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Studious staff: New research by Scots teachers in outdoor learning, motivation in sport, and the pedagogy of jazz

20/5/2022

 
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We often talk about curiosity as a virtue to cultivate in young people. We want them to explore, to wonder, to question. And rightly so. But as we learnt from our 2017 Clark Fellow, Professor David Smith, ‘curiositas’, understood in the great classical and Christian traditions, isn’t a virtue at all. It’s a vice. It’s our natural desire to know, turned into a self-focused pursuit of knowledge, to sound smart, to win the day. What you really want is ‘studiositas’, the virtue of paying attention, of asking questions with a love for understanding, and debating ideas with a love for people. (And that’s what we all mean by curiosity in the end, isn’t it?)

Schools should be places where kids learn, yes, but also where we all pursue ‘higher learning’ — where, whatever our age or experience, we seek to become better students, to become intellectually virtuous. In last week’s newsletter we shared the research of Dr Caroline Basckin, Preparatory School Learning Enrichment Teacher, in advancing teachers’ understanding of literacy for students with disabilities. This week we highlight three teachers who are moving knowledge forward through their research degrees, and modeling ‘studiositas’ for our boys.

Mr Jeff Mann, Coordinator of Student Experience, is completing his PhD at Western Sydney University exploring the benefits of outdoor learning experiences for mid-adolescent boys. Hear more about his journey in this short video. Mr Mann recently published a systematic review of research into outdoor learning in the journal Frontiers in Public Health. He led a global team of researchers, including well-known educator Pasi Sahlberg, to screen over 17,000 journal articles and fully read 150 targeted papers to identify what the research says in this field. You can read his article, ‘Getting Out of the Classroom and Into Nature: A Systematic Review of Nature-Specific Outdoor Learning on School Children's Learning and Development’, by clicking here. 

Mr Brent Wilsmore, Preparatory School Sportsmaster, is undertaking a PhD at Wollongong University investigating how school sport programs affect students’ motivation, performance and well-being. Despite the ubiquity of school sport, this is, surprisingly, a largely unstudied area. This research promises to better understand and shape the experience of thousands of students, well beyond Scots. Mr Wilsmore is soon to commence his study of all boys from Years 3 to 12 at the College, using Ryan and Deci’s Self-Determination Theory to explore boys’ sense of autonomy, mastery and relatedness in their sporting activities. 

Mr Eric Hutchens, who joined us in Term 1 as a Senior School Music Teacher, recently undertook and passed the oral examination of his Master of Philosophy Thesis at UNSW. This requires researchers to discuss their thesis with their examiners, responding to critiques and demonstrating their mastery of the topic. Mr Hutchens’s research thesis was entitled ‘Unaccompanied Double Bass in Jazz Composition and Performance: A Case Study of Three Works by John Patitucci'. He looked at the influences on influential jazz composer Patitucci, deduced from transcribing and analysing many of his works. Mr Hutchens also drew conclusions about how music teachers can think pedagogically about their work with students.

Congratulations to these and other staff seeking to advance knowledge and model for our students the virtue of studiositas!


Dr Hugh Chilton
Director of Research and Professional Learning

Higher learning: Dr Caroline Basckin’s PhD on evidence-based practice in teaching literacy

13/5/2022

 
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When The Scots College was founded in 1893, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales, the Right Reverend James Smith White, said that its teachers would be those who had ‘won the highest honours in the university’, were well-acquainted with teaching boys, and viewed teaching as ‘a work of faith, a labour of love, and a patience of hope’. That calling to ‘higher learning continues to be seen every day in the inspiring work of staff across the College who show up every day to give boys the finest preparation for life.

​This week we honour the achievement of one of our long-serving staff, Preparatory School Learning Enrichment Teacher Dr Caroline Basckin, who has just won ‘the highest honour’ in the university by being awarded her PhD from the University of New South Wales. 


Dr Basckin’s doctoral dissertation was entitled ‘Literacy instruction for students with disability: An analysis of teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and use of evidence-based practices’. In her research with Year 3 teachers across 8 Sydney independent schools, Caroline explored what teachers did to teach literacy to students with disabilities and how they described the basis for their practice. She was struck by the amount of evidence-based practice she observed, matched with a low level of knowledge about that evidence base. Teachers also felt ill-equipped to understand the complex needs of students, and lacking in time to collaboratively plan for well-differentiated teaching. 

She provided three recommendations to school leaders:
  • Ongoing high-quality professional development grounded in the current academic research
  • Develop an online database or library of EBP resources
  • Training and support for teachers and learning support staff to develop and deliver effective co-teaching models in literacy instruction
​
Dr Basckin has published several articles from her research, including as lead author on a systematic review of teacher beliefs about evidence-based practice in the prestigious International Journal of Educational Research.

Please feel free to contact Dr Basckin to find out more about her research findings.

We look forward to drawing on Dr Basckin’s experience and research as we continue to prepare for the John Cunningham Student Centre, bringing together all the support boys need to develop into fine young men. 

Congratulations again to Dr Basckin on this significant achievement!

Dr Hugh Chilton
Director of Research and Professional Learning


Exploring the impact of technology on boys' learning relationships

3/5/2022

 
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the importance of technology in all our lives, not least in how we learn. While online classes still continue for some boys in isolation, it’s easy to forget just how important Zoom, Stile and Schoolbox were for all boys, teachers and families for much of the past two years. The question we must now ask ourselves is how we can best use technology to support boys’ learning, how it can be an aid rather than a hindrance in fostering great relationships with their peers and teachers.

This week all parents and carers of boys in Years 5 to 12 received an invitation to participate in a research study we are conducting with the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC). This major study aims to help boys' schools including Scots better understand the impact of technology choices on boys' learning and the quality of relationships in classes. ​

We have been closely involved in the development of the study since its inception in 2019 through the IBSC Research Committee, which our Principal Dr Ian PM Lambert chairs and on which Dr Caitlin Munday and Dr Hugh Chilton serve. The project commenced with a literature review by University College London’s Knowledge Lab in 2020-21 (see a podcast and webinar discussing the findings). 

This study connects to research conducted by our own staff. Mr Nicholas Tester, Director of Strings, has been part of the IBSC’s rigorous action practitioner research program across 2020 and 2021, supported by Mr Jeff Mann, Coordinator of Student Experience. Mr Tester’s project is entitled 'Sir, not another piece of technology!' An examination of whether the use of e-portfolios in classroom music facilitates Year 8 boys to construct their own learning pathways'. He will present his findings at the IBSC Annual Conference in Dallas in June. 

In 2021 Mrs Penny Ryder, Preparatory School Master Teacher, and I worked with a group of Year 5 boys to explore how their peers use technology. The boys developed a survey in conjunction with boys in the United States and Canada, and presented their findings to one another — by Zoom, of course! Read more about that project here.

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