealed that participants struggled to define phonemic awareness, and did not understand the differences between phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and phonics.  Participants found some tasks more difficult than others, in particular phoneme counting and phoneme identity.  There were also discrepancies between the participants’ perceived knowledge and their actual knowledge.  Participants tended to overestimate their actual knowledge, perceiving themselves as more knowledgeable with regard to phonemic awareness than they actually were.  Phonemic awareness did not appear to be regularly assessed nor explicitly taught in most of the participants’ classrooms.  The findings suggest that the teachers who participated in this study did not typically have the knowledge of phonemic awareness needed to be able to provide the explicit instruction in phonemic awareness children struggling to learn to read need in order to become successful readers.

text: Primary school teachers' knowledge of phonemic awareness and its importance as a factor in learning to read The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the knowledge that teachers in New Zealand primary school classrooms have in regard to phonemic awareness, their understanding of its importance as a factor in learning to read, and the methods they use to assess and teach it.  International assessments continue to highlight an unacceptably large gap in reading achievement between good and poor readers in New Zealand primary schools (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Drucker, 2012; Tunmer, Chapman, Greaney, Prochnow, & Arrow, 2013a).  Up to 20% of children in New Zealand primary school classrooms are struggling to learn to read (Education and Science Committee, 2001, 2008; Education Review Office, 2005).  Research shows that explicit instruction in phonemic awareness will help children struggling with reading to learn to read (Ehri et al., 2001; Hatcher, Hulme, & Snowling, 2004; Nicholson, 2003; Pressley, 2006; Ryder, Tunmer, & Greaney, 2008; Strattman & Hodson, 2005; Torgesen et al., 2001).  Teachers’ knowledge of phonemic awareness becomes important in the context of providing this explicit instruction.  

     An online survey was used to assess 68 in-service teachers’ knowledge of phonemic awareness.  Four semi-structured interviews were also conducted which allowed the survey findings to be investigated further in four local contexts to add depth to the researcher’s understanding.  Results revealed that participants struggled to define phonemic awareness, and did not understand the differences between phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and phonics.  Participants found some tasks more difficult than others, in particular phoneme counting and phoneme identity.  There were also discrepancies between the participants’ perceived knowledge and their actual knowledge.  Participants tended to overestimate their actual knowledge, perceiving themselves as more knowledgeable with regard to phonemic awareness than they actually were.  Phonemic awareness did not appear to be regularly assessed nor explicitly taught in most of the participants’ classrooms.  The findings suggest that the teachers who participated in this study did not typically have the knowledge of phonemic awareness needed to be able to provide the explicit instruction in phonemic awareness children struggling to learn to read need in order to become successful readers.

year: 2015

title: Indigenizing outdoor play in New Zealand: A conversation analysis approach

authors: Bateman, Amanda

abstract: This chapter focuses on a single case analysis of one trip to a local bush reserve in New Zealand. The observations included in this chapter begin by exploring the way in which a promise to the Maori God Tane Mahuta is managed by the teachers and children at the beginning of the excursion. The promise made is part of the mundane, everyday activity engaged in by these children and teachers during their weekly visit to the bush reserve, where every child is required to recite a phrase that promises not to hurt the creatures, animals or plants of Tane Mahuta when they are playing in the forest. In the first of the video-recorded episodes, explicit reference to Tane Mahuta is initially oriented through one of the children reciting the promise, unprompted, at the beginning of the recording. The second observation reveals one of the teachers explaining to a child the rules of entering the forest: that you have to ask permission from Tane Mahuta before you enter. When a child does not want to say the promise, he is encouraged to do so collaboratively with the teacher before entering the forest. Only once the child has said the promise does he enter, demonstrating the importance of the verbal commitment and participation in the accountable action of promise-making by the participants prior to entering the forest.

text: Indigenizing outdoor play in New Zealand: A conversation analysis approach This chapter focuses on a single case analysis of one trip to a local bush reserve in New Zealand. The observations included in this chapter begin by exploring the way in which a promise to the Maori God Tane Mahuta is managed by the teachers and children at the beginning of the excursion. The promise made is part of the mundane, everyday activity engaged in by these children and teachers during their weekly visit to the bush reserve, where every child is required to recite a phrase that promises not to hurt the creatures, animals or plants of Tane Mahuta when they are playing in the forest. In the first of the video-recorded episodes, explicit reference to Tane Mahuta is initially oriented through one of the children reciting the promise, unprompted, at the beginning of the recording. The second observation reveals one of the teachers explaining to a child the rules of entering the forest: that you have to ask permission from Tane Mahuta before you enter. When a child does not want to say the promise, he is encouraged to do so collaboratively with the teacher before entering the forest. Only once the child has said the promise does he enter, demonstrating the importance of the verbal commitment and participation in the accountable action of promise-making by the participants prior to entering the forest.

year: 2017