Preservice teachers’ memories of their secondary science education experiences

Understanding preservice teachers’ memories of their education may aid towards articulating high-impact teaching practices. This study describes 246 preservice teachers’ perceptions of their secondary science education experiences through a questionnaire and 28-item survey. ANOVA was statistically significant about participants’ memories of science with 15 of the 28 survey items. Descriptive statistics through SPSS further showed that a teacher’s enthusiastic nature (87%) and positive attitude towards science (87%) were regarded as highly memorable. In addition, explaining abstract concepts well (79%), and guiding the students’ conceptual development with practical science activities (73%) may be considered as memorable secondary science teaching strategies. Implementing science lessons with one or more of these memorable science teaching practices may “make a difference” towards influencing high school students’ positive long-term memories about science and their science education. Further research in other key learning areas may provide a clearer picture of high-impact teaching and a way to enhance pedagogical practices.

Childhood experiences of cancer : an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach

Pediatric oncology has emerged as one of the great medical success stories of the last 4 decades. The cure rate of childhood cancer has increased from approximately 25% in the 1960’s to more than 75% in more recent years. However, very little is known about how children actually experience the diagnosis and treatment of their illness. A total of 9 families in which a child was diagnosed with cancer were interviewed twice over a 12-month period. Using the qualitative methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), children’s experiences of being patients with a diagnosis of cancer were explicated. The results revealed 5 significant themes: the experience of illness, the upside of being sick, refocusing on what is important, acquiring a new perspective, and the experience of returning to wellbeing. Changes over time were noted because children’s experiences’ were often pertinent to the stage of treatment the child had reached. These results revealed rich and intimate information about a sensitive issue with implications for understanding child development and medical and psychosocial treatment.

Life on the edge : housing experiences in three remote Australian indigenous settlements

This analysis of housing experiences and aspirations in three remote Indigenous settlements in Australia (Mimili, Maningrida and Palm Island) reveals extreme liveability problems directly related to the scale and form of housing provision. Based upon field visits to each of the settlements and extensive interviews with residents and local housing and community officers, the paper analyses two aspects of living in such housing conditions at two spatial scales, the layout of the settlement and the design of individual houses. The failings at both scales are shown to be the fault of a dysfunctional housing system that is only recently been addressed.

Overcoming challenges to collaboration: Nurse educators’ experiences in curriculum change

This article describes challenges to effective collaboration encountered by nurse educators as they transformed a unit within a school of nursing in Taiwan. This study introduced collaborative action research as a vehicle for curriculum change. Although the team achieved positive outcomes in transforming a unit, the collaborative process was complex with four major challenges: meaning, time, work culture, and conflicting views. This article provides an overview of the study, and the major challenges posed by working together are expounded and illustrated with excerpts drawn from the study data. Possible reasons for the challenges, how these challenges were overcome, and facilitation of the collaborative process are discussed.

Experiences of the FIRST LEGO League in China and Australia

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was initiated in the U.S. by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is one of the five competitions conducted by this organization. Dean’s vision was “to create a world where science and technology are celebrated……where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes”. Each year FLL creates opportunities for young people aged 9-16 to engage in problem solving, teamwork and collaborative learning around a real-world theme. In the 2009/2010 season, more than 145,000 young people in over 50 countries participated in this competition. As they tackle the challenges; they construct and de-construct their own knowledge through hands-on engagement in a constructivist learning environment. The challenges are presented at least eight weeks before the competition. In most events the participants are judged in four categories - robot game, robot design, team project and team challenge. “Gracious professionalism” is an essential element of the competition. This paper compares and contrasts the FLL in China and Australia and presents some of the achievements of the event. It also highlights some of the models which have been adopted in the two countries to facilitate participation. The educational benefits of embedding the FLL will also be discussed.

International students' experiences of university libraries and librarians

ABSTRACT International students constitute a significant proportion of the Australian university population, and thus of the university library-using population. Drawing on qualitative research findings, this paper discusses the library-related experiences and perceptions of international students at two Australian universities. While the students’ previous library use was limited, at their host university they experienced library using challenges, often associated with unfamiliarity. However, they generally viewed their Australian university library and library staff in a positive light. The findings support recommendations for developing library professionals’ awareness of, and enhancing international students’ library use.

The impact of changes to the graduated driver licensing program in Queensland, Australia on the experiences of learner drivers

Purpose: Graduated driver licensing (GDL) has been introduced in numerous jurisdictions in Australia and internationally in an attempt to ameliorate the significantly greater risk of death and injury for young novice drivers arising from road crashes. The GDL program in Queensland, Australia, was extensively modified in July 2007. This paper reports the driving and licensing experiences of Learner drivers progressing through the current-GDL program, and compares them to the experiences of Learners who progressed through the former-GDL program. ----- ----- Method: Young drivers (n = 1032, 609 females, 423 males) aged 17 to 19 years (M = 17.43, SD = 0.67) were recruited as they progressed from a Learner to a Provisional driver’s licence. They completed a survey exploring their sociodemographic characteristics, driving and licensing experiences as a Learner. Key measures for a subsample (n = 183) of the current-GDL drivers were compared with the former-GDL drivers (n = 149) via t-tests and chi-square analyses. ----- ----- Results: As expected, Learner drivers progressing through the current-GDL program gained significantly more driving practice than those in the former program, which was more likely to be provided by mothers than in the past. Female learners in the current-GDL program reported less difficulty obtaining supervision than those in the former program. The number of attempts needed to pass the practical driving assessment did not change, nor did the amount of professional supervision. The current-GDL Learners held their licence for a significantly longer duration than those in the former program, with the majority reporting that their Logbook entries were accurate on the whole. Compared to those in the former program, a significantly smaller proportion of male current-GDL Learners reported being detected for a driving offence while the females reported significantly lower crash involvement. Most current-GDL drivers reported undertaking their supervised practice at the end of the Learner period. ----- ----- Conclusions: The enhancements to the GDL program in Queensland appear to have achieved many of their intended results. The current-GDL learners participating in the study reported obtaining a significantly greater amount of supervised driving experience compared to former-GDL learners. Encouragingly, the current-GDL Learners did not report any greater difficulty in obtaining supervised driving practice, and there was a decline in the proportion of current-GDL Learners engaging in unsupervised driving. In addition, the majority of Learners do not appear to be attempting to subvert logbook recording requirements, as evidenced by high rates of self-reported logbook accuracy. The results have implications for the development and the evaluation of GDL programs in Australia and around the world.

Indoor and outdoor nitrogen dioxide concentration in residential houses in Australia

As part of a larger indoor environmental study, residential indoor and outdoor levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were measured for 14 houses in a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Passive samplers were used for 48-h sampling periods during the winter of 1999. The average indoor and outdoor NO2 levels were 13.8 ± 6.3 and 16.7 ± 4.2 ppb, respectively. The indoor/outdoor NO2 concentration ratio ranged from 0.4 to 2.3, with a median value of 0.82. The results of statistic analyses indicated that there was no significant correlation between indoor and outdoor NO2 concentrations, or between indoor and fixed site NO2 monitoring station concentrations. However, there was a significant correlation between outdoor and fixed site NO2 monitoring station concentrations. There was also a significant correlation between indoor NO2 concentration and indoor submicrometre (0.007–0.808 μm) aerosol particle number concentrations. The results in this study indicated indoor NO2 levels are significantly affected by indoor NO2 sources, such as a gas stove and cigarette smoking. It implies that the outdoor or fixed site monitoring concentration alone is a poor predictor of indoor NO2 concentration.

Profiling outdoor leadership

This paper examines the role outdoor recreation and education plays in the development of generic leaders who have a positive relationship to the natural world. Three questionnaires (Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire - MLQ; the New Ecological Paradigm Scale - NEP; and the Connectedness to Nature Scale - CNS) were administered online to 104 international outdoor leaders through five online networks. The three instruments assessed the nexus of transformational leadership theory and outdoor leadership. A descriptive analysis of early findings from the project are outlined in this paper. The results can be viewed as an appropriate platform for understanding outdoor recreation and education leaders’ ecological perspectives and the generic, transformational leadership skills.

An introduction to the constraints-led approach to learning in outdoor education

Participation in outdoor education is underpinned by a learner's ability to acquire skills in activities such as canoeing, bushwalking and skiing and consequently the outdoor leader is often required to facilitate skill acquisition and motor learning. As such, outdoor leaders might benefit from an appropriate and tested model on how the learner acquires skills in order to design appropriate learning contexts. This paper introduces an approach to skill acquisition based on ecological psychology and dynamical systems theory called the constraints-led approach to skills acquisition. We propose that this student-centred approach is an ideal perspective for the outdoor leader to design effective learning settings. Furthermore, this open style of facilitation is also congruent with learning models that focus on other concepts such as teamwork and leadership.

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.

Ethnography in the kindergarten:examining childrens'play experiences

This paper describes an ethnographic study completed within a kindergarten environment with the view of gaining insights into the development of new technology for young children. Ethnography within HCI has primarily focused on studies of work practices. This project explored the effectiveness of ethnography in supporting the design of playful technology for a constantly changing, creative, and (sometimes) messy environment. The study was effective in drawing out patterns in observations and as such provides useful suggestions for the development of technology for kindergarten settings.

English language study abroad program : an investigation of Hong Kong pre-service teachers’ experiences of a language immersion program

There has been minimal research focused on short-term study abroad language immersion programs, in particular, with home-stay families. The importance of authentic intercultural experience is increasingly clear and was acknowledged as central to the process of language learning (Liddicoat, 2004). In Hong Kong, education programs for pre-service language teachers have significantly emphasised language and intercultural training through short-term study abroad, and these short overseas language immersion courses have become a compulsory component for teacher training (Bodycott & Crew, 2001) in the last decade. This study aims to investigate eight Hong Kong pre-service teachers’ and their home-stay families’ experiences of a short-term (two months) language immersion program in Australia. The focus is on listening to commentaries concerning the development of communicative competence, intercultural competence and professional growth during the out-of-class study abroad experience. The conceptual framework adopted in this study views language and intercultural learning from social constructivist perspectives. Central to this framing is the notion that the internalisation of higher mental functions involves the transfer from the inter-psychological to the intra-psychological plane, that is, a progression process from the socially supported to individually controlled performance. From this perspective, language serves as a way to communicate about, and in relation to, actions and experience. Three research questions were addressed and studied through qualitative methodology. 1. How do the pre-service teachers and their home-stay families perceive the out-of-class component of the program in terms of opportunities for the development of language proficiency and communicative competence? 2. How do the pre-service teachers and their home-stay families perceive the out-of-class component of the program in terms of the development of intercultural competence? 3. How do the pre-service teachers and home-stay families perceive the outof- class component of the program in terms of teachers’ professional growth? Data were generated from multiple data collection methods and analysed through thematic analysis from both a “bottom up” and “top down” approach. The study showed that the pre-service teachers perceived that the immersion program influenced, to varying degrees, their language proficiency, communication and intercultural awareness, as well as their self-awareness and professional growth. These pre-service teachers believed that effective language learning centres on active engagement in the target language community. A mismatch between the views and evaluations of the two groups – the pre-service teachers and the home-stay family members – provides some evidence of misalignments in terms of expectations and perceptions of each other’s roles and responsibilities. The study has highlighted challenges encountered, and provided suggestions for ways of meeting these challenges. The inclusion in the study of the home-stay families’ perceptions and commentaries provided insights, which can inform program development. There is clearly further work to be done in terms of predeparture orientation and preparation, not only for the main participants themselves, the students, but also for the host families.