title: Investigating socioscientific issues via scientific habits of mind: Development and validation of the scientific habits of mind survey.

authors: Çalik, Muammer

subjects: Habits of Mind

abstract: In this paper, we describe the Scientific Habits of Mind Survey (SHOMS) developed to explore public, science teachers', and scientists' understanding of habits of mind (HoM). The instrument contained 59 items, and captures the seven SHOM identified by Gauld. The SHOM was validated by administration to two cohorts of pre-service science teachers: primary science teachers with little science background or interest (n = 145), and secondary school science teachers (who also were science graduates) with stronger science knowledge (n = 145). Face validity was confirmed by the use of a panel of experts and a pilot study employing participants similar in demographics to the intended sample. To confirm convergent and discriminant validity, confirmatory factor analysis and evaluation of the reliability were calculated. Statistical data and other data gathered from interviews suggest that the SHOMS will prove to be a useful tool for educators and researchers who wish to investigate HoM for a variety of participants.

text: Investigating socioscientific issues via scientific habits of mind: Development and validation of the scientific habits of mind survey. In this paper, we describe the Scientific Habits of Mind Survey (SHOMS) developed to explore public, science teachers', and scientists' understanding of habits of mind (HoM). The instrument contained 59 items, and captures the seven SHOM identified by Gauld. The SHOM was validated by administration to two cohorts of pre-service science teachers: primary science teachers with little science background or interest (n = 145), and secondary school science teachers (who also were science graduates) with stronger science knowledge (n = 145). Face validity was confirmed by the use of a panel of experts and a pilot study employing participants similar in demographics to the intended sample. To confirm convergent and discriminant validity, confirmatory factor analysis and evaluation of the reliability were calculated. Statistical data and other data gathered from interviews suggest that the SHOMS will prove to be a useful tool for educators and researchers who wish to investigate HoM for a variety of participants.

year: 2012

title: Transformative practice in teaching: How experienced teachers explain the profound transformative influences on their teaching practice.

authors: Holden, Cynthia

subjects: teacher change

abstract: The social transformation represented by a shift from the industrial economy to the knowledge economy presents a challenge to the education sector. That challenge is to provide high-quality teaching that results in improved outcomes for students who are developing the habit of continuous learning. A challenge such as this may be met by teachers transforming their teaching practice.

This small-scale qualitative research project seeks an understanding of and insight into those factors which influence transformative practice for experienced teachers. It uses semi-structured interviews to gather the perspectives of seven experienced teachers and explores the themes derived from their stories of transformative practice in relation to themes derived from the literature. The literature reveals four significant dimensions of influence on transformative practice: professional development, individual factors, school factors, and an emerging theme of communities of practice. 

The research findings confirm that experienced teachers' perceptions of the profound transformative influences on their teaching practice are consistent with some of the literature. These congruencies include teachers working individually or collaboratively on problems of practice using a process of trial and error experimentation, and where workplace conditions support risk-taking and promote ownership of learning. The findings confirm that transformative practice is driven by powerful emotions that connect teachers to the learning needs of their students, and is sustained by intrinsic rewards.

The research findings reveal two significant areas of divergence. The literature identifies the need for depth and breadth of content knowledge and assessment knowledge, and for critical reflection on the effectiveness of transformative teaching practices on student outcomes, neither of which were identified by participants as factors which influenced transformative practice. This indicated that teachers were unlikely to be developing local knowledge-of-practice, a necessary prerequisite for linking the purpose of transformative practice with its goal - to improve outcomes for students.

Drawing on the understandings of, and insights into, transformative practice, this research presents a diagrammatic representation of a framework to illustrate the transformative influences on teaching practice. It also presents a knowledge-building learning cycle as a diagrammatic representation of the process required to generate knowledge-of-practice. 

This research project includes recommendations suggesting that teachers develop a rich understanding of the concept of knowledge-of-practice and embed this practice in their daily work.  It recommends that the knowledge-building learning cycle is facilitated by leaders of learning who have the skills to activate teacher learning, and that during the knowledge-building learning cycle, teachers develop depth and breadth of content knowledge and assessment knowledge. It recommends that leaders of learning guard against transformative practice becoming an end in itself, and suggests that utilizing the knowledge-building learning cycle could lead to a new form of professionalism that is continuous and sustainable. This study proposes that by acting on these recommendations, leaders of learning may enhance their ability to influence transformative teaching practice where students receive high-quality teaching which simultaneously achieves improved outcomes for students.

text: Transformative practice in teaching: How experienced teachers explain the profound transformative influences on their teaching practice. The social transformation represented by a shift from the industrial economy to the knowledge economy presents a challenge to the education sector. That challenge is to provide high-quality teaching that results in improved outcomes for students who are developing the habit of continuous learning. A challenge such as this may be met by teachers transforming their teaching practice.

This small-scale qualitative research project seeks an understanding of and insight into those factors which influence transformative practice for experienced teachers. It uses semi-structured interviews to gather the perspectives of seven experienced teachers and explores the themes derived from their stories of transformative practice in relation to themes derived from the literature. The literature reveals four significant dimensions of influence on transformative practice: professional development, individual factors, school factors, and an emerging theme of communities of practice. 

The research findings confirm that experienced teachers' perceptions of the profound transformative influences on their teaching practice are consistent with some of the literature. These congruencies include teachers working individually or collaboratively on problems of practice using a process of trial and error experimentation, and where workplace conditions support risk-taking and promote ownership of learning. The findings confirm that transformative practice is driven by powerful emotions that connect teachers to the learning needs of their students, and is sustained by intrinsic rewards.

The research findings reveal two significant areas of divergence. The literature identifies the need for depth and breadth of content knowledge and assessment knowledge, and for critical reflection on the effectiveness of transformative teaching practices on student outcomes, neither of which were identified by participants as factors which influenced transformative practice. This indicated that teachers were unlikely to be developing local knowledge-of-practice, a necessary prerequisite for linking the purpose of transformative practice with its goal - to improve outcomes for students.

Drawing on the understandings of, and insights into, transformative practice, this research presents a diagrammatic representation of a framework to illustrate the transformative influences on teaching practice. It also presents a knowledge-building learning cycle as a diagrammatic representation of the process required to generate knowledge-of-practice. 

This research project includes recommendations suggesting that teachers develop a rich understanding of the concept of knowledge-of-practice and embed this practice in their daily work.  It recommends that the knowledge-building learning cycle is facilitated by leaders of learning who have the skills to activate teacher learning, and that during the knowledge-building learning cycle, teachers develop depth and breadth of content knowledge and assessment knowledge. It recommends that leaders of learning guard against transformative practice becoming an end in itself, and suggests that utilizing the knowledge-building learning cycle could lead to a new form of professionalism that is continuous and sustainable. This study proposes that by acting on these recommendations, leaders of learning may enhance their ability to influence transformative teaching practice where students receive high-quality teaching which simultaneously achieves improved outcomes for students.

year: 2010

title: Volunteering at the edge of chaos: A case study on the self-organising of younger volunteers during the Rena oil spill crisis

authors: Lockwood, Sarah Jane

subjects: volunteer

abstract: This thesis investigates the self-organising of younger volunteers during the 2011 Rena oil spill crisis in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It builds on emerging research that considers the relationships between volunteering and activism and focuses on the ways in which younger volunteers carved out a ‘volunteer-activist’ space for themselves on the edge of the formal crisis responses.  
The research adopts a case study approach and uses an interpretive lens to investigate three research questions: (1) How was volunteering conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?; (2) How did the generational dynamics of younger volunteers affect the various organising responses to the Rena event?; and, (3) How was self-organising conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?
The data comprised interviews with 53 participants, 38 of whom were classified as younger volunteers (16-29 years of age) and 15 who held positions of authority in the Rena crisis response and who had high levels of engagement with the younger volunteers. By examining the intersections and overlaps of self-organising, younger generations of volunteers, and crisis events through a social constructionist methodology combined with an interpretive lens and reflexive position, the thesis makes several theoretical and practical contributions.
At a theoretical level, the thesis challenges traditional crisis management approaches dominated by command and control, formal, or top down organisational structures and arrangements. The thesis demonstrates how, as active members of society, younger volunteers developed alternate forms of participation to strengthen crisis response. 
Power tensions between younger volunteers and crisis officials were grounded in a deep sense of frustration resulting from negative societal views toward younger generational cohorts and the structural workings of a risk society. By reconciling social and institutional grievances through self-organising, younger volunteers could take advantage of their marginalised position and enact self-reflexive responses in ways that were not readily available to them in everyday life. This sense of empowerment helped younger volunteers navigate the structural uncertainties they faced as they transitioned towards a competitive labour market and also to take greater control of their lives during a crisis.
From an Aotearoa/New Zealand, perspective, the thesis also provides insights into how younger Māori participants made sense of and enacted their ‘volunteer’ experience and how this experience was influenced by culturally embedded principles. Importantly, there appeared to be no generational differences between how younger and older Māori participants made sense of their ‘volunteer’ experience. Both groups were driven by collectivist orientations, which highlights the importance of contextualising culture in volunteer sector research. 
The social constructedness of the media technologies used by participants exposed broader power structures that existed within their generation-specific social worlds. To this end, media multiplexity showed how use of different communication technologies (1) supported the maintenance of relationships between participants and (2) was fundamental to the meaning participants attached to the different forms of technologies. These findings indicate the need to move away from the current literature’s focus on the tools of communication technologies used by younger people during crisis events, towards the meanings that exist behind the use of such technologies as well as the digital relationships fostered among volunteers. 
This thesis contributes to the scholarship on volunteering and activism by showing how self-organising emerged as an alternative form of activist—or activator—approach to volunteer participation within a crisis response. This approach enabled young volunteer-activators to move beyond their perceived sense of marginalisation and avoid those formal organisational forces that limit their sense of freedom and personal development. The result was an alternative crisis response of self-organised volunteering on the edge of chaos.

text: Volunteering at the edge of chaos: A case study on the self-organising of younger volunteers during the Rena oil spill crisis This thesis investigates the self-organising of younger volunteers during the 2011 Rena oil spill crisis in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It builds on emerging research that considers the relationships between volunteering and activism and focuses on the ways in which younger volunteers carved out a ‘volunteer-activist’ space for themselves on the edge of the formal crisis responses.  
The research adopts a case study approach and uses an interpretive lens to investigate three research questions: (1) How was volunteering conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?; (2) How did the generational dynamics of younger volunteers affect the various organising responses to the Rena event?; and, (3) How was self-organising conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?
The data comprised interviews with 53 participants, 38 of whom were classified as younger volunteers (16-29 years of age) and 15 who held positions of authority in the Rena crisis response and who had high levels of engagement with the younger volunteers. By examining the intersections and overlaps of self-organising, younger generations of volunteers, and crisis events through a social constructionist methodology combined with an interpretive lens and reflexive position, the thesis makes several theoretical and practical contributions.
At a theoretical level, the thesis challenges traditional crisis management approaches dominated by command and control, formal, or top down organisational structures and arrangements. The thesis demonstrates how, as active members of society, younger volunteers developed alternate forms of participation to strengthen crisis response. 
Power tensions between younger volunteers and crisis officials were grounded in a deep sense of frustration resulting from negative societal views toward younger generational cohorts and the structural workings of a risk society. By reconciling social and institutional grievances through self-organising, younger volunteers could take advantage of their marginalised position and enact self-reflexive responses in ways that were not readily available to them in everyday life. This sense of empowerment helped younger volunteers navigate the structural uncertainties they faced as they transitioned towards a competitive labour market and also to take greater control of their lives during a crisis.
From an Aotearoa/New Zealand, perspective, the thesis also provides insights into how younger Māori participants made sense of and enacted their ‘volunteer’ experience and how this experience was influenced by culturally embedded principles. Importantly, there appeared to be no generational differences between how younger and older Māori participants made sense of their ‘volunteer’ experience. Both groups were driven by collectivist orientations, which highlights the importance of contextualising culture in volunteer sector research. 
The social constructedness of the media technologies used by participants exposed broader power structures that existed within their generation-specific social worlds. To this end, media multiplexity showed how use of different communication technologies (1) supported the maintenance of relationships between participants and (2) was fundamental to the meaning participants attached to the different forms of technologies. These findings indicate the need to move away from the current literature’s focus on the tools of communication technologies used by younger people during crisis events, towards the meanings that exist behind the use of such technologies as well as the digital relationships fostered among volunteers. 
This thesis contributes to the scholarship on volunteering and activism by showing how self-organising emerged as an alternative form of activist—or activator—approach to volunteer participation within a crisis response. This approach enabled young volunteer-activators to move beyond their perceived sense of marginalisation and avoid those formal organisational forces that limit their sense of freedom and personal development. The result was an alternative crisis response of self-organised volunteering on the edge of chaos.

year: 2019