title: Professional learning in mathematics with primary-trained teachers:  A flipped approach

authors: Stensness, Angela Dorothy

subjects: Professional Learning

abstract: Teachers of mathematics in New Zealand are critical to the success of their students.  In order for teachers to improve student outcomes, it is important for them to have the necessary skills and knowledge relating to mathematics and mathematics pedagogy, but also a positive disposition towards mathematics.  Of concern are the many primary-trained teachers who enter their classrooms each day with negative dispositions towards mathematics, even fearing the subject area.  This often dates back to their own schooling experiences.  Changing these attitudes, along with levels of confidence and understanding, would appear to be crucial.  Professional learning is one method for achieving this outcome.   

Unfortunately, for teachers with low self-efficacy in mathematics, engaging in a professional learning experience relating to mathematics may be considered a threatening experience.  Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the ways in which a flipped professional learning programme might improve these dispositions of primary-trained teachers, along with their skills and understanding in mathematics, termed “teacher capacity” by Zhang and Stephens (2013).  

This study adopted an action research approach, due to the alignment of this methodology with the desire to utilise volunteer participant teachers as co-researchers and for them to reflect on and change their practice.  Qualitative data collection methods were used as the four participants engaged in a flipped professional learning experience.  These qualitative data collection methods included semi-structured interviews with individual participants, blogs, and whole group participation in cluster meetings. 

Following from this study it was found that the use of this flipped professional learning experience increased the self-efficacy ratings of participants in the focus area of their intervention.  It was also found that the flipped approach to professional learning had the potential to allow for and encourage teachers to take greater control of their learning journey in and for the teaching of mathematics, thus encouraging teacher agency.  It also had the potential to allow for this learning to occur just-in-time, that is, as and when required by the teachers.  Therefore, it is the contention of this thesis that a flipped professional learning programme in mathematics could be beneficial to improving the teacher capacity of primary-trained teachers in mathematics.

text: Professional learning in mathematics with primary-trained teachers:  A flipped approach Teachers of mathematics in New Zealand are critical to the success of their students.  In order for teachers to improve student outcomes, it is important for them to have the necessary skills and knowledge relating to mathematics and mathematics pedagogy, but also a positive disposition towards mathematics.  Of concern are the many primary-trained teachers who enter their classrooms each day with negative dispositions towards mathematics, even fearing the subject area.  This often dates back to their own schooling experiences.  Changing these attitudes, along with levels of confidence and understanding, would appear to be crucial.  Professional learning is one method for achieving this outcome.   

Unfortunately, for teachers with low self-efficacy in mathematics, engaging in a professional learning experience relating to mathematics may be considered a threatening experience.  Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the ways in which a flipped professional learning programme might improve these dispositions of primary-trained teachers, along with their skills and understanding in mathematics, termed “teacher capacity” by Zhang and Stephens (2013).  

This study adopted an action research approach, due to the alignment of this methodology with the desire to utilise volunteer participant teachers as co-researchers and for them to reflect on and change their practice.  Qualitative data collection methods were used as the four participants engaged in a flipped professional learning experience.  These qualitative data collection methods included semi-structured interviews with individual participants, blogs, and whole group participation in cluster meetings. 

Following from this study it was found that the use of this flipped professional learning experience increased the self-efficacy ratings of participants in the focus area of their intervention.  It was also found that the flipped approach to professional learning had the potential to allow for and encourage teachers to take greater control of their learning journey in and for the teaching of mathematics, thus encouraging teacher agency.  It also had the potential to allow for this learning to occur just-in-time, that is, as and when required by the teachers.  Therefore, it is the contention of this thesis that a flipped professional learning programme in mathematics could be beneficial to improving the teacher capacity of primary-trained teachers in mathematics.

year: 2018

title: Validation of simulated real world TCP stacks

authors: Jansen, Samuel Thomas

subjects: computer science

abstract: The TCP models in ns-2 have been validated and are widely used in network research. They are however not aimed at producing results consistent with a TCP implementation, they are rather designed to be a general model for TCP congestion control. The Network Simulation Cradle makes real world TCP implementations available to ns-2: Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD can all be simulated as easily as using the original simplified models. These simulated TCP implementations can be validated by directly comparing packet traces from simulations to traces measured from a real network. We describe the Network Simulation Cradle, present packet trace comparison results showing the high degree of accuracy possible when simulating with real TCP implementations and briefly show how this is reflected in a simulation study of TCP throughput.

text: Validation of simulated real world TCP stacks The TCP models in ns-2 have been validated and are widely used in network research. They are however not aimed at producing results consistent with a TCP implementation, they are rather designed to be a general model for TCP congestion control. The Network Simulation Cradle makes real world TCP implementations available to ns-2: Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD can all be simulated as easily as using the original simplified models. These simulated TCP implementations can be validated by directly comparing packet traces from simulations to traces measured from a real network. We describe the Network Simulation Cradle, present packet trace comparison results showing the high degree of accuracy possible when simulating with real TCP implementations and briefly show how this is reflected in a simulation study of TCP throughput.

year: 2007

title: A brief history of Whakapapa: Māori approaches to genealogy

authors: Mahuika, Nepia

subjects: whakapapa

abstract: Whakapapa is the Māori term for genealogy. It has been described by some as the skeletal structure of Maori epistemology because all things have their own genealogies. In research, whakapapa has been presented in tribal histories, Maori Land Court records, and consistently as a framework for matauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and Māori research methodologies. This essay offers a brief overview of the ways in which whakapapa has been understood and negotiated in research particularly after the arrival of Europeans. Some early ethnographers, for instance, applied their own genealogical methods of dating to whakapapa, which influenced various Māori approaches from the twentieth century. With the advent of literacy and print, Māori experimented with new ways to record genealogy, and yet the underlying oral, ethical, and cultural practices that are crucial to whakapapa have remained integral to how it still lives and operates in Maori communities today.

text: A brief history of Whakapapa: Māori approaches to genealogy Whakapapa is the Māori term for genealogy. It has been described by some as the skeletal structure of Maori epistemology because all things have their own genealogies. In research, whakapapa has been presented in tribal histories, Maori Land Court records, and consistently as a framework for matauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and Māori research methodologies. This essay offers a brief overview of the ways in which whakapapa has been understood and negotiated in research particularly after the arrival of Europeans. Some early ethnographers, for instance, applied their own genealogical methods of dating to whakapapa, which influenced various Māori approaches from the twentieth century. With the advent of literacy and print, Māori experimented with new ways to record genealogy, and yet the underlying oral, ethical, and cultural practices that are crucial to whakapapa have remained integral to how it still lives and operates in Maori communities today.

year: 2019