(2018). Virtual Foreign Correspondence: Experimental Instructions in Digital Foreign News Reporting. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, v73 n1 p4-17 Mar. Within a series of six qualitative studies over seven years, this research in instructing journalism students investigates whether or not covering foreign news from home via Internet technology can substitute foreign correspondents on-site to reduce costs. Co-orientation and decontextualization can be described as characteristic for virtual foreign correspondence (VFC). In some cases, it can lead to high-quality products. However, virtual foreign correspondents (VFCs) cannot entirely substitute traditional foreign correspondents (TFCs) in terms of regional knowledge, background information, contextual insights, on-site investigations, and access to local sources and voices. Nevertheless, VFCs and TFCs could complement each other to optimize partition of work…. [Direct]
(2021). "Las Del Istmo Son Muy Cabronas": Teaching an Indigenous Language in a Language Teaching Preparation BA Program. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, v20 n5 p311-324. Language teaching preparation programs in Mexico have been part of the modernity/coloniality legacy favoring so-called "modern" languages (e.g., English and French) over Indigenous languages. The alleged neoliberal benefits these languages bring and their connection to "modernized" individuals and cultures overshadows the learning of Indigenous languages, whose speakers struggle with the colonial difference, the discourse that transforms otherness into inferiority. Situated in Oaxaca, the most culturally and linguistically diverse state in Mexico, the purpose of this paper is to present the results of an ongoing, longitudinal, critical-ethnographic-action-research project that has documented the recent inclusion of the Indigenous language Diidxaz√°/Isthmus Zapotec as part of a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree program in language teaching. Adopting a decolonizing theoretical lens and using vignettes co-constructed from participatory classroom and extra-curricular… [Direct]
(2014). A Hundred Ways of Learning: Sharing Traditional Knowledge at Tohono O'odham Community College. Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, v25 n3 Feb. This article describes a learning program of the Tohono O'odham or "desert people" of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. Their culture and knowledge on both sides of the border is for them a special way of life known as "himdag," where science is built into everyday life of gathering, hunting, farming, artistry, and sports taught through conversation and song. This traditional knowledge is being used in the community college classroom and compared with western scientific knowledge to enhance the teaching of science and environmental courses. Creative ways to support learning along with sharing traditional knowledge are best preserved when the people integrate them into their lives…. [Direct]
(2019). Le Tuiga: Samoan Constructs of Giftedness and Talent within a Samoan Bilingual Educational Context. set: Research Information for Teachers, n1 p31-40. This research study explores the notions of cultural concepts of giftedness and talent within a Samoan-specific context. The focus of this article is on Samoan teachers of children who were enrolled in a bilingual education setting. It presents the perspectives of Samoan teachers around Samoan giftedness and talent and how these perspectives might be nurtured through Samoan bilingual education. The strong connections between education, language, and culture are explored and discussed. This study highlights the components of Samoan cultural forms of giftedness and talent and how these may be transferred from the home domain into a culturally sustaining school learning environment for enhanced student outcomes…. [Direct]
(2022). Program Planning and Animated Videos as Learning Tools in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of an International Educational Collaboration. International Journal of Adult Education and Technology, v13 n1 Article 99. This paper reports on a case study that explores how the integrative model of program planning can be applied to better understand the process of mobile learning efforts in diverse African contexts. The authors discuss how, Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO), a Purdue University-based program, creates educational videos accessible in over 220 languages and disseminates them for use on a diversity of electronic platforms, inclusive of but not limited to cell phones. The authors aim to advance important discussions related to how human resource development research and practice can be responsive to local communities while working to enhance agricultural productivity and gender equity in the Global South…. [Direct]
(2015). Mathematics Education in Brazilian Rural Areas: An Analysis of the "Escola Ativa" Public Policy and the Landless Movement Pedagogy. Open Review of Educational Research, v2 n1 p143-154. The article discusses mathematics education within two educational projects addressed to rural multigrade schools in Brazil: Active School Program (in Portuguese, Programa Escola Ativa–PEA) and the Landless Movement (Movimento Sem Terra–MST) Pedagogy. It is based on an ethnomathematics perspective drawn from Wittgenstein's later work and Michel Foucault's thinking. Data comprised PEA teachers' and students' documents, MST guideline documents and reports about mathematics education projects developed in MST schools. Its analytical strategy considers the new configurations of what was formerly called rural and urban spaces, in countries like Brazil. Based on this, the article examines the relationship between peasants' knowledge and school mathematics in those two projects. We show that taking peasant language games into account was important for both. However, for PEA, this was the point of departure while these were taught at schools as part of their struggles for MST. Thus, we… [Direct]
(2022). Sorted in Schools, Te whai hua — kia ora: 2021/22 Evaluation Report. New Zealand Council for Educational Research "Sorted in Schools, Te whai hua — kia ora" is a financial capability programme for secondary school students in English-medium (EME) and Maori-medium (MME) education settings. The programme aims to equip all young New Zealanders for their financial future. The first resources were piloted in 2018, and schools and kura started to use the Years 9 and 10 resources in 2019. Senior secondary resources for Years 11-13 were launched in June 2020. The programme is led by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission (formerly the Commission for Financial Capability), with resources developed in collaboration with CORE Education, teachers and kaiako. The New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) began evaluating the implementation and early outcomes of the programme in 2019, with Te whai hua — kia ora and Sorted in Schools treated as two separate strands within the same evaluation. This manifests in this report by the way we present data and key findings in separate sections… [PDF]
(2007). Mathematics: Essential Research, Essential Practice. Volumes 1 and 2. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia. Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia This is a record of the proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of the conference is "Mathematics: Essential research, essential practice." The theme draws attention to the importance of developing and maintaining links between research and practice and ties in with the joint day of presentations with the 21st biennial conference of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT). This special feature highlights the benefits of collaboration between researchers, practicing classroom teachers, and curriculum developers. Volume 1 contains the following papers: (1) The Beginnings of MERGA (Ken Clements); (2) Teaching and Learning by Example: The Annual Clements/Foyster Lecture (Helen L. Chick); (3) Introducing Students to Data Representation and Statistics (Richard Lehrer); (4) Studies in the Zone of Proximal Awareness (John Mason, Helen Drury and Liz Bills); (5) Empowered to… [PDF]
(2020). Everyday Stories for Everyday People: Communal Responsibility and Nepantla Literacies in Early Childhood Education. Urban Education, v55 n6 p911-936 Jul. This article focuses on a teaching-research relationship between a teacher and a university professor who are a married couple. The article highlights how we navigated our relationship during a project with second graders with the hope of opening Third Space for students to engage in collective storytelling in an environment that interrupts mainstream hierarchies of power and authority and centers the Afrocentric pedagogy of communal responsibility. The story of the dyad relationship is woven into the stories of and from the children in what we view as nepantla literacies fostering collective agency and classroom consciousness…. [Direct]
(2020). "Having a Yarn": From One Rural Student to Another, Practical In-School Programs Demystifying University and Enabling Student Progression. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, v30 n1 p18-32. The University of Wollongong's (UOW) Outreach program was established in 2011. In 2017, through a National Priority Pool Grant, UOW piloted the regional and rural outreach program, "Rural In2Uni." The "Rural In2Uni" program enabled university students to "pay it forward" through a pedagogical model which places rural schools and students at the centre of tailored programs. Through a mixed-methods research approach, this study explores the diverse experiences of students from regional and rural areas of Australia in imagining and accessing higher education (HE). It also examines the extent to which the local implementation of schools' outreach impacts students' intentions for university. The research revealed the need to re-imagine partnerships for schools outreach, highlighting the importance of programs that embed local knowledge and strong collaborative relationships between universities and schools to foster progression and access to HE for students… [Direct]
(2020). (De)Coloniality and South African Academe. Critical Studies in Education, v61 n4 p399-415. The colonial nature of South African universities remains a source of debate among students and academics. Decolonization as rethinking academic institutional practices seems less controversial; the specificity of how to decolonize the academia is the core of divergent arguments and contesting ideologies. Consequently, many suggestions and methods for the decolonization of South African universities have been proffered. Although some of these suggestions are pertinent, a critical question about what should South African academe decolonize from needs to be engaged. This requires a critical, theoretical and intellectual discourse of coloniality in order to rethink the academia in South Africa. Drawing from Anibal Quijano's critical discourse of "coloniality of power," this paper (re)visits the nature of coloniality, explores approaches to decolonization and situates these understandings to the academia in postcolonial South Africa. A polycentric approach to decolonization is… [Direct]
(2020). Actions for Sociopolitical Consciousness in a High School Science Class: A Case Study of Ninth Grade Class with Predominantly Indigenous Students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, v57 n7 p1119-1147 Sep. This case study explores how a group of Grade 9 students engaged in sociopolitical discourses and actions in a science class in a mostly indigenous student school in Nepal. The study used sociopolitical consciousness (SPC) as a framework to document and understand indigenous students' SPC-oriented science interactions and subsequent social change actions. We used ethnographic methods of data collection over 6 months. The study focused on the actions of 4 girls and 2 boys belonging to the indigenous Tharu group. Data were analyzed using iterative qualitative methods. The study findings show that students are capable of engaging in critical thinking, critical reflecting, and taking actions for social change. Additionally, students are competent to link their experiences with social, structural, and political discrimination to the relevant science content they learn. The study presents four thematic findings related to SPC and science teaching and learning: Fostering social justice… [Direct]
(2020). A Case of Being the Same? Australia and New Zealand's Reading in Focus. Australian Journal of Education, v64 n3 p243-263 Nov. Australia and New Zealand have participated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment since 2000. Reading literacy was the main focus of the Programme for International Student Assessment in 2000, and at that time both countries' students generally performed well above the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average. Nearly 20 years later, in the latest cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment in 2018, reading literacy was again the main focus. Students' average reading performance has tracked down in both countries. Large inequities persist between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students, indigenous and non-indigenous students, and genders. The Programme for International Student Assessment gathers a wealth of contextual information that highlights key educational challenges facing both countries, including poor disciplinary climates, declining attitudes… [Direct]
(2016). The Cultural Contours of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship. Democracy & Education, v24 n2 Article 5. Drawing upon the African concept of "ubuntu," this article examines the epistemic orientations toward individual-society relations that inform democratic citizenship and identity in South Africa. Findings from focus group interviews conducted with 50 Xhosa teachers from all seven primary and intermediate schools in a township outside Cape Town depict the cultural contours of democracy and how the teachers reaffirm and question the dominant Western-oriented democratic narrative. Through "ubuntu," defined as the virtue of being human premised upon respect, the Xhosa teachers interrupt the prevailing rights-and-responsibilities discourse to interpose a conception of democracy based on rights, responsibilities, and respect. Society and schools, in their view, fall short in educating young learners for democratic citizenship in South Africa; their insights offer ways for formal schooling to improve upon its democratic mission…. [Direct]
(2020). From Pioneer to Partner: Dismantling White Normativity in Ethnographic Theology. Religious Education, v115 n4 p400-412. In this racially-charged time, religious educators are engaging in research that transgresses traditional (white) norms. Such research can not only dismantle white normativity through the subjects investigated; it can also be practiced in ways that are transgressive. This article uses a particular experience of ethnographic theological research in diverse cultural contexts as a case study for learning about three postures that subvert white normativity built into assumptions and practices of ethnographic research. Using a two-pronged, auto-ethnographic approach to analyzing this case, three nuanced postures become critically apparent: improvised flexibility, the ability to change lenses, and immersive reflexivity…. [Direct]