At Te Kura o Waima Puawai students are immersed in digital learning, whereby each student purchases their own Chromebook to work in this 1-1 environment. It has been found that digital learning technologies can enable students to grasp concepts more quickly and fully, and to engage in learning more readily, while also sharing knowledge.
Digital learning, assists students:
to engage in learning more readily
in sharing knowledge
become efficient learners
to pace learning to their preference
to experience learning the best way for them
to access their learning anytime, anywhere
by receiving prompt feedback
to map their learning journey.
Students share in decision making:
Students are at the center of their learning through collaboration. They need a voice in why, what, and how learning experiences take shape.
Why. Students need to understand the value of the subject, vocabulary, and skills in order to be motivated and engage fully.
What.Students' interests drive the content which then teaches them skills and concepts they want to focus on.
How.Students process information in different ways therefore their learning needs to be tailored to meet their individual needs through offering a variety of options based on what they know about them.
Puawai is a collaborative learning environment where groups of students work together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product.
Collaboration is where:
Learning is an active process whereby students gain new knowledge from a range of situations and integrate this with their prior knowledge.
Learning requires a student’s active engagement with their peers to process and synthesise information rather than simply memorise and regurgitate it. They have the opportunity to talk with peers, present, exchange and defend ideas, question, and be actively engaged.
Learning is social. This environment allows conversation between learners enabling them to gain new understandings and create new frameworks.
In Puawai the students have ‘the power to act’. Learner agency is when learning involves the activity and the initiative of the learner. Learner agency is social, all learning has an impact on the thinking, behaviour or decisions not only of themselves, but also of their peers.
Learner agency:
does not follow the one size fits all approach, in Puawai it is about working on Kahikitia’s notion that ‘one size fits one’.
can be seen in students being actively involved in the decisions about their learning.
involves the initiative and self-regulation of the learner.
ensures no one is falling through the gaps under the guise of just "doing my own thing” as all learning is monitored.
is developed by the culture of the classroom.
includes an awareness of the responsibility of one’s own actions on the environment and on others.
Te Kura o Waima’s curriculum is based on both community consultation and the key competencies, with the curriculum principles embedded in the centre.
The curriculum:
is based on 'WAIMA'
allows for a more in-depth coverage of subject matter
targets individual need
At Waima we choose to meet the challenges of education directly. We seize every opportunity presented in order to build a better way to learn which we believe creates a better future for our students.