set 2003: no. 3

Researchers are always hopeful that the findings of their work will inform policy development and influence the thinking and actions of practitioners. A researcher’s job, however, is not finished when the research report is completed – this is just the beginning. For research to speak to the audience of interest, it needs to be transformed and translated into forms that are relevant and accessible. set: Research Information for Teachers is one example of a… Read more

Schools spend huge amounts of time producing school reports which are one of the main vehicles for communicating students’ progress to parents. The writers investigated a series of school reports and looked at the nature of the information contained in them. They make a number of suggestions about how reports can reflect the performance of students in ways that are meaningful for parents and easy to interpret. 

Most of the ideas and concepts that underpin environmental education have developed outside the school education system. This article draws on a recent review of New Zealand and international literature to examine the origin and evolution of environmental education and points to opportunities for the provision of learning experiences that will benefit students far into the future. 

With a focus on dispositions and affordances, Sally Peters considers some of the dominant theoretical ideas about transition, including maturational readiness, “filling the gaps”, scaffolding the process, and looking at the big picture.

Beginning formal schooling is a time of change and challenge for children, families, and educators. This article focuses on one approach by the Starting School Research Project to engage first-year students as co-researchers in a study of what they think students new to school should know.

Based on a recent evaluation of environmental education in New Zealand schools, this article explores possibilities and challenges for involving secondary school students.
 

Recently we have been hearing a great deal about something called the “knowledge society”. What is all this about, and why hasn’t there been much discussion of the educational implications of participation in this “new” society? Jane Gilbert explores some of the issues.
 

Which learning experiences promote proportional reasoning? Here is a piece of equipment which can be integrated into lessons when dealing with ideas involving fractions, decimals, and percentages.

The focus of this article is the strategies that young children use to find the volume of rectangular prisms. Children were observed during teaching sessions and their solutions to follow-up assessment tasks were analysed. Some implications for the teaching of volume to young children are presented.

 The quality of teacher feedback to students has a considerable impact on student achievement. This research evaluates the quality of feedback given to primary students during numeracy lessons.