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 ...

In this article Cathy Wylie, a chief researcher at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, provides an account of New Zealand’s education system from the introduction of self-managing schools under Tomorrow’s Schools through to the present day. Dr Wylie draws on her recent book Vital Connections to critically examine ...

Gifted students benefit from time spent with like-minded peers. This article outlines the value of grouping gifted students together and looks at different ways this can be done. It also describes a research study conducted by Clark, one of the authors of this article. The research explores the academic ...