ONLINE MAGAZINE FOR AUSTRALIAN EDUCATORS ISSN
FACULTY
November 2016 | Volume 3 Issue 2 | ISSN 2206-6047
Dear Colleagues, At last we are coming to the end of another school year; and what an amazing year it has been. In saying this, we as educators should use this time to reflect on our adventures, wins and challenges throughout the year to consider how we can become a better educator. Recently I was in the position to reflect on why I wanted to become an educator; this gave me the opportunity to think back to my ten year old self who decided that I wanted to become a teacher. Little did ten year old Nathan, think that I would be challenged every day, but at the end of the day I know I am making a difference in the lives of students, one of the main reasons I decided to become a teacher. Upon considering this it gave me the chance to contemplate, what I could do to personally improve my pedagogical approach, the teaching and learning practices and engagement of students. In this issue, we cover a range of topics from integrating ICT into pedagogy to engaging students. I hope that all the readers find use in the articles to help them develop and improve their teaching. On behalf of the staff at FACULTY, best wishes for a safe and happy holiday. Yours in Education, Nathan Watts BEd (Sec), AssocDeg.A&VocEd Dip.Csl, Dip.Mgt, Cert.TAE Director: FACULTY Contributors Erin Canavan, Gerard Stevenson, Jesús Antonio Quiñones, Lars Quickfall, Laura Alice, Maree Grupetta, Melissa Key, Miranda Sanchez, Nathan Watts, Rachael Jacobs FACULTY Team Nathan Watts - Director Dr Patrick Delaney - Quality Coordinator Orry Gravolin - Communications Coordinator Tristan Williams - Marketing Coordinator Ruth Alder - Editor Emma Mathews - Editor
Foreword
From THe Director
Integrating Technology with Classroom Pedagogy
3
The Touring Teacher
25
23
21
Table of Contents
Purposeful Pedagogies In Special Education
An Invitation to Learn
Pokemon Go and HPE
32
GIST Magazine
18
15
Pedagogic Action On Pierre Bourdieu: A Brief Review Of The Concept
Trends in Education: Makerspaces
Inspiring Educator
9
29
By Miranda Sanchez Student of Education Australian Catholic University Rachael Jacobs Senior Lecturer (Arts and Education) Australian Catholic University
ACARA has told us that “Australia needs enterprising individuals who can make discerning decisions about the development and use of technologies and who can independently and collaboratively develop solutions to complex challenges and contribute to sustainable patterns of living” (2015). With this in mind, we’re being pushed as educators to adapt our pedagogical teachings to new advances in the curriculum so that we foster a generation of enterprising individuals. Yet, ‘adapting’ and ‘seeing the value’ are two very different things. This article will discuss the new advances to the curriculum, specifically with regards to technology, in relation to my experience running a program at a Sydney Catholic Primary school. The program showed me a lot about the current need for educators to adapt and understand the value to the new advances in the curriculum. The program’s aim was to integrate technology into the classrooms of the Primary school. The school works with a technology integrator, taking small groups of children during class time, involving them in technology rich activities such as coding, QR scanning and the use of drones. While doing this, the school acts as a medium for current teachers to transition smoothly into the new technology adaptations of the curriculum, supporting them with activities, resources and approaches they can integrate into their lessons. As part of this program we engaged with this role of a technology integrator by running technology rich activities across all the classrooms. Some of our technology rich activities included; QR codes in math’s; Genius hour/ passion projects for gifted students; circuits design projects; Craftmation for Aboriginal theology and Craftmation for visual literacy. My specific focus was to involve year 3 students in Craftmation for visual literacy. As well as this, we alternated between the other focus areas listed above. The technology integrator’s approach was a guided inquiry approach, which has been proven to work successfully when involving students in technology focused activities (Lavonen, 2004). In particular Lavonen (2004) suggests that creative problem solving, which is key to an inquiry based approach, is an integral part to teaching technology compared to an instruction following approach which limits creativity and students capabilities to explore their limits (Lavonen, 2004). Background The Australian Curriculum states that “Technologies will ensure that all students benefit from learning about and working with traditional, contemporary and emerging technologies that shape the world in which we live.” (ACARA, 2015). There are to be two parts to the new ‘Technologies’ key learning area; ‘Design and Technologies’ and ‘Digital Technologies’ (ACARA, 2015). Design and Technologies mainly focuses on using design thinking while manipulating technologies to produce designed solutions for needs and opportunities (ACARA, 2015). This was evident in the school’s activities, as students worked cooperatively (6 groups of 5) using a filmstrip to stimulate design thinking which helped them to decide what production steps needed to take place before using the app ‘Imotion HD’ to create their Craftmation. This specifically followed the outcome for Stage 2 ‘ACTDEP018’, which was to “Plan a sequence of production steps when making designed solutions individually and collaboratively” (ACARA, 2015). The filmstrip also engaged with the outcome to “Investigate the suitability of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment for a range of purposes (ACTDEK013)” (ACARA, 2015) when the students discussed and listed appropriate materials they might use to make their Craftmation background scene. Digital Technologies involves using computational thinking to implement, define and design digital solutions (ACARA, 2015). This was evident as students experimented with and used the ‘Imotion HD’ app on an IPad device. This also followed the outcome “Explore and use a range of digital systems with peripheral devices for different purposes, and transmit different types of data (ACTDIK007)” (ACARA, 2015). Writing from an American context, Ritt (2011) suggests the inclusion of technology in the curriculum allows teachers to cater learning to visual and kinaesthetic learners. Because 65% of learners are visual learners, this dramatically improves student learning (Ritt, 2011). There are many other benefits to the curriculum’s new additions of technology, such as, the ability for schools and students to gain access to new technologies and the benefits to categorized learners; Particularly Visual and Kinaesthetic learners. Fleer and Jane suggest (2004), that technological products have become cheaper, making it readily accessible for most school and families. Although, this could further widen the gap for academic achievement between students from low socio-economic families and their peers. As Fleer and Jane suggest that most low socio-economic families will struggle with the schools’ demands to use technology at home. This particular school had a ‘BYOD’ (bring your own device) policy, so those who are able to afford digital devices have access. However, some of the funds from the school have also been devoted to purchasing IPads and other devices for those who unable to BYOD. Some implications that have been recognized by the school as a technology integrator specialist are; changing teacher’s attitudes towards embracing the new change in the already packed curriculum and the ineffective ways teachers are communicating the uses of technologies in their lessons. Ritt (2011) supports this by stating that teacher’s need support for using technologies in ways that enrich learning (Ritt, 2011). Considering this, a question presents itself; Why do teacher’s need support for integrating technology? Rohaan, Taconis and Jochems (2008) suggest that their attitudes towards technology directly affect students learning and interest in technology, and that these attitudes are formed from limited practice and knowledge of technology (Rohaan, Taconis, Jochems, 2008). This can be a serious concern assuming most teachers have a negative attitude towards technology, because of their limited knowledge base for teaching technology (Jones, Moreland, 2004). As Jones and Moreland (2004) suggest, a thorough knowledge base for teaching technology is imperative and can be devised through negotiated intervention, planning frameworks, reflection on case studies and support in classrooms (2004). Although these ideas are relevant even today for broadening a teacher’s knowledge base, a more globally interconnected and technological rich way that this school’s educators form their technology knowledge base is through Twitter. The hashtags #aussieED, #educhat, #satchat are hashtags I have been introduced to. The school hosts conversations on twitter that are designed to stimulate teacher’s discussion and involvement in the concepts behind teaching technology in the classroom. It is a platform where teacher’s can share resources and ideas that worked well for them in teaching technology. This practice is supported by the professional teaching standards specifically ‘engaging with colleagues and the community’ (AITSL, 2015). Impact upon future teaching practice The Melbourne Declaration (2008) recognizes students need to keep up with rapid technological change. According to an educational media article 65% of the students we teach today will be in jobs that don’t even exist yet (Attwell. 2012). The focus on implementing digital technology into teaching practices becomes imperative as students will fall behind if they are not involved productively in technology enriched activities. This school demonstrates how to adjust teachers’ pedagogical knowledge so that there is a smother transition when new adaptions to the curriculum come into being. References Aitsl.edu.au,. (2008). Standards | Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. Retrieved 13 October 2015, from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/austra lian-professional-standards-for -teachers/standards/list Australiancurriculum.edu.au,. (2015). Technologies: Rationale - The Australian Curriculum v7.5. Retrieved 14 October 2015, from http://www.australiancurriculu m.edu.au/technologies/rationale Fleer, M., & Jane, B. (2004). Technology for children. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Jones, A., & Moreland, J. (2004). Enhancing Practicing Primary School Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Technology (1st ed.). Lavonen, J. (2004). Creative and Collaborative Problem Solving in Technology Education: A Case Study in Primary School Teacher Education (1st ed.). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ez proxy1.acu.edu.au/education/ docview/217783200/8F2C325 5BB554C40PQ/10?accountid= 8194 Melbourne Declaration for educational goals for young Australians. (2015) (1st ed.). Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/ verve/_resources/National_D eclaration_on_the_Educatio nal_Goals_for_Young_Australi ans.pdf Reviewing the relations between teachers' knowledge and pupils' attitude in the field of primary technology education. (2008) (1st ed.). Ritt, H. (2011). Technology Leadership and Coaching: A Support System for Teachers Integrating Technology with Classroom Practice (1st ed.). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp roxy1.acu.edu.au/education/ docview/905156483/fulltext PDF/E43A44E4A1614423PQ/9 ?accountid=8194
sTEVEN sPIELBERG
Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
Education Quotes
e.m. fORSTER
mICHEL lEGRAND
nELSON mANDELA
True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.
Nikos Kazantzakis
A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special
I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker. The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.
Only a generation of readers will spawn a generation of writers
sTANLEY kUBRICK
Pedagogic Action on Pierre Bourdieu: A Brief Review Of The Concept
* This article is a discussion paper that presents a look about the theory of Pierre Bourdieu under the own school educational act. While it is not linked to an investigation that has received some funding, if it is part of a series of papers written and proposed by the author of the article, based on the elective seminar "symbolic violence in the work of Pierre Bourdieu and the pedagogical act" proposed to the Doctorate in Education from St. Thomas University and held on 13 and 14 May 2016 in Bogota Colombia. The article also will be presented as a paper at the Virtual Iberoamerican Congress on Education for Innovation (EDU_INNOVA_2016) on 23 and 24 September 2016 in the virtual room of the research center and management studies CIEG in Huelva, Spain.
Dr. Jesús Antonio Quiñones Director of the research group "Educational Research" and the research "Education, culture and society" Ph.D. in Education from the University of St. Thomas
Abstract This discussion paper arises from the academic proposal made for elective seminar of the Doctorate in Education from Universidad Santo Tomás in Bogotá Colombia “la violencia simbólica en la obra de Pierre Bourdieu y el acto pedagógico” (symbolic violence in the work of Pierre Bourdieu and the pedagogical act). In a very particular scenario being presented in the Colombian nation in recent months in which the political, economic and cultural academic country seeks ways out of decades of war between the government and armed opposition groups, it is necessary that this topic enters into the classroom and reflect about these very pointed and particular tensions that every day are fought at schools, colleges or universities. In this sense, one of them has to do with power relationships between teachers and students, the study of its genesis, its development and evolution are essential for understanding today's school as the setting in which they are educating the new generation of Colombians who, apparently, will be the first to live in a country at peace. For this analysis, it is assumed that the theory of Pierre Bourdieu can be helpful to understand this phenomenon, since it allows to address the issue from the theoretical but also leaves the possibility of understanding the phenomenon from teaching practice and the school. Keywords: classroom, education, symbolic violence, pedagogical act. Introduction The teachers usually are doing different things into the classroom. It means that they go into this place, they “try” to develop a topic according with our knowledge and expertise. Once the class is finished, the teacher leaves out the classroom and the students wait for the next one, or they go to the playground or just they continue their day outside the school. To maintain the students into the classroom and having the purpose of developing the topic, the teacher usually establish some conditions and rules during the class. According to Bourdieu, it is called the pedagogic action (PA) is, objectively, “symbolic violence insofar as it is the imposition of a cultural arbitrary by an arbitrary power” (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 5). It is a kind of a balance of forces between the teachers and students (not to mention the principal of the school, the parents of the students and even the ministry of education of the country). All of these educational agents are trying to show who must lead the educational process. This article propose a review of this phenomena (the correlation of forces into the classroom) focusing on the perspective of the concept of symbolic violence by Pierre Bourdieu. It is a way to reflect on the teacher´s practice and how to balance the forces into the educational process. Bourdieu´s theory: useful to understand daily phenomenas into the classroom It´s school time. Early in the morning, students and teacher have a daily “date” inside the educational building, that is, the school, the institute or the university. For some of them, it´s time to “fight another round” among the other people: teacher must fight to maintain the student´s attention, and the students must fight against the “oppresive system” that assigns them the school duties and so on. When we make a research on the library or even the internet about the pedagogical phenomenas into the classroom, we must take a look of Bourdieu´s theory about the pedagogical act, simbolic violence and also the teacher power. According to this, we realise that Bourdieu is able to investigate cultural transmission as an strategic process of family based intergenerational reproduction. Also, the author clarifies that the educational system and the classroom has become the most important agency for the reproduction of ideas, manners and even to stablish how to be a men o a woman, according to what the society is saying about. This insight early enabled Bourdieu (1974) to challenge the optimistic liberal perception of the school as an instrument of social reform and equality, and it has taken him to ever more refined analyses of the creation and recreation of the difference. Bourdieu’s theories have influenced both sociologists, educators and teachers, and has generated a lot of literature, theoretical and empirical about it. Some theorists say that his theories have lost value in recent years, while others say that his thinking is still useful today. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine the theory and use by researchers in the fields of education. The work of Pierre Bourdieu should enter the classroom and should be used to think about ways to solve problems that arise in the school. Theories as habitus, cultural capital and power relations are mediated by the educational system. According to Bourdieu, “educational systems of industrialized societies operate in such a way that legitimize class inequalities”. From the perspective of teachers, success in the education system is facilitated by the possession of cultural capital. The problem is that students do not receive the same quality and quantity of knowledge needed to achieve clarity of knowledge. This can lead to school failure. "If explicitly giving everyone implicitly requires all are deleted, the system requires education of all alike with what does not. This mainly consists of linguistic and cultural competence and that the relationship that can only be produced by family education when the dominant culture is transmitted "(Bourdieu, 1977a, p. 494). Bourdieu argues that, since the education system presupposes the possession of cultural capital, that few students have in fact, there are a lot of inefficiency in the "pedagogical transmission '(ie, teaching). This is because the students do not understand what their teachers are trying to get across. For Bourdieu, “this is particularly evident in the universities, where students, afraid to reveal the extent of their ignorance seek to minimize the risks by throwing a smokescreen vagueness about the possibility of truth or error”. (Bourdieu and Passeron 1990, p. 114). In addition, Bourdieu argues that “social inequalities are legitimated by educational credentials held by those in dominant positions”. This means that the educational system has a key role in maintaining the status quo. "In fact, one of the most effective means to perpetuate the existing social model, and therefore provides an apparent justification of social inequalities and gives recognition to cultural heritage, ie a social gift treated as a natural one." (Bourdieu, 1974, p. 32). Sometimes Bourdieu refers to the role of educational credentials in social reproduction, while other times the value of educational credentials. "Since academic qualifications are a weak currency and have all their value only within the boundaries of the academic market. " (Bourdieu, 1977a, p. 507). From the cultural capital, as an important mechanism of social reproduction, it facilitates the acquisition of educational credentials, but these are a very important mechanism through the social inequality are transmitted, and class differences according to the economical aspects. So, getting a good education costs money, and some students doesn´t have how to pay for it. In addition to cultural capital, Bourdieu introduces the complementary concept of cultural arbitrariness, but he doesn´t define the concept. However, he states: "In any given social formation legitimate pedagogical action, ie, the pedagogical action endowed with the dominant legitimacy, is nothing more than the arbitrary imposition of culturally dominant arbitrary, while evil is recognized in its objective truth as the dominant pedagogical action and the imposition of the dominant culture. "(Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990, p. 22). As Bourdieu uses the term "cultural arbitrary" without defining it, it is unclear exactly what he means when he refers to the arbitrariness or what the limits of the concept are, or what is considered arbitrary or not or whether it is at the discretion of each person who etymologically analizes the concept, or to what extent the required skills are acquired in a particular cultural context and the educational system arbitrarily transmitted. In some cases, the educational levels, from kindergarten to posgradual education are clearly described by Bourdieu in any arbitrary direction. "The system of provisions to school, understood as a propensity to consent to the investment in time, effort and money it takes to preserve and enhance the cultural capital". (Bourdieu, 1977a, p. 495). This is where the school is the raison d'etre of the whole society, in the natural academic space clearly accepted that allows the transmission of cultural capital from a person, in this case the teachers, with the support of their life experience and academic qualifications, which legitimizes to lead the educational community to guide and teach a group of students who require training, education and new knowledge for life. The Cultural Autonomy of the School Among other thesis, Pierre Bourdieu mentions that the school is a conservative force of power, status and established customs in every society. It is a force that seeks to preserve all of the above, even the ideological status. Thus, Bourdieu (1971, pp. 192-193) writes, "it may be assumed that every individual owes to the type of schooling he has received a set of basic, deeply interiorised master patterns". This means that school is a place that legitimate their own power, which remain from the academic relations between teachers and students. The school is a space that form and guide consciences even the identity of nations; it is clear that the role of the school is recognized and accepted as currently active and necessary, and not merely passive in its “legitimacy" of the established order that exist in the society. On the other hand, according to the necessary school plans, the inherited, transmitted, arbitrary and legitimate cultures, the content of a culture and the necessary curriculum of the school is a form of evidence how arbitrary the school can be. If the cultural arbitrary school as an institution does not focus on the student minds, the school effectiveness as an agent of cultural transmission is disconnected and shows a lack of impact in every educational act. Conclusion The school is the most responsive institution to Bourdieu's theory in the sense of responding to a clearly arbitrary cultural code, prepared and organized by the academic community where students have little to say about it (Bourdieu, 1974, p. 41). So, the arbitrary is accepted by the academic community, legalized into the school routines and in general all of the educational system as a place where even no other space is the most suitable for acquiring knowledge and being part of a society ruled by cultural society codes. Related to this issue, one can not ignore the reality of the classroom as the space where the power is showed, from teachers and even students. Each of these actors want to show some power, which is a basic human need. The teacher also has this desire for power and as already said, the teacher is protected by their experience and academic qualifications seeks to show power. At the same time, Bourdieu's theory reveals the trend of symbolic capital to express to force these symbols to others, ie, symbolic violence. In Bourdieu’s words this is “the violence which is exercised upon a social agent with his or her complicity” (1977, p. 406). However, due to the fact that the teacher is in the role of guiding the class required to maintain power for the development of the class in every way, the teacher must be very skilled to maintain that power and influence student behavior. This could be called the power of the teacher. This is neither more nor less than the right to ask students to observe appropriate standards of behavior and allow to be guided in each class academically and along the course. Therefore, the power of the teacher in the classroom is essential, and if it is lost or does not exist, the chances of success as a teacher are very limited. French and Raven (1959 & 1974), as they examined classroom interactions, identified five basic forms of teacher power. Each needs to operate to some degree, but some will be emphasized and utilized more than others for most of us. According to the authors, These 5 types of power are Attractive/Referent, Expert, Reward, Coercive and Position/Legitimate. Each one of them defines the teacher´s style to control the classroom and to show power, sometimes using a kind of symbolic violence through the final scores, the language or the attitude or the way to decide something into the classroom. REFERENCES Bourdieu, P. (1974) The school as a conservative force: scholastic and cultural inequalities, in: J. Bourdieu on Education and Social and Cultural Reproduction Author(s): Roy Nash Source: British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 11, No. 4, (1990), pp. 431-447 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Bourdieu and education: how useful is bourdieu's theory for researchers? alice sullivan the netherlands 'journal of social sciences - volume 38 - 110. 2 – 2002 p. 144-166 Sur le pouvoir simbolique. Annales, no. 3 (may-june 1977). Pp. 405-411. Eggleston (Ed.) Contemporary Research in the Sociology of Education (London, Methuen). (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture. (1991). Language and simbolyc power The five forms of teacher power. http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/jshi ndl/cm/Teacherpower.htm Schrodt, P., Whitt, P.L., and Truman, P.D. (2007). Reconsidering the measurement of teacher power use in the college classroom. Communication Education, 56 (3), 308-332.
Gerard Stevenson. B. Theol. T.C. is the Director of well imagine that pty ltd. He has over 40 years experience in education in and outside the classroom. In the past 15 years he has worked with interactive technologies, in particular the use of interactive whiteboards as a teaching tool. He is also the Director and Producer of a community television series called Today’s Schools, which focuses on the fantastic things that teachers are doing in their classrooms in Melbourne schools. Gerard recently became a ventilator dependent quadriplegic following an accident at home. This article was written using Dragon Nuance voice activated software.
A makerspace is a space dedicated to making things. Are makerspaces a fad, a trend or something more? They are certainly not a fad in the USA or even a trend. In June this year, President Obama declared a National week of Making. In response to that more than 1400 K-12 schools, representing almost 1 million student from all 50 states, committed to dedicating a space for making, designating a champion for making, and having a public showcase of student projects. Many of the world’s leading companies and organisations are now supporting these schools in exciting and dramatic ways. For instance, NASA is expanding it’s CubeSat Launch Initiative to reach all 50 states. The CubeSat Launch Initiative provides an opportunity for makers in schools to build small satellites by demonstrating new innovative technologies and conducting their own scientific research in a space environment, all with the support of NASA. Expanding the program builds on NASA’s work with the 32 states already engaged to launch small satellites, including new states New Jersey and Idaho selected in 2016. It also includes launches in 2015 of the first CubeSat from the state of Alaska, the first CubeSat built by a tribal college, Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, and the first CubeSat built by an elementary school, St. Thomas More Cathedral School of Arlington, Virginia. Is it any wonder? Of course, if you are going to build a satellite that involves a lot of science, maths and engineering. So students who want to put a satellite into space need to research the science, maths and engineering and now they have even more reason to do so. Makerspaces gives students the opportunity to solve real life problems and this motivates them to do the study and research that would have otherwise been purely academic. What are the common elements of makerspaces? The most common element is that all makerspaces are actually different. There is no prescription on how big the actual space needs to be or where that space is within the school. It might be a corner in the library, part of the art room, a whole classroom or a workshop, anywhere that works for the school and the students. The technology in makerspaces is different too. Some makerspaces are high-tech with things like laser cutters, 3-D printers, sewing machines, interactive projectors and interactive whiteboards, computers or woodwork and metal machinery. The good news is, the price of these technologies has dropped dramatically in the last few years and is one of the reasons that makerspaces with these technologies are now so prevalent. Even though these technologies are more affordable, most schools can’t afford multiple units of these high-tech gadgets. Hence the need for low-cost, low-tech resources and tools like cardboard, paper, materials, scissors and glue guns are essential in most makerspaces. Not that there is anything inferior about these. In fact, they encourage lateral thinking and often, even more creative solutions. What happens in Makerspaces? Makerspaces are all about giving students the freedom to tinker. Generally they are given practical problem to solve and then to test their solution in a practical way. One excellent example, that I have seen, required students to make a windproof structure. Students met in small groups, discussed possible solutions, then made their structure. They then took their structure to be tested. The test was ingenious. The teacher had a small fan on a table and the students placed their structure on a designated line. Invariably each group’s structure fell over. This is the beauty of makerspaces. Students are given permission to fail. I was in the reception area of a local school, waiting to see the Principal, when a group of 10 adults wandered in. It was a group of prospective parents on a school tour with the Deputy Principal. The reception area was adorned with trophies and banners showing the success that the school, and students, had achieved in academic and sporting endeavours. The Deputy Principal spoke of some of the outstanding results that the students had achieved. The Deputy Principal then said something that made me prick up my ears. He said, that the school had a particular attitude towards failure. “We teach our students” he said “that failure is the first step to success”. What is the makerspaces process? In makerspaces failure is not a result. It’s an integral part of the process. In the process that these students are involved in, is one that engineers and many other professions use every day. They have to analyse the problem, devise a solution, make a prototype and then test that prototype. When the prototype “fails”, it’s back to the drawing board and repeat the process. No one feels embarrassed or ashamed or feel like they are of failure. On the contrary, students sense that they are tackling real world problems with practical applications. Is it any wonder that students and teachers are excited about the possibilities that makerspaces present?
Trends in Education
mARKERspACES
Visit: www. wellimaginethat.com.au For all your educational needs
INSPIRING EDUCATOR
Associate Professor Maree Gruppetta
What inspired you to become an educator? I became a teacher because I was concerned about the education my own children were receiving. One of my children struggled with reading and the classes were too big and teachers too overworked and in the end I researched methods and taught him myself. After that I became a parent helper and taught many other children how to read and then one day a teacher said ‘You know if you went to university and became a teacher we could pay you for what you are giving us for free’, so I enrolled and became a teacher. Your career has seen you teach in programs from early childhood to tertiary, including special education programs. Which of these areas do you feel was the most rewarding for you? I was always most rewarded by the special education programs, in particular a high school where I was asked to teach science to children with special needs and challenging behaviour, mainly because no-one else was brave enough to take them in a science lab. I devised an entire program on forensic science linked to crime scene television shows and proved that these students could learn, and could be engaged and it made such a difference to those students. I also identified gifted students that were often put into a ‘behavioural’ category, usually because they were bored. By challenging their intellect you could improve the other issues and many teachers feel that gifted children are too difficult to teach, which lead to my PhD on giftedness across cultures. What is your philosophy as an educator? That is a difficult question, I have quite high expectations of all students and do not believe that anyone is unteachable, just that you haven’t found the right way to teach them, to interest them, to engage them. There are no bad students, although there could be some teachers that need to improve their pedagogies and expectations. My philosophy is to use every opportunity to teach, to live for the teachable moments and make sure you make a difference, otherwise what is the point? Having worked in the education sector as long as you have, you would have seen many different changes. Which of these changes do you think had the most positive impact upon teaching and learning and why? In recent times I think the reduction of class sizes, particularly for Kindergarten has been the most significant change, this has improved the education of many children just by reducing the ratio of students to teachers, although the increasing awareness of the importance of early childhood teaching will be the most significant this century. Clearly the importance of play in early childhood and the early literacy and numeracy gains will improve the overall education of some many children in the future. I do wish we would focus more on mastery than age though, so many children are forced to move through to higher stages before they are ready, if we worked with a mastery system where you stayed until you mastered reading and other skills we would reduce the need for ‘special needs’ classes as many students just need a little bit more time and practice to achieve. In 2010 you were awarded a PhD in gifted education. Can you tell us a bit about your research and why you decided to focus in this area? As noted above I identified a number of gifted students who had managed to either hide their gifts or had been identified as ‘problems’ and I also had a gifted child myself. I became fascinated by how the gifted individual would hide their gifts to fit into society and then extended into the realm of those who were dually othered, firstly because of their culture and then because they were gifted. My PhD involved interviewing several gifted individuals from a range of cultural and religious backgrounds and investigating what defined giftedness in other cultures and how these gifted individuals found their educational experiences. The majority survived and achieved in spite of their education/schools, not because of it. As a lecturer at the University of Newcastle, what is your favourite subject to teach and why? I have taught Aboriginal education for a number of years and I am still passionate about it, however I was recently given the opportunity to teach an ethics course in Social Sciences and ‘teaching the big ideas’ course in Humanities. Both opportunities gave me a chance to refresh my teaching by creating something new and I do love a challenge. What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as an educator? Watching children gain that ‘ah ha’ experience, actually seeing the light go on behind their eyes as they suddenly make a connection when learning, when they get excited because they learnt something new. That will never get old, it will always thrill me. Currently you are the acting director of the Wollotuka Institute. Tell us about the work you do here and why you started to work in this role? At the moment I am just warming the seat and keeping things running while UoN recruits a new Director. My regular role is in research engagement and I love my work. I am able to assist others reach their research potential, both staff and HDR students, and have discussions about research across the entire university. As Wollotuka moves into the 21st Century under the direction of the new Director I hope to expand our research potential and be part of the new programs and really build our reputation nationally and internationally. What are your plans for the future as an educator? I will continue to take advantage of opportunities as they arise and much of the time there is an element of serendipity to these situations, a chance conversation can lead to a research grant application, another can lead to writing collaboratively. I will always have some role in teaching because I simply enjoy it so much, I really like interacting with our UoN students and watching them learn and then become teachers themselves.
Purposeful Pedagogies in Special Education
Beyond the Explicit Instruction Paradigm By Erin Canavan
No matter how simplistic it may seem, I’ve always appreciated the definition of pedagogy as the art and science of teaching. Combining typically opposed schools of thought to define the practice of teaching as an activity that is executed with masterful creativity, while constantly and consciously being honed through student reactions, responses and understandings, to me creates a brilliant dichotomy of convergence and divergence. Unfortunately, the depth and richness cloaked within this ‘simple’ notion of pedagogy seems to be diminishing the more I teach in special education. In fact, I would argue that special education teachers are no longer pedagogues, but merely practitioners. And practice, in special education, is grounded in the explicit instruction paradigm. Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of explicit instruction. I’ve seen how valuable it can be for students with special needs – the consistent modelling, monitoring and practise that shapes the framework provides them with the opportunity to become deeply immersed in a skill or concept, and ultimately become confident in their ability to generalise the learning to other areas of their life. Among experienced special education teachers, explicit instruction is often lauded as the holy grail of contemporary pedagogies for these very reasons. However, I think the inherent danger of this pedagogy lies in its overuse. In special education in particular, over-reliance on this paradigm could cause a stagnant practice. You’re all familiar with what I mean – eyes start to glaze over, pencils begin to be tapped on desks and it’s pretty obvious that the last thing your students are thinking about is your dazzling demonstration of alphanumeric grid referencing (and yes, if you were wondering, I did take that last example from my own experience). Even though success in special education is often predicated on the development and use of functional skills and knowledges, I don’t see the need to compromise student engagement and the potential to develop intrinsic motivation just for a pedagogical framework that might reach the ‘end result’ more quickly. Call it blind optimism, or call it the naiveté resulting from four months of prac placements and an inherently idealistic view of education as a pre-service teacher, but I believe that there is a world beyond this school of thought. And what’s more, I think special educators could use it. *** In thinking ‘beyond’ explicit instruction, the first framework that comes to my mind is inquiry pedagogy. While some special educators might consider this paradigm a perverse departure from the straightforward and ‘sensible’ model of explicit instruction, I believe the former to be significantly underrated in special education settings. As inquiry pedagogy is fundamentally focused on process more than product, it is often stigmatised by special education teachers as ‘too much trouble’ or ‘not what the students need.’ However, effectively executed inquiry pedagogy instils in students an ability to ask the right kind of questions, to investigate and be engaged in an active process and to think critically and deeply about their own ideas and the world in which they live. For all of the focus on functional outcomes for students with special needs, we tend to forget to teach the skills of critical thinking, considered questioning and crucially, learning not just for practicality, but for passion. And I believe that this purpose of learning is just as important as the ‘proper’ skills that we teach. Having said all of this, I’m not suggesting that inquiry pedagogy is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ panacea to teaching and learning in special education. I’m only aiming to illustrate the need for special educators (including me) to reconceptualise our notion of purpose. A rationale for any pedagogy that we choose to use, whether it be explicit instruction, inquiry pedagogy or something entirely different, should be quantified through micro and macro curriculum standards and qualified through the degree to which students’ intrinsic needs as learners (and individuals) are met. A balance of discernment and creativity, science and artistry, in our pedagogical decisions will not only allow our students to love the process of learning, but will give us the opportunity to transform from practitioners to pedagogues. And what special education teacher doesn’t want that?
It is a clichéd sentiment, that the children are the future, but in the case of GIST magazine, it is a very accurate statement, with the whole concept being the brainchild of Dr Kristina Lemston (Head of ECU School of Science), who got the idea from her 12 year old daughter, Ella, to release a Girls in Science and Technology Magazine, written and edited by its readers, young women in upper primary and junior secondary. FACULTY got to discuss with Caroline Bishop, a Community Partnerships Advisor at Edith Cowan University about GIST. Self-described as a person who is there to listen and serve, Caroline explained the whole concept that has led to the development and success of GIST. In August of this year, the first volume of GIST was released, the trendy movement of ‘geek is in chic’ was validated, with the readers responding well to the publication. This initiative funded by the Higher Education Participation Partnership Program (HEPPP), goes beyond many university participation programs and offers a unique and empowering experience to those who are engaged with the publication. The magazine is focused on promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects to school-aged girls in a publication that features articles written by their peers. This has encouraged young girls in upper primary and junior secondary to participate in the development of the magazine and engage in the STEM subjects. After the launch of the inaugural issue in August this year, Dr Lemson has stated: “I hope the magazine inspires young girls to consider the amazing possibilities of a career in STEM – and I am particularly looking forward to hearing from students who wish to write for us, too.” Apart from encouraging young women to participate in STEM subjects, the magazine celebrates the achievements of women scientists and role models, promoting the STEM subject area and breakdown barriers to participation in the STEM area. This starts from targeting the interest in STEM from primary school and eventually in the long term closing the loop for intergenerational learning, in order to normalise interest in science subjects and academics in students, especially females. Caroline has explained the variety of different programs run in conjunction with GIST to promote STEM subjects, has included environmental projects on Earth Day, young women biological labs, coding and science expos. Across all these programs students have responded extremely well, with many inquiring about being involved with these programs, especially the magazine; this is amazing in that it is projected, 70% of future jobs will be STEM related. The program looks to breakdown the stereotypes and wage gaps in gender as well as displaying the wide range of study options in STEM to students preparing for their futures. So far the success of the program has seen networks of girls in STEM built across, rural and remote communities. To check out the first issue, visit: http://bit.ly/2fQEYlo For more information on being involved in the GIST editorial team, or to submit an article, please contact the editor at k.lemson@ecu.edu.au
In early 2015, Auckland based primary school teacher Laura Alice, and her filmmaking partner Lars, decided it was time to put their skillsets together and combine this with their greatest passion; travel. With an impending United States road-trip on their way to living in London there was no time to spare. The Touring Teacher, an interactive, educational webseries, was born. During the next few months the idea for The Touring Teacher started coming to fruition. A website that would house a virtual classroom; containing different Lesson Videos, relevant Teaching Resources, Activities, and most importantly a space where students could safely interact directly with The Touring Teacher. The essence was there and the first few Lesson Videos were shot, the classroom material compiled, now the whole project needed to start coming together. Lars and Laura started building the website from scratch, designing logos and colour palates, and planning how the overall journey for the end user would play out. After months of filming, editing, and brainstorming, along with the usual blood, sweat, and tears, The Touring Teacher finally went ‘live’ online in January of 2016. The Touring Teacher covers the range of curriculum areas that all schools can relate to. The unique format provides the students, and teachers, a different approach to their learning. Lessons can go from learning about erosion in Arizona, to quoting Shakespeare in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The main drive behind The Touring Teacher is to open up the world to students who are ready and waiting for their next adventure. Throughout her teaching career Laura has always believed in the importance of sharing learning experiences with her students. Learning about different people, and cultures helps students to gain new perspectives and appreciation of the world around them. With this project she now has the opportunity to do so on a global scale. The way in which each Lesson Video is created keeps in mind that every student learns differently and has different interests. To gather Prior Knowledge before starting an Activity, each new Lesson gives back-story and history to where it is set. There is always a chance for thinking and discussion time before moving on to a warm up activity. Each Lesson gets students up and moving, putting themselves in characters shoes or brainstorming ideas with others in their classrooms. When it is time for the main Activity, there is an example that is explained in depth and depicted visually. This is all tied together with the Success Criteria so that teachers can scaffold the learning. Having teachers use Resources that are attached to every Lesson, students are able to discover at their own level and can use the Success Criteria to explain their thinking and how they feel about an Activity. All Lessons come with Lesson Plans so that teachers are able to support their class by understanding the Lessons completely. Six countries and eighteen episodes later The Touring Teacher is nearing its first anniversary. Continuing to grow and racking up air miles, The Touring Teacher’s use of web-video, social media, and interactive website will hopefully continue to be a great resource for teachers, inspire students, and bring the world into the classroom.
By Lars Quickfall & Laura Alice
Check out The Touring Teacher www.thetouringteacher.com
Great Teacher Tips
Contributed from the Staff of Loganlea State High School - Learning Engagement Centre
"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself." Oscar Wilde Never be afraid to call parents. The majority of the time they will be on your side and will assist in the education of your students. Be flexible. If things are not going to plan, change plans. Recognise small successes. 90 percent of the lesson may have gone down hill but you should reflect on what did work well. Look after yourself. You need a healthy work/personal life balance otherwise the job consumes and you will burn out. Recognise stress and take action before it gets worse. Never take sides, always act impartial. Just remember you cannot be perfect all the time. Always try your hardest. Effort is what matters most! When you greet students at the start of the day do so with genuine interest and care, as you never know because that might be the first positive thing they have heard all day. Teach the skills students will need to succeed. There is no point spending a term teaching only content and being assessed on skills. Positive contacts home are an excellent confidence booster for students and a great way to establish relationships with parents, whether these contacts be postcards, emails, phone calls or letters. Always take at least 5 minutes at the start or end of a lesson to talk to your students about their interests. Consider how you can engage students in the outdoors. Read indigenous poetry in a yarning circle or do science on the oval. It makes for a great learning experience! Be yourself. Students will see right through a false persona. Don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself. The majority of students will appreciate the effort.
A perfect example of the heart wrenching reality I believe we are creating in education could happen in anyone of our classrooms or learning spaces around the world. I often wonder if we have become desensitised to them or do we just not notice them in the first place? I stood and watched recently as a nine year old boy came in from recess. On the deck was a beautiful butterfly, he instantly wondered at it’s beauty and then engaged two other children in a conversation around it. The first boy then began to wonder out aloud and shared with the other two children facts that he knows about butterflies. They wondered where it had come from and where it was going. This engagement in deep learning and initial conversation had taken perhaps three minutes. I cringed as I listened to myself say, ‘come on, inside for maths now’ and as this child tried to engage me in his wondrous conversation too, I walked inside. My heart sank as I came to the deep realisation that I had not engaged with this child where his learning currently was at it’s most inspiring and meaningful. I had pushed on with my own agenda, with societies agenda, with the systems agenda, with my teams agenda and I had not honoured this child's learning or respected him in that moment. I am certainly not immune to feeling the pressure to conform and to ‘get things done.’ As this need to get things done continues to consume the profession and the creation of business within society as something which is becoming almost an ideal and creeps into almost every conversation. There are changes that must be made within education to allow and respect each child’s right to flourish. A reimagining is what I am calling for, not a removal or replacement, but a reimagining and revitalisation of traditional structures. Then what is it that needs to be reimagined? The way we speak to ourselves, to colleagues, to children? The way we present learning experiences? The way we tick boxes in an effort to move through the ‘business’ of the curriculum? In my opinion, it is all of this, and more, that we must begin attending to in a real, honest and authentic manner with a great degree of professionalism and critical conversation. As teams of teachers, we must take education back to it’s most purest sense - to insight wonder and engage learners in thinking, learning and action towards their learning. Meaningful learning experiences that invite children into each learning environment and learning experience rather than demanding compliance. It is essential that children find their strengths within our classrooms, that the experience of flourishing is the norm and that they have the ability to reach their full human potential each and every day. Providing and creating Invitations to Learn is one powerful method of creating a quality, rich learning environment. I have been using and perfecting this model over the last few years. I believe the research into current best practice in education has much to offer any educator if they are willing and open to listen. I believe it is important to read and explore research in great detail and take the key points, critically analysing and reflecting about how this could be applied to your own practice. It is not, I believe a magic recipe or golden ticket. It is professional judgement, guided by research and personal action research, that brings you to the most wonderful, powerful new revelations for yourself as an educator. Along with this, research into motivation, engagement, growth mindset and creativity has endless amounts to offer each educator in countless ways. This is where reimagining comes into it’s fullest potential. Taking what you know is best practice, combining that with well researched evidence, making yourself uncomfortable through critical refection and then beginning with small steps to a powerful, informed model of education. Honestly, I consider it to be fear that holds educators back. In my experience, I have seen many well intentioned and extremely talented and experienced educators hold back from what they know is the truth through fear of not being able to explain themselves to colleagues, to leadership to parents, to the community. In order to build this confidence, you just become uncomfortable with current practice and then educate yourself. Only in this way, will you come to a place of true belief, of true spiritual liberation and connection to the Changes that you believe are necessary in education. Changes that are necessary for children today, now, in the future and to foster young children who will have the capabilities and the confidence to think, learn, contribute and innovate in a future that we know very little about. What we do know, is that it will be profoundly different from the future we graduated into. No longer will the jobs be ready made. We need to be mindful of this in our daily teaching practice. We cannot afford to continue to test and fill children with facts and figures. We need to teach them to think, learn, create and innovate. The learning that comes from this will be timely, informed, necessary and most importantly hold a great significance, so will be learnt not simply remembered or rehearsed. Everything else, can be quite frankly Googled! How then do Invitations to Learn work? My idea behind these is through a creation of a learning experience that children can have an open, honest and authentic engagement with. A learning experience that will promote and prompt further thought, that is not closed off in any way or seeking one right answer. I don't believe in open or closed questioning, I believe in creating purposeful experiences for learning. If you need to ask yourself is the question I’m asking open or closed, I don’t believe you have your purpose of the learning experience clearly cemented within your own mind. This, I would then argue, needs to be clearly defined first otherwise your learning experience will most likely be less fruitful and then thinking and learning will not be deep, beautiful or life giving. An Invitation to Learn is created by beginning with the voice of the child/ren in a developmentally appropriate manner or a particular learning focus. From this, creating a space that will engage, promote conversation, thinking and prompt further learning. In the Invitations to Learn that I am proposing they can be framed differently according to the purpose for learning. The principle is similar for each though. Find a space, this may be a small table, a cloth on the floor, a space outside or a wooden area. The question that needs to be asked at this time is, what is the space I need to invite children in, to display this Invitation to Learn, would fit the Invitation to Learn and would allow for the most truthful, collaborative experience from learners? Take time to find this space, don’t rush. Once you have found it, consider what materials you could use at this space to invite children in. For example, if your focus was growth, begin with engaging the environment in as many ways as you can. Brainstorm for yourself what growth means. What do you believe children in your classroom would believe growth to look like, sound like and feel like at this time in their learning? What is your purpose? What would you like some of the conversations to be around? What could be some questions to invite thinking and learning be focused around? Once you have this firmly cemented, you are ready to begin planning your Invitation to Learn. If we continue with growth as our focus, if my focus was for learners to connect themselves to the environment, I may have at my space, a wooden mirror, a large square wooden tray/basket, a bowl of water, a small pile of soil, seeds and a large green leaf (all arranged thoughtfully and in a way that intrigues and invites learners in to the space.) At each of my Invitations to Learn I also have a question or statement that invites and focuses the learning at this space to begin. This can then be taken in any direction depending on how the learners engage with the space and the questioning and observations that I make as an educator. Educators must come to a point, a cross roads if you like, within their own practice where they feel uncomfortable with what they have come to believe and begin to question this and seek to learn more. This feeling of being uncomfortable is the beginning of a brilliant change process and one that I believe is crucial to experience if we are going to make an impact within the future of education. If we are seeking for children to flourish then we must demand the same of ourselves. When was the last time that you honestly felt like you flourished and spread your beautiful wings as an educator? Currently, the culture of education is, I feel, lost. I feel as educators, many areas of the curriculum are taught because we know it needs to be covered. Rather than making a meaningful, life long connection with learning areas, we spend time focusing on covering content, pre-testing the content, keeping children quiet so they ‘learn’ the content and then post testing the content to see what they have retained. Our focus is not often on true learning (I wonder if we have a shared, collective understanding of what this actually means), we demonstrate that we value retention more than learning. We then have a situation that flows from this whereby we celebrate the retention with children and pass this off as learning. How terribly confusing and confronting when the next time (often twelve months later) they attempt a similar content, the child is unable to. The human nature of each child is being lost in an effort to conform. Teachers are judging themselves against unrealistic expectations and losing faith in their ability as quality educators. I don’t believe we need to add anything new to the existing frameworks, reimagining and revitalising is the key. Children’s voice must be the very first element to be authentically included across each learning day. By children’s voice I mean, children as valued co-contributors to their learning experiences. Further to this, children need to hear their voice read back to them in a worthy and respectful way that contributes to future learning and celebrates and honours learning passed. I call for reimagining, of making ourselves uncomfortable with our practice, to be informed and well researched educators, to apply this research in a way that honours learners in a meaningful manner and to attempt an invitation to learn. Sit, observe actions, conversations and projected learning experiences that flow from this Invitation to Learn. Watch the thinking and learning within your classroom be transformed and transferred, from being purely teacher driven to a place where children take responsibility as valued contributors and constructors. Respect children so that they will nourish the power within themselves to meaningfully contribute to their world and their lives now and into the future. Only then are we truly honouring them and their fullest potential, giving them the gift and power of thinking, learning and constructing so they may flourish into a graduate where knowledge is not their greatest achievement, rather a portfolio of innovations.
By Melissa Key
@dreambiglittleteacher
By Nathan Watts
As a HPE teacher the idea of combining ICT in a practical lesson can sound a bit far-fetched, especially when we consider the suggestion is to incorporate Pokémon Go as a learning tool. But when you look at this conjunction in depth, it does not sound all that crazy.
Pokemon Go & HPE
Theory Lessons
Teaching Figueroa’s framework has been an exercise in experimentation. With this I began using Pokémon Go as an analogy for many of the concepts that appear at each level of the framework. Take for example the conjunction between the attitudes at the individual level of the framework. Without being intentionally stereotypical (which we see promulgated at the cultural level), the people that play games such as Pokémon are typically averse to physical activities. Now with the introduction of augmented reality that relies on the player moving around to catch Pokémon and having to walk sometimes up to 5km to hatch an egg, we see people’s attitudes towards engaging in physical activity changing, they are becoming more than willing to engage in physical activity; all in order to become the very best! On the institutional level, it is noted that access to physical activity and sport is often hindered by barriers, such as: Lack of facilities, Lack of funds, Lack of transport, Lack of opportunities. Based on recent statistics (2015), it is suggested that 73 percent of teenagers have access to a smart phone device, compare this with an average of 25 percent of teenagers who face barriers to sport participation, with a most notable result of 18 percent who do not like to play sport, we can make the assumption that this gap will steadily begin to close with the introduction of the augmented reality app. This can be further backed up by quick discussions with students. For example: Teacher: “Why don’t you want to participate in class?” Student: “I don’t like sport, I just don’t want to do it!” Teacher: “Okay, what did you get up to on the weekend?” Student: “I went hunting for Pokémon with some friends, we walked a fair distance…at times I had to run before a Poke stop Lure ran out.” While not all discussion goes down this path, when asked these two simple questions, the responses of the students are fairly similar in content and context. This here demonstrates the change in both attitudes on the individual level and, overcoming the barriers that are established whether incidentally or purposefully. Another example that has surfaced relating to the removal of barriers to physical activity, is a Children’s hospital in the US using Pokémon Go to get patients moving (9news, 2016). We can also use the augmented reality application to discuss and provide analogies to more than just Figueroa’s framework. Consider some of the content descriptors in the national HPE curriculum that relate to the focus areas of: health benefits of physical activity, safety, challenge and adventure activities, games and sports and, lifelong physical activities. Let us consider the focus area of safety. We have seen in the news since the launch of the application stories of people who are using Poke stops to assault and rob people. We can also use this to discuss the concepts of ‘stranger danger’ and protecting yourself. We can also discuss how playing the game can be the cause of dangerous risk taking behaviour, such as playing the game while driving, crossing the road, while playing, not looking for oncoming traffic and, avoiding silly and preventable injuries, such as walking into poles; by not looking where you are going. While not limited to these examples, we can expand on the use of Pokémon Go to discuss health and movement concepts in the theoretical side of HPE. A typical physical education class focuses on the teaching of skills which pertain to a particular sport. Though this is changing with the introduction of the national curriculum and the diverse opportunities for physical activity that are created in the interpretation of the content descriptors. HPE teachers face the issue of a lack of engagement that is a result of the overuse of performance criteria, where only those who are deemed to be ‘fit’ can do well. We can approach the use of Pokémon go in three different ways. The first is as a basic engagement in physical activity. Each student is asked to assign a Pokémon as their buddy and by the end of the lesson, they will need to have received three (3) candies, by walking the distance required. This would mean that students would walk around 3km and could be done as a class, walking around the oval or through the school grounds. This engages students in the physical activity through the motivation to level up their Pokémon. This can loosely relate to a group of different content descriptors within the curriculum, such as: Investigate and select strategies to promote health, safety and wellbeing (ACPPS073). The second approach is to turn it into a practical exercise in what is being taught from the theory component of the lesson. If we are going to look at the safety focus area, we can have the students playing Pokémon Go, actively moving around and understanding the need to be aware of one’s surroundings, the dangers of using a phone while exercising and implementing methods to minimise the risk to themselves so they can participate safely. The third approach is to turn the game itself into a sport exercise. This would be similar to running Orienteering with a group of students, with the inclusion of a GPS to navigate. So how can we turn this into an exercise in movement skills? Create a navigational course where bonus points are assigned for Pokémon captures. Firstly we give the student basic navigational directions and distances to walk (North East 40metres) from here they identify the landmark feature that they reach from that bearing in reality and on the map in Pokémon Go. As shown there is many ways to implement the application Pokémon Go into the PE classroom and utilise it to engage learners, raise participation and teach content in a way that is relatable to the student body. Physical Education is more than just kicking a ball around or demonstrating the ability to perform movement skills. It is about engaging children and teenagers in physical activity and sport, and using the modern technology and latest crazes is a great way to engage our students to participate, by making what they dislike into an activity they will enjoy. http://www.pewinternet.org/20 15/04/09/teens-social-media-te chnology-2015/pi_2015-04-09_ teensandtech_07/ http://sport.wales/media/346127/ update_65(62)_e.pdf http://www.9news.com.au/natio nal/2016/07/19/11/05/childrens-h ospital-in-the-us-using-pokemon -go-to-get-patients-moving
Company History
Practical Lessons
References
Conclusion
FACULTY Online Magazine for Australian Educators
www.facultymagazine.com.au
We are currently accepting submissions for Volume 4 (2017) if you are interested please email: Director@facultymagazine.com.au