Kate's Inquiry Blog 2017

Not heading off to Petone at 3.30pm is a bit of a relief (especially as we are in 'the other valley') but we did like 'getting away' from school and be able to focus on our own learning without interruptions. It is nice to just get together here at school and discuss our responses to the course media in the context of our school. (Finding the key to Debbie's chocolate biscuit cupboard will make it even better) Also making decisions around our assignments together is so much easier than doing it by ourselves. We are were trying to decide on our question for our literature review, and we really want to keep going with our inquiry into whether play, problem, project, peer and passion learning leads to improved engagement and accelerated achievement, but we think that accessing peer-reviewed literature on this topic will be hard. (Even topics linked to PBL) So we have decided to choose another question around why children have great ideas to writing but may struggle to...

Week 7      Leadership Media: Must Have A Purpose (video) Main points Online discussions should have a purpose Online discussions should encourage critical thinking Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progress for all students? Our students  definitely need to use the really wide range of forums for online discussions for a purpose, other than socialising. What they choose to use, needs to be a tool to enhance their learning and encourage critical thinking eg sharing inferences, opinions, synthesis and analysis. Asking questions that will encourage critical thinking. Media: What is active learning? (video) Main points Discovering, processing and applying information Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accelerated progr...

Week 5    Developing a Growth Mindset - Leadership Mindset – a mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations Media: The Idea of Building Learning Power - Guy Claxton   (video) Main points ·        Young people can become more ‘intelligent’ ·        Strengthening capacities leads to powerful, confident, real life learners Eg persistence, resourcefulness, thoughtfulness, being a team player, being imaginative yet able to think with clarity ·        Teachers can do this by focusing on the learning process eg talking about learning, displaying all stages of the learning process ·        These capacities can be transferred to other experiences in a child’s life Ideas linked to our inquiry How do we ensure that play-based and problem solving inquiry leads to higher levels of student engagement and accele...

    Research Informed Leadership- Leadership Media: Good Practice in Leading and Supporting a Research Team- A Guide for Research Staff and Project Managers – by Richard, Jacqui MacDonald, The Research Association, Michael Reiss, Research Careers Advisory Committee Main points Good Practise in leading and supporting your research group P9 Motivating staff Developing in a job by feeling supported in deepening skills and experience ·        They need to feel respected for what they do ·        Make sure they know their strengths ·        Make sure you devolve responsibilities ·        Help individuals understand how they are developing ·        Give feedback and recognition Delegating effectively Motivates staff so they gain new experiences ·        Individuals solve own p...

   Technology Disruption and Mixed Reality- Digital   Media:  New Vision for Education  –  Unlocking the Potential of Technology Prepared in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (Journal) Main points 21 st  Century Skills Foundation literacies Literacy Numeracy Scientific literacy ICT literacy Financial literacy Cultural and civic literacy Competencies Critical thinking and problem solving Creativity Communication Collaboration Character qualities Curiosity Initiative Persistence Adaptability Leadership Social and cultural awareness While we highlight a number of innovative examples, we observe that most digital professional development resources for teachers disproportionally focus on helping them improve foundational literacies in their students without adequate attention to developing competencies and character qualities...