Pedagogy in The New Zealand Curriculum
The New Zealand Curriculum suggests that, while there is no ‘one size fits all’ in teaching, there is a strong correlation between certain teaching strategies or approaches and student achievement.
Interpreted for teachers of philosophy, these strategies or approaches include:
Create a supportive learning environment
By, for example:
- negotiating and agreeing rules for discussion
- modelling the discussion process
- scaffolding discussion in pairs/groups.
Encourage reflective thought and action
By, for example:
- allowing everyone time to think during discussion
- accepting mistakes and misunderstandings
- helping students to unpack their ideas
- challenging students to justify their views.
Enhance the relevance of new learning
By, for example:
- seeking to apply new ideas
- encouraging the students to look for philosophical ideas in other learning contexts and to transfer and connect learning from other subjects into philosophy.
Facilitate shared learning
By, for example:
- developing a partnership approach to learning in philosophy
- developing shared reflective discourse.
Make connections to prior learning and experience
By, for example:
- connecting students’ cultural experiences to philosophy
- engaging with their cultural experiences and identities
- exploring these personal realities in philosophical discourse.
Provide sufficient opportunities to learn
By, for example:
- using engaging and cogent examples (for example, real-life issues in Aotearoa New Zealand)
- reinforcing such core philosophical practices as offering reasoned arguments and providing supporting evidence
- exploring different learning styles (for example, presenting Plato’s Cave in different modes)
- using ‘thought experiments [and] innovative scenarios’ such as Decartes’ idea of the Evil Demon or reality and illusion in The Matrix
- providing timely, constructive feed forward
- developing students’ capacity to engage in meaningful self- and peer review.
Use e-learning opportunities
Encourage students to explore e-learning. For example, suggest that students look for ideas online if no one has an immediate answer to a question raised in class, but challenge them on the validity of information they find on the Internet.
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Last updated October 24, 2011
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