scholarly journals How Constructivist Theories of Development can be used to Re-conceptualise NAPLAN as an Opportunity to Develop Student Resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Robert Vanderburg ◽  
◽  
Paul Trotter ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
Accountability Measures ◽  
Student Resilience ◽  
Core Subject ◽  
Pedagogical Choices ◽  
Constructivist Approaches ◽  
Increased Pressure

Teachers have come under increased pressure to improve educational outcomes as Australia has sought to meet the challenges of competing on an international level. This intensified pressure has been accompanied by improved levels of funding, a National Curriculum for all Australian states, and territories, along with assessments to measure these key outcomes. However, this increased level of scrutiny has affected the pedagogical choices of teachers. Traditional modes of instruction have been reinforced, with teachers moving away from effective constructivist approaches to learning. This article will propose that a reinterpretation of constructivist theories of development is needed to arrest this decline, so that increased accountability measures, like NAPLAN, can be perceived as constructivist opportunities to build both core subject knowledge and broader 21st Century skills, such as resilience.

scholarly journals Beyond a constructivist curriculum: a critique of competing paradigms in music education

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Garnett
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Music Education ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Musical Understanding ◽  
Constructivist Approaches ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Recent Policy ◽  
Made In

The distinction between learning to perform on an instrument or voice and learning music in a wider sense is one that is made in many countries, and is especially pertinent in England in the context of recent policy developments. This article argues that, whilst this distinction has come to represent curricula based on the opposing paradigms of behaviourist and constructivist approaches to learning, this opposition does not necessarily extend to the pedagogy through which the curricula are taught. A case study of the National Curriculum in England highlights the characteristics of a curriculum based on constructivist principles, along with the impact this has when taught in a behaviourist way. It is argued that conceiving the curriculum in terms of musical competencies, and pedagogy in terms of musical understanding, would provide a basis for greater continuity and higher quality in the music education experienced by young people.

Nontraditional Students and Information Technology

2011 ◽  
pp. 284-304
Author(s):  
Xenia Coulter ◽  
Alan Mandell
Keyword(s):  
Adult Students ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
New Information ◽  
Efficient Delivery ◽  
The University ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Constructivist Approaches

The adult college student, caught between the competing demands of work and home, has recently become a valuable commodity in today’s fast-changing American universities. The authors argue that the response of the university to the personal circumstances and credentialing needs of adult learners, accentuated by the forces of globalization and the availability of new information technologies, particularly the Internet, has been to focus upon the efficient delivery of information deemed important in our post-industrial society. This response, particularly well exemplified by the virtual classroom, is not conducive to the fluid and open-ended inquiry associated with progressive education. In the end, the authors speculate, adult students may taste the true progressive and constructivist approaches to learning better outside the confines of formal higher education.

The subject general knowledge of secondary music PGCE applicants

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vic Gammon
Keyword(s):  
National Curriculum ◽  
Art Music ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Secondary Music ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Uk

In this paper I explore the musical general knowledge of 46 applicants for places on a secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) music course. The applicants took a 35-question quiz designed to indicate something of their subject knowledge in connection with aspects of the Western art music tradition, knowledge of Western musical instruments and world musics. I will discuss methodological problems related to the use of the quiz results, then analyse the results. The analysis reveals patterns of strength and weakness in the subject knowledge of the applicants that are related to their educational and other musical experiences. Significant absences in areas of knowledge needed to teach the National Curriculum are detected. I then move on to consider the findings in the light of the new Benchmark Statement (QAA, 2002) for music degrees in the UK. Noting that no given body of knowledge is prescribed in the Benchmark Statement that both describes and governs the content of music first degrees, I raise questions about the difficulties this creates for all concerned.

Reflective learning facilitators

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Author(s):  
Alicja Balcerak
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Reflective Learning ◽  
Natural State ◽  
Essential Factor ◽  
Simulation Games ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Developmental Contexts ◽  
Constructivist Approaches

In social constructivist approaches to learning reflection is considered as a critical component of this process. There are many reasons why disposition to reflect cannot be considered as a natural state, especially in the work settings. Overcoming reflection barriers is important as reflective behaviour is an essential factor of organizational learning. It is also difficult, and therefore needs education and facilitation. As highly effective reflective learning facilitators are considered techniques that assume social interactions and dialogue, e.g simulation games, behavioural simulations, storytelling techniques. Specific features of these facilitators may imply difference in their effectiveness in concrete didactic or developmental contexts. The main aims of this paper are to demonstrate the importance of reflection as a crucial element of individual and organizational learning and to compare some of the most effectual techniques that can serve as facilitators of this process. The comparison is made according to the kind of experience that given technique provides, reflection triggers, and reflection forms.

scholarly journals Les pratiques enseignantes pour soutenir les premiers apprentissages de la langue écrite à l’éducation préscolaire : entre l’approche développementale et l’approche scolarisante

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 352-375
Author(s):  
Krasimira Marinova ◽  
Christian Dumais ◽  
Mirela Moldoveanu ◽  
France Dubé ◽  
Roxane Drainville
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Pedagogical Choices ◽  
Pratiques Enseignantes

In the context of opposing approaches to research and educational practices, it is important to know whether teaching practices are consistent with ministerial programs that prescribe a developmental or an educational approach. This article presents quantitative, exploratory research that aims to document pedagogical choices in preschool education in Québec. A questionnaire was given to 159 teachers. Results showed slight preferences on the part of teachers for academic approaches to language learning. The value teachers placed on play increased their preference for developmental approaches to learning. Teachers in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas expressed a more distinct preference for developmental approaches than those in comparatively more socioeconomically advantaged areas.

scholarly journals Exploiting parsed corpora in grammar teaching

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Wallis ◽  
Ian Cushing ◽  
Bas Aarts
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Formal Grammar ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
Grammar Teaching ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Grammatical Subject ◽  
Multiple Challenges

The principal barrier to the uptake of technologies in schools is not technological, but social and political. Teachers must be convinced of the pedagogical benefits of a particular curriculum before they will agree to learn the means to teach it. The teaching of formal grammar to first language students in schools is no exception to this rule. Over the last three decades, most schools in England have been legally required to teach grammatical subject knowledge, i.e. linguistic knowledge of grammar terms and structure, to children age five and upwards as part of the national curriculum in English. A mandatory set of curriculum specifications for England and Wales was published in 2014, and elsewhere similar requirements were imposed. However, few current English school teachers were taught grammar themselves, and the dominant view has long been in favour of ‘real books’ rather than the teaching of a formal grammar. English grammar teaching thus faces multiple challenges: to convince teachers of the value of grammar in their own teaching, to teach the teachers the knowledge they need, and to develop relevant resources to use in the classroom. Alongside subject knowledge, teachers need pedagogical knowledge – how to teach grammar effectively and how to integrate this teaching into other kinds of language learning. The paper introduces the Englicious web platform for schools, and summarises its development and impact since publication. Englicious draws data from the fully-parsed British Component of the International Corpus of English, ICE-GB. The corpus offers plentiful examples of genuine natural language, speech and writing, with context and potentially audio playback. However, corpus examples may be age-inappropriate or over-complex, and without grammar training, teachers are insufficiently equipped to use them. In the absence of grammatical knowledge among teachers, it is insufficient simply to give teachers and children access to a corpus. Whereas so-called ‘classroom concordancing’ approaches offer access to tools and encourage bottom-up learning, Englicious approaches the question of grammar teaching in a concept-driven, top-down way. It contains a modular series of professional development resources, lessons and exercises focused on each concept in turn, in which corpus examples are used extensively. Teachers must be able to discuss with a class why, for instance, work is a noun in a particular sentence, rather than merely report that it is. The paper describes the development of Englicious from secondary to primary, and outlines some of the practical challenges facing the design of this type of teaching resource. A key question, the ‘selection problem’, concerns how tools parameterise the selection of relevant examples for teaching purposes. Finally we discuss curricula for teaching teachers and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention.

scholarly journals Impact of learning design in technology integration: the effort to improve literacy culture of widyaiswara at Pusdiklat BSSN

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-175
Author(s):  
Firman Suprijandoko
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Meaningful Learning ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Technology Skills ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Integrated Technology ◽  
Technology Applications ◽  
Constructivist Approaches

This research is a series of studies on the big theme of Smart-Pusdiklat at the BSSN environment. The research question revealed was how to improve the culture of BSSN Widyaiswaras’ literacy through meaningful learning whose technological scope could maintain the perspective of constructivist approaches to learning. The researcher discusses 2 (two) parts of the Learning Design, namely Technology Skills, and Meaningful Learning, in using integrated technology applications. Considering the limitations of digital exploration on the side of Widyaiswara, the literacy culture of fellow Widyaiswara becomes significant to maintain the gap. This research used exploratory research methods with a qualitative approach. This method is intended to explore a new phenomenon that may not have been studied before. This is the novelty value of this research. The application used in this study was Slack Workspace, which is integrated with 4 (four) other applications, namely Trello for Slack, Google Drive for Slack, Google Calendar for Slack, and Zoom for Slack. The specific results of this study were revealed that the Learning Design is focused on teaching technology skills, and meaningful learning to Widyaiswara. Also, by being involved in the learning experiences which are active, intentional, authentic, constructive, and cooperative.

Music as Subject Matter

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birch P. Browning
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Core Subject ◽  
Curriculum Guidelines ◽  
Affective Components ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Music Study

This chapter discusses what makes music an activity or a discipline worthy of study and what about music is worthy of study. It shows how music, like all disciplines worthy of study, can be understood to have cognitive, psychomotor, and affective components. Understanding the hierarchies in each facet and the relationship between the various facets helps teachers understand what music should be taught and in what ways. Music was long considered a fringe subject, but in 2014 it became a core subject in the national curriculum. Leaders within the field have written standards—curriculum guidelines—to help music teachers understand what students should know and be able to do as a consequence of music study.

scholarly journals Creative Dance as Experiential Learning in State Primary Education: The Potential Benefits for Children

2020 ◽  
pp. 105382592096858
Author(s):  
Helen Payne ◽  
Barry Costas
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Cognitive Learning ◽  
Related Literature ◽  
Creative Dance ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
State Education ◽  
Core Subject ◽  
Potential Benefits

Background: In the United Kingdom, creative dance is classified as part of physical education rather than an important core subject. Purpose: Taking the U.K. National Curriculum as an example, the article’s primary aim is to examine literature exploring the benefits of creative dance, for children aged 3 to 11 years in mainstream state education, to evaluate whether creative dance can be categorized as experiential learning. Methodology/Approach: The literature review included key words in several databases and arrived at potential benefits which can be framed within experiential learning. Findings/Conclusions: The findings identify benefits of creative dance in socioemotional, arts-based, transferable, embodied, physical, and cognitive learning. Conceptualizing creative dance as experiential learning could support it filling a more central role in the curriculum. Implications: This article recontextualizes the role of creative dance in children’s learning through reviewing related literature. Creative dance might play a more central role in the curriculum when the benefits and its process are framed as experiential learning.

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