Elizabeth Kenyon, Andrea Christoff and Sonya Wisdom
This action research project determines the extent to which the authors were able to expand ideas of both citizen and scientist through their integrated science and social studies…
Abstract
Purpose
This action research project determines the extent to which the authors were able to expand ideas of both citizen and scientist through their integrated science and social studies middle childhood methods course.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying the ideas of citizen science, students in the course developed inquiry projects of their choice centering on the topic of local and global water issues. In addition, students participated in book groups focusing on the ideas of citizen science explicitly. The researchers used surveys, student assessments and interviews to assess the extent to which students' ideas changed.
Findings
While the data reveal the students' conceptions of scientist and citizen both expanded, there was greater change in their conceptions of what it means to be a scientist.
Originality/value
The authors argue that the expansion of ideas of science is important for enacting critical citizenship.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Kaupapa Māori research brings to the centre and normalises Māori academic success in higher education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Identity as Māori, through Iwi (tribal) affiliations…
Abstract
Kaupapa Māori research brings to the centre and normalises Māori academic success in higher education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Identity as Māori, through Iwi (tribal) affiliations and as tangata whenua (people of the land), are foundational values from a Māori world view. Strong Māori identity is significantly a consistent element in the stories of Māori academic successes. It is part of the ‘cultural capital’ that tauira Māori (students and graduates) take with them into educational institutions, where little active attention is given to it. At issue on a broader level is the resounding ‘silence of the archives’, the lack of information about Māori succeeding in higher education, particularly from a Māori world view. The dominant discourse in Aotearoa/New Zealand positions us into the ‘other’ and as ‘deficit’. In a reversal of this my doctoral research asked how and why do Māori succeed in higher education. Uniquely Māori elements of whenua (land), whānau (family) and connection with marae (meeting ground and complex) are part of the how and the why of Māori academic achievement. This chapter highlights how some Māori began their journeys that result in academic successes and IT qualifications. Their haphazard access to information about IT implicates the poorly developed pathways of entry into IT studies at that time and may explain some of the low uptake of IT qualifications and IT field employment by Māori and other New Zealanders.
Details
Keywords
Describes Poetry in the Branches, a multi‐layered, replicable program model, devised by Poets House, New York, to foster the link between librarians, the public and the living…
Abstract
Describes Poetry in the Branches, a multi‐layered, replicable program model, devised by Poets House, New York, to foster the link between librarians, the public and the living tradition of poetry. Provides a comprehensive list of titles of contemporary poetry collections by single authors and anthologies.
Details
Keywords
Anastasia Luise Gramatakos and Stephanie Lavau
Many higher education institutions are committed to developing students as skilled professionals and responsible citizens for a more sustainable future. In addition to the formal…
Abstract
Purpose
Many higher education institutions are committed to developing students as skilled professionals and responsible citizens for a more sustainable future. In addition to the formal curriculum for sustainability education, there is an increasing interest in informal learning within universities. This paper aims to extend the current understanding of the diversity and significance of informal learning experiences in supporting students’ learning for sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Six focus groups were formed with 30 undergraduate and postgraduate students from an Australian higher education institution committed to supporting graduate competencies for sustainability. An inductive and qualitative inquiry was designed to enable participants to reflect on the ways in which their university experiences support meaningful and significant learning for sustainability.
Findings
The paper presents a typology of the diverse communities of informal learning that students create and engage with. These range from ongoing to transient groups, from environmentally to more socially oriented groups and from incidental to intended learning, from local to national in scale, with varying types and degrees of connection to the formal curriculum and the university campus. The paper demonstrates that these student-led experiences support three domains of learning: cognitive, practical and affective.
Originality/value
Deepening the understanding of the forms and significance of student-led learning within their university experience contributes to the identification of the roles that informal learning may play alongside formal education in developing graduates as agents of change for a more sustainable future.