Embedding gifted education in preservice teacher education : a collaborative school-university approach

A country’s prosperity relies on the creative potential of its people. Educating gifted students must be a priority for educators and education systems if society is to capitalise on their potential to contribute to an economical and sustainable future. Given the importance of teachers in supporting academic achievement, educating preservice teachers on how to cater for gifted students commences the process as they can foster the implementation of current teaching practices that draw on substantial research into the education of gifted children. This study investigated preservice teachers’ perceptions for teaching gifted students after participating in a school-based intervention with gifted students. The teachers implemented differentiated curriculum activities that catered for the diverse needs of learners. Participants (n=22) were surveyed at the end of the program on their perceptions of how to differentiate the curriculum for meeting the needs of the student. Analysis of the survey indicated these preservice teachers agreed or strongly agreed they had developed skills in curriculum planning (91%) with well-designed activities (96%), and lesson preparation skills (96%). They also claimed they were enthusiastic for teaching (91%) and had understanding of school practices and policies (96%). However, only 46% agreed they had knowledge of syllabus documents with 50% claiming an ability to provide written feedback on the student’s learning. Furthermore, only 64% suggested they had educational language from the syllabus and effective student management strategies. Preservice teachers require direction on how to cater for diversity by building knowledge from direct gifted education experiences. The survey may be used as a diagnostic tool to determine areas for developing education experiences related to the education of the gifted for preservice teachers.

Technology, design and process innovation in the built environment

Buildings and infrastructure represent principal assets of any national economy as well as prime sources of environmental degradation. Making them more sustainable represents a key challenge for the construction, planning and design industries and governments at all levels; and the rapid urbanisation of the 21st century has turned this into a global challenge. This book embodies the results of a major research programme by members of the Australia Co-operative Research Centre for Construction Innovation and its global partners, presented for an international audience of construction researchers, senior professionals and advanced students. It covers four themes, applied to regeneration as well as to new build, and within the overall theme of Innovation: Sustainable Materials and Manufactures, focusing on building material products, their manufacture and assembly – and the reduction of their ecological ‘fingerprints’, the extension of their service lives, and their re-use and recyclability. It also explores the prospects for applying the principles of the assembly line. Virtual Design, Construction and Management, viewed as increasing sustainable development through automation, enhanced collaboration (such as virtual design teams), real time BL performance assessment during design, simulation of the construction process, life-cycle management of project information (zero information loss) risk minimisation, and increased potential for innovation and value adding. Integrating Design, Construction and Facility Management over the Project Life Cycle, by converging ICT, design science engineering and sustainability science. Integration across spatial scales, enabling building–infrastructure synergies (such as water and energy efficiency). Convergences between IT and design and operational processes are also viewed as a key platform increased sustainability.

Project alliancing at National Museum of Australia : the collaborative process

Project alliancing is a new alternative to traditional project delivery systems, especially in the commercial building sector. The Collaborative Process is a theoretical model of people and systems characteristics that are required to reduce the adversarial nature of most construction projects. Although developed separately, both are responses to the same pressures. Project alliancing was just used successfully to complete the National Museum of Australia. This project was analyzed as a case study to determine the extent to which it could be classified as a “collaborative project”. Five key elements of The Collaborative Process were reviewed and numerous examples from the management of this project were cited that support the theoretical recommendations of this model. In the case of this project, significant added value was delivered to the client and many innovations resulted from the collective work of the parties to the contract. It was concluded that project alliances for commercial buildings offer many advantages over traditional project delivery systems, which are related to increasing the levels of collaboration among a project management team.

School-based experiences : developing primary science preservice teachers' practice

Reviews into teacher education emphasise the need for preservice teachers to have more school-based experiences. In this study, a school-based experience was organised within a nine-week science curriculum university unit that allowed preservice teachers’ repeated experiences in teaching primary science. This research uses a survey, questionnaire with extended written responses, and researcher observations to investigate preservice teachers’ (n=38) learning experiences in two school settings. Survey results indicated that the majority of these preservice teachers either agreed or strongly agreed that school-based experiences developed their: personal-professional skill development (100%); system requirements (range: 81-100%); teaching practices (81-100%); student behaviour management (range: 94-100%); providing student feedback (89-94%); and reflection on practice (92-100%). Qualitative data provided insights into their development particularly for science content knowledge and receiving positive reinforcement on effective teaching behaviours. According to these preservice teachers, the school-based experiences facilitated “teachable moments – having the knowledge or skills to run with students’ questions or ideas” and allowed preservice teachers to “critically reflect between groups to make the task flow better”. Embedding school-based experiences needs to be part of each and every preservice teacher education unit so preservice teachers can develop confidence, knowledge and skills within authentic school contexts.

Valuation methods for resident funded retirement villages in Australia : a practitioner's perspective

Designed for independent living, retirement villages provide either detached or semi-detached residential dwellings with car parking and small private yards. Retirement village developments usually include a mix of independent living units (ILUs) and serviced apartments (SAs) with community facilities providing a shared congregational area for village activities and socialising. Retirement Village assets differ from traditional residential assets due to their operation in accordance with statutory legislation. In Australia, each State and Territory has its own Retirement Village Act and Regulations. In essence, the village operator provides the land and buildings to the residents who pay an amount on entry for the right of occupation. On departure from the units an agreed proportion of either the original purchase price or the sale price is paid to the outgoing resident. The market value of the operator’s interest in the Retirement Village is therefore based upon the estimated future income from Deferred Management Fees and Capital Gain upon roll-over receivable by the operator in accordance with the respective residency agreements. Given the lumpiness of these payments, there is general acceptance that the most appropriate approach to valuation is through Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis. There is however inconsistency between valuers across Australia in how they undertake their DCF analysis, leading to differences in reported values and subsequent confusion among users of valuation services. To give guidance to valuers and enhance confidence from users of valuation services this paper investigates the five major elements of discounted cash flow methodology, namely cash flows, escalation factors, holding period, terminal value and discount rate. Whilst there is dissatisfaction with the financial structuring of the DMF in residency agreements, as long as there are future financial returns receivable by the Village owner/operator, then DCF will continue to be the most appropriate valuation methodology for resident funded retirement villages.

Shear strength of LiteSteel beams with web openings

This paper presents the details of numerical studies on the shear strength of a recently devel-oped, cold-formed steel channel beam known as LiteSteel Beam (LSB) with web openings. The LSB sections are commonly used as floor joists and bearers in residential, industrial and commercial buildings. In these ap-plications they often include web openings for the purpose of locating services. This has raised concerns over the shear capacity of LSB floor joists and bearers. Therefore experimental and numerical studies were under-taken to investigate the shear behavior and strength of LSBs with web openings. In this research, finite ele-ment models of LSBs with web openings in shear were developed to simulate the shear behavior of LSBs. It was found that currently available design equations are conservative or unconservative for the shear design of LSBs with web openings. Improved design equations have been proposed for the shear capacity of LSBs with web openings based on both experimental and numerical study results.

Shear strength and design of LiteSteel beams

This paper presents the details of a parametric study based on finite element analyses (FEA) and development of design rules for the shear strength of a recently developed, cold-formed steel channel beam known as LiteSteel Beam (LSB). The LSB sections are commonly used as flexural members in residential, in-dustrial and commercial buildings. In order to ensure safe and efficient designs of LSBs, many research stu-dies have been undertaken on the flexural behaviour of LSBs. However, no research has been undertaken on the shear behaviour of LSBs. Therefore a detailed investigation including both numerical and experimental studies was undertaken to investigate the shear behaviour of LSBs. Both the experimental and FEA parametric study results showed that the current design rules in cold-formed steel design codes are very conservative for the shear design of LSBs. New shear strength equations for LSBs were proposed based on the experimental and FEA parametric study results.

New media pathways : navigating the links between home, school and the workplace

The terms ‘literacy’ and ‘technology’ remain highly contentious within the field of education. What is meant by ‘literacy’ and the methods used to measure it vary quite markedly in educational and historical contexts across the world. Similarly, while there is a shared concern to research the potential impact of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) on patterns of teaching and learning, there are major discrepancies about which aspects and uses of these technologies should be incorporated into formal learning environments and how this can be accomplished. While government policy makers tend to regard ICTs in relation to ideas of ‘smartness’, efficiency, and the ‘knowledge’ (or ‘new’) economy, educators and educational researchers promote them as offering new tools for learning and critical thinking and the development of new literacies and socio-cultural identities. This clearly has ramifications for the ways literacy is taught and conceptualised throughout the years of schooling, K-12. Outside school, meanwhile, students engage with ICTs on another level entirely, as tools for the maintenance of social networks, for leisure, and for learning and participating in the cultures of their peers. Whatever the differences in perspective, it remains the case that a society’s dominant understandings about literacy and technology will have significant implications for the development of school curriculum.

School-based strategies to address cyber bullying

Bullying and victimisation among school age children is recognised as a major public health problem. The Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study (ACBPS) reports that just over one quarter (27%) of school students aged 8 to 14 years were bullied and 9% bullied others on a frequent basis (every few weeks or more often) (Cross et al., 2009). Bullying is associated with a host of detrimental effects, including loneliness (Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, & Ruan, 2001), low self‐esteem (Jankauskiene, Kardelis, Sukys, & Kardeliene, 2008; Salmivalli, Kaukiainen, Kaistaniemi, & Lagerspetz, 1999), anxiety, depression (Kaltiala‐Heino, Rimpela, Rantanen, & Rimpela, 2000), suicide ideation (Kaltiala‐Heino, Rimpela, Marttunen, Rimpela, & Rantanen, 1999), impaired academic achievement (Nansel et al., 2001), and poorer physical health (Wolke, Woods, Bloomfield, & Karstadt, 2001).

Waist circumference cut-off values for the prediction of cardiovascular risk factors clustering in Chinese school-aged children : a cross-sectional study

Background: Waist circumference has been identified as a valuable predictor of cardiovascular risk in children. The development of waist circumference percentiles and cut-offs for various ethnic groups are necessary because of differences in body composition. The purpose of this study was to develop waist circumference percentiles for Chinese children and to explore optimal waist circumference cut-off values for predicting cardiovascular risk factors clustering in this population.----- ----- Methods: Height, weight, and waist circumference were measured in 5529 children (2830 boys and 2699 girls) aged 6-12 years randomly selected from southern and northern China. Blood pressure, fasting triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and glucose were obtained in a subsample (n = 1845). Smoothed percentile curves were produced using the LMS method. Receiver-operating characteristic analysis was used to derive the optimal age- and gender-specific waist circumference thresholds for predicting the clustering of cardiovascular risk factors.----- ----- Results: Gender-specific waist circumference percentiles were constructed. The waist circumference thresholds were at the 90th and 84th percentiles for Chinese boys and girls respectively, with sensitivity and specificity ranging from 67% to 83%. The odds ratio of a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors among boys and girls with a higher value than cut-off points was 10.349 (95% confidence interval 4.466 to 23.979) and 8.084 (95% confidence interval 3.147 to 20.767) compared with their counterparts.----- ----- Conclusions: Percentile curves for waist circumference of Chinese children are provided. The cut-off point for waist circumference to predict cardiovascular risk factors clustering is at the 90th and 84th percentiles for Chinese boys and girls, respectively.

Development of the response coefficient-root function method for the transient vibration serviceability design of flat concrete floors

The vibration serviceability limit state is an important design consideration for two-way, suspended concrete floors that is not always well understood by many practicing structural engineers. Although the field of floor vibration has been extensively developed, at present there are no convenient design tools that deal with this problem. Results from this research have enabled the development of a much-needed, new method for assessing the vibration serviceability of flat, suspended concrete floors in buildings. This new method has been named, the Response Coefficient-Root Function (RCRF) method. Full-scale, laboratory tests have been conducted on a post-tensioned floor specimen at Queensland University of Technology’s structural laboratory. Special support brackets were fabricated to perform as frictionless, pinned connections at the corners of the specimen. A series of static and dynamic tests were performed in the laboratory to obtain basic material and dynamic properties of the specimen. Finite-element-models have been calibrated against data collected from laboratory experiments. Computational finite-element-analysis has been extended to investigate a variety of floor configurations. Field measurements of floors in existing buildings are in good agreement with computational studies. Results from this parametric investigation have led to the development of new approach for predicting the design frequencies and accelerations of flat, concrete floor structures. The RCRF method is convenient tool to assist structural engineers in the design for the vibration serviceability limit-state of in-situ concrete floor systems.

Industry school partnerships : real world learning through the Gateway Schools Projects

In the last decade, a gradual but significant shift in education has taken place. Schools have transformed from hermetically sealed, impermeable bureaucracies to dynamic and flexible organisations characterised by openness to local communities and connectedness to global issues and cultures. They are also more responsive to the aspirations of students and parents. A central feature of what Christian Maroy (2009) has described as the post bureaucratic era of education has been the relationships formed between schools and other organisations through formalised partnerships. Partnerships have been a significant feature of schooling in Queensland since the 1980s when schools developed Vocational Education Programs (VET) providing alternative pathways from schooling to post school training or employment. However, partnerships that have emerged in recent times have been more structured in their organisation and more targeted in terms of the outcomes they aim to achieve. Examples here have included Queensland’s District Youth Achievement plans that linked schools, business, industry bodies, training organisations and community groups to improve transition outcomes, particularly for young people at risk in their transitions from school to post-school life.

Resident-funded retirement village valuations : complications with the application of the DCF

Retirement village assets are different from traditional residential assets due to their operation in accordance with statutory legislation. Designed for independent living, retirement villages provide either detached or semi-detached residential dwellings with car parking and small private yards with community facilities providing a shared congregational area for village activities and socialising. In essence, the village operator provides the land and buildings to the residents who pay an amount on entry for the right of occupation. On departure from the units an agreed proportion of either the original purchase price or the sale price is paid to the outgoing resident. As ongoing levies are typically offset by ongoing operational expenses the market value of the operator's interest in the retirement village is therefore predominantly based upon the estimated future income from deferred management fees and capital gain upon roll-over receivable by the operator in accordance with the respective residency agreements. Given the lumpiness of these payments, there is general acceptance that the most appropriate approach to valuation is through discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis. There is however inconsistency between valuers across Australia in how they undertake their DCF analysis, leading to differences in reported values and subsequent confusion among users of valuation services. To give guidance to valuers and enhance confidence from users of valuation services this paper investigates the five major elements of DCF methodology, namely cash flows, escalation factors, holding period, terminal value and discount rate.

Understanding speeding in school zones in Malaysia and Australia using an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour : the potential role of mindfulness

Speeding in school zones is a problem in both Malaysia and Australia. While there are differences between the countries in terms of school zone treatments and more generally, these differences do not explain why people choose to speed in school zones. Because speeding is usually an intentional behaviour, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been used to understand speeding and develop interventions, however it has limitations which can be addressed by extending the model to incorporate other constructs. One promising construct is mindfulness, which can improve the explanatory value of the TPB by taking into account unintentional speeding attributable to a lack of focus on important elements of the driving environment. We explain what mindfulness is (and is not), how it can assist in providing a better understanding of speeding in school zones, and how it can contribute to the development of interventions. We then outline a program of research which has been commenced, investigating the contribution of mindfulness to an understanding of speed choice in school zones in two different settings (Australia and Malaysia) using the TPB.

The impact of school connectedness on violent behavior, transport risk taking behavior and associated injuries in adolescence

Adolescents engage in many risk-taking behaviors that have the potential to lead to injury. The school environment has a significant role in shaping adolescent behavior, and this study aimed to provide additional information about the benefits associated with connectedness to school. Early adolescents aged 13 to 15 years (N = 509, 49% boys) were surveyed about school connectedness, engagement in transport and violence risk-taking, and injury experiences. Significant relations were found between school connectedness and reduced engagement in both transport and violence risk-taking, as well as fewer associated injuries. This study has implications for the area of risk-taking and injury prevention, as it suggests the potential for reducing adolescents' injury through school based interventions targeting school connectedness.