Emagining change : English teachers and technology

This textually playful study focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of teacher beliefs about English and the influence of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). Because English is in transformation, these insights into teachers' perpectives of their subject, technology and change will contribute to the productive rethinking of the profession. It employs narrative research, diaglogics and Actor Network Theory techniques.

Literature and environmental ethics

This thesis contends that literature which reflects, and is informed by (whether consciously or not), reconstructive postmodern ecology is not a static literature but by representing and confronting the underpinning causes that have led humanity to violence, literature generates new engagements and the potential to reconstruct - ethically, cognitively, perceptually- alternative ways of being-in-the-world for political ends.

Simulation models of obesity : a review of the literature and implications for research and policy

Simulation models (SMs) combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for examining how the effects of obesity unfold over time and impact population health. SMs can aid in the understanding of the complex interaction of the drivers of diet and activity and their relation to health outcomes. As emphasized in a recently released report of the Institute or Medicine, SMs can be especially useful for considering the potential impact of an array of policies that will be required to tackle the obesity problem. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of existing SMs for obesity. First, a background section introduces the different types of models, explains how models are constructed, shows the utility of SMs and discusses their strengths and weaknesses. Using these typologies, we then briefly review extant obesity SMs. We categorize these models according to their focus: health and economic outcomes, trends in obesity as a function of past trends, physiologically based behavioural models, environmental contributors to obesity and policy interventions. Finally, we suggest directions for future research.

‘Coded in a code of the world' : minor literature and the time-image hidden in Janet Frame’s late fiction?

This article seeks to demonstrate how Janet Frame’s late fiction can be read as a theoretical engagement with the conceptual investigations of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, especially the notions of minor literature and the in her late novels Living in the Maniototo (1981) and The Carpathians (1989). For this reason, my approach must be sharply distinguished from a more commonplace analogical framing of Frame or a simple one-to-one translation of her fiction into alternative terms. By weaving theory through her fiction, Frame makes a significant contribution to literature that responds to the still-emerging field of Deleuzean literary critical theory.

Equity and technology : a case study

I am researching equitable and socially just teaching practices when using technology for the mathematical learning of disadvantaged and marginalised students in junior secondary school. Using data gathered from teacher interviews and a meeting of teachers, I present a case study of one teachers’ practice. The case suggests that there are some equity considerations for the use of an integrated project approach to teaching mathematics and that whole class problem solving with technology can provide access to mathematical ideas when students have limited access or skills with technology.

Creative suburbs? How women, design and technology renew Australian suburbs

Australian suburbs have long been subjected to negative stereotyping – as aesthetic wastelands, politically conservative, socially isolated and environmentally rapacious – as the last places you would expect creativity. A critical engagement with this discourse and an examination of older as well as some newer suburbs unsettles these characterizations. A broad definition of ‘creativity’ directs attention to what was occurring in 20th century Australian suburbs – with a creative domestic economy and modernist architecture providing strong counters to their negative portrayal. Further, as a sample of Melbourne’s contemporary master-planned estates will illustrate, at least some of this city’s houses and neighbourhoods are at the leading edge of architectural innovation, community building and environmental sustainability – creatively developing alternatives to the stereotypical suburb.

Empire in British girls' literature and culture: imperial girls, 1880-1915

While the gender and age of the girl may seem to remove her from any significant contribution to empire, this book provides both a new perspective on familiar girls' literature, and the first detailed examination of lesser-known fiction relating the emergence of fictional girl adventurers, castaways and 'ripping' schoolgirls to the British Empire.