So far in a 3-part series on teacher planning, educational leader Michael Rosenbrock has looked at how teachers can pro-actively plan to tackle student misconceptions in STEM and support them to build and use their vocabulary in science and mathematics. In this final article, he explores how teachers can best plan to make effective use of manipulatives and representations to help students build understanding.

‘Deliberately planning to support students to build and use their vocabulary is critical to ensuring that students can both access the curriculum content and effectively demonstrate their understanding.’ Educational leader Michael Rosenbrock shares what this might look like in practice for maths and science teachers.

Our latest Teacher’s Bookshelf features Building a World-Class Learning System: Insights from some top-performing school systems, by Professor Geoff Masters. It explores what British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea have in common, the strategies they employ, and the decisions they are making to support students now and in the future.

‘Teacher knowledge of misconceptions and explicitly planning to uncover and address them is vital for supporting student learning growth.’ Educational leader Michael Rosenbrock looks at how teachers can pro-actively plan to tackle student misconceptions in STEM, and steps though an example from the forces and motion topic in physics.

Teachers across all settings and subject areas make daily decisions about the resources they use with students to develop learning activities. In today’s article we speak with Dr Rebecca Cairns from Deakin University about her new research paper, Anticipating Controversy: What’s the Problem Represented to Be in Australian Policies for the Selection of Learning Resources? published in the Australian Journal of Education.

‘The result of unresolved concerns could well lead to an unwillingness to use immersive technology with students. Yet, often, the barriers are surmountable.’ Dr Susan O’Donnell and Adrian Rayner, from the VR Learning & Design Hub, look at teacher’s prior concerns and some of the solutions.

Understanding the key concerns of your school staff can help inform professional development and supports provided. A recent survey asked teachers working in preschool to year 12 settings to share how often they worry about COVID-19 and other extreme events, such as natural disasters and critical incidents.

In this edition of Researching education: 5 further readings – the series where we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online databases – we’re sharing 5 pieces of content on the topic of citizenship and political voice.

‘My experience as a teacher and researcher in Japan has allowed me to observe and study classrooms in depth. The first thing that caught my attention was the use of chalkboards.’ Dr Shirley Tan shares how the traditional Japanese technique of bansho board writing can enhance teaching and learning in your own classroom.

Partnerships between international schools have traditionally relied on international travel and face-to-face interaction to be maintained. When in-person interaction no longer was an option during the pandemic, schools needed to embrace the opportunities of virtual connection. In this episode, we discuss recent research looking at the unique benefits of digital school partnerships.