Internationally, associations between mathematics achievement and various beliefs and attitudes related to learning are well established. In this article, the findings of five studies are examined to identify patterns in New Zealand students' mathematics-related beliefs and attitudes, and their relationships with achievement. Each study included…

This project aimed to assess the impact of online citizen science (OCS) participation on the science education of primary school children in New Zealand. Four exploratory cases were used to examine the nature and impact of embedding OCS projects that use web-based online tools within primary classroom environments. Findings provide key insights…

This exploratory study examined how two teachers from two New Zealand primary schools introduced and taught the same mathematics lesson to their lowest ability group of year 2 and 3 students. Emphasis was given to analysing the positioning of the teacher and students and the developing storylines and social acts from that positioning. Different…

This article discusses how children in New Zealand make meaning in their spontaneous pretend play from kindergarten (four years old) through to their first year of primary school (five years old). The findings discussed here are taken from a wider project investigating children's storytelling where 12 child participants were video recorded during…

In recent years, multinational food and drink corporations and their marketing practices have been blamed for the global childhood obesity 'crisis'. Unsurprisingly, these corporations have been quick to refute these claims and now position themselves as 'part of the solution' to childhood obesity. In this paper, I examine how and why corporations…

Research into the effectiveness of SPRING into Maths as a Tier 2 intervention is limited. This article aims to extend the evidence base for SPRING into Maths through reflective practice that links practitioner voice with theory. The article applies a theoretical lens to SPRING into Maths and provides insights into the journey of a group of…

Jade Speaks Up is an Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)-funded programme. It supports teachers to use process drama and other activities to introduce the topic of domestic violence while at the same time developing emotional literacy, trust, and self-calming skills. This article draws on qualitative and quantitative evaluation data to show…

We administered specially-designed, free-response mathematics tasks to primary students (N = 583, ages five to 12 years old). Our focus was on whether (i) the children's responses could be reliably assessed, and (ii) the responses could provide insights into children's mathematical thinking. We used a contemporary comparative judgement technique,…

This paper uses Ball's [1998. Big policies/small world: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy. "Comparative Education," 34(2), 119-130] policy analysis and Bernstein's [1990. "The structuring of pedagogic discourse. Volume IV class, codes and control". London: Routledge; 2000, "Pedagogy,…

Research Findings: Optimal sleep is important for children's learning and development. "Sleep disordered breathing" (SDB) refers to a spectrum of conditions from simple snoring to obstructive sleep apnea that is common in childhood and interrupts sleep. We examined pathways between SDB and academic performance of children (N = 163, M…

The PM Benchmark Reading Assessment Resource (PM Benchmarks) provides information about primary students' level of achievement in reading accurately, fluently, and in understanding unseen texts. As part of the assessment, students have to orally retell what they have read and orally answer comprehension questions. This oral use of language…

In 2012 a new education monitoring system called the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) began collecting information about the achievement of Year 4 and Year 8 students enrolled in English-medium schools. Over the last 5 years it has had contact with over 20,000 students from more than 1,000 schools. This Assessment News…

Personal narrative ability is crucial for social-emotional well-being and classroom participation. This study investigated the ability of 10 school-age participants with Down syndrome to share past personal experiences with their teacher aides in their school environment. To participate, children were required to speak in short sentences and be…

Examining practice, within education, is complex and never straightforward. It is not a surprise that when we conduct research, we discover new and contrary meanings. For the last 16 months we have been examining different means for supporting teaching and learning of the arts in primary schools. Our aim was to better understand how to teach the…

The ubiquitous weekly spelling test assumes that words are best learned by memorisation and testing but is this the best way? This study compared two well-known approaches to spelling instruction, the rule based and visual memory approaches. A group of 55 seven-year-olds in two Year 3 classrooms was taught spelling in small groups for three…