These are links to new sections of the PLATOWA website added since 1 June 2006

2006 entries:

"U.S. math woes add up to big trouble"

"Why Minimal Guidance during Instruction Does Not Work"

"Australia's adoption of outcomes based education - education panacea or failed experiment?", by Kevin Donnelly

US National Council of Teahers of Mathematics Report:
Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics

Interesting Paper: Teaching Maths in the US

Make a suggestion to the Curriculum Council

WA DET "Scope and Sequence"

Feedback Invited - Needed: Proposed new “Australian Certificate of Education”

Powerpoint presentation: "Courses of Study: Clarifying Assessment Procedures", written by Greg Williams

Submissions to The Review of the Curriculum Council Act 1997

Post Compulsory Consultation: Feedback on the new maths CoS (deadline was Friday 9 June 2006):
INCLUDES Laurie Sutton's letter to DG of DET

TIMSS [Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study] Results: 2003

A great spoof of the Human Biological Sciences year 11 Course of Study

Online education journals

U.S. math woes add up to big trouble, by Ken Gorrell [The Concord Monitor, 8 April 2007]

"While the United States is the world's only superpower militarily, mathematically we are a second-rate power, and losing ground every year. In the math war, the superpowers are Singapore, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Belgium. In assessment after assessment, those countries prove that their weapons - fourth, eighth and 12th graders - are more accurate and advanced than our own. Their strategies are more focused. Their national resolve is stronger."

Complete article:    

Why Minimal Guidance during Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching  

by Paul A. Kirschner, John Sweller, and Richard E. Clark. Published in Educational Psychologist

"Australia's adoption of outcomes based education - education panacea or failed experiment?", by Kevin Donnelly, September 2006

Well worth a read.    

US National Council of Teahers of Mathematics Report:
Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics

The Curriculum Focal Points are the most important mathematical topics for each grade level. They comprise related ideas, concepts, skills, and procedures that form the foundation for understanding and lasting learning.

The full download (or parts thereof) is available at that site, but beware: it's nearly 19 MB.

Interesting Paper: Teaching Maths in the US

It is all about maths education in the US, but many ideas in it are relevant to us.

The basic thesis is that setting achievement levels in mathematics is fundamentally flawed.

The paper completely destroys the credibility of the criterion levels set in the NAEP system, and also attacks the philosophy that initiated them. It claims (p.38) that reliance on levels places undue emphasis on basic skills and retards progress toward mastering more challenging material.

It promotes (p.51) "benchmarking", a type of norm-referencing, as a better system for improving educational results, claiming that benchmarking is a system that is actually used in business.

I think this paper may be good innoculation against what I predict will be the next step in our outcomes levelling driven educational regime: setting "standards" for schools and teachers to achieve, based on the competencies "defined' in our outcomes statements.

The link is:
http://www.epi.org/webfeatures/viewpoints/rothstein_20061114.pdf

Anyone want to make a suggestion / suggest an improvement to the Curriculum Council ? You can do this at:

http://www.curriculum.wa.edu.au/discus/

Western Australia, Department of Education and Training
"Scope and Sequence" K-10

English: Writing / Early Adolescence    

Mathematics: Number / Understand Numbers / Middle Childhood    

Science: Natural and Processed Materials / Early Adolescence    

Society & Environment: Time Continuity & Change / Early Adolescence    

Feedback Invited - Needed

Proposed new “Australian Certificate of Education”

Abstract

The report Australian Certificate of Education: exploring a way forward:

• notes that at present there are significant inconsistencies in senior secondary school across Australia in such matters as:
  • terminology relating to curricula, assessment and reporting;
  • requirements for the award of the senior certificate;
  • what is taught in particular subjects;
  • how vocational learning is incorporated;
  • how student achievement is assessed; and
  • how student results are reported.
    
    
• analyses the following four models
  • A national certificate as an alternative to the existing state-based final year certificates;
  • A national certificate which evolves from the existing state-based certificates;
  • A national certificate which is a general aptitude test similar to that used in the United States;
  • A national certificate modelled on the International Baccalaureate.

The report sets out a clear proposal for an Australian Certificate of Education that would be available to all senior secondary school students, regardless of where they live in Australia.

There is an online questionnaire for providing feedback / comments / making suggestions, closing 4 August 2006.

This is an excellent opportunity to tell them what we think of the new WA Certificate of Education, which un-accredits courses of substance, and accredits content- and syallbus-free OBE courses.

http://ace-questionnaire.dest.gov.au/nsurvey.aspx?surveyid=50ce24530964c45bb31f203f1f46869

• Of particular interest was Recommendation # 5 [page 14 and Chapter 13, page 104]
  
  Recommendation:
  
  That a national standards body be established. This body would not be an awarding body, but would be responsible for identifying essential curriculum content in nominated school subjects, developing achievement standards and managing the annual Key Capabilities Assessment. (.pdf file page 14)
  
  We are recommending the introduction of a national standards body with responsibility for setting and maintaining nationally consistent high standards for the Australian Certificate of Education. (.pdf file page 104)
  
  
• The report also contains a good overview of the International Baccalaureate in Appendix 2 (.pdf file page 117).
  
  
  • And this note on assessment (.pdf page 120)

  
  Internal and External Assessment Components
  
  Assessment is conducted by classroom teachers, accredited by the IBO, and the IBO’s own staff. Internally assessed work usually counts for a grade in a subject. This is carried out within the individual pieces of work produced as part of the External examinations, held in May and November component (up to 80%) of the overall assessment examinations are developed by the IBO.

  Examinations: Marking and Maintenance of Consistency
  
  It is the IBO’s central control of the examination process which permits consistency of standards across school and countries. According to the IBO, examinations are the major part of the assessment ‘because of the greater degree of objectivity and reliability provided by the standard examination environment and external marking’ (International Baccalaureate Organisation, 2005a). For each of the two administrations (May for the Northern hemisphere; November for the Southern hemisphere), identical examination papers across the world, prepared by the IBO, are used for each subject to ensure parity of assessment for the DP.... Moderation is the principal tool for ensuring marking reliability. Senior examiners accredited by the IBO convene after each examination session to oversee assessment in their subjects and to award grades. For examination paper components, the moderation sample size is 15% of each examiner’s total allocation of scripts (International Baccalaureate Organisation, 2004)

Powerpoint presentation: "Courses of Study: Clarifying Assessment Procedures", written by Greg Williams

[a must read -- anything but clear !!]

"Courses of Study: Clarifying Assessment Procedures"

To view the Powerpoint, simply chick on the above link

To save it on your hard drive, RIGHT CLICK on the link and select "save target as" [Internet Explorer] or "save link as" [Netscape and Mozilla Firefox]

Submissions to The Review of the Curriculum Council Act 1997

Here are recent submissions whose authors have given us permission to publish theirs here (and an excellent one to kick things off).

• Submission by Bruce Gillam, 1 June 2006
  
  
• Bruce Hancy's submission, in part:

Re: Review of the Curriculum Council

I submit that the Curriculum Council has been VERY INEFFICIENT and less than USEFUL as an organisation to develop and enhance the quality of education in WA schools.

The so called NCsOS PD days have become a professional joke and teachers have mused as to why the presentations have NOT demonstrated educational acumen to match the OBE requirements associated with quality pedagogy.

Contrary to unproven statistics provided by the Minister of Education, and the CEO of the CC, my experience leads me to KNOW the majority of teachers DO NOT support the CC developed nonsense.

Having been involved in private enterprise I understand the importance to ensure a NEW PRODUCT is at first accepted by the ‘sellers’, ie the teachers. The Curriculum Council of WA staff have NOT ensured this and have demonstrated a particular lack of management toward achievement of this outcome.

Among my very extensive circle of teacher contacts there is now a growing, if not completely developed, sense of disillusionment re the ability of the Curriculum Council of WA to effectively implement improved education in the state of Western Australia.

There is an increasing sense among teachers that the CC staff are not listening to what many teachers are saying.

Please respond to my concerns."

Submissions can be sent to anne.wright@des.wa.gov.au

Post Compulsory Consultation: Feedback on the new maths CoS (deadline was Friday 9 June 2006)

For info, here are Greg Williams' responses [all Word .doc]:

Mathematics of Chance and Data Course of Study: Formal Consultation Questionnaire

Mathematics of Number and Change Course of Study: Formal Consultation Questionnaire

Mathematics of Space and Movement Course of Study: Formal Consultation Questionnaire

Letter from Head of Maths, Rossmoyne SHS

Here are the concerns (relating to the new Maths courses but with applicability in other areas) eloquently expressed by a passionate, dedicated and outstanding teacher.

This is well worth a read, and perhaps other Maths teachers should write similarly to the bureaucrats and politicians to help get the outcome we want in the development of the new Mathematics CsoS.

Letter from Laurie Sutton to Director General of DET    

TIMSS [Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study] Results: 2003

Heaps of info on their website http://timss.bc.edu/, but the downloads are in a 4.5 MG zip file. [The 4-page .pdf Summary is a glosssy brochure, over 4 MB !].

Here is a simple summary table (only 11KB): http://www.platowa.com/documents/TIMSS_2003_Summary.html

And here is a great spoof of the Human Biological Sciences year 11 Course of Study, by Year 11 student "Magneto"  

• "To the best of our ability to discern, we have included only links to electronic journals that are scholarly, peer-reviewed, full text and accessible without cost. We have excluded professional magazines that are largely not refereed, and commercial journals that may only allow access to a very limited number of articles as an enticement to buy. By restricting membership in this way on the list that follows, we hope to do what little we can to promote free access world wide to scholarship in education."
  
  
• Currently, approximately 250 journals are linked from this site.

The online journal Innovate: Journal of Online Education has some interesting articles from time to time. [It's free but you need to register to access it.]

The online journal Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education [free]