Wanganui school takes part in education research

St John’s Hill School in Wanganui will be a participating school in a new research project that will contribute to the government's goal of raising education standards, Education Minister Trevor Mallard said today.

The study into environmental education is being led by Dr Chris Eames from the University of Waikato’s Centre for Science and Technology Education Research. Entitled Investigating teachers’ pedagogical approaches in environmental education that promote students’ action competence, the study is based around a series of case studies of classrooms where coordinators will partner teachers to research classroom practice in environmental education.

The two-year study will be carried out in collaboration with schools and researchers in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Wanganui, Wellington, Kapiti, Christchurch, and Otago and is one of 18 research projects under the Teaching & Learning Research Initiative (TLRI).

“These projects continue the important work we are doing in the early childhood, school and tertiary sectors to raise education standards through quality teaching.

“The research projects announced today cover all aspects of teaching and learning, and allow the benefits of partnerships between education research experts and teachers to be maximised.

“Through these projects we can build on teaching and learning knowledge by enhancing the links between educational research and teaching practices so that these projects have outcomes that are of practical use to teachers and other educators.” The New Zealand Council of Educational Research has been contracted to manage the programme on behalf of the Ministry of Education. A team of specialists in key areas of educational research will manage the initiative and assist the researchers.

A list of the research projects in the 2004 funding round and background information is attached, and more information on the TLRI programme is available at http://www.tlri.org.nz.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>