I don't need IT because I'm going to be a teacher, and other popular beliefs: High school students' explanations for the under representation of girls in information technology subjects

This paper examines the implications for teacher educators of the dominant beliefs currently circulating within diverse Australian high schools about the (lack of) relationship between girls’ interests, girls’ careers, girls’ futures and the broad field of information technology. It identifies students' attitudes towards the content, relevance and general appeal of IT subjects to highlight the challenges for both teachers and teacher educators who may be seeking to address the issues associated with girls’ under representation in IT courses and also contribute to an ongoing project of gender based educational reform. Emphasis throughout the paper is on the persistence of discourses that continue to position girls and IT in opposition to each other and on the challenges of subverting these discourses through the introduction of new figurations (cf Rosi Braidotti, 1994) or transformative understandings of what it now means to be a female student, a female teacher, or a female IT user. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of these themes for teachers and teacher educators: particularly those with an on-going commitment to the broad field of educational justice.

Comparison in studying approaches of first-year Australian and overseas Chinese university students

This research investigates the studying approaches of first-year Australian and overseas Chinese university students. It is also designed to determine the robustness of Entwistle and Ramsden's (1983) Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI). Two hundred and two first-year Australian students and two hundred and forth eight first-year overseas Chinese students, drawn from Deakin University and Swinburne University of Technology, were tested using the ASL The data obtained from the two groups were subjected to factor analysis (with orthogonal rotation). For Australian students, a four-factor structure in studying approaches, which accounts for 55.6% of the total variance, was obtained. The factors are Meaning Orientation; Non-Academic Orientation; Anxious-Rigid Orientation; and Goal Orientation. For overseas Chinese students, a three-factor structure in studying approaches which accounts for 52.8% of the total variance was obtained. The factors are Anxious-Surface Orientation; Self-Motivated, Reflective Orientation; and Efficiency Orientation, Cattell's (1949) salient similarity S index indicates a close resemblance between factors obtained for Australian students and the original factors obtained by Entwistle and Ramsden (1983). Similarities are also indicated between factors obtained for Australian and overseas Chinese students* Two main conclusions are drawn. First, the studying approaches of first-year Australian and overseas Chinese university students are described by different factor structures in learning. Second, Entwistle and Ramsden's (1983) Approaches to Studying Inventory is a robust tool from which reliable and meaningful factors in student studying approaches can be obtained. Several implications of the research findings are discussed.

Canadian nursing students' coping strategies for learning online

This research reports on the experiences of Canadian nursing students as they coped with learning online, exploring the strategies that they used to learn effectively. The findings identified aspects of course design and online facilitation that will help students cope with the lack of social presence in the online environment.

Exploring undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of working in aged care settings: a review of the literature

OBJECTIVES: To explore undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of working in the aged care setting through a review of the literature. DESIGN: A review of available literature relating to undergraduate nursing students' attitudes, perceptions and experiences in the aged care setting, or in the care of older adults. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL Plus with Full Text was the primary database used. Other databases include PsycINFO and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition. REVIEW METHODS: Studies focused on undergraduate nursing students and their experiences in the aged care setting and on the perceptions and attitudes of nursing students toward older adults, were included. Studies that did not present an original study or those that did not meet the aim of the study were excluded from the review. RESULTS: Following removal of duplicates and exclusion of articles not meeting the aim of this paper, 24 articles remained. Three main themes emerged from the review of the literature: perceptions of aged care placement, attitudes to working in aged care, and experiences in aged care. CONCLUSION: The experiences of nursing students employed as undergraduate AINs in the aged care setting can provide an immersive clinical learning experience in preparation for their new graduate (NG) year. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to challenge ageist attitudes and instil core nursing values in novice nurses such as promoting compassionate care.

Situational and dispositional indicators of performance : competing models in education

The attainment of high grades on the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) is critical to the future study and employment prospects of many Australian adolescents. Thus it is important to understand the factors that contribute to performance in the VCE. The aims of this study were twofold: the main aim was to test competing models of academic performance, subsuming a range of situational and dispositional variables based on a) self-efficacy theory, b) target and purpose goals, c) cognitive skills and self-regulatory strategies, and d) positive psychology. These models were each tested in terms of English performance and mathematics performance as these units contribute proportionally the most to overall VCE scores. In order to study whether pressures peculiar to the VCE impact on performance, the competing models were tested in a sample of Victorian students prior to the VCE (year 10) and then during the VCE (year 11). A preliminary study was conducted in order to develop and test four scales required for use in the major study, using an independent sample of 302 year nine students. The results indicated that these new scales were psychometrically reliable and valid. Three-hundred and seven Australian students participated in the year 10 and 11 study. These students were successively asked to provide their final years 9, 10 and 11 English and mathematics grades at times one, three and five and to complete a series of questionnaires at times two and four. Results of the year 10 study indicated that models based on self-efficacy theory were the best predictors of both English and mathematics performance, with high past grades, high self-efficacy and low anxiety contributing most to performance. While the year 10 self-efficacy models, target goal models, positive psychology models, self-regulatory models and cognitive skill based models were each robust in the sample in year 11, a substantial increase in explained variance was observed from year 10 to year 11 in the purpose goal models. Results indicated that students’ mastery goals and their performance-approach goals became substantially more predictive in the VCE than they were prior to the VCE. This result can be taken to suggest that these students responded in very instrumental ways to the pressures, and importance, of their VCE. An integrated model based on a combination of the variables from the competing models was also tested in the VCE. Results showed that these models were comparable, both in English and mathematics, to the self-efficacy models, but explained less variance than the purpose goal models. Thus in terms of parsimony the integrated models were not preferred. The implications of these results in terms of teaching practices and school counseling practices are discussed. It is recommended that students be encouraged to maintain a positive outlook in relation to their schoolwork and that they be encouraged to set their VCE goals in terms of a combination of self-referenced (mastery) and other-referenced (performance-approach) goals.

Situational and dispositional influences on student learning

This research investigates influences of situational and personal factors on student learning. Personal factors (e.g. test anxiety, student life values, culture) are considered more influential than situational factors (e.g. assessment weighting, assessment type). The findings have implications for policies and practices associated with teaching, assessment, and effective study skills.

Learning approaches and student perceptions of teaching quality

This research investigated the links between students' personal characteristics, their approaches to learning and their perceptions of teaching quality in a first-year accounting unit. Significant learning differences were found between Australian and Chinese students, and strong inter-relationships between contextual factors, such as teaching quality, and learning approaches were identified.

Narrative analysis of female student 'resistance' in a Japanese private university

The thesis points to the emergence of a series of distinctive tensions which were informed by the author's position as a Western male researcher living in Japan, and the changing perceptions of what occured as notions of 'empowerment' and 'voice' touched the 'grounded' data. It argues that the generative narrative(s) constitutes a form of ongoing 'conversation' which succeed in producing an unstructured reading or pedagogy. Although the research does not achieve tangible liberatory outcomes, the generative narrative(s) provides the lens through which to view the student 'resistance' and, as such, permits the examination of an instance of student 'resistance' in Japan.

Evaluation framework underpinning the digital divas programme

In Australia, as elsewhere, women’s participation rates in Information Technology (IT) have been low. IT is the generic term used to refer to the many courses in the Computer Science, and Information Systems disciplines. While there have been a number of intervention programmes implemented aimed at encouraging women into IT and retaining them once there, few have included evaluations of the efficacy of the intervention. Thus little is known about the factors contributing to the success, or lack of success, of the interventions, or of the medium and longer term impacts for the participants. In this paper we briefly describe an intervention programme implemented with girls in the high school years. We present an evaluation framework providing a detailed overview of the aims and processes involved in the evaluation of the programme. Data for the evaluation were embedded within the data gathering methods associated with the research on the intervention itself.

I would like to change the world, but they wouldn't let me have the source code

In this paper we present the findings of a group problem-solving task involving eight randomly selected students. The focus of this study was to identify and explore students' application of generic skills, cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills, innovative thinking and engineering disciplinary knowledge. While this was the main aim of this study, we also used the findings of this study to triangulate the findings of a broader study which aims to identify and explore students' perceptions of problem based learning (PBL) in first year electrical engineering. The broader qualitative study of learners in a problem based engineering context will identify, explore and report on the factors that influence student learning behaviours and their attitudes as future engineers. Studying the learning cultures from the students' view point in a diverse student group should provide evidence to further theorize about the models of self-regulation in autonomous learners. For this group problem solving activity, we designed a problem (advanced lift controller system) and allowed students one hour to work on a solution for this problem. The eight students from a number of actual PBL groups were divided into two groups depending upon their availability. Both groups were given the same problem. The researcher played the role of a facilitator and collected the data simultaneously. Students were given access to books relevant to the problem, computer access and access to the Internet. They were also provided with links to sample websites such as the University's electronic library and other technology related websites on the World Wide Web. The activity was designed such that students were not required to arrive at a definite outcome. However, they were asked to brainstorm ideas, and as a group, to decide on ways that they would obtain and share information and to formulate and suggest possible innovative solutions to the problem. Data for this activity was collected by means of observation. The activity was audio and video recorded in order to help revisit the data at any stage. At the time this study was conducted, students had completed two PBL units in their first year of an electronic and electrical engineering undergraduate degree course. This study also provided insight into students' attitudes and their behaviours towards learning in a group setting, learning approaches and outcomes, different responses to the heterogeneity of the students in the group, and their responsibility and accountability in an autonomous learning setting such as PBL.

Knowledge, attitudes and self-care practices related to sun protection among secondary students in Australia

The aim of this research was to ascertain changes in sun-related knowledge, attitudes and self-care practices among Australian secondary school students between 1993 and 1996. Two cross-sectional surveys of sun-related attitudes, beliefs and behavior of young people aged 12–17 years of age, were conducted in 1993 and 1996. Over 80% of adolescents at both time periods knew about the issues related to skin cancer prevention, frequency of burning and burning on cloudy days. Adolescent attitudes had shifted positively in the areas of staying inside in 1996 [relative risk (RR): 1.13; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09–1.17] and staying under shade in 1996 (RR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.13–1.18). Desire for a moderate or dark tan was lower in 1996 (45%) than in 1993 (50%). Respondents reported that they were less likely to wear brief clothing to get a suntan in 1996 (RR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.78–0.84) and were significantly more likely to stay in the shade in 1996 (RR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.16–1.23). We conclude that there has been a shift in attitudes towards use of shade and avoidance of unnecessary exposure, and away from use of sunscreens and sunglasses. The results suggest that adolescents may be more ready to accept structural changes that move desired activities out of the sun.

Students' conflicting attitudes towards games as a vehicle for learning mathematics : a methodological dilemma

Mathematics games are widely employed in school classrooms for such reasons as a reward for early finishers or to enhance students' attitude towards mathematics. During a four week period, a total of 222 Grade 5 and 6 (9 to 12 years old) children from Melbourne, Australia, were taught multiplication and division of decimal numbers using calculator games or rich mathematical activities. Likert scale surveys of the children's attitudes towards games as a vehicle for learning mathematics revealed unexpectedly high proportions of negative attitudes at the conclusion of the research. In contrast, student interview data revealed positive associations between games and mathematical learning. This article reports on the methodological dilemma of resultant conflicting attitudinal data related to game- playing. Concerns arising from the divergence in the results are raised in this article. Implications based on the experience of this study may inform educational researchers about future methodological choices involving attitudinal research.

Environmental attitudes and their relation to the dominant social paradigm among university students in New Zealand and Australia

This paper develops a causal model of environmental attitudes using measures of the dominant social paradigm of Western industrial societies. Four components of the DSP framework are examined with regard to environmental attitudes and perception of change using a sample of university students from Australia and New Zealand. The results indicate that one’s belief in the DSP has a negative effect on both environmental attitudes and perception of change necessary to ameliorate degradation of the environment. Thus, while public policy favors increasing awareness of and interest in the environment, policy instruments may remain ineffective in producing lasting change if the components of the DSP remain unchanged. It is argued that public policy ought to be directed at changing the DSP so that its negative effects will be minimized.