STA99569

Paper presented to the Joint New Zealand and Australian Associations for Research in Education Conference, Melbourne, December 1999.

Kia Kaha Tikanga A : Phase two

Essential Learning About New Zealand Society

By Dean Stanley

Director of Educational Research and School Development

for Learning Enhancement Associates

During the 1990's New Zealand has been developing a new national curriculum for schools. The process began in the early part of the decade with the publication of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework, which outlined the essential skills, learning areas and attitudes that would be developed through New Zealand schools. The seven essential learning areas identified in the framework are English, Mathematics, Science, Technology, The Arts, Health and Physical Education, and the Social Sciences. For each of these learning areas curriculum statements, which describe the achievement objectives that students will encounter during their years at school, are being developed.

The Ministry of Education has been progressively releasing these curriculum statements for each of the learning areas, and in 1997 published Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum. The Social Studies document describes the content and structure within which Social Studies should be taught, from years 1 - 13 in New Zealand schools. It describes strands through which learning should take place, including Social Organisation, Culture and Heritage, Time Continuity and Change, Resources and Economic Activities, and Place and Environment. It describes processes which students should use within Social Studies, including Inquiry, Values Exploration and Social Decision Making.

Since the launch of the new Social Studies curriculum, schools and teachers throughout New Zealand have been developing implementation plans and gaining an understanding of how to deliver units of work based upon it. To assist them with this process the Ministry of Education commissioned a series of professional development programmes. The programmes have ranged in scope from one off workshops, focusing on specific aspects of Social Studies education, through to comprehensive whole school programmes delivered over a full year and including both curriculum development and professional development aspects.

The Essential Learning about New Zealand Society research project was included as a component of one of these teacher professional development programmes, delivered in the Northland, and regions during the 1998 and 1999 school years. The research project component was intended to provide teachers with the opportunity to explore, in depth, issues associated with the implementation of Social Studies. It was targeted at teachers who had previously been involved in Social Studies teacher development programmes and had demonstrated an aptitude or desire to take their learning further .

The rationale for including a research/extension component in the teacher professional development programme was based upon the fact that the curriculum included some new terms and structures that would be unfamiliar to many teachers. It was felt that this component of the programme would provide an opportunity to explore effective approaches to delivering a range of elements of the new curriculum. The identification of examples of good practice for planning, teaching, assessing and resourcing these new elements became the focus of the research projects. During 1998 the research/extension component of the programme explored the Social Studies processes. As the 1998 project drew to a close it became clear that the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society component of the curriculum was an area with which teachers and schools were having some difficulty, and as a result, it became the focus for the 1999 project.

What is Essential Learning About New Zealand Society?

Social Studies in the New Zealand curriculum describes Essential Learning About New Zealand Society in the following way.

"Students will have opportunities to develop their knowledge and understandings about New Zealand society through studying:

• Mäori migration, settlement, life, and interaction in various areas of New Zealand over time; • the subsequent migration, settlement, life, and interaction of British and other cultural groups in various areas of New Zealand over time; • the effects of colonisation for Mäori and Päkehä; • Mäori culture and heritage and the influence of this heritage on New Zealand's social, cultural, political, and religious beliefs and systems; • European cultures and heritages and the influence of these heritages on New Zealand's social, cultural, political, and religious beliefs and systems; • perspectives of tängata whenua as these affect contemporary systems, policies, and events; • the , its significance as the founding document of New Zealand, how it has been interpreted over time, and how it is applied to current systems, policies, and events; • characteristics, roles, and cultural expressions of the various groups living in New Zealand; • major events in New Zealand's history; • people in New Zealand's history; • the physical environment of New Zealand and how people interact with the landscape; • changing patterns of resource and land use; • changing patterns of economic activity and trade; • the origins, development, and operation of systems of government and law, of the franchise, and of local and national democratic institutions; • the nature and organisation of paid and unpaid work; • the development over time of New Zealand's identity and ways in which this identity is expressed; • the location and significance of important natural and cultural features of the landscape; • current events and issues within New Zealand; • New Zealand's participation in significant international events and institutions and its possible roles in world affairs in the future."

The curriculum requires schools to include aspects of this learning "as a context for study related to specific achievement objectives where appropriate ... (and states that) ... each school will develop a balanced programme that includes essential learning about New Zealand." As schools have attempted to meet this requirement they have struggled to ascertain what content should be taught when, and to what degree it should be taught at different achievement levels. By the end of 1998 a debate had begun as to whether or not all elements of the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society component of the curriculum need to be taught at every achievement level. One side of the debate suggested that some aspects should be taught at certain achievement levels, whilst other aspects should be delivered at other achievement levels. The second side of the debate suggested that all aspects of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society should be taught at all achievement levels. A further problem which schools and professional development providers were struggling with was the development of a simple process for identifying topics, incorporating Essential Learning About New Zealand Society, for inclusion in their Social Studies overviews.

These two issues became the focus of the 1999 research project.

The research process

The project began with the formulation of two research questions as follows:

1. How can schools ensure coverage of the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society element of the Social Studies curriculum? 2. Is there a hierarchy of understandings that students pass through when developing Essential Learning about New Zealand Society, and if so, what might such a taxonomy look like?

To answer question one it was decided to develop and trial a process that schools could work through, to ensure coverage of the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society element of the curriculum was reflected within a school's Social Studies overview. It was proposed that the first step in the process should involve schools in allocating each of the nineteen Essential Learning About New Zealand Society bullet points to one or more of the knowledge and understanding strands. To achieve this it was suggested that schools take the list of bullet points and cut them up into nineteen separate bullets. Teachers could then group the separate bullets under each of the strand headings, with these groupings acting as the focus for Essential Learning About New Zealand Society for each of the given strands.

The next step was to identify possible Essential Learning About New Zealand Society topics that could be used for each of the strands at each achievement level. A two pronged approach was suggested for this step. The first involved teachers in using their professional judgement to suggest possible topics for each strand. The second involved schools in surveying their community to identify topics which they deemed important at the community and national level. A questionnaire, including the following questions, was developed as a tool to help gain the feedback from members of the local community.

• Please list the name/s of people that have contributed in some special way to our local community that you would like the students at this school to know about. If possible please give the reason/s for why they are special. • Please list the ethnic group/s in our local area, that you identify with and/or would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list any special events past/present in the local area that you would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list any special physical features in the local environment that you would like the students at this school to know about and if possible why they are considered special. • Please list any special resources that our local area has had in the past or has today that you would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list the type of work paid or unpaid that is carried out in our local area that you would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list the name/s of people that have contributed in some special way to New Zealand that you would like the students at this school to know about. If possible, please give the reason/s for why they are special. • Please list the ethnic group/s in New Zealand, that you identify with and/or would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list any special events past/present in New Zealand that you would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list any issues past/present in New Zealand that you would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list any special physical features in the New Zealand environment that you would like the students at this school to know about and if possible why they are considered special. • Please list any special resources that New Zealand has had in the past or has today that you would like the students at this school to know about. • Please list any special organisations that New Zealand has belonged to internationally that you would like the students at this school to know about.

It was proposed that the responses received from each school's community would then be added to the topic ideas generated by the teachers. Schools could take the full list of topic possibilities and generate an overview that covered all aspects of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society. Individual teachers or syndicates would then be charged with developing units of work for each of the topics that had been identified.

In preparation for the research project the researchers ran through a dummy run of developing an overview, including Essential Learning About New Zealand Society, for a fictitious school. During the dummy run the researchers began to develop an opinion about the answer to the second research question. To capture this opinion the following hypothesis was developed.

That all of the elements of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society could be introduced at any achievement level, and that at different achievement levels the degree of complexity with which the content was addressed would change.

Essentially this meant that the researchers believed that there wasn't a hierarchy of understandings that students pass through when developing Essential Learning about New Zealand Society. The implications for teachers arising out of this opinion was that any aspect of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society could be delivered at any achievement level. If this were the case then the challenge became to identify a tool that would help teachers target the level of understanding that they would aim at for each achievement level. Bloom's Taxonomy was chosen as a suitable tool to demonstrate how particular aspects of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society could be delivered at different achievement levels. A series of charts were developed to graphically show how Bloom's Taxonomy could be applied to Essential Learning About New Zealand Society at different achievement levels. In order to differentiate between achievement levels teachers would alter their expectations in terms of the degree to which they focused on each of the six levels of thinking incorporated in the taxonomy. Each of these charts are depicted below.

Assumptions regarding the application of Bloom's taxonomy at different achievement levels.

A set of twelve units was then developed, each with a different Essential Learning About New Zealand Society focus. Two units were developed for levels 1, 3 and 4 achievement objectives and three units were developed for levels 2 and 5 achievement objectives. Each unit was taken from the sample Social Studies overview prepared by the researchers, and they all included learning experiences representing each of the elements of Bloom's taxonomy. The aim was then to trial these units for two purposes. The first purpose was to determine whether any aspect of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society could be taught at any achievement level. The second purpose was to test the assumptions regarding the proportions of each aspect of Bloom's Taxonomy that teachers should target at each achievement level.

The units titles were as follows.

Level 1: "Our Cultural Community" Culture and Heritage Strand

Level 1: "Ports" Resources & Economic Strand, Place & Environment Strand

Level 2: "Place Names" Place & Environment Strand

Level 2: "Dairy Farming" Resources & Economic Activities Strand

Level 2: "Classroom Charter" Social Organisation Strand

Level 3: "Agreements in New Zealand" Time, Continuity and Change Strand

Level 3: "Explorers" Time, Continuity and Change Strand

Level 4: "Fishing" Place & Environment, Resources & Economic Activities Strand

Level 4: "Children on the Move" Social Organisation, Time Continuity and Change Strand

Level 5: "Home Executive" Resources and Economic Activities Strand

Level 5: "Turangawaewae" Place & Environment Strand

Level 5: "Treaty of Waitangi" Time Continuity & Change Strand.

Twelve teachers were selected to be involved in the project. These teachers came from primary and secondary schools in the Northland, Auckland and Wellington regions. A workshop was held early in the second term during which teachers were introduced to the project. They were initially provided with a methodology for implementing the procedures involved in developing an overview that included Essential Learning About New Zealand Society. Each teacher was to trial the process in their school and feedback information about the success of the approach through an interview with the researchers, and through a collective brainstorm at a research workshop later in the year.

Each teacher was then provided with a unit plan to implement at some point during terms two and three 1999. Researchers went through the plans with teachers and made any slight modifications that were required. Researchers observed the units as they were being implemented and took notes on the degree to which students were able to achieve the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society. At the end of each lesson teachers filled in a log to record what they had been doing and their perceptions of the successfulness of the lesson. At the conclusion of each unit students took part in a range of assessment tasks designed to measure their ability to use each of the six aspects of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Results

The following section of this paper summarises the results of the research project. It begins by analysing the usefulness of the process for incorporating Essential Learning About New Zealand Society into a school's Social Studies overview. It then provides information in support of the hypothesis that all of the elements of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society could be introduced at any achievement level, and describes an approach that teachers could use to modify the degree of complexity with which content was addressed at different achievement levels. It concludes by discussing the results of the project and how they could be used to support Social Studies education in New Zealand schools.

Comments on the process for incorporating Essential Learning About New Zealand Society into a Social Studies overview.

Upon completion of the trial of the process for incorporating Essential Learning About New Zealand Society into a Social Studies overview, research teachers participated in an interview with their research facilitator and contributed to a brainstorm with other teachers involved in the project. The focus of the interviews and of the brainstorm sessions was to provide feedback about the usefulness of the approach.

Step1: Teachers grouping the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society statements under the knowledge and understandings strands.

All teachers made positive comments about this step of the process. All teachers felt that it should be the starting point when a school developed or reviewed their overview. They felt that it ensured that the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society component of the curriculum was addressed in the overview development process. Some schools found that it was the catalyst for enabling each statement to be explained more clearly to all staff. They also felt it provided a mechanism for identifying where each aspect of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society would fit most appropriately in the overall planning of Social Studies. Research teachers noted that some teachers in their schools were surprised at the amount of knowledge and understandings about New Zealand that was implicit in the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society component of the curriculum. They also felt that it was problematic that the curriculum document did not clearly link Essential Learning About New Zealand Society into the strand explanations or achievement objectives. Some general comments and observations about the first step in the process included the following:

• "Making the links between Essential Learning About New Zealand Society and the Strands is challenging for teachers." • "This step is useful as a refresher exercise to remind teachers of the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society requirement in the Social Studies curriculum." • "It provided a focus for planning topics and themes for the strands when reviewing their overview." • "It provided a platform for discussion of differing viewpoints about what constituted Essential Learning About New Zealand Society." • "This step involved lots of discussion and different people's points of view about how Essential Learning About New Zealand Society interlinked across the strands." • "The Treaty of Waitangi was identified as a focus across all the strands." • "The background of teachers, eg, Geography, History, etc influenced their decisions about what constituted Essential Learning About New Zealand Society." • "Understanding of the knowledge base implicit in Essential Learning About New Zealand Society was weak amongst many new teachers." • "Teachers from overseas had difficulty with what constituted Essential Learning About New Zealand Society and felt that there needed to be teacher development specifically for them in this area." • "There was reluctance by some staff members to be involved in discussing what Essential Learning About New Zealand Society was." • "Some teachers thought using the perspectives would be a more suitable way of grouping Essential Learning About New Zealand Society."

Step 2: Surveying parents/caregivers, Boards of Trustees, and school community about a school focus for Essential Learning About New Zealand Society.

Schools took different approaches to this step of the process. Not all the teachers gave out both sheets of the survey form and as a result either concentrated on just the local area or a national focus. Schools gave out a varying number of surveys ranging from one school that sent out 100 surveys to other schools who worked with a selection of parents and BOT members. Some schools interviewed a selection of staff and parents rather than using the survey questionnaire. Others gave out one page of the survey at a time.

Overall the research teachers felt that it was a worthwhile exercise. They felt that the survey gave them the opportunity to compile a "knowledge bank" of who and what was felt to be important by people in their community, both in the past and in the present. One school even went as far as attaching the results of the survey to their overview for teachers to use as a reference. All research teachers expressed surprise about the wide range of people, physical features, issues, historical information etc that were suggested. The majority of research schools made alterations to their school overviews in Social Studies as a result of the process that they had gone through with their staff and community.

Some research teachers felt that the survey was too long and involved. Others felt that it had given some people an opportunity to express their favourite bandwagon that might not necessarily have been representative of the wider school community. The time involved in implementing the survey and analysing the results was seen as problematic in some schools. It was also felt by a number of teachers that it might be more appropriate to design their own survey so that they felt more ownership for the process. The following table illustrates the results from one school's survey of its parents regarding the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society that they want their students to experience.

One school's survey results

Name/s of people that have contributed in some special way to New Zealand that you would like the students at this school to know about.

Jean Batten Danyon Loader Richard Seddon Fred Hollows

Charles Upham Peter Blake Mark Todd Governor Grey

Kiri Te Kanawa Ernest Rutherford Wi Tako John Walker

Gwen Somerset Apirana Ngata Truby King Michael Savage

Whina Cooper Kate Sheppard Peter Fraser

Katherine Mansfield Peter Snell Te Rauparahau

Samuel Marsden Billy T James Michael Jones

Ethnic group's in New Zealand, that you identify with and/or would like the students at this school to know about.

English and Scottish Dalmations Shetland Islanders All Pacific Islands

Greeks Maori Italians French Polynesia

Somalians Cook Island Indians Irish

Niueans Ireland Chinese Scandinavian

Special events past/present in New Zealand that you would like the students at this school to know about.

Gallipoli Napier Earthquake Maori Wars

Tarawera Rainbow Warrior Settlement of N.Z

Women's Vote Decimal Currency and Treaty of Waitangi history Declaration of Development of Social Independence WW11 Welfare System

Waitangi Day Vietnam War Labour Day Anzac Day Erebus Commonwealth Games

40 Hour Famine Labour Government - Springbok Tour 1981 Welfare State Elections Census WW1 Settlement of Lower Hutt Depression

Issues past/present in New Zealand that you would like the students at this school to know about.

South African Rugby Tour Today's Society HART

Suffragettes Changes to Education Employment Contract

Government aid Women's Vote Treaty of Waitangi

International debt Being a citizen Y2K

Trade Unions Socialism 7 Day Shopping

Fishing Industry Global Warming Lowering the drinking age

Refugees GST Millennium

WW2 Democracy- what it means? Political system

Wahine Republicanism Think Big Policy

Conservation- Welfare State Land Ownership wildlife/fishing etc.

Physical features in the New Zealand environment that you would like the students at this school to know about.

West Coast Glaciers Punakaiki Rocks Pupu Springs

Taupo (eruption) Te Papa One Tree Hill

Sky Tower Pink & White Terraces Natural Gas

Native Trees Endangered Animals Extinct Volcanoes

Wellington Fault Line National Park Southern Alps Being an Island Nation Clyde Dam Manapouri

Regions of New Zealand Volcanic Plateau Hutt Valley History

Resources that New Zealand has had in the past or has today that you would like the students at this school to know about.

Kauri Gum Kiwi fruit Hydro electric Power

Green lipped mussels Export Industries Legal System

Natural resources Geothermal power Native forests

Natural Gas Gold Coal

Greenstone Water

Organisations that New Zealand has belonged to or belongs to internationally that you would like the students at this school to know about.

United Nations Rotary WTO World Trade Organisation Peacekeeping Salvation Army IMF International Monetary Red Cross ANZAC Fund

Commonwealth Amnesty International WHO World Health Organisation Antarctic Treaty UNICEF CCF Christian Children Geneva Convention Lions Fund

Greenpeace IRB WWF World Wildlife Fund

APEC

At the final workshop for the research teachers it was suggested that another approach might be to ask teachers to identify three people, three issues and three events that they thought could be a focus for each of the knowledge and understanding strands. In trialing this approach the following results were achieved.

Social Organisation Strand

Whina Cooper Commonwealth, Olympic Disasters Games Governor Grey Media and Sport Michael Savage APEC Legal system

Muldoon 1951 Waterfront strike Elections

Lange Waihi gold Strike Sports teams

Seddon Springbok Tour Parihaka

Kate Sheppard Treaty of Waitangi MMP

Young Achievers Declaration of Suffragette Movement Independence Young Maori Achievers Parliamentary system 1929 Depression Family, friends, whanau Rules and Laws NZ Wars Ratana Sports triumphs & World Cup Rugby, netball, disappointments Te Kooti cricket, netball City Council Famous New Zealanders Wahine Day Changing role of women Bola, Race Relations Ballantynes fire Welfare state America's Cup

Time, Continuity and Change Strand

Hone Heke Migration- Maori, Early Treaty of Waitangi settlers, Post WW 2 Now. Whina Cooper Anzac Day/ Gallipoli Local area. V.C. Winners Refugees

Treaty signatories Vietnam War

Hobson Bastion Point

Governor Grey Depression 1930's

NZ at War

Colonisation

Settlers WW II

Whaling

Gold Mining

Place and Environment Strand

Cook Mapping New Zealand Antarctica

Tasman Local environment National Parks

Kupe Monuments and memories Tourism

Maui Distinctive NZ features/places Settlers to the local area Urbanisation Whina Cooper Local Maori history Pita Sharples

Waipareira Trust

Pacific island Communities.

Resources and Economic Activities Strand

Fishing Consumer rights Antartica

Farming Treaty of Waitangi - fishing, Conservation issues forestry..... Manufacturing Clean, Green, Image of NZ West Coast logging Hydro/ wind/thermal power Coromandel mining Whaling/ past & present Local community resources Resource Management Trade Small claims tribunal APEC Current affairs CER Changing role of work Exporting Electricity Global business - Internet

Bartering - smart cards

Green lip mussels

Culture and Heritage Strand

Katherine Mansfield Maori language week Media and its impact

Samuel Marsden Waitangi Day Telecommunications

Billy T James The Anzacs Medical Advances

Kiri te Kanawa Tikanga Maori/ Maori Tourism customs Colin McCahon Space exploration Marae Peter Blake Gold digging Te Papa Sir Edmund Hillary Missionaries Maori legends - local area John Walker Pre/post European Maori Maori Battalion perspective.

Urban Marae/rural marae

Ethnicity

Immigration- Maintaining own culture

Sports events

Springbok Tour 1981

Multicultural migration

Comments on the hypothesis that "all of the elements of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society could be introduced at any achievement level, and that at different achievement levels the degree of complexity with which the content was addressed would change."

This part of the research project involved research teachers in implementing a unit of work for Social Studies education. Each unit included a focus on an aspect of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society. No selection process was undertaken to identify the Essential Learning About New Zealand Society that would be included in each unit, therefore, if all the units could be delivered satisfactorily at the various achievement levels then it could be assumed that the hypothesis was accurate.

The researchers were aware that this approach would still not necessarily provide support for those teachers who were looking for a way to differentiate between what should be taught at different achievement levels. To overcome this each unit incorporated learning activities for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Assessment tasks were designed to measure the number of students who could achieve each of the six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. By collating the results of the assessment tasks at different achievement levels teachers would get a better idea of the type of learning activities they should include in their unit plans.

From the facilitator observations, teacher logs, student assessment data and teacher interviews it became abundantly clear that the hypothesis was correct, and that all aspects of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society could be taught at any achievement level.

Each of the assessment tasks that students completed at each achievement level were rated using two 4-point scales, depending on the nature of the task being assessed. The two scales used were as follows.

1 = Wildly inaccurate or missing

2 = Inaccurate

3 = Fairly accurate

4 = Accurate

1 = Little understanding or not answered

2 = Some worthwhile ideas

3 = Moderately full

4 = Full and insightful

The results of assessment tasks were compiled for each of the six levels of Blooms Taxonomy for each unit. These figures were then averaged for achievement levels one and two, for achievement levels three and four and for achievement level five.

The percentages of students who achieved each of the six Bloom's Taxonomy levels at each achievement level are documented in the following table and graphs.

Bloom's taxonomy level Achievement Achievement Achievement Levels 1 & 2 Levels 3 & 4 Level 5 Evaluation 11 13 12

Synthesis 7 9 13

Analysis 7 9 18 Application 16 18 16

Comprehension 29 21 22

Knowledge 31 31 19

Discussion

There are three ways which the results of this project could be used to support Social Studies education in New Zealand schools. Teachers should use existing taxonomies as a guide when preparing learning activities for their units. If Bloom's taxonomy is to be used then they should ensure that activities for all thinking levels are included in each unit. For levels one and two teachers should aim at two thirds of their activities being aimed at knowledge and comprehension. At level three and four approximately half of all activities should focus on knowledge and comprehension, and by level five teachers should aim to have an equal amount of activities for each of the six levels of thinking.

It is also clear that schools should focus on Essential Learning About New Zealand Society when developing their Social Studies overview and implementation plans. A useful approach is to take all of the elements of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society and ask teachers to apportion them to each of the knowledge and understanding strands. Some aspects of Essential Learning About New Zealand Society, such as the Treaty of Waitangi, would cover all five strands but it is still important to identify one strand for a major focus, otherwise the topic may only be covered in a general sense. Once this has been done schools should seek feedback from their community about the people, places, organisations, issues, resources, events etc that they would like their students to learn about whilst at the school. This feedback can then collated under each of the strands and provide a focus for the types of topics that will be delivered over any two year period.

Each of the twelve unit plans, along with the description of what went on and would could be improved, will be available to New Zealand schools through the Internet from the year 2000. Teachers will be able to access the units of work and use the ideas and approaches within the context of their own classroom programmes.

Kia-Kaha-Tikanga-A-Iwi