Virtual classrooms are ICT immersion environments where teachers use technology to teach students from different physical locations—which might mean that they use the opportunities of ICT to enable collaborative Web 2.0 learning. This article looks at how virtual classes operate in reality, and what we can learn about how to move towards 21st century ways of learning.

Our schools are organised to meet the needs of the industrial age.  They are based on two key ideas: the importance of traditional disciplinary knowledge and the necessity to sort people according to their likely employment destination. 

It does matter what students are learning and that the old disciplines are still important. 

This article, the fourth of a series about student research activities, examines the underlying reasons why it is important for students to have rich opportunities to carry out research-related activities. The author discusses the nature of research as enquiry, identifies some common themes in advocacy for future-focused education, and links them to the key competencies currently being introduced into the New Zealand curriculum.

Over the last six years or so, the New Zealand government main policy focus has been on improving our economic performance. A key aspect of this focus is an emphasis on innovation and knowledge development – in particular, the cross-disciplinary Knowledge Wave and Growing an Innovative New Zealand projects. These projects make it clear that a ‘quality’ education system is seen as being the solution to many of the problems we face as we try to become a ‘knowledge-based’ society.

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