scholarly journals An agentic perspective in assessment and evaluation of play-based learning

Teachers Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Paul Crowhurst

In recent times play-based learning has become more prevalent in New Zealand primary schools. The notion of learner agency has also emerged as a priority for educators. Learner agency is underpinned by a strong foundation of theory that has the potential to find synergies with play-based learning. Based on research across three primary school classrooms, this paper conceptualises learner agency as occurring on three separate levels in the classroom—type of learning, direction of learning, and evaluation of learning. It is the evaluation of learning where play-based educators may benefit the most from an agentic perspective. It is suggested that primary classroom teachers seeking to evaluate play-based learning should adopt a dialogic approach to evaluation based on asking questions that are focused on the four key properties of agency, which are: ideas, planning, action, and self-reflection.

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 448-464
Author(s):  
Dominique Banville ◽  
Ben Dyson ◽  
Pamela H Kulinna ◽  
Michalis Stylianou

Teacher efficacy influences what and how they teach. This may be particularly important to consider in Aotearoa New Zealand contexts where primary classroom teachers teach health and physical education and use physical activity breaks with little training. It remains unclear how classroom teachers perceive this role and how to better support them. The purpose of this study was to investigate classroom teachers’ and administrators’ views of teaching health and physical education, including physical activity behaviours, in primary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. Participants were 10 teachers and three administrators from two schools selected as a purposive sample. Data were collected through formal interviews, field notes, and photographs, and were analysed using inductive analysis and constant comparison. The findings are shared using four themes: (a) support for physical activity breaks; (b) support for curriculum content in health and physical education and ‘Kiwi’ sport culture; (c) teachers’ influence level; and (d) school environment. Overall, teachers and administrators felt very efficacious in their roles of creating healthy and active schools. These teachers also appeared to be confused regarding the difference between physical education, sport, and physical activity. They did feel, however, that instructional self-efficacy could be improved through enhanced content and pedagogy taught in teacher education programmes, and increased opportunities for professional learning and development. Potentially, this could lead to more time spent teaching the health and physical education content as well as a greater focus on the national curriculum for health and physical education being taught in Aotearoa New Zealand.


Teachers Work ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Rix ◽  
Ross Bernay

This study investigated the effects of an eight-week mindfulness in schools programme delivered in five primary schools in New Zealand. The participants included 126 students ranging in age from 6-11 years old and six classroom teachers. The programme was developed by one of our researchers (Rix) to align with The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) and with a bi-cultural focus in mind. A Māori model of hauora (holistic well-being), Te Whare Tapa Wha, was incorporated as a key element of the programme. Te Whare Tapa Wha describes a Māori perspective on health and well-being which suggests that the house (whare) and its parts are viewed as a metaphor for different aspects of one’s health such that if one part of a house (or one’s health) is not in order, then there will be an effect of the other parts of the house (an individual’s health). Thus, physical health, spiritual health, family health and mental health are all interconnected for a person’s well-being, which is also a critical aspect of mindfulness. Classroom teachers were asked to complete fortnightly journal entries as part of a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of the programme. A follow-up survey was completed three months after the last mindfulness class to assess any potential long term effects. Findings suggest that the programme may be efficacious for increasing calm, reduced stress, and improved focus and attention. In addition, results indicated enhanced self-awareness, and the development of positive relationships. A number of these outcomes were observed in both students and classroom teachers. These findings suggest that mindfulness practice can make a strong contribution to the key competencies outlined in the New Zealand curriculum. The design of the programme, findings of the study, and future recommendations for implementing mindfulness practice in New Zealand schools are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Dyson ◽  
Barrie Gordon ◽  
J Cowan ◽  
A McKenzie

© 2016 Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Within Aotearoa/New Zealand primary schools, External Providers (EPs) have steadily increased their influence on physical education. The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret classroom teachers’ perspectives of EPs in their primary school. The research team obtained questionnaire responses from 487 classroom teachers from 133 different primary and intermediate schools in six regions across Aotearoa/New Zealand. In addition, 33 classroom teachers, selected from the six regions as a purposive sample [Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (3rd ed.). Newbury, CA: Sage], were interviewed. The research utilised a case-study design [Stake, R. E. (2005). Qualitative case studies. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] and incorporated a mixed-methods approach [Greene, J. C. (2007). Mixed methods in social inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass]. Our findings support the belief that EPs are established as major providers of physical education and sport in the primary schools space. Teachers identified a large number of EPs (n = 638) active in their schools. A number of categories were drawn from the interviews: Prevalence of EPs, Expertise and professional development (PD), Valued programs, Evaluation and assessment of EP provided programs and Pedagogical limitations. The teachers valued the EPs for their expertise, PD and the opportunities for students to experience a wide range of sports. However, schools conducted little assessment or evaluation of the programs. Teachers expressed some criticisms around the pedagogical approaches used and the EPs’ lack of knowledge of the curriculum. As a profession it is our responsibility to ensure that all students experience quality physical education programs and that EPs are working in ways that maximise the benefits for our students.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Dyson ◽  
Barrie Gordon ◽  
J Cowan ◽  
A McKenzie

© 2016 Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Within Aotearoa/New Zealand primary schools, External Providers (EPs) have steadily increased their influence on physical education. The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret classroom teachers’ perspectives of EPs in their primary school. The research team obtained questionnaire responses from 487 classroom teachers from 133 different primary and intermediate schools in six regions across Aotearoa/New Zealand. In addition, 33 classroom teachers, selected from the six regions as a purposive sample [Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (3rd ed.). Newbury, CA: Sage], were interviewed. The research utilised a case-study design [Stake, R. E. (2005). Qualitative case studies. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] and incorporated a mixed-methods approach [Greene, J. C. (2007). Mixed methods in social inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass]. Our findings support the belief that EPs are established as major providers of physical education and sport in the primary schools space. Teachers identified a large number of EPs (n = 638) active in their schools. A number of categories were drawn from the interviews: Prevalence of EPs, Expertise and professional development (PD), Valued programs, Evaluation and assessment of EP provided programs and Pedagogical limitations. The teachers valued the EPs for their expertise, PD and the opportunities for students to experience a wide range of sports. However, schools conducted little assessment or evaluation of the programs. Teachers expressed some criticisms around the pedagogical approaches used and the EPs’ lack of knowledge of the curriculum. As a profession it is our responsibility to ensure that all students experience quality physical education programs and that EPs are working in ways that maximise the benefits for our students.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Dyson ◽  
Jackie Cowan ◽  
Barrie Gordon ◽  
Darren Powell ◽  
Boaz Shulruf

Whilst globally there has been a great deal of discussion and rhetoric regarding the state of physical education at the primary level, there is a paucity of evidence regarding teachers’ perceptions of quality physical education in practice. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore and interpret primary school teachers’ perceptions of physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and identify the influence(s) of education, sport and health policies on these perceptions. This study utilized a mixed methods design, including a questionnaire of 487 classroom teachers from 133 different primary and intermediate schools in five regions (North Auckland, Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Southland) across NZ. The research team also interviewed 41 classroom teachers from across the five regions. Three themes were drawn from the teacher surveys and interviews: muddled thinking; teacher levels of confidence; and physical education or sport. The findings suggest that a number of policies and practices have strongly shaped what occurs ‘in the name’ of physical education in primary schools. These have created a ‘perfect storm’ for primary physical education in NZ and there is concern that the reality of what occurs in practice does not meet the expectations of the national curriculum. There is a need to re-shape the principles and ideals of current practice in primary physical education rather than accepting the historical sports, competition, fitness, fundamental sport skills and ‘Kiwisportification’ of physical education.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heru Purnomo ◽  
Isnaini Wulandari

Evaluation of Learning is one of the mandatory compulsory subjects that must be taken by students at PGSD FKIP Kuningan University in order to obtain assessment and evaluation skill. However, there is no teaching material for evaluating learning for PGSD that explicitly discusses the elementary school learning evaluation process. This study to develop instructional evaluation teaching materials on PGSD learning evaluation courses which are expected to equip students to be applied in primary schools when they become teachers. This research method is a research and development study by taking the object of research at the Kuningan University PGSD. The results of the validation of learning evaluation material experts obtained results with a total value of 74 of the 20 learning indicators that were assessed with a range of scores 1-5, so that a score of 3.7 from all assessment indicators in the learning evaluation instrument can be said with good category. The results of student responses to the feasibility of developing teaching materials obtained by 90.27% of students on the response Very good and good. Based on the results obtained from the response to the readability of the product development, it was obtained that the response of students was 93.65% in the Very Good and Good categories. Based on the categorization of the results of the gain score analysis in the Hake calculation table, the value of 0.59 is categorized as medium


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-54
Author(s):  
Namin Namin

Abstrak: Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan meningkatkan kompetensi guru di SDN Tlambah 2, Kabupaten Karangpenang Sampang. Perencanaan pembelajaran tematik dalam meningkatkan kualitas pembelajaran tematik. Subjek penelitian dalam penelitian tindakan kelas ini adalah guru kelas di Sekolah Dasar Negeri Tlambah 2, Kabupaten Karangpenang Sampang. Penelitian tindakan kelas ini dilaksanakan dalam dua siklus, menggunakan tahapan perencanaan, tindakan, observasi dan refleksi dalam setiap siklus. Data yang terkumpul dianalisis secara kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Dari penelitian tindakan kelas ini disimpulkan bahwa supervisi kelompok dengan pendekatan kolaboratif dapat meningkatkan kompetensi guru kelas di SDN Tlambah 2 Kabupaten Karangpenang Sampang.   Kata kunci: kolaboratif, kompetensi, tematik     Abstract: This research was conducted with the aim of increasing the competency of teachers in SDN Tlambah 2, Karangpenang Sampang District, Spreading thematic learning planning in improving the quality of thematic learning. Research subjects in this action research are low grade teachers in Tlambah 2 Public Elementary School, Karangpenang Sampang District. School action research means it is carried out in two cycles, using the stages of planning, action, observation and reflection in each cycle. The collected data is analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. From this school action research concludes that group supervision with a collaborative approach can improve the competence of classroom teachers in SDN Tlambah 2, Karangpenang Sampang District.   Keywords: collaborative, competence, thematic


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tula Brannelly ◽  
Amohia Boulton

Democratising methodologies often require research partnerships in practice. Research partnerships between indigenous and non-indigenous partners are commonplace, but there is unsatisfactory guidance available to non-indigene researchers about how to approach the relationship in a way that builds solidarity with the aims of the indigenous community. Worse still, non-indigenous researchers may circumvent indigenous communities to avoid causing offense, in effect silencing those voices. In this article, we argue that the ethics of care provides a framework that can guide ethical research practice, because it attends to the political positioning of the people involved, acknowledges inequalities and aims to address these in solidarity with the community. Drawing on our research partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand, we explain how the ethics of care intertwines with Māori values, creating a synergistic and dialogic approach.


2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.G. Kleinhans ◽  
A.J. Verkade ◽  
T. van Wessel ◽  
M.A.S. Bastings ◽  
W.A. Marra ◽  
...  

AbstractLike earth and planetary scientists, most children are curious about the world, the solar system and the rest of the universe. However, for various reasons primary schools emphasise language and calculus rather than natural sciences. When science is taught, examination systems often favour knowledge of the ‘right’ answer over the process of investigation and logical reasoning towards that answer. In order to continue to spark children's curiosity and their motivation to learn and discover, science education hubs at universities and science museums could collaborate more with schools and teachers, and are beginning to do so. The objective of this position paper is to report on recent experiences in earth and planetary science education for pupils in primary and secondary education, to provide examples and inspiration for scientists. We report three examples of initiation and consolidation of science education in primary schools in the Netherlands: (1) a focus on asking questions and seeking information to reason towards the answer, initiated with a classroom game, Expedition Mundus, (2) bringing pupils and teachers together outside their school in the science museum to gain confidence and self-efficacy, and (3) having children ask their own questions and do their own research guided by the empirical cycle, for example on experimentation on sandbox scale models of channels and crater lake deltas as found on Mars. The focus on other planets, fictitious and real, stimulates pupils to ask questions about planet Earth. Finally, we argue that involvement of more scientists in science education would not only benefit primary and secondary schools and future students but also university education and science communication with society.


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