Amidst commissioned research reports and policy reforms in literacy education, this paper examine... more Amidst commissioned research reports and policy reforms in literacy education, this paper examines research reported in the 2000-2005 archive of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy (AJLL). This focus arises from the selective inclusion of literacy research in recent literacy education policy reform documents in Australia and overseas and the exclusion of other research, including research from this AJLL 2000/5 archive. Given the high national and international standing of AJLL, we felt it was timely and important to engage in a retrospective mapping exercise with this collection of research and critically examine its relationship to literacy education policy. So doing forms part of our broader concerns about connections between literacy research, policy and practice.
STEM has emerged as a key area of importance for children, highlighting the value and relevance o... more STEM has emerged as a key area of importance for children, highlighting the value and relevance of integrated understandings of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in both educational contexts and everyday life. The need for innovation and creativity is also recognised, which emphasizes the important role the arts can play as STEM is extended into STEAM. This scoping review investigated what is known about STEM, STEAM and makerspace experiences and opportunities for children aged birth to eight. The review found that early childhood experience with STEM, STEAM and makerspaces is an emerging field of research. Findings suggest that STEAM holds more relevance to learning and experiences in the early childhood years, and perhaps across the lifespan. The review also highlights the need to shift the starting point to the earliest of years and create greater intentionality in STEAM experiences with infants, toddlers and preschool aged children, recognizing the relevance of ST...
This study builds on and contributes to research on digital play with young children. Previous re... more This study builds on and contributes to research on digital play with young children. Previous research has examined digital play from different viewpoints, but no studies have specifically addressed young children\u27s perspectives as they interact with applications (apps) that have been designed specifically for their age group. While our review of the literature provides insights from investigations of young children\u27s perspectives, there is limited research on preschoolers\u27 views on the apps designed for them by adults. In this article, we discuss young participants\u27 perspectives on the apps that they engaged with in our research. In particular, we emphasise the importance of various contexts for digital play in relation to meaningful conversations and social interactions. Our findings provide insights about how children choose to engage in digital play and through this, pose implications for the design of apps
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Self-regulation (SR) is considered foundational in early life, with robust evidence demonstrating... more Self-regulation (SR) is considered foundational in early life, with robust evidence demonstrating a link between early self-regulation and longer-term outcomes. This has been the impetus for a growing body of intervention research into how best to support early SR development, yet approaches and effects are diverse, which complicates an understanding of the critical characteristics for effective early SR intervention. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a guiding framework, we present a scoping review of early SR-intervention research to identify the characteristics of pre-school interventions that show significant and strong effects on young children’s SR. Studies from peer-reviewed journal articles were included if they evaluated a SR intervention with pre-school children, were published between 2010 and 2020, written in English, and included a SR outcome measure. This yielded 19 studies, each reporting the efficacy of a different SR intervention. Results showed that content ...
Playing with toys has been an established part of early childhood education for many years. Educa... more Playing with toys has been an established part of early childhood education for many years. Educators and theorists agree that opportunities to engage in make-believe play provide a wide range of avenues for enhancing literacy practices in the early years as children make meaning of their surrounding contexts. The increased availability and accessibility of mobile digital technologies has seen children more frequently engage in screen-based or "digital" play, sometimes leaving behind traditional forms of make-believe play with physical objects in physical spaces. However, when combined traditional make-believe and digital play complement each other in providing a rich texture for making meaning. An instance of onscreen and offscreen play is deconstructed to show the meaning-making complexities for child participants. This paper examines four propositions associated with meaning making space, mediation, materiality and embodiment (Burnett, Merchant, Pahl & Rowsell, 2014) to...
Mobile Technologies in Children’s Language and Literacy, 2018
The structures, procedures and relationships within schools both constrain and enable the ways th... more The structures, procedures and relationships within schools both constrain and enable the ways that children and teachers can engage with the everyday ‘business’ of literacy learning. In schools and classrooms, the resources available to children, the spaces in which they work and how adults interact with them are often decided upon by others, including their teachers. In this chapter, we focus specifically on access to mobile digital resources and important spaces in the school, arguing that opportunities for children to be critical consumers and producers of text can be provided when children are afforded some control of decisions about how, where and when people, materials, tools and texts are used. Drawing from data collected as part of a larger study of learning to write in the early years of schooling, at two different schools in different Australian states, we examine two cases of ‘disruption’ negotiated by children and their teachers. We explore the potential of mobile techn...
School Spaces for Student Wellbeing and Learning, 2019
Classroom spaces are complex social worlds where people interact in multifaceted ways with spaces... more Classroom spaces are complex social worlds where people interact in multifaceted ways with spaces and materials. Classrooms are carefully designed agents for socialisation; however, the complexity and richness of learning experiences are partly determined by the teacher. This chapter draws from sociocultural perspectives to consider processes of thinking and learning as distributed and mediated across people and resources within the learning space. We argue that learning and wellbeing cannot be separated as students activate their social and emotional literacies when navigating the classroom environment. Drawing on data drawn from an ethnographic study of classrooms located in a community of high poverty, we critique how teachers describe their classroom spaces and selection of resources to facilitate their teaching of writing. We illustrate how geographies of place, movement and resources, interact with, and expand the social dimensions of classroom spaces.
This pape r pres ents t he out comes of a critica l analysis o f jour nal art icles, gover nment ... more This pape r pres ents t he out comes of a critica l analysis o f jour nal art icles, gover nment report s and agenda s on literac y in lower Primary classro oms. While d iffere nt voices an d perspectives cle arly e merge, our c oncern is no t enga ging with or promo ting par ticula r viewpoints and a gendas per se. Rat her, t his pa per mov es bey ond de bate t o focu s on m apping these voice s onto the kin ds of litera cy/ies they charac terise , the instru ctiona l prac tices the y port ray, t he res earch frameworks t hey ut ilise, the issues they art iculat e, the group s they repre sent, the ve nues in which they are hea rd, th e audiences to which the y spea k, and the v isions they enc apsula te. In so do ing, we seek to find points of conne ction and coh erence to in form f uture direct ions f or enh ancing the n exus bet ween literac y rese arch, policy and p ractic e, wit h the ultima te aim of se eking to equ ip children to fun ction effect ively in increasin gly diverse and ch alleng ing literacy envir onment s.
It has long been recognised that the process of 'becoming a teacher' is complex. The aim of any t... more It has long been recognised that the process of 'becoming a teacher' is complex. The aim of any teacher education program therefore should be to provide 'high quality learning' (Killen 2005) that entails both theoretical and practical components. These components need to be clearly linked for as Cole and Knowles (2000) claim there is an unmistaken gap between what teachers are taught in pre-service teacher training and what they are expected to do at the 'chalk-face' in the beginning of their professional experience. In response to this obvious challenge current reviews of, and research into, teacher education, have paid particular attention to issues concerning the practical component, commonly known as 'the practicum' (Ramsey 2000, Perry and Allard 2003, Vick 2006). However the traditional 'practicum' where preservice students are 'supervised' by classroom teachers seems to be insufficient in responding to challenges raised. This paper explores how the Faculty of Education in the University of Wollongong attempted to change the traditional 'practicum' by setting up 'inschool experiences' for first year preservice teachers across their first session in their BEd program. These experiences activated the process of bridging the gap between theory and practice for the preservice teachers and most importantly led to the beginnings of preservice teachers developing a professional identity of what it means to 'be a teacher'.
Some media reports (Devin e, 2005; Donnelly, 2005) have asserted that pre-service teachers often ... more Some media reports (Devin e, 2005; Donnelly, 2005) have asserted that pre-service teachers often gradu ate without an understan ding of how to teach children to r ead and write. In the curr ent climate of profess ional milestones, national benchmarks and teaching standar ds for early career teachers, it is crucial that pre-service teacher edu catio n programs ad equately prepare graduates f or entry into the profession. This p aper explores how we hav e tailored a final y ear literacy elective subject to meet the need s of our pre-s ervice teacher s and to support them in their final practicum and subsequent entry into the profes sion. In particular w e report on the process es we engag e with to encour age pre-service teach ers to id entif y th eir own professional learni ng goals within literacy education and ho w we incorporate these w ithin the context of the subject w orkshops. Throughout the session w e challenge the traditional mod e of a univ ersity sub ject as we create opportunities for pr e-service teacher s to n etwork with the wider education community throu gh attendance at local professional learning sessions and through contact with k ey literacy personn el acro ss the sch ool systems. We argue th at our pre-s ervice teacher s overwhelmingly perceive this subject as a valuable way to stimulate and encourage profes sional lear nin g and dialogue as they focus on thei r role as literacy educators.
Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, Jan 11, 2015
Alcohol media literacy programs in the United States have increased students' media literacy ... more Alcohol media literacy programs in the United States have increased students' media literacy skills and lowered pre-drinking behaviour. In Australia, no such programs have yet been implemented or evaluated. This pilot study aimed to examine the feasibility and potential impact of an alcohol media literacy program for Australian upper-primary school children. Thirty-seven Year 5 and 6 students (aged 10-12) from one school in the Sydney region participated in 10 one-hour media lessons. Teacher interviews, student exit slips, teacher observations and a researcher reflective journal were analysed to examine the implementation process, while a pre- and post-questionnaire was analysed to measure outcome. Key factors in implementation were the importance of school context; attainment of English and PDHPE learning outcomes to differing extents; program's useability provided flexibility; perceived complexity and achievability of the lessons and program's engagement and relevance ...
Literacy Enrichment and Technology Integration in Pre-Service Teacher Education
This chapter describes the challenges of integrating new technologies with literacy education in ... more This chapter describes the challenges of integrating new technologies with literacy education in preservice primary teacher education in Australia. The authors describe the policy context and regulatory mechanisms controlling pre-service education, including a national set of professional standards for graduate teachers, a new national curriculum for school students, the introduction of high stakes national assessment for school students, and the looming threat of decontextualized back-to-the-basics professional entry tests for aspiring teachers. The chapter includes three case studies of the authors' pedagogical practices that attempt to reframe conceptions of the literacy capabilities of pre-service teachers to reflect the complex and sophisticated requirements of teachers in contemporary schooling. The authors conclude the chapter with a discussion of the implications of these case studies as they illustrate the ways that pre-service teachers can be scaffolded and supported to develop creative capacity and critical awareness of the kinds of literacies required in the digital age despite restrictive regimes.
Technology use in classrooms is often employed for all the wrong reasons-such as convenience, pre... more Technology use in classrooms is often employed for all the wrong reasons-such as convenience, pressure from school administrators, the belief that students need to be entertained, and so on. In this paper, we argue that technology presents the opportunity to employ powerful cognitive tools that can be used by students to solve complex and authentic problems. In order for this to occur, however, technology needs to be used in theoretically sound ways, and it needs to be used by students rather than teachers. We present ten practical ways for technology to be used effectively and meaningfully in school classrooms that are based on principles of authentic learning. Jonassen has argued that computer technologies, when used as cognitive tools or mindtools, represent a departure from traditional thinking about technologies (Jonassen, 2000; Jonassen & Reeves, 1996). Rather than be used as a means to efficiently transmit information and content to learners, technologies can be used by students as 'intellectual partners', and as tools to analyze and interpret their understanding. Critically, Jonassen (1994) contended: 'Students cannot use [cognitive] tools without thinking deeply about the content that they are learning, and second, if they choose to use these tools to help them learn, the tools will facilitate the learning process'.
This paper is driven by concern that the fields of literacy research, policy and practice do not ... more This paper is driven by concern that the fields of literacy research, policy and practice do not interact with one another in ways that are congruent or productive, as evidenced in recent government literacy reports in Australia and overseas. This concern ...
Examining how young children learn to write is increasingly important as global society moves fur... more Examining how young children learn to write is increasingly important as global society moves further towards a knowledge economy, where the production of texts of various kinds is an increasingly ubiquitous practice in everyday life and work. While there has been recent policy and practice focus on children’s writing performance in standardised tests, in this article, the authors focus on what can be learned by listening to children’s voices as they are engaged in ‘draw and talk’ methodologies. While children’s drawings have a material reality, they are also representations of children’s perceptions of their experiences with learning to write. In this article, the authors explore the processes, practices and relationships involved in learning to write, depicted in children’s drawings when they are asked to draw themselves learning to write. The authors identify representations of writing, evident in the children’s drawings focusing the relational, the material and the spatial eleme...
Children should be active participants in the environments in which they engage. However in the p... more Children should be active participants in the environments in which they engage. However in the prior to school setting, it is not necessarily clear to educators how children understand their role and place within that community. Lave and Wenger\u27s (2005) situated learning theory provides a useful frame to consider this developing sense of membership and the connections children make between home and their prior to school centre. In the spirit of belonging, being and becoming (COAG, 2009), a cohort of 27 children (aged 4-5 years) transitioning to the first year of formal schooling were invited to create a digital story representing their active participation in their centre. Analysis of the ways the children expressed this sense of belonging revealed sound understandings about what it is to be part of the community, the responsibilities this entails and the implications for early years educators
The ability to ask questions is essential to learning, reasoning, and understanding. This column ... more The ability to ask questions is essential to learning, reasoning, and understanding. This column introduces a sequence of activities that incorporate the use of digital images and online texts into intentional opportunities for even the youngest learners to work with their teachers and classmates as they wonder, anticipate, explore, and think deeply about things that matter to them
The federal government’s pledge for increased access to computers for students has been held up a... more The federal government’s pledge for increased access to computers for students has been held up as “groundbreaking reform” as “digital schools” become a reality for more students. However, access to technology remains uneven across schools, student competency levels differ and teacher expertise varies considerably. Incorporating new technologies such as laptops, wireless connectivity, smartboards and mobile communication devices into interactive practices frequently requires rethinking configurations of curriculum, bodies and space. Teachers are experts in pedagogy, but not necessarily in technology. It is vital that teachers are acknowledged for the considerable knowledge they have about their profession – what constitutes ‘good’ pedagogy, the nature of learning and ways to engage students in the classroom. While there appears an ever-increasing range of technologies to incorporate within classroom learning experiences, many teachers know technology use alone is not a substitute fo...
English has been introduced as a core subject in primary schools across Asia over the past decade... more English has been introduced as a core subject in primary schools across Asia over the past decade. Besides aiming to improve the English proficiency of Japanese primary school students, Japan’s recent reforms also mandate the development of children’s awareness of cultures other than their own. However, relatively little is known about pedagogical strategies to achieve cultural awareness in the Japanese primary school classroom. The objective of this study was, therefore, to utilize an almost wordless picture book and examine the ways children interpret stories about people from cultures other than their own. This study explored the independent meaning-making practices and processes of six Japanese primary school students as they viewed, without teacher intervention, Mirror, an Australian almost wordless picture book about the daily lives of an Australian and a Moroccan family. Interview and observation data provided insights into the children’s meaning-making processes and the ways...
The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 2018
That an educator should read texts aloud to children is a cornerstone of literacy pedagogy. And a... more That an educator should read texts aloud to children is a cornerstone of literacy pedagogy. And although it is well established that reading aloud to children occurs frequently across educational contexts, less clear is the ways those unique contexts shape the text choices, teaching strategies and expectations for children's engagement with these literacy learning experiences. The findings shared in this paper sit within a larger study examining the changing literacy demands for learners across their schooling years. The paper examines the literacy learning demands during acts of reading aloud as they were offered in two pre-school settings (prior-to-school) and two Kindergarten classrooms (the first year of formal primary schooling). Analyses of classroom observations and teacher semi-structured interview transcripts through the interactions, the time structures, the use of space and of resources illustrate Bernstein's theory of visible and invisible literacy learning pedag...
Amidst commissioned research reports and policy reforms in literacy education, this paper examine... more Amidst commissioned research reports and policy reforms in literacy education, this paper examines research reported in the 2000-2005 archive of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy (AJLL). This focus arises from the selective inclusion of literacy research in recent literacy education policy reform documents in Australia and overseas and the exclusion of other research, including research from this AJLL 2000/5 archive. Given the high national and international standing of AJLL, we felt it was timely and important to engage in a retrospective mapping exercise with this collection of research and critically examine its relationship to literacy education policy. So doing forms part of our broader concerns about connections between literacy research, policy and practice.
STEM has emerged as a key area of importance for children, highlighting the value and relevance o... more STEM has emerged as a key area of importance for children, highlighting the value and relevance of integrated understandings of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in both educational contexts and everyday life. The need for innovation and creativity is also recognised, which emphasizes the important role the arts can play as STEM is extended into STEAM. This scoping review investigated what is known about STEM, STEAM and makerspace experiences and opportunities for children aged birth to eight. The review found that early childhood experience with STEM, STEAM and makerspaces is an emerging field of research. Findings suggest that STEAM holds more relevance to learning and experiences in the early childhood years, and perhaps across the lifespan. The review also highlights the need to shift the starting point to the earliest of years and create greater intentionality in STEAM experiences with infants, toddlers and preschool aged children, recognizing the relevance of ST...
This study builds on and contributes to research on digital play with young children. Previous re... more This study builds on and contributes to research on digital play with young children. Previous research has examined digital play from different viewpoints, but no studies have specifically addressed young children\u27s perspectives as they interact with applications (apps) that have been designed specifically for their age group. While our review of the literature provides insights from investigations of young children\u27s perspectives, there is limited research on preschoolers\u27 views on the apps designed for them by adults. In this article, we discuss young participants\u27 perspectives on the apps that they engaged with in our research. In particular, we emphasise the importance of various contexts for digital play in relation to meaningful conversations and social interactions. Our findings provide insights about how children choose to engage in digital play and through this, pose implications for the design of apps
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Self-regulation (SR) is considered foundational in early life, with robust evidence demonstrating... more Self-regulation (SR) is considered foundational in early life, with robust evidence demonstrating a link between early self-regulation and longer-term outcomes. This has been the impetus for a growing body of intervention research into how best to support early SR development, yet approaches and effects are diverse, which complicates an understanding of the critical characteristics for effective early SR intervention. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a guiding framework, we present a scoping review of early SR-intervention research to identify the characteristics of pre-school interventions that show significant and strong effects on young children’s SR. Studies from peer-reviewed journal articles were included if they evaluated a SR intervention with pre-school children, were published between 2010 and 2020, written in English, and included a SR outcome measure. This yielded 19 studies, each reporting the efficacy of a different SR intervention. Results showed that content ...
Playing with toys has been an established part of early childhood education for many years. Educa... more Playing with toys has been an established part of early childhood education for many years. Educators and theorists agree that opportunities to engage in make-believe play provide a wide range of avenues for enhancing literacy practices in the early years as children make meaning of their surrounding contexts. The increased availability and accessibility of mobile digital technologies has seen children more frequently engage in screen-based or "digital" play, sometimes leaving behind traditional forms of make-believe play with physical objects in physical spaces. However, when combined traditional make-believe and digital play complement each other in providing a rich texture for making meaning. An instance of onscreen and offscreen play is deconstructed to show the meaning-making complexities for child participants. This paper examines four propositions associated with meaning making space, mediation, materiality and embodiment (Burnett, Merchant, Pahl & Rowsell, 2014) to...
Mobile Technologies in Children’s Language and Literacy, 2018
The structures, procedures and relationships within schools both constrain and enable the ways th... more The structures, procedures and relationships within schools both constrain and enable the ways that children and teachers can engage with the everyday ‘business’ of literacy learning. In schools and classrooms, the resources available to children, the spaces in which they work and how adults interact with them are often decided upon by others, including their teachers. In this chapter, we focus specifically on access to mobile digital resources and important spaces in the school, arguing that opportunities for children to be critical consumers and producers of text can be provided when children are afforded some control of decisions about how, where and when people, materials, tools and texts are used. Drawing from data collected as part of a larger study of learning to write in the early years of schooling, at two different schools in different Australian states, we examine two cases of ‘disruption’ negotiated by children and their teachers. We explore the potential of mobile techn...
School Spaces for Student Wellbeing and Learning, 2019
Classroom spaces are complex social worlds where people interact in multifaceted ways with spaces... more Classroom spaces are complex social worlds where people interact in multifaceted ways with spaces and materials. Classrooms are carefully designed agents for socialisation; however, the complexity and richness of learning experiences are partly determined by the teacher. This chapter draws from sociocultural perspectives to consider processes of thinking and learning as distributed and mediated across people and resources within the learning space. We argue that learning and wellbeing cannot be separated as students activate their social and emotional literacies when navigating the classroom environment. Drawing on data drawn from an ethnographic study of classrooms located in a community of high poverty, we critique how teachers describe their classroom spaces and selection of resources to facilitate their teaching of writing. We illustrate how geographies of place, movement and resources, interact with, and expand the social dimensions of classroom spaces.
This pape r pres ents t he out comes of a critica l analysis o f jour nal art icles, gover nment ... more This pape r pres ents t he out comes of a critica l analysis o f jour nal art icles, gover nment report s and agenda s on literac y in lower Primary classro oms. While d iffere nt voices an d perspectives cle arly e merge, our c oncern is no t enga ging with or promo ting par ticula r viewpoints and a gendas per se. Rat her, t his pa per mov es bey ond de bate t o focu s on m apping these voice s onto the kin ds of litera cy/ies they charac terise , the instru ctiona l prac tices the y port ray, t he res earch frameworks t hey ut ilise, the issues they art iculat e, the group s they repre sent, the ve nues in which they are hea rd, th e audiences to which the y spea k, and the v isions they enc apsula te. In so do ing, we seek to find points of conne ction and coh erence to in form f uture direct ions f or enh ancing the n exus bet ween literac y rese arch, policy and p ractic e, wit h the ultima te aim of se eking to equ ip children to fun ction effect ively in increasin gly diverse and ch alleng ing literacy envir onment s.
It has long been recognised that the process of 'becoming a teacher' is complex. The aim of any t... more It has long been recognised that the process of 'becoming a teacher' is complex. The aim of any teacher education program therefore should be to provide 'high quality learning' (Killen 2005) that entails both theoretical and practical components. These components need to be clearly linked for as Cole and Knowles (2000) claim there is an unmistaken gap between what teachers are taught in pre-service teacher training and what they are expected to do at the 'chalk-face' in the beginning of their professional experience. In response to this obvious challenge current reviews of, and research into, teacher education, have paid particular attention to issues concerning the practical component, commonly known as 'the practicum' (Ramsey 2000, Perry and Allard 2003, Vick 2006). However the traditional 'practicum' where preservice students are 'supervised' by classroom teachers seems to be insufficient in responding to challenges raised. This paper explores how the Faculty of Education in the University of Wollongong attempted to change the traditional 'practicum' by setting up 'inschool experiences' for first year preservice teachers across their first session in their BEd program. These experiences activated the process of bridging the gap between theory and practice for the preservice teachers and most importantly led to the beginnings of preservice teachers developing a professional identity of what it means to 'be a teacher'.
Some media reports (Devin e, 2005; Donnelly, 2005) have asserted that pre-service teachers often ... more Some media reports (Devin e, 2005; Donnelly, 2005) have asserted that pre-service teachers often gradu ate without an understan ding of how to teach children to r ead and write. In the curr ent climate of profess ional milestones, national benchmarks and teaching standar ds for early career teachers, it is crucial that pre-service teacher edu catio n programs ad equately prepare graduates f or entry into the profession. This p aper explores how we hav e tailored a final y ear literacy elective subject to meet the need s of our pre-s ervice teacher s and to support them in their final practicum and subsequent entry into the profes sion. In particular w e report on the process es we engag e with to encour age pre-service teach ers to id entif y th eir own professional learni ng goals within literacy education and ho w we incorporate these w ithin the context of the subject w orkshops. Throughout the session w e challenge the traditional mod e of a univ ersity sub ject as we create opportunities for pr e-service teacher s to n etwork with the wider education community throu gh attendance at local professional learning sessions and through contact with k ey literacy personn el acro ss the sch ool systems. We argue th at our pre-s ervice teacher s overwhelmingly perceive this subject as a valuable way to stimulate and encourage profes sional lear nin g and dialogue as they focus on thei r role as literacy educators.
Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, Jan 11, 2015
Alcohol media literacy programs in the United States have increased students' media literacy ... more Alcohol media literacy programs in the United States have increased students' media literacy skills and lowered pre-drinking behaviour. In Australia, no such programs have yet been implemented or evaluated. This pilot study aimed to examine the feasibility and potential impact of an alcohol media literacy program for Australian upper-primary school children. Thirty-seven Year 5 and 6 students (aged 10-12) from one school in the Sydney region participated in 10 one-hour media lessons. Teacher interviews, student exit slips, teacher observations and a researcher reflective journal were analysed to examine the implementation process, while a pre- and post-questionnaire was analysed to measure outcome. Key factors in implementation were the importance of school context; attainment of English and PDHPE learning outcomes to differing extents; program's useability provided flexibility; perceived complexity and achievability of the lessons and program's engagement and relevance ...
Literacy Enrichment and Technology Integration in Pre-Service Teacher Education
This chapter describes the challenges of integrating new technologies with literacy education in ... more This chapter describes the challenges of integrating new technologies with literacy education in preservice primary teacher education in Australia. The authors describe the policy context and regulatory mechanisms controlling pre-service education, including a national set of professional standards for graduate teachers, a new national curriculum for school students, the introduction of high stakes national assessment for school students, and the looming threat of decontextualized back-to-the-basics professional entry tests for aspiring teachers. The chapter includes three case studies of the authors' pedagogical practices that attempt to reframe conceptions of the literacy capabilities of pre-service teachers to reflect the complex and sophisticated requirements of teachers in contemporary schooling. The authors conclude the chapter with a discussion of the implications of these case studies as they illustrate the ways that pre-service teachers can be scaffolded and supported to develop creative capacity and critical awareness of the kinds of literacies required in the digital age despite restrictive regimes.
Technology use in classrooms is often employed for all the wrong reasons-such as convenience, pre... more Technology use in classrooms is often employed for all the wrong reasons-such as convenience, pressure from school administrators, the belief that students need to be entertained, and so on. In this paper, we argue that technology presents the opportunity to employ powerful cognitive tools that can be used by students to solve complex and authentic problems. In order for this to occur, however, technology needs to be used in theoretically sound ways, and it needs to be used by students rather than teachers. We present ten practical ways for technology to be used effectively and meaningfully in school classrooms that are based on principles of authentic learning. Jonassen has argued that computer technologies, when used as cognitive tools or mindtools, represent a departure from traditional thinking about technologies (Jonassen, 2000; Jonassen & Reeves, 1996). Rather than be used as a means to efficiently transmit information and content to learners, technologies can be used by students as 'intellectual partners', and as tools to analyze and interpret their understanding. Critically, Jonassen (1994) contended: 'Students cannot use [cognitive] tools without thinking deeply about the content that they are learning, and second, if they choose to use these tools to help them learn, the tools will facilitate the learning process'.
This paper is driven by concern that the fields of literacy research, policy and practice do not ... more This paper is driven by concern that the fields of literacy research, policy and practice do not interact with one another in ways that are congruent or productive, as evidenced in recent government literacy reports in Australia and overseas. This concern ...
Examining how young children learn to write is increasingly important as global society moves fur... more Examining how young children learn to write is increasingly important as global society moves further towards a knowledge economy, where the production of texts of various kinds is an increasingly ubiquitous practice in everyday life and work. While there has been recent policy and practice focus on children’s writing performance in standardised tests, in this article, the authors focus on what can be learned by listening to children’s voices as they are engaged in ‘draw and talk’ methodologies. While children’s drawings have a material reality, they are also representations of children’s perceptions of their experiences with learning to write. In this article, the authors explore the processes, practices and relationships involved in learning to write, depicted in children’s drawings when they are asked to draw themselves learning to write. The authors identify representations of writing, evident in the children’s drawings focusing the relational, the material and the spatial eleme...
Children should be active participants in the environments in which they engage. However in the p... more Children should be active participants in the environments in which they engage. However in the prior to school setting, it is not necessarily clear to educators how children understand their role and place within that community. Lave and Wenger\u27s (2005) situated learning theory provides a useful frame to consider this developing sense of membership and the connections children make between home and their prior to school centre. In the spirit of belonging, being and becoming (COAG, 2009), a cohort of 27 children (aged 4-5 years) transitioning to the first year of formal schooling were invited to create a digital story representing their active participation in their centre. Analysis of the ways the children expressed this sense of belonging revealed sound understandings about what it is to be part of the community, the responsibilities this entails and the implications for early years educators
The ability to ask questions is essential to learning, reasoning, and understanding. This column ... more The ability to ask questions is essential to learning, reasoning, and understanding. This column introduces a sequence of activities that incorporate the use of digital images and online texts into intentional opportunities for even the youngest learners to work with their teachers and classmates as they wonder, anticipate, explore, and think deeply about things that matter to them
The federal government’s pledge for increased access to computers for students has been held up a... more The federal government’s pledge for increased access to computers for students has been held up as “groundbreaking reform” as “digital schools” become a reality for more students. However, access to technology remains uneven across schools, student competency levels differ and teacher expertise varies considerably. Incorporating new technologies such as laptops, wireless connectivity, smartboards and mobile communication devices into interactive practices frequently requires rethinking configurations of curriculum, bodies and space. Teachers are experts in pedagogy, but not necessarily in technology. It is vital that teachers are acknowledged for the considerable knowledge they have about their profession – what constitutes ‘good’ pedagogy, the nature of learning and ways to engage students in the classroom. While there appears an ever-increasing range of technologies to incorporate within classroom learning experiences, many teachers know technology use alone is not a substitute fo...
English has been introduced as a core subject in primary schools across Asia over the past decade... more English has been introduced as a core subject in primary schools across Asia over the past decade. Besides aiming to improve the English proficiency of Japanese primary school students, Japan’s recent reforms also mandate the development of children’s awareness of cultures other than their own. However, relatively little is known about pedagogical strategies to achieve cultural awareness in the Japanese primary school classroom. The objective of this study was, therefore, to utilize an almost wordless picture book and examine the ways children interpret stories about people from cultures other than their own. This study explored the independent meaning-making practices and processes of six Japanese primary school students as they viewed, without teacher intervention, Mirror, an Australian almost wordless picture book about the daily lives of an Australian and a Moroccan family. Interview and observation data provided insights into the children’s meaning-making processes and the ways...
The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 2018
That an educator should read texts aloud to children is a cornerstone of literacy pedagogy. And a... more That an educator should read texts aloud to children is a cornerstone of literacy pedagogy. And although it is well established that reading aloud to children occurs frequently across educational contexts, less clear is the ways those unique contexts shape the text choices, teaching strategies and expectations for children's engagement with these literacy learning experiences. The findings shared in this paper sit within a larger study examining the changing literacy demands for learners across their schooling years. The paper examines the literacy learning demands during acts of reading aloud as they were offered in two pre-school settings (prior-to-school) and two Kindergarten classrooms (the first year of formal primary schooling). Analyses of classroom observations and teacher semi-structured interview transcripts through the interactions, the time structures, the use of space and of resources illustrate Bernstein's theory of visible and invisible literacy learning pedag...
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Papers by Lisa Kervin