By engaging students in everyday issues and events, STEM education can contribute to the development of citizens who are equipped to make the world a better place. However, students' STEM learning with this focus requires teachers to identify age and context appropriate issues. Student investigation of local issues and events can be motivating for…

Since the evolution of the internet in 1969 and the inception of the personal computer in the early 1970s, a significant body of research has emerged that highlights the impacts of digital technology on education, health and human development. This paper reviews research in this area and examines the physical, mental, and social health effects on…

Children in mainstream schools who struggle academically and disengage in regular schooling may be helped when teachers change their practice to include what the students themselves have reported makes a difference. Student voices need to be listened to, not as a token gesture, but as a way of making a positive difference in their lives at school…

Technology education, as mandated in the "New Zealand Curriculum" (Ministry of Education, 2007) provides an opportunity for schools and teachers to offer contextually relevant and innovative curriculum responses. Recent governmental initiatives appear to offer additional transitional pathways for "at risk" students but signpost…

In this paper we suggest that official curriculum statements provide a relatively modest influence on the emergence of Health and Physical Education (HPE) in school settings and that not enough attention is paid to the other factors that influence curriculum practice in schools. We argue that while the perspectives of teachers may reflect the…

Teachers' decisions about pedagogy are informed by a range of educational discourses. These discourses constitute particular kinds of teaching practices and teacher-student relationships in ways that are not immediately obvious. When a particular pedagogy becomes accepted as best practice and it produces desired learning outcomes for the majority…

This paper focuses on history in the New Zealand curriculum in light of its seemingly confused curriculum identity despite revision processes of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC; New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2007). Some thinking about curriculum as a socially constructed political process that teachers can actively engage with sets the scene…

The New Zealand Curriculum Stocktake, undertaken between 2000 and 2003, signalled a more coherent and fluid approach to curriculum processes, and support for school-based decision-making around curriculum design and implementation. The subsequent "Curriculum Marautanga Project" (Ministry of Education, 2004) promised a "reframing,…