AbstractsBranded by a test
Volume 63
Number 7, April 2006;
Pages 86–87
SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT (American College Testing Program) scores are the main determinants of college entrance in the USA. While many believe that the tests also predict subsequent success in college and later life, this is not the case. Many educators see the two tests as interchangeable due to the shared focus on measurement. However, the content covered by each test differs significantly. The SAT test is designed to assess each student’s natural academic aptitude, with two sections covering verbal and quantitative abilities. Performance in each section of the test is reported as a scale score between 200 and 800 – these are often combined to come up with a total score. The top score for the SAT increased to 2400 in 2005 through the addition of a writing section. The ACT tests achievement rather than academic ability and was originally designed as an entrance exam for prestigious universities in Northeast USA. The ACT is designed to assess each student’s acquisition of the knowledge and skills necessary for university, across English, mathematics, reading and science. An optional essay question to assess writing is also now available. Section scores range from 1 to 36, and are averaged to provide a total. While educators and society place emphasis on SAT and ACT results, neither is an accurate forecast of college grades. Analysis of correlations show that SAT or ACT results accurately predict college grades in around 25 per cent of cases. The remaining 75 per cent of a student’s grade performance is linked to motivation, study habits and other factors. Students should not be judged by their SAT and ACT scores, but rather by their actual achievement in college and life. KLA Subject HeadingsUnited States of America (USA)Senior secondary education Assessment What they should have told me: six beginning teachers' reflections on their pre-service education in the light of their early career experiences
Volume 26
Number 1, 2006;
Pages 38–47
Six early career teachers reflect on their pre-service experiences, as part of a research study by the authors. Three of the teachers work at a primary and three at a secondary school in South Western Sydney. This is an area with ‘reasonable levels of material affluence’ but lower than average ‘socio-economic capital’. The area has high levels of new migrants and is subject to negative media stereotypes. Such settings are common in the sort of schools where many teachers start their careers. The six teachers came from a variety of teacher education courses. The researchers interviewed them through monthly telephone conversations over four months. A series of themes emerged. The teachers all felt that their pre-service courses has prepared them for the teaching process rather than the many mundane tasks that occupied much of their time and energy in class. Their teaching itself was often more mundane and routine than they had expected and they were disappointed with their limited opportunities for creative teaching. During practicum they had sought to observe teaching strategies rather than pick up a sense of other requirements of the job. They dealt with parents separated widely from them in age and, often, language and cultural background. Their life experience had little in common with that of their students, for whom going to a McDonald’s restaurant was a ‘big deal’. The gap made it hard to prepare creative writing or concrete examples of concepts. Many students’ home environment offered no books, study area or encouragement to study. The new teachers felt unprepared to cope with the ability range of their students. One felt that her extra attention to low-performing students was disadvantaging ‘the middle kids’, although not the high performers. Remedial classes were not seen in negative terms by school students. The secondary teachers had to deal with more than one subject area, requiring different forms of assessment and reporting. This made for difficulties but also for professional learning. For future pre-service students they recommended more time for observation of lessons, more practising teachers lecturing at university, and more time for viewing and discussing videos of classroom situations. The researchers concluded that pre-service teachers should be taught more about administrative issues during practicums. The frequently mentioned dichotomy between theory and practice masks a number of issues. The tertiary education context contains a number of subtle assumptions that often do not apply in schools and that are not adequately brought out during teacher training. They include familiarity with higher order thinking, the very different behavioural expectations at school and university, and the different cultural base in their respective populations. Teachers should be encouraged to value both the ‘robust and frank nature of exchanges in the school classroom’ but also the ‘idealism and creative fertility’ of the tertiary setting. KLA Subject HeadingsTertiary educationTeaching and learning Parent and child Parent and teacher Ethnic groups Classroom management Educational evaluation Teaching profession Teacher training Effective orientation programs for secondary pre-service teachers through school partnerships: a case study
Volume 26
Number 1, 2006
Partnerships between schools and tertiary education faculties can connect theory and practice in teaching; increase interaction and networking between schools and universities; offer ways to reexamine their roles; and facilitate research, particularly practitioner inquiry. The likelihood of partnership success is increased by explicit recognition of the needs of all parties, establishment of clear goals, commitment from the whole school staff, and by drawing links between university courses and school experiences. Effective partnerships will see real change take place in the cultures of the school and the tertiary education faculty. The article describes a collaborative project between a university-based school of education in central Victoria and ‘Gold College’, a very large local senior secondary school. The collaboration gave school experience to 84 pre-service teachers over the first six weeks of their course. This experience took three forms. Practising teachers gave lectures on key current issues in teaching. Secondly, e-learning sessions were run to illustrate the role of ICT in schools. These sessions covered the school website, online searching and resources, web-based learning, ICT and the middle years, and online forums. Thirdly, the pre-service teachers observed and assisted in three or more classes per week, focussing on issues of pedagogy and classroom management. The responses of pre-service teachers to the project were canvassed through informal written comments and class discussion, a survey and interviews with eight of the participants. The feedback was collected at different stages during the first year of the course. The students valued the classroom experience element most highly. It re-familiarised them with teenagers and school culture, an opportunity particularly valued by the mature age students. It gave them a chance to talk to teachers about their course and to acquire classroom experience that could be drawn on later at university. A minority felt that the e-learning component presumed too much prior ICT knowledge, was too ‘big picture’ and did not address realistic school scenarios. Future collaborations should focus more on classroom practicalities, provide more help with ICT, and set up peer tutoring and other mutual support mechanisms among participants. KLA Subject HeadingsTeaching and learningClassroom management Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Elearning Teacher training Secondary education 'Radical' math becomes the standard
Volume 48
Number 4, April 2006;
Pages 1–2, 8
In 1989, the USA National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released the first version of the standards now titled Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. These standards confirm the value of innovative approaches to mathematics teaching which pioneering teachers had previously struggled to implement in an environment of conservatism. Three trends embodied in the NCTM standards underpin effective mathematics curriculum. The first is helping young students to ‘think algebraically’. The strong numerical focus of mathematics in the early years means students have to make a ‘giant leap’ when they encounter algebra for the first time. Children should be taught to recognise mathematical patterns and processes early, so they are better equipped to understand how numbers and symbols can be interchangeable in mathematical equations. Improving algebra is important in addressing equity, as it is a ‘gatekeeper subject’ for upper-level maths classes, which are often unavailable to disadvantaged students with poor algebra skills. Algebra skills are also important for understanding the symbolic language of computers and thereby accessing careers in technology. The second focus of the NCTM’s innovative maths curriculum is an emphasis on problem-solving, or using maths skills to ‘reduce a complex situation into something [students] can represent and sort out’. The curriculum includes activities that engage students in real-world problem-solving using mathematical processes, such as planning a family trip to Disney World. Lastly, the curriculum recognises the importance of communication in helping students understand how to apply their mathematical skills. Teachers might ask students before a lesson whether they have a plan for solving a problem, and then bring the class together at the end of the lesson to reflect on the processes they used. Potential detractors of the new curriculum should be reassured that computation and numerical skills are not overlooked and that, ‘even in the era of calculators, we still want kids to do basic arithmetic’, as well as knowing how to apply it. Key Learning AreasMathematicsSubject HeadingsMathematicsMathematics teaching Educational innovations United States of America (USA) Technology Together
Number 1, 2006;
Pages 22–24
The integration of ICT into classroom practice requires professional development for teachers. However, the teachers most in need of such PD often resist it. PD is also unsuccessful if it does not keep up with rapid technological change. To overcome these problems, schools need a culture that fosters teachers’ confidence in ongoing learning in ICT. Teachers should be 'encouraged but not pressured, supported but not over-assisted’. They need to be adequately resourced without being given illusions that resources alone will lead to effective ICT integration. The metacognitive approach to teachers’ learning serves these goals. It replaces a competency-based training model, aimed narrowly at the acquisition of discrete skills, with a capability-based approach. ‘Capability’ is the capacity to achieve by combining knowledge and skills with a positive attitude to learning. Appropriate PD can train teachers to be capable in this sense, and to discover that ICT proficiency is more about confidence and curiosity than ‘some “magic” personal quality or set of skills’. This metacognitive, capability-based approach encourages teachers to ‘play’ – experimenting and having fun with ICT – in the manner that many young people teach themselves advanced technological skills. The Technology Together project is an attempt to implement this style of PD. The project involves Southern Cross University and the Lismore Diocese of the Catholic Education Office in New South Wales. This year the seven participating schools are implementing activities suggested in the project’s pilot version that took place in 2005. Volunteer teachers skilled in ICT work with other teachers and university researchers around a set of practical initiatives within the school that run over a year or over individual terms. The schools are being asked to explore the value of methods such as regular informal discussion with teachers, weekly or fortnightly meetings, blocks of side-by-side work with individuals or small groups based on year level or KLA, and ‘time for sharing or celebration across the school’. The initiatives currently include activities such as use of data projectors in everyday teaching and increased use of interactive whiteboards. KLA Subject HeadingsSchool cultureSchool equipment Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Play Professional development Careful, he might not hear you: or, more accurately, might not process auditory informationMay 2006;
Pages 60–63
Auditory processing capacity (APC) is the ability to organise and recall auditory information. Understanding APC is important for teachers, as verbal communication is a major component of classroom teaching. Isolated delays in building APC may occur in children with normal intelligence for developmental reasons or due to any of a wide variety of external contributing factors, such as emotional distress or unfamiliarity with the language of instruction. Children who experience APC difficulties in the early years of their education often experience subsequent problems because they have missed out on basic information. Many teachers regard APC difficulties as a ‘special’ matter to be treated outside of the classroom, but the authors’ research has shown that simple classroom strategies can be employed to effectively instruct children with variable APC. A professional development program was provided to teachers participating in the research, covering basic communicative practices such as maintaining eye contact, ‘chunking’ information, and repeating information more simply if the child did not understand. Participants were also provided with a CD that included material for APC testing. APC tests require students to listen to and repeat strings of words or numbers. Although the rate of APC acquisition slows after about ten years, up to that age students should be able to repeat sequences with a number of components equivalent to their own age, plus four. The number of words that students could repeat in sequence indicated the ideal sentence length for classroom communication. The number of digits repeated indicated the number of discrete, unrelated pieces of information that students could process effectively. Literacy outcomes in the researched classes significantly improved compared to the ‘control’ group of teachers who had not received APC training. The approach used is not ‘rocket science’, but just good communication practice which can enhance learning for students at all levels of APC in the class. KLA Subject HeadingsAuditory perceptionCommunication Hearing Teaching and learning Special education The battle over commercialized schools
Volume 63
Number 7, April 2006;
Pages 78–82
The reduction of public funds available for education in the USA, coupled with the desire of corporations to raise their profiles in schools, has led to ‘a climate in which inadequate public funding is accepted as normal and corporate dollars are eagerly sought'. A 2005 report by the national Commercialism in Education Research Unit suggests that school commercialism is becoming increasingly common and diverse. The USA’s national education policy No Child Left Behind, which emphasises standards-based accountability, has heightened the appeal of incentive schemes such as Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! Other commercial programs involve resource provision: for example, Channel One provides television equipment to schools on the condition that students watch a twelve-minute news program each day, including two minutes of targeted advertising. School commercialism may also take the form of ‘corporate curriculums’, with sponsored educational content promoting a corporation’s products. Some manufacturers, such as McDonald's and PepsiCo, have responded to criticism of their products’ contribution to childhood obesity by assuming the role of advocates of youth fitness. This amounts to no more than a ‘public relations fig leaf’, as ‘genuine advocacy of fitness would inevitably lower these companies’ sales’. However they may be presented, corporate curriculums are always ‘inherently self-serving’, exploiting the vulnerability of students who are unable to differentiate between marketing and education. Concerns about school commercialism, especially its impact on child health, have led some US states to take measures to curtail it, such as banning sales of junk food in schools. These have encountered strong opposition from various corporate lobby groups as well as some schools, who have found loopholes in the legislation that enable them to pursue corporate partnerships. As the debate heats up, educators need to consider carefully both the benefits (which may not be as great as they appear) and the costs of entering into corporate sponsorship. They need to consider whether offering their students to corporate marketers is consistent with providing them with the best education, and ‘learn to say no’ rather than simply accepting the commonly held belief that school commercialism is beneficial. See the new publication Born to buy: the commercialized child and the new consumer culture, listed in this edition of Curriculum Leadership. KLA Subject HeadingsUnited States of America (USA)Schools finance School partnerships Education finance Education policy Observing classroom behaviours and learning outcomes in the L2 development of sociolinguistic competence
Volume 2
Number 3 & 4, Spring 2005;
Pages 19–22
Sociolinguistic competence refers to knowledge of the rules of speaking that arise from sociocultural norms. For example, an American speaker of English might often start a conversation with a compliment (such as ‘I like your dress’), whereas this would not be appropriate within Chinese culture. Even advanced second language speakers can have difficulty freely expressing themselves in everyday situations if they do not possess adequate sociolinguistic competence. This can create misunderstandings or may even cause offence. The communicative approach now widely used in language teaching fosters greater communicative confidence than previous grammar-oriented teaching methods. However, sociolinguistic competence is still seldom explicitly taught. Language teachers often have difficulty fitting sociolinguistic teaching into an already time-limited curriculum. They may also have limited confidence in their ability to instruct students in sociocultural norms. Furthermore, sociocultural learning relates to the sensitive and threatening area of student attitudes and cultural assumptions. A study conducted on three Taiwanese English classes suggests that the minimal attention given to sociolinguistic competence results in poor understandings of sociocultural language rules by the students. This contradicts the notion that students will acquire sociolinguistic competence naturally along the course of their language learning. Although teaching cultural mores to students may enable them to communicate more effectively in their second language, ‘cultural conventions are so deeply ingrained in every individual’ that students should not be expected to make significant changes to their sociocultural behaviours. After all, a non-native speaker of a language can be permitted certain violations of sociolinguistic conventions, where they may come into conflict with the learner’s own sociocultural norms. Rather, second language learners should be made aware of the sociolinguistic elements of language use so that, whether they choose to adopt them or not, they are able to identify potential grounds for misunderstanding. Key Learning AreasLanguagesEnglish Subject HeadingsSociolinguisticsSocial life and customs Language and languages Languages other than English (LOTE) English language teaching English as an additional language Taiwan The effect of learning a new language on ESL teachers' beliefs about language pedagogy
Volume 2
Number 3 & 4, December 2005;
Pages 7–12
Research has suggested that ‘what teachers recollect about their own experiences as students is the greatest single predictor of how they will teach’. This assumption inspired an investigation of how a ten-week Chinese language course would affect the pedagogical thinking of students training in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Twelve TESOL students attended the Chinese course and kept journals of their reflections on the experience. Nearly all described a need for periods of silence in the classroom, in which to ‘just listen to the sounds of the language’ or simply recover from the intense concentration required in periods of activity. Some noted that they would be likely to find such silences uncomfortable when teaching and may not appreciate their value for students. Group dynamics that fostered a supportive, rather than competitive, environment in the classroom were also important. Student motivation levels were shown to be important but unstable, with some students going through motivational highs and lows over the duration of the course. The teacher’s rapport with his students and evident love for China and its language were often instrumental in instilling motivation. Many students were surprised to find themselves enjoying a teaching style at odds with the communicative approach favoured in their TESOL training, which they realised could prove challenging for first-time language learners. Similarly, some reappraised the value of a naturalistic setting for language learning, finding that a classroom setting had considerable potential for beginners. A strong desire to have their individual learning needs addressed led some participants to resolve to exercise a wide variety of learner-oriented teaching practices in their own classrooms. The experience confirmed researchers’ hypothesis that TESOL instructors should try to facilitate a language learning experience for their students where possible. Masters students may be encouraged take a language elective or students who already speak another language could conduct ‘mini-lessons’ for their peers. Key Learning AreasLanguagesEnglish Subject HeadingsEnglish as an additional languageEnglish language teaching Teacher training Languages other than English (LOTE) Language and languages Getting girls to go geek15 May 2006;
Pages 4–5
The number of Australian females enrolled in Information Technology (IT) related tertiary education courses has decreased throughout the last decade. This challenges the industry to overcome perceptions that IT careers involve little social interaction and uninteresting work, views that were shown (in a 2004 report by Multimedia Victoria) to be most prevalent among girls. According to industry spokesperson Sonja Bernhardt, IT jobs involve a diversity of skills and experiences, often including working as part of a team. She claims that the IT content taught in many schools does not engage students’ interest because it has not kept pace with advances in the industry or even with the IT skills students acquire for themselves outside the classroom, which often exceed their those of their teachers. The Victorian Essential Learning Standards are an ‘ideal platform’ for better integrating IT into the classroom. The redesigned Victorian Certificate of Education IT curriculum, to be released in 2007, takes girls' attitudes to IT into account. Research has shown that placing IT in a social context, and infusing activities with a purpose or cause, can engage the interest of female students. The new curriculum includes several instances where IT is used for collaborative problem-solving with a social focus, such as redeveloping the website of a local charity or sports club. Other government initiatives that may address IT learning for girls include the Victorian Department of Education’s Creating eLearning Leaders and Leading Schools Fund. Go Girls, Go for IT is an industry-driven roadshow to provide girls with IT role models, while More Bytes: Girls in IT is a federally-funded project coordinated by Swinburne University to revitalise IT learning for girls in a cluster of Victorian schools. More Bytes coordinator Helen McKernan argues that raising IT literacy is important for girls so that they can participate fully in the information society. Given that software is now pervasive at all levels of society, and ‘does create a certain way of thinking and experiencing the world’, it is important that girls are involved in its development as well as its use. See the recent article, Girls and ICT Survey, published in Curriculum Leadership on 12 May 2006. KLA Subject HeadingsGirls' educationInformation and Communications Technology (ICT) Information literacy Technology Women's education Victoria Victorian Certificate of Education Bold reform is needed urgently15 May 2006;
Page 16
Priorities identified when the Victorian Minister for Education and Training, Lynne Kosky, took office included creating a new curriculum and saving government schools from becoming a ‘safety net’ for more poorly performing students. Victoria’s Blueprint for Government Schools and the Victorian Essential Learning Standards have been significant achievements for the Bracks Government and have earned widespread recognition, even from within the Howard Government. However, the state system remains fragile, with 44 per cent of Victorian Year 12 students now attending private schools. There are three areas in which the cautious approach of the Bracks Government has undermined the ability of government schools to compete. The first is retaining a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to secondary education. Although the Leading Schools Fund has provided some scope for state schools to take a distinctive approach, this has not had a significant impact across the system. In contrast, England’s New Labour government has promoted school specialisation. This has led to improvements in senior secondary student achievement, as well as effective collaboration between state schools and tertiary or industry partners. The second area relates to school infrastructure. The Bracks Government has been reluctant to form partnerships with the private sector to stretch public funds and rebuild the many government schools which are in urgent need of refurbishment. Finally, the Bracks Government has taken a conservative approach to international education, excluding government schools from offering the International Baccalaureate, a qualification recognised for university entrance in over 100 countries. This is inconsistent with Victoria’s aim to be a leader in ‘the global knowledge network’. KLA Subject HeadingsVictoriaState schools Education policy Education and state Great Britain From preservice to inservice teaching: a study of technology education
Volume 22
Number 2, Winter 2005;
Pages 49–55
University of Alabama researchers investigated the uptake of technology integration methods learned in teacher education programs for a group of preservice social studies teachers. The study was motivated by the increased profile given to technology in education by such measures as ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards. Initial surveys revealed that most preservice teachers felt positive about technology’s potential to enhance student learning. PowerPoint emerged as the overwhelmingly preferred software. A few expressed concern about perceived overemphasis on technology, but most negative feedback related to access difficulties, with only half the sample indicating that access to technological resources had been adequate in their placement schools. The ‘red tape’ involved in booking school resources caused some frustration, and one respondent found school administrators were reluctant to let students explore technology because of previous incidents of inappropriate Internet use. Three participants were interviewed again after graduation. Two were engaged in further study and one had entered the teaching profession. He reported that the first-year teaching workload prevented him from creatively building on the technology strategies he had learnt in preservice training. However, all three indicated that they were integrating, or intended to integrate, technology into their lesson plans. One commented that not being scared was an important part of technology integration and that teachers need to ‘just get in there and play with it’. Time spent learning new technologies represented ‘an investment for the learning of the student’. It appeared that current teacher preparation programs may be ‘painting too optimistic a picture’ of actual technology use in the social studies classroom. Teacher education programs must prepare new teachers to continually experiment and expand their technology integration skills. They must also learn to cope with ‘less-than-ideal conditions’, either through adapting lesson plans to the resources available or pursuing grants funding to obtain further resources. Key Learning AreasStudies of Society and EnvironmentTechnology Subject HeadingsSocial educationTeacher training Technology Information literacy Information and Communications Technology (ICT) United States of America (USA) The web as an information resource in K-12 education: strategies for supporting students in searching and processing information
Volume 75
Number 3, Autumn 2005;
Pages 285–328
Through a literature review the authors examine issues surrounding 'the web' as an information resource for school students. Students should use the web for inquiry-based activities rather than just to retrieve factual information. Students in disadvantaged schools, who are likely to use the web for ‘drill and practice’ work, respond well when given more challenging work. Students need to keep investigative goals in sharp focus, and keep revisiting and reassessing goals in the face of information overload. Content should be filtered only for the youngest students; others should be taught how to deal with unexpected, useless, unpleasant or dangerous material. The web’s non-linear quality and huge amounts of text can be especially difficult for weak readers who, therefore, need extensive help to use it effectively for learning. Students need reading, comprehension and critical literacy skills in order to find and verify context details such as author, sources, accuracy of information and motives behind a site, and to distinguish fact and opinion. Students can be taught to use the web’s interactivity for efficient searching: for example, to search for key words rather than browse large blocks of text, to email relevant people mentioned or take part in news groups. While students can use the web to communicate with other students, communication often becomes an end in itself rather than a learning tool. Interactivity must also be viewed critically by students, who should ask (for example) why website creators create interactive opportunities. The presence of images and video and audio clips attracts students but these elements also call for visual literacy skills. Students need to learn not to be distracted by such material. They need to realise that an image can be changed and that it can be used in very various contexts, some of which strip it of original information such as details about the creator and the original purpose. The teaching of inquiry-based activities, and the application of literacy skills and a critical literacy approach, should be integrated into the curriculum with plentiful teaching time allocated to them. KLA Subject HeadingsInformation literacyWebsites Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Electronic publishing Elearning Helping students make the jump to university level researchMarch 2006;
Pages 21–24
High school librarians can familiarise students with university library resources and research practices to help bridge the gap between school and university. Firstly, school librarians can develop positive relationships with students to help them feel comfortable about asking questions. Some university libraries offer online chat through QuestionPoint or Ask a Librarian, where students can pose questions to librarians (via instant message). School librarians should build relationships with university libraries and arrange field trips to familiarise students with the university library’s size and set-up. Where location prohibits a field trip, school librarians can teach students to search the OPAC system of the university or college they plan to attend. High school students are likely to be unfamiliar with the range of search engines, microfilm or microfiche, bound periodicals, current periodicals and online resources available at a university library. They will need to differentiate OPAC listings and be able to locate these resources. On entrance to university, students need to be able to meet the new academic requirements of selecting, critiquing and citing academic resources. School librarians should expose students to these requirements and teach transferable search skills. Databases – ranging from free resources, subscription-based databases and aggregated databases – can be incorporated into the school library. Schools can check with other school libraries for recommendations of free, student-friendly, Internet-based database resources. The article lists popular free resources and subscription-based services. KLA Subject HeadingsInformation literacyInformation services Tertiary education School libraries Collaboration beyond the coreMarch 2006;
Pages 34–36
Narratives from media specialists, many of whom undertook online professional development through the University of Wisconsin-Stout, offer a model for successful collaboration between school media units and teachers outside the core areas of language arts, social studies and science. Teachers of non-core subjects do not generally face the same assessment demands as core subject teachers; they tend to have a greater need for technology-based resources and tend to be more open to collaboration with media centre staff. Media specialists can encourage successful collaboration by providing good service, meeting diverse curricular needs, building trust and training non-core staff in technology applications. Sharing relevant web links with non-core staff is one way to encourage collaboration. Work with art teachers might involve exhibiting students’ artwork in media centres, or simple forms of promotion such as using computer screensavers to display famous works. Media specialists can introduce music teachers to the range of technology-based music resources now available and share integration ideas. Elementary music teachers often lack time and will appreciate a comfortable media centre and assistance with aspects such as adding images from student musicals onto the school website or offering cross-curricular activities. For example, rather than writing a report on a composer, students will be more interested and less likely to plagiarise if they are asked to write a resume for the artist, drawing on media resources. The article suggests reviewing additional ideas for collaborating with music teachers. Home economics teachers should be provided with electronic resources on topics such as the media’s influence on diet. Modern language teaching will benefit from online resources, which allow for more in-depth research and understanding of cultural and language diversity. For example, in one online module, students consider how to market a country to promote tourism and economic development. Students’ oral history contributions can be included on school and community websites, similar to Winona Middle School’s cultural history website. Video and research activities will be useful in physical education. In one example, students researched the heart and created books on skipping and the body as part of a Jump Rope for Heart unit. Media specialists can work with careers teachers by sharing search strategies, websites and databases, and showing how to evaluate websites. KLA Subject HeadingsTechnologyProfessional development Information and Communications Technology (ICT) There are no Conferences available in this issue. |