Picture books are ubiquitous in Western early childhood and primary settings. This article explores how picture books are being used in culturally and linguistically diverse settings, by describing and exploring the practice of two New Zealand teachers who use picture books extensively in their classrooms. Findings from interviews, observations ...

The Progressive Achievement Test of Mathematics (PAT: Mathematics) provides norm-referenced information about students’ level of achievement in the skills and understanding of mathematics. This knowledge guides teachers’ decisions about mathematics teaching programmes and aligns with the current evidence-based approach to teaching and learning. In practice, these assessment tools are also ...

Q: Our school is in the process of targeting writing achievement for students in Years 1 through to 8. Students in my Years 5 and 6 class who were below or well below the writing standard at the end of their previous year have been targeted as a focus group ...

This article explores what approaches to inquiry and integrated inquiry might look like if given a 21st-century learning frame. It is the second of two articles about student inquiry and curriculum integration. (Part A appeared in set no. 3, 2012.)

There is growing interest in the development of education for sustainability (EfS) in New Zealand schools. Over a third of all schools are now part of the Enviroschools Programme, and the term “sustainability” appears prominently in The New Zealand Curriculum. Yet there is much still to be understood about ...

Investigating children’s ideas about and experiences of health and physical activity, and Health and Physical Education (HPE), is a valuable step for teachers to take when designing programmes that are responsive to the needs of diverse learners. This article reports on a 2-year research project in HPE that took this step. Understanding their ...

We are, it seems, constantly being told that the main goal of education should be enabling students to build, rather than to “reproduce”, knowledge; and that knowledge building is a collaborative endeavour. Learners must now be able to connect and collaborate with other individuals and other sets of knowledge. Information and communication technology ...

It is estimated that the World Wide Web contains more than 7.8 billion pages. As a consequence, how children understand how to find and use information on the Web is becoming increasingly important. This article details a study that investigated the strategies that a small group of Year 6 children ...