Student engagement

‘Students felt safe to wonder, investigate, disagree respectfully and learn from one another.’ Arushi Sikri, Primary Years Programme Coordinator at Prometheus School – an IB World School – shares how a simple 5-minute classroom sparked curiosity among her students and helped to drive deeper learning and understanding in a unit on the human body.

Drama can give students a voice to express themselves and demonstrate knowledge. In today’s article, we speak with Joseph Bough from Truganina P-9 College in Melbourne about how he built the school’s Performing Arts program. He shares the success they’ve experienced with participation and his favourite lesson activities. 

‘Tour a school and you’ll likely see many classrooms displaying finished student work … perfection is visible; process is private. … The Thinking Museum is a classroom routine that makes intellectual growth visible, celebrated, and unforgettable.’ Find out more in our latest reader submission from K-12 teacher Varun S Nair.

Earlier this year, Mosman Park School for Deaf Children (MPSDC) unveiled their new school uniform. Based on the colours of the Deaf Flag, it was designed to promote pride, visibility and connection for the school community. We speak to Principal Monique Smith to find out more about the design process and the impact on student belonging. 

In this podcast, Dominique Beech hears from Joanna Baker, Head of Campus at Haileybury Pangea – the fully online campus of Haileybury, and independent co-educational school. The online campus serves approximately 180 students from a range of backgrounds across Australia and in this episode we hear all about what it’s like to teach students in a virtual classroom setting.

‘In classrooms, silence is often interpreted as lack of ability or confidence. But in many cases, it reflects a lack of safe, structured opportunities to participate.’ In today’s reader submission, senior secondary teacher Manisha Pundir explores 5 structured classroom routines that she’s used to help build student confidence to participate in classroom discussions. 

Buy-now pay-later services, pocket money apps, online scams, gambling advertising and cryptocurrency are part of some students’ everyday lives. In today’s article, 2 mathematics teachers from Marryatville High School in South Australia share how they’ve applied some of their learning from a professional development partnership into their financial literacy electives for year 9 and 10. 

‘Seating is not just about where we sit, but how the built environment dictates our capacity to learn.’ In today’s article, teacher and designer Andressa Bassani reviews 3 of the most common seating layouts educators use when the lesson requires whole-class instruction. 

In today’s article Samantha Ephraims from Kalkie State School in Queensland uses the teen fandoms of Taylor Swift and television show Stranger Things as examples of students mirroring the scientific process, and suggests that the fandoms can be used to address a decline in scientific engagement in students.

‘Supporting relationship skills often requires empathy, active listening and sustained dialogue.’ OECD Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher shares international insights from TALIS 2024 on how teachers respond when students disengage or struggle with relationship skills.