Finding a common story : synthesising findings from two research programs

In this research the authors tackled the issue of synthesising the findings of two independent research programs with common themes into a coherent analysis of teaching and learning across disciplines and school sectors. Through an ongoing dialogue and iterative exploration of emerging themes a synthesis generated new understandings of the use of narrative pedagogies in maths, science and technology, and the aesthetic nature of such learning experiences. This process demonstrates how a comparative lens enables a higher level of analysis of both research programs and generates broader narratives that can be applied to contexts beyond the original research foci.

Finding a place for personal growth in an Australian community singing group for older people

As in many countries, Australia is faced with an aging population. This creates challenges for the maintenance of well-being which can be enhanced by active engagement in society. Music engagement encompasses a range of social participation and has the potential to recognise the contribution of older people to their local communities. Engagement in music by older people (50+) is positively related to individual and community well-being.  Music participation can contribute to a better quality of life, particularly in relation to health and happiness. The possible forms of music engagement are myriad.

This paper focuses on two members of a mixed voluntary singing group formed by older residents of an outer suburban community in Melbourne, Australia.  This study frames music as a positive way for older people to find a place for personal growth and fulfilment in a singing group. This phenomenological qualitative single case study focuses on two members of a small singing ensemble, the Skylarkers, formed to perform at retirement villages, nursing homes and facilities for senior citizens. In this study, data were gathered by interviews and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Two significant themes emerged. The first concerned the nature of the choir and its fluid membership and notions of self-identity. The second theme concerns the validation offered to individual members by active music participation through which they gained a sense of purpose, fulfilment and personal growth. This emphasis is unusual in discussions of community music engagement that ordinarily identify the importance of social connections. Groups such as the Skylarkers provide a place for members to continue their active engagement with music performance and music learning.

Island-finding ability of marine turtles

Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) swim from foraging grounds along the Brazilian coast to Ascension Island to nest, over 2200 km distant in the middle of the equatorial Atlantic. To test the hypothesis that turtles use wind-borne cues to locate Ascension Island we found turtles that had just completed nesting and then moved three individuals 50 km northwest (downwind) of the island and three individuals 50 km southeast (upwind). Their subsequent movements were tracked by satellite. Turtles released downwind returned to Ascension Island within 1, 2 and 4 days, respectively. By contrast, those released upwind had far more difficulty in relocating Ascension Island, two eventually returning after 10 and 27 days and the third heading back to Brazil after failing to find its way back to the island. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that wind-borne cues are used by turtles to locate Ascension Island.

Finding the edge : online persona creation by fringe artists

Self-presentation through the creation of profiles and pages on digitally networked spaces is becoming ever more ubiquitous. In order to develop greater depth of understanding of the place of social media in our self-identification practice, my dissertation investigates the experiences of online persona creation by eight artists. Drawing on sociological and cultural studies approaches to understanding identity as performance, I tie current artists’ presentational and representational practices to historically grounded, socio-culturally constructed discourses of ‘artistness’. Through this connection, I argue that the creation of online persona has not radically changed notions of what it means to be an artist, or how artistness is represented and understood by audiences of fans or followers, but rather that digital technology has allowed for renegotiation of the boundaries of artistness that still draws from historical understandings of the role and persona of the artist. This shifting of boundaries, allowing for more inclusivity within the art world, is demonstrated by my focus on ‘fringe’ artists: those whose creative practice places them outside of the traditional art world and its existing structures of representation, distribution and consumption. The eight fringe artists who participated in this study are drawn from street art, performance poetry, craftivism and tattoo.

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis drives the methodological focus on the experiences of the artists. Rather than a consideration of behaviour and habit, or what the artists do, this phenomenological approach allowed me to instead focus on what it is like for the artists to create persona, what drives particular types of representational practices. Using unstructured interviews, and online listening as an extension of participant observation, the artists’ narratives of experience are expressed through transcript extracts and screenshots: both are necessary to fully explore the nature of online persona creation.

My analysis of the artists experiences has demonstrated that there are three somewhat distinct registers of performance with which an artist’s persona can engage: the professional register, where one demonstrates ones proficiency, experience, popularity, and professionalism; the personal register, where one connects with
wider social and political interests and activities; and the intimate register, where one allows the audience in to one’s private world. These three registers occupy the same performance space, but are implicitly or explicitly for different segments of the digitally networked audience of fans, followers, friends and family. The complexity of the performance and reception of these registers is influenced by the shared nature of the performance space – where previously different roles would be performed for different audiences without reference to one another, the networked nature of online social media influences decisions of how much, and when, to share with whom.

Interpreted here using themes of strategy|happenstance, specialisation|diversification, visibility|self-protection,
self|others and work|play, the professional, personal and intimate registers of performance enable us to see the consideration and care with which each participant creates their artists persona. The experiences of performing the self in these three registers, as presented here, provides an insight into the complexities involved in creating online persona, while also demonstrating that this type of presentation of self is, in itself, no different from the types of role play and performance of self that has arguably always occurred in our physical world. Despite focusing on the role and performance of artistness, this dissertation speaks to the creation and performance of online persona more broadly. 

Scaffolding, analysis and materials: contributing factors in an unexpected finding of advanced infant/toddler pretend play?

As part of a longitudinal study, infant/toddler pretend play development and maternal play modelling were investigated in dyadic context. A total of 21 children were videotaped in monthly play sessions with their mothers, from age 8 to 17 months. Child and mother pretend play frequencies and levels were measured using Brown’s Pretend Play Observation Scale. Child IQ assessments at 5 years (Stanford–Binet IV) indicated average to high ability levels (M = 122.62). Descriptive analyses showed that children’s levels of pretend development were markedly in advance of age-typical expectations. With a previous analysis showing no specific associations between play levels and IQ, intensive maternal scaffolding, data analysis approaches and use of abstract play materials are proposed as possible contributory factors to the children’s advanced pretend play development.

Finding aesthetic form inside the tome: the doctorate and arts based educational research

 In this paper we outline how the elements and forms of arts informed research can be used in doctoral education. Drawing on Cole and Knowles (2008) interrogation of the elements and forms of arts informed research, we rework their questions and apply them to the Australian model of the Doctor of Philosophy and consider the possibilities for arts based educational research within this model; its impacts on the doctorate itself and our role as supervisors. In the paper we ask: How can the arts (broadly conceived) inform the doctoral research process? How can the arts inform the representational form of doctoral research? What might this mean for us as supervisors? In our discussion we draw upon our work as researchers and supervisors, and consider Halse's (2011) concept of the ‘supervision as becoming’ (p. 569). Through an analysis of our supervision practices we reframe supervision as becoming in part, beyond a practice of hierarchical relationships and/or becoming as the mirror of the supervisor. Rather, we offer an explanation of research training and credentialing as taking forward a vision of new practices which although they are informed by the arts and arts based practices are however not risk averse. While we agree with Cole and Knowles (2008) to connect the work of the academy with the life and lives of communities through research that is accessible, evocative, embodied, empathic, and provocative is productive, something else is required in these times. SuperVision, is required both on the part of the candidate and the supervisors and/or supervisory panel to ensure that the PhD is executed in a way that can meet the university requirements and further is enabling of a sustainable career pathway beyond the initial doctoral education.

Cost effectiveness of surveillance for isocyanate asthma : finding an occupational health policy framework

Wild et al present an original cost effectiveness analysis for medical surveillance for isocyanate asthma in this issue of OEM.1 The general case for surveillance for isocyanate asthma is a compelling one. Most occupational physicians, practitioners, and researchers might rightly expect that if a cost effectiveness (CE) case cannot be made for this agent, it would be hard to make a case for most others. The causal link between isocyanate exposure and asthma is well established, and more is known about the pathophysiology, natural history, long term consequences, and benefits of medical surveillance in this instance than for most other occupational exposures.A mathematical simulation model was developed based on a carefully specified set of clinical parameters, drawing from empirical studies where possible (for example, in estimating sensitisation rates ranging from 0.7% to 5.3% per year), and well qualified expert opinion otherwise (for example, in estimating the chance of removal from exposure if a patient is diagnosed versus undiagnosed). Their “state transition” model compared passive case finding to surveillance (the heart of the CE analysis question as proposed) for a theoretical population of 100 000 otherwise healthy and exposed workers, predicting their progression over 10 years across three mutually exclusive “states”: healthy and exposed; symptomatic; and disabled. This alone is an impressive and valuable piece of research, integrating a substantial body of empirical research to show that surveillance is estimated to result in 700 fewer cases of disability over 10 years compared to passive case finding. While such a modelling exercise necessarily requires numerous assumptions and simplifications, each was well articulated and defensible.