Cognition Consulting Secures DVD Learning Contract

For Immediate Release

Cognition Consulting Secures DVD Learning Contract

NEW ZEALAND, Monday, 21 May 2007: Cognition Consulting Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Multi Serve Education Trust, has been awarded a Ministry of Education contract to produce two DVDs designed to demonstrate how teachers can use language strategies to help students engage with content across the curriculum.

In 2006, Cognition Consulting New Zealand Operations Manager, Dr. Phil Coogan, led a partnership comprising of TEAM Solutions from Auckland University, Visual Learning and Unitec NZ, to produce a groundbreaking 90 minute DVD for the Ministry of Education titled ‘Making Language and Learning Work: Integrating Language and Learning in Secondary Maths and Science’.

Several months in the planning, it was first in a series of three DVDs that are being produced and illustrated ways in which teachers can use language strategies to assist with learning in secondary science and mathematics.

Dr. Coogan directed the project with Visual Learning managing the filming and post production work and TEAM Solutions supplying much of the expertise in language for learning: “Because they focus on classroom interactions and strategies at a micro level and involve real teachers working with diverse student, these DVDs have the potential to be among the most powerful resources produced for the Ministry of Education. With the appropriate levels of support they will have an enormous impact on student learning.”

The second DVD in the series targets English and social science teachers of diverse learners, especially those for whom English is a second language but it will be relevant for all teachers and will again draw upon the expertise of Team Solutions and Visual Learning.

“This project provides interesting insights into the strength of the relationships between teachers and their students. The DVDs provide teachers with concrete ways to help students to get to grips with the language demands of English, social sciences, science and maths,” he says.

The first DVD showed strategies designed to illustrate a key principle that teachers need to be aware of what the learner already knows. These included a Learning Grid in which students track their knowledge at the beginning, middle and end of a unit and an Anticipatory Guide which helps students activate their background knowledge at the start of a new topic. The principles and strategies are all included on ESOL Online (http://www.tki.org.nz/r/esol/esolonline/classroom/teach_strats/anticipatory_e.php) which is also managed by Cognition Consulting.

“Cognition Consulting now has a proven experience and skills in this fast evolving and increasingly critical part of the education landscape. Our approach to projects like this is based on working in partnership with like-minded organisations to achieve the best outcome for students in this country. We have every confidence the new DVDs will achieve that aim,” says Dr. Coogan.

This new contract win puts us in great shape for continued expansion in 2007,” he concludes.

ENDS

About Cognition Consulting: Cognition Consulting provides education consulting services to meet individual client needs in markets around the world. It was launched in August 2006 as a subsidiary company of Multi Serve Education Trust, which has been in operation since 1989 and functions as a Charitable Trust. The consulting business operations of Multi Serve will be assigned or subcontracted to Cognition Consulting which will become New Zealand’s largest independent supplier of consulting services to the global education community including new school establishment projects, policy development and review, professional development, coaching and mentoring, evaluation and development, executive recruitment and financial consulting. Cognition Consulting’s services assist governments and educators to undertake significant educational reform projects and improve educational outcomes.

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