Individual differences in learning from worked examples by senior secondary mathematics students

The primary purpose of this research was to examine individual differences in learning from worked examples. By integrating cognitive style theory and cognitive load theory, it was hypothesised that an interaction existed between individual cognitive style and the structure and presentation of worked examples in their effect upon subsequent student problem solving. In particular, it was hypothesised that Analytic-Verbalisers, Analytic-Imagers, and Wholist-lmagers would perform better on a posttest after learning from structured-pictorial worked examples than after learning from unstructured worked examples. For Analytic-Verbalisers it was reasoned that the cognitive effort required to impose structure on unstructured worked examples would hinder learning. Alternatively, it was expected that Wholist-Verbalisers would display superior performances after learning from unstructured worked examples than after learning from structured-pictorial worked examples. The images of the structured-pictorial format, incongruent with the Wholist-Verbaliser style, would be expected to split attention between the text and the diagrams. The information contained in the images would also be a source of redundancy and not easily ignored in the integrated structured-pictorial format. Despite a number of authors having emphasised the need to include individual differences as a fundamental component of problem solving within domainspecific subjects such as mathematics, few studies have attempted to investigate a relationship between mathematical or science instructional method, cognitive style, and problem solving. Cognitive style theory proposes that the structure and presentation of learning material is likely to affect each of the four cognitive styles differently. No study could be found which has used Riding's (1997) model of cognitive style as a framework for examining the interaction between the structural presentation of worked examples and an individual's cognitive style. 269 Year 12 Mathematics B students from five urban and rural secondary schools in Queensland, Australia participated in the main study. A factorial (three treatments by four cognitive styles) between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant interaction. As the difficulty of the posttest components increased, the empirical evidence supporting the research hypotheses became more pronounced. The rigour of the study's theoretical framework was further tested by the construction of a measure of instructional efficiency, based on an index of cognitive load, and the construction of a measure of problem-solving efficiency, based on problem-solving time. The consistent empirical evidence within this study that learning from worked examples is affected by an interaction of cognitive style and the structure and presentation of the worked examples emphasises the need to consider individual differences among senior secondary mathematics students to enhance educational opportunities. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed and recommendations for further research are outlined.

The interactive potential of Web 2.0

Following the position of Beer and Burrows (2007) this paper poses a re-conceptualization of Web 2.0 interaction in order to understand the properties of action possibilities in and of Web 2.0. The paper discusses the positioning of Web 2.0 social interaction in light of current descriptions, which point toward the capacities of technology in the production of social affordances within that domain (Bruns 2007; Jenkins 2006; O’Reilly 2005). While this diminishes the agency and reflexivity for users of Web 2.0 it also inadvertently positions tools as the central driver for the interactive potential available (Everitt and Mills 2009; van Dicjk 2009). In doing so it neglects the possibility that participants may be more involved in the production of Web 2.0 than the technology that underwrites it. It is this aspect of Web 2.0 that is questioned in the study with particular interest on how an analytical option may be made available to broaden the scope of investigations into Web 2.0 to include a study of the capacity for an interactive potential in light of how action possibilities are presented to users through communication with others (Bonderup Dohn 2009).

The concept of vulnerability and the protection of human subjects of research

This article provides an overview of the concept of vulnerability through the lens of the U.S. federal regulations for the protection of human subjects of research. General issues that emerge for nurse researchers working with regulated vulnerable populations are identified. Points of current controversy in the application of the regulations and current discourse about vulnerable groups are highlighted. Suggestions for negotiating the tension between federally regulated human subject requirements and the realities of research with vulnerable subjects are given. The limitations of the designation of vulnerable as a protection for human subjects will also be discussed.

Moving Forward: Students and teachers against racism

Racism in education is one of the key issues facing schools, communities and the nation. Racism is about the exercise of power by individuals, groups and communities against each other. Whatever form it takes, racism has great potential to hurt and to harm. This book tells a series of stories from 11 very different government and non-government schools in Queensland. These stories show the positive measures that are being taken in schools to promote harmony, respect, understanding and fairness between school members, and with people in the community. The stories offer a simple lesson: solutions to racism must be local solutions. They must be culturally appropriate and relevant to specific communities. There is no single solution. However, this book shows that, through a mixture of strategies, students, teachers, schools and communities can make a difference, influencing the school and community culture and improving the educational outcomes and life chances of students of diverse backgrounds.

Is it necessary to re-fuse a non-union of a hallux metatarsophalangeal joint arthrodesis?

BACKGROUND: The standard treatment for a non-union of the hallux metatarsophalangeal joint fusion has been to revise the fusion. Revision fusion is technically more demanding, often involving bone grafting, more substantial fixation and prolonged period of immobilization postoperatively. We present data to suggest that removal of hardware and debridement alone is an alternative treatment option. ---------- MATERIALS AND METHODS: A case note review identified patients with a symptomatic non-union after hallux metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) fusion. It is our practice to offer these patients revision fusion or removal of hardware and debridement. For the seven patients that chose hardware removal and were left with a pseudarthrosis, a matched control group was selected from patients who had had successful fusions. Three outcome scores were used. Hallux valgus and dorsiflexion angles were recorded.---------- RESULTS: One hundred thirty-nine hallux MTPJ arthrodeses were carried out. Fourteen non-unions were identified. The rate of non-union in males and following previous hallux MTPJ surgery was 19% and 24%, respectively. In females undergoing a primary MTPJ fusion, the rate was 2.4%. Twelve non-union patients were reviewed at 27 months (mean). Eleven patients had elected to undergo removal of hardware and debridement. Four patients with pseudarthrosis were unhappy with the results and proceeded to either revision fusion or MTPJ replacement. Seven non-union patients, who had removal of hardware alone, had outcome scores marginally worse compared to those with successful fusions.---------- CONCLUSION: Removal of hardware alone is a reasonable option to offer as a relatively minor procedure following a failed arthrodesis of the first MTPJ. This must be accepted on the proviso that in this study four out of 11 (36%) patients proceeded to a revision first MTPJ fusion or first MTPJ replacement. We also found that the rate of non-union in primary first MTPJ fusion was significantly higher in males and those patients who had undergone previous surgery.

Vision based control for fixed wing UAVs inspecting locally linear infrastructure using skid-to-turn maneuvers

The following paper proposes a novel application of Skid-to-Turn maneuvers for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) inspecting locally linear infrastructure. Fixed wing UAVs, following the design of manned aircraft, commonly employ Bank-to-Turn ma- neuvers to change heading and thus direction of travel. Whilst effective, banking an aircraft during the inspection of ground based features hinders data collection, with body fixed sen- sors angled away from the direction of turn and a panning motion induced through roll rate that can reduce data quality. By adopting Skid-to-Turn maneuvers, the aircraft can change heading whilst maintaining wings level flight, thus allowing body fixed sensors to main- tain a downward facing orientation. An Image-Based Visual Servo controller is developed to directly control the position of features as captured by onboard inspection sensors. This improves on the indirect approach taken by other tracking controllers where a course over ground directly above the feature is assumed to capture it centered in the field of view. Performance of the proposed controller is compared against that of a Bank-to-Turn tracking controller driven by GPS derived cross track error in a simulation environment developed to replicate the field of view of a body fixed camera.

Service learning in teacher education

If the student wellbeing pedagogy characterised by the troika metaphor is to become more widely adopted, beginning teachers need to be inducted into service learning. In this chapter, we discuss the implementation and outcomes of a service learning program in a Bachelor of Education course in Australia. The program provides pre-service teachers with insights into service learning practice. Pre-service teachers are given supported opportunities to examine and challenge traditional beliefs and values about student diversity and the role of schools in developing a more inclusive society. They are supported in developing ethics of care and concern for inclusive and equitable practices – characteristics necessary for quality teaching. Thus, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) service learning program is an ideal example of the troika effect in practice, in that the pedagogy fuses values education, quality teaching and service learning to develop within each student an inclusive ethical framework that will inform their classroom practice as beginning quality teachers.

Embedding 'philosophy in the classroom' in pre-service teacher education

The holistic conception of the troika, as described in the first chapter, centres on the relationship between the implicit and explicit teaching of values the nurturing of the specific dimensions of quality teaching and the opportunity to ‘walk the talk’ of the values education program through aspects such as practical citizenship (Lovat, Toomey, Clement, Crotty & Nielsen, 2009). It is proposed in this chapter that the conception can be realized through the embedding of Philosophy in the Classroom within pre-service teaching programs. The troika, a Russian sleigh with three horses, only function well when there is complete synergy and balance between all Classroom is a scaffold for ensuring that all three elements of the troika, namely, quality teaching, values education and service learning in the form of education for citizenship, exist within the classroom to achieve an optimal learning, growth and wellbeing for all students. For this to be more widely accomplished Philosophy in the Classroom and discusses how it constitutes a successful synergy and balance of the troika for effective teaching. It then proposes how it might be embedded into pre-service teacher education.

Embedding values through global education in social sciences pre-service teacher education : linking the head and heart

This chapter aims to situate values education as a core component of social science pre-service teacher education. In particular, it reflects on an experiment in embedding a values laden Global Education perspective in a fourth year social science curriculum method unit. This unit was designed and taught by the researcher on the assumption that beginning social science teachers need to be empowered with pedagogical skills and new dispositions to deal with value laden emerging global and regional concerns in their secondary school classrooms. Moreover, it was assumed that when pre-service teachers engage in dynamic and interactive learning experiences in their curriculum unit, they commence the process of ‘capacity building’ those skills which prepare them for their own lifelong professional learning. This approach to values education also aimed at providing pre-service teachers with opportunities to ‘create deep understandings of teaching and learning’ (Barnes, 1989, p. 17) by reflecting on the ways in which ‘pedagogy can be transformative’ (Lovat and Toomey, 2011 add page no from Chapter One). It was assumed that this tertiary experience would foster the sine qua non of teaching – a commitment to students and their learning. Central to fostering new ‘dispositions’ through this approach, was the belief in the power of pedagogy to make the difference in enhancing student participation and learning. In this sense, this experiment in values education in secondary social science pre-service teacher education aligns with the Troika metaphor for a paradigm change, articulated by Lovat and Toomey (2009) in Chapter One.

Letting go of Neo-Liberalism (with some help from Michel Foucault)

Neo-liberalism has become one of the boom concepts of our time. From its original reference point as a descriptor of the economics of the “Chicago School” such as Milton Friedman, or authors such as Friedrich von Hayek, neo-liberalism has become an all-purpose descriptor and explanatory device for phenomena as diverse as Bollywood weddings, standardized testing in schools, violence in Australian cinema, and the digitization of content in public libraries. Moreover, it has become an entirely pejorative term: no-one refers to their own views as “neo-liberal”, but it rather refers to the erroneous views held by others, whether they acknowledge this or not. Neo-liberalism as it has come to be used, then, bears many of the hallmarks of a dominant ideology theory in the classical Marxist sense, even if it is often not explored in these terms. This presentation will take the opportunity provided by the English language publication of Michel Foucault’s 1978-79 lectures, under the title of The Birth of Biopolitics, to consider how he used the term neo-liberalism, and how this equates with its current uses in critical social and cultural theory. It will be argued that Foucault did not understand neo-liberalism as a dominant ideology in these lectures, but rather as marking a point of inflection in the historical evolution of liberal political philosophies of government. It will also be argued that his interpretation of neo-liberalism was more nuanced and more comparative than the more recent uses of Foucault in the literature on neo-liberalism. It will also look at how Foucault develops comparative historical models of liberal capitalism in The Birth of Biopolitics, arguing that this dimension of his work has been lost in more recent interpretations, which tend to retro-fit Foucault to contemporary critiques of either U.S. neo-conservatism or the “Third Way” of Tony Blair’s New Labour in the UK.

What will the Apple iPad deliver for newspapers?

The launch of the Apple iPad in January 2010 was one of the most anticipated and publicised launched of a new technological device in recent history. Positioning itself as between a smart phone and a PC, but with the attributes of both, Apple have sought to develop a new market niche with the iPad for tablet PC devices, and early signs are that market expectations are being met.. The iPad’s launch was potentially fortuitous for the newspaper industry worldwide, as it offered the potential to address its two recurring problems: the slow but inexorable decline of print media circulation, and the inability to satisfactorily monetise online readerships. As a result, the Apple iPad has benefited from an enormous amount of free publicity in newspapers, as they develop their own applications (apps) for the device. This paper reports on findings from work undertaken through Smart Services CRC into potential take-up and likely uses of the iPad, and their implications for the news media industry. It reports on focus group analysis undertaken in the mid-2010 using “customer job mapping” methodologies, that draw attention to current gaps in user behaviour in terms of available devices, in order to anticipate possibilities beyond the current “three screens” of PC, mobile phone and television.

The Guardian Reportage of the UK MP Expenses Scandal: a Case Study of Computational Journalism

The Guardian reportage of the United Kingdom Member of Parliament (MP) expenses scandal of 2009 used crowdsourcing and computational journalism techniques. Computational journalism can be broadly defined as the application of computer science techniques to the activities of journalism. Its foundation lies in computer assisted reporting techniques and its importance is increasing due to the: (a) increasing availability of large scale government datasets for scrutiny; (b) declining cost, increasing power and ease of use of data mining and filtering software; and Web 2.0; and (c) explosion of online public engagement and opinion.. This paper provides a case study of the Guardian MP expenses scandal reportage and reveals some key challenges and opportunities for digital journalism. It finds journalists may increasingly take an active role in understanding, interpreting, verifying and reporting clues or conclusions that arise from the interrogations of datasets (computational journalism). Secondly a distinction should be made between information reportage and computational journalism in the digital realm, just as a distinction might be made between citizen reporting and citizen journalism. Thirdly, an opportunity exists for online news providers to take a ‘curatorial’ role, selecting and making easily available the best data sources for readers to use (information reportage). These activities have always been fundamental to journalism, however the way in which they are undertaken may change. Findings from this paper may suggest opportunities and challenges for the implementation of computational journalism techniques in practice by digital Australian media providers, and further areas of research.