(2013). Power of Place: Emerging Science Programs Help Tribal College Students Lead the Way–At Home. Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, v24 n3 Feb. Since the first tribal college was established in the late 1960s, tribal colleges and universities have offered technical-learning opportunities to students in isolated communities around the country. From the onset, many of these colleges focused on providing practical skills and vocational job training, and frequently targeted nontraditional, older students seeking two-year degrees or professional certificates. Along these lines, tribal colleges have begun developing more programs and degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math, a range of disciplines collectively known as STEM. The emerging science programs provide opportunities to integrate research methods, computer applications, and technology with cultural knowledge and traditional practices. The approach draws in students and then leads them to local research projects. Teachers at tribal colleges are increasingly enlisting students to participate in place-based science studies on reservations, enabling them to… [Direct]
(2015). A Healthy Dose of Race? White Students' and Teachers' Unintentional Brushes with Whiteness. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, v40 n11 Article 8 Nov. This paper reports on efforts by three Australian academics to develop students' sociocultural awareness (in particular, their racial literacy) during a time of mounting pressure on teacher educators to narrow and standardise their approaches. The field of health education provides a vehicle for research; however, it is not the paper's central foci. Of key concern is the development of a critical disposition in students–a disposition geared toward teaching for social equity. Learning of this nature transcends topic domains, and therefore allows for collaboration between academics in different parts of teacher education. Specifically, the paper focuses upon "whiteness" and applies a whiteness lens (a form of critical discourse analysis) to portions of the research data to explore how discourses of race circumscribe the efforts of white students and teachers, often resulting in unintentional "brushes" with whiteness (or reproductions of white race privilege). A… [PDF]
(2015). Student Attitudes to Blogs: A Case Study of Reflective and Collaborative Learning. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, v40 n4 p542-556. The aim of this study is to evaluate the capacity of an e-learning tool (blog) to facilitate reflection among students as part of collaborative group learning. The paper provides insights into student attitudes towards blogs as an interactive and reflective learning tool. Additionally, the study highlights the differences between domestic and international student attitudes towards reflection as part of collaborative learning in groups. The results indicate that international students consistently viewed the use of e-learning tools more positively than domestic students. For educators, the results provide direction in terms of enhancements to assessment tasks incorporating e-learning, including the professional development of staff to address the rapidly changing learning environment…. [Direct]
(2015). From Adaptation to Ruralisation in Cameroon Education Policy, 1922-2002: Replacing Six with Half a Dozen. African Educational Research Journal, v3 n3 p153-160 Jul. The British colonial policy of education in the Southern Cameroons was guided by the philosophy of adapting education to the mentality, aptitude and occupations of the local population. This policy was gradually abandoned in the 1950s when it was realized that it was serving the colonial exploitative agenda of keeping natives to a permanently rural existence instead of meeting the needs of an independent state. Surprisingly, despite the so much talked of 'need for education to rid itself of the colonial stranglehold', a few years after independence, the government of Cameroon opted for the policy of ruralisation of education. This paper, examines the basic motivation for returning to such a policy and the outcome…. [PDF]
(2011). Lessons from New Zealand: Developing Student Voices with Technology. Learning & Leading with Technology, v38 n4 p22-25 Dec 2010-Jan. Thirteen members of ISTE's Special Interest Group for Teacher Educators (SIGTE) traveled to Auckland, Rotorua, and Christchurch to visit seven schools and present and attend the Learning@School 2010 conference as part of a travel tour last February. This second installment about their trip features ways they saw technology used in New Zealand to develop student voices in the classroom, in the community, and across the world. They observed students engaged in peer listening and sharing activities as well as student/teacher cooperative practices that valued the students as co-developers or co-researchers in the learning processes. (Contains 6 resources.)… [PDF]
(2019). Proceedings of International Conference on Social and Education Sciences (IConSES) (Denver, Colorado, October 7-10, 2019). Volume 1. International Society for Technology, Education, and Science "Proceedings of International Conference on Social and Education Sciences" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Social and Education Sciences (IConSES), which took place on October 7-10, 2019, in Denver, Colorado. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, discuss theoretical and practical issues, and to connect with the leaders in the fields of education and social sciences. The IConSES invites submissions that address the theory, research, or applications in all disciplines of education and social sciences. The IConSES is organized for: faculty members in all disciplines of education and social sciences, graduate students, K-12 administrators, teachers, principals, and all interested in education and social sciences. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]… [PDF]
(2017). Affirming Identity: The Role of Language and Culture in American Indian Education. Cogent Education, v4 n1 Article 1340081. With the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the United States spent millions upon millions of dollars in a largely unsuccessful effort to close the academic achievement gap between American-Indian and some other ethnic minorities and mainstream Americans. NCLB's focus on teacher quality and evidence-based curriculum and instruction and subsequent reform efforts have largely ignored the negative effects of American popular culture and assimilationist, English-only educational efforts on Indigenous children, which can attack their identity and lead to cultural disintegration rather than assimilation into the dominant culture. This article examines recent American Indian and Hawaiian efforts at language and culture revitalization in schools and how those efforts have helped students to develop a strong sense of identity and show more academic success. These recent efforts focus on human rights and are in line with the United Nations 2007 Declaration on the Rights of… [Direct]
(2012). A Framework for Social Justice in Education. International Journal of Educational Psychology, v1 n3 p178-198 Oct. Political philosopher Nancy Fraser has developed a theory of social justice with three dimensions: Redistribution (economic), recognition (cultural), and representation (political). This article first presents Fraser's theory. Then I describe in her terms the successes and challenges encountered in four primary schools in Australia that were trying to provide educational equity for all students, especially their Indigenous students. That evidence suggests that the dimensions of redistribution and recognition are both essential for "closing the gap" in academic achievement, and that representation is important for school and community relationships…. [PDF]
(2012). Supporting Newly Recruited Teachers in a Unique Area, the Northwest Territories in Canada. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, v38 n2 p141-161. Formal and mandatory induction programmes have been widely implemented in many countries to support newly qualified teachers as they cope with the stress and professional demands of their first year in the profession of teaching. This article presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative research study which examined the context of a mandatory induction programme of four phases in a unique place, the Northwest Territories in Canada, where new (experienced) and beginning (inexperienced) teachers are recruited to teach in urban towns as well as in local communities. The paper also sheds light on the need to develop cultural competence to help the new teachers to deal successfully with the pupils and empower them in promoting multiculturalism. (Contains 4 tables.)… [Direct]
(2012). New Visions: Exploring Australian Identity through Films Highlighting Experiences of Indigenous Australians: Year 8 Film Unit. English in Australia, v47 n3 p65-68 Dec. Prior to 2011, Year 8 students studied a single film as text, \Yolngu Boy.\ This had been on the syllabus for several years, and the consensus was that it was time to review the unit, refresh the text and introduce multiple film texts that would present varying visions and perspectives of notions of what it is to be \Australian\. The authors aimed to introduce their students to a selection of films with an Indigenous focus to challenge existing ideas about Australian identity. The title of the unit, \New Visions\, reflects this aim. \Yolngu Boy\ is an age-appropriate, rich Australian text that examined the coming-of-age themes common to the bildungsroman within a cultural frame quite alien to most of the students, so they did not intend to remove it completely from the syllabus. However, it was agreed that a whole unit (which equates to between eight and 10 weeks) based on one film was unlikely to fully engage, challenge or sufficiently broaden the perspectives of the students…. [Direct]
(2003). Proceedings of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference Held Jointly with the 25th PME-NA Conference (Honolulu, Hawaii, July 13-18, 2003). Volume 2. International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference presents the following research reports: (1) Text Talk, Body Talk, Table Talk: A Design of Ratio and Proportion as Classroom Parallel Events (Dor Abrahamson); (2) Generalizing the Context and Generalising the Calculation (Janet Ainley); (3) Interview Design for Ratio Comparison Tasks (Silvia Alatorre and Olimpia Figueras); (4) Modeling Outcomes from Probability Tasks: Sixth Graders Reasoning Together (Alice Alston and Carolyn A. Maher); (5) A Web-Based Survey to Assess Prospective Elementary School Teachers' Beliefs about Mathematics and Mathematics Learning: An Alternative to Likert Scales (Rebecca C., Ambrose, Randolph Philipp, Jennifer Chauvot, and Lisa Clement); (6) "Sensing": Supporting Student Understanding of Decimal Knowledge (Glenda Anthony); (7) Non-Examples and Proof By Contradiction (Samuele Antonini); (8) Thematization of the Calculus Graphing (Bernadette Baker,… [PDF]
(2011). The Present Tense[ions] of English in One Local Context in Japan. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, v8 n1 p53-71. Recent and not-so-recent critiques of teaching English as a second or other language (TESOL) have explored the relationship between English language teaching and colonialism. Consequently, native speaker and non-native speaker practitioners have started to question their pedagogies and to re/consider their roles in relation not only to minority languages and local knowledges but also to one another. Adding to this discussion, this article raises a different perspective on teaching English in a postcolonial present, asserting that English is, for some Indigenous peoples and local knowledge holders, a decolonizing agent that "trumps" immediate oppressor languages. To become agents or assistants in decolonizing in contexts such as this, the role for native English speaking (foreigner) language teachers and for many non-native English speaking language teachers (Japanese) may not be to continue developing more critical (and possibly more intrusive) pedagogies but rather to… [Direct]
(2014). Nigerian Students' Perceptions and Cultural Meaning Construction Regarding Academic Integrity in the Online International Classroom. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, v17 n1 p172-189. By presenting perceptions of Nigerian students enrolled in the online international postgraduate programmes of the University of Liverpool regarding academic integrity, this paper aims to explore Western ideas, such as originality and plagiarism that are extraneous in the students' local cultures. Different historical and cultural circumstances may contribute to the construction of diverse meanings that online students attribute to these concepts. The multidisciplinary study follows phenomenological research design (van Manen, 1997; Creswell, 2007) and combines cultural anthropology (Hall, 1996, Hannerz, 2001; Coleman et al., 2010) as well as online education (Anderson, 2008) in the research. The paper promotes a non-judgmental and culturally aware approach when dealing with issues of academic integrity, intends to find ideological reasons in authentic cultural belief systems that may demonstrate that the common "non-understanding" concerning academic integrity is due to a… [PDF] [PDF]
(2014). Symmetrical Measuring: An Approach to Teaching Elementary School Mathematics Informed by Yup'ik Elders. Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) (37th, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2014). What would the curriculum look like if it were developed from the perspective of measuring? Without formal tools, the Yup'ik Eskimos of Alaska used their body as a measuring device and employed ratios extensively in their daily practices. "Math in a Cultural Context" is developing curriculum materials based on Yup'ik Elders use of mathematics. This paper describes a hypothesised learning/teaching sequence that is grounded in real life experience and linked to the mathematics in the classroom. Activities that were trialled in classrooms at a K-12 school in interior Alaska are also reported…. [PDF]
(2014). Educational Change and International Trade in Teacher Development: Achieving Local Goals within/despite a Transnational Context. Journal of Studies in International Education, v18 n4 p345-361 Sep. The study in one country to support the development of education in another is a regular event in the field of contemporary tertiary education, and it is likely to grow as developing countries accelerate their educational development projects and as Western universities seek international student funding. This article reports the case study of a specific teacher development project and examines the degree to which local development goals were met (or not) within an overtly international study experience, and uses the context and findings of the case to develop a discussion about fair academic trade. Because the stake holders in cross-national education are not univocal, it uses a number of different critical lenses to examine the findings and explore the complexities of the learning contract and its outcomes. It then offers a working model that nominates key elements for fair academic trade, and briefly reports on further collaborations that are growing out of the case study…. [Direct]