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Pedagogy and curriculum that engages students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and is deemed personally relevant to the lives they live, are seen as important factors towards equality of outcome by Wrench, Hammond, McCallum and Price (2012). Their research involved designing a curriculum and pedagogy that would be highly engaging to students of low-socioeconomic status. 'The interventions involved curriculum redesigns that set meaningful, challenging learning task(s) (culminating in high quality learning products); strong connection to student life-worlds; and a performative expectation for student learning.' (Wrench et al 2012 p934)

In the contemporary classroom, there is much greater consideration of what the learner does in partnership with their teacher so that they develop the capacity to learn. Classroom routines and structures are designed to engage the learner in a rich process of dialogical learning. 

How we see ourselves, how we describe ourselves reveals a great deal about how we see 'others'. In May of this year, speaking to the audience of the International Conference on Thinking, Bruno Della Chiesa invited us to consider how we might approach the question of "who we are?". In responding to such a question, what list of affiliations do we invoke to define ourselves?

The debate over the most effective method of instruction continues as ever and where one stands on the topic is largely influenced by the purposes one attaches to education. Analysing a series of research articles reveals the nature of the debate between advocates of direct instruction compared to those who support a problem based learning methodology.

Hi Jess, could I also add, that there is a greater issue with interactive Whiteboards. Some of the big teaching colleges and Universities in Australia did not have any!! or they were very outdated,... or they were bought the wrong ones!! As some of the Universites are tech phonic... the reality of interactive whiteboards is up to the inspiration of the academic.... Something which is not that transparent when you look at fancy marketed websites.

Could I also add, being a primary school trained teacher and academic in education, most retiring academics do not wish to learn to teach with technology (out of their comfort zone) and believe.... firmly that face to face ... is the only way....to educate. Technology has been pushed globally into the education system, with pedagogy taking last place. Pedagogy is the teaching strategies where teachers construct learning in a classroom, when they are given a broad socially constructed curriculum... i.e the teachers science or magic potion which supports student learning. while interactive whiteboards add an amazing dimension to learning, it is only as good as the student teacher, who is often thrusted into a teaching classroom,,, and needs to grapple with the technology as there are many products out there and work differently... need alone.... Batteries!!! yes batteries should always be in the tool kit of a teacher now.

An introduction to the use of Interactive Whiteboards and a summary of some of the research into the pedagogy behind their use.

The case studies form the beginning of a resource to explore the ways in which interactive whiteboards are used, and the ways in which they contribute to student learning and teacher pedagogies. They're in no way definitive: what they offer is shared experience, and the beginning of a Community of Practice. Colleagues may wish to explore the MirandaNet site for other case studies.

Cogill J (2008). Primary teachers' interactive whiteboard practice across one year: changes in pedagogy and influencing factors. EdD thesis King's College University of London.

The shift away from teaching for the rote memorisation of prescribed methods requires teachers to rethink their approach to the discipline. With this new pedagogy comes a need to understand the processes of mathematical thinking in ways not previously required. When we require our students to be able to reason and problem-solve through unique challenges we also require our teachers to have an understanding of the mathematical moves that their learners are likely to call upon.

This traditional pedagogy results in students developing a negative attitude towards mathematics. Many develop a mathematical phobia and believe that they are not a "maths person". When confronted by challenging mathematics they retreat and have no or only poor strategies with which to approach new ideas. This all leads to a decline in the number of students pursuing mathematical learning beyond the years where it is compulsory. Fortunately there is a growing body of research that shows there is a better way. 

This year is the fiftieth birthday of Harvard's Project Zero, a research project designed to explore the nature of thinking and learning and from this suggest pedagogies which align with what we know about the mind. For its birthday celebration Project Zero shared insights from its five decades of research with presentations from Howard Gardner, David Perkins, Shari Tasman, Steve Seidel and Daniel Wilson. The presentations revealed the changing nature of the work of Project Zero from its early days and focus on arts education to its current position as a research organisation with broad interests across education but with a focus on thinking, understanding and the workings of the mind.

Our goal might be to support Deep versus Surface Learning, but what does this mean in practical terms. What are the beliefs and dispositions which support teaching for deep learning, and what are the implications of this in terms of the pedagogy we adopt?

Particular patterns of pedagogy have been of most interest to me across the years, particularly those that shift the focus from what the teacher does to what the student does. With this shift comes an emphasis on understanding how students learn and with this knowledge in mind developing learning experiences that will allow them to develop their skills for learning.