Construction of social difference in mathematics education

This study investigated the social context in which the learning of mathematics occured. It examined the practices of schools and mathematics in order to identify the ways in which they contributed to the construction of social difference. Accordingly, this study was concerned with how schools and mathematics classrooms contribute to working-class students lack of success in mathematics. The differences that occurred in these practices could be seen to contribute to the different outcomes likely to occur in the later years of schooling. It was argued that these differences mean that students from middle-classes would be more likely to undertake and be successful in the study of mathematics than their working-class peers.

Ritual and nursing

The literature reveals that much of nursing comprises ritualized activity and behaviour and that these rituals have a significant impact on nursing practice. This study uses an ethnographic approach to uncover the meaning of ritual and its impact on nursing practice by examining the rituals embedded in Intravenous therapy management of four registered nurses working in two surgical wards in South Australia.

Wool industry : a decade of turbulence : an examination of some of the factors contributing to the crisis within Australia's wool industry, and the resulting economic, social and demographic effects on a small isolated rural community

A central issue of this thesis has been an examination of the effects that the current wool crisis has had on the Balmoral district, an area almost solely devoted to the production of wool and wool sheep. Examines the methods being utilised to try to alleviate some of these effects.

Biopsychosocial life-span perspective of menopause

Examines the role of biological, psychological and social factors within the individual menopausal experiences of women and the aging process. Sexual function, well-being, role, interpersonal relationships and body image were researched in a series of thre studies in a community sample of women aged 35 to 65 years.

Teaching Thai language and culture abroad

Drawing on some principles of action research a systematic curriculum was developed for the Buddhapadipa temple school in London. Data was collected using interview-conversations, reflective episodes, classroom observations. The research was supported by four smaller studies investigating specific aspects of curriculum, language, culture and national identity.

Development in Papua New Guinea : various meanings in the context of logging in West New Britain

Development in Papua New Guinea ... is research into village level issues of logging. In New Britain, nationals are offered royalties for cutting their rainforest. Information about ecology and biodiversity is usually late in coming, and such information to them does not appear to advance their development. This thesis offers the most specific method for dealing with small communities in Papua New Guinea, and confronts the issue of self development. It is posited that all other development must encourage self development in Papua New Guinea. Evidence brought here shows the need to make the Melanesian community central to development strategies.

To accomplish such a strategy, there is a need to consider Melanesian cultures. An explanation of world views ensues. The world views of people of the Pasismanua region, of New Britain's south coast, was compared broadly with Melanesian cultures and Melanesian development in a variety of circumstances. Consequently, the suggestions made are broadly applicable to situations where resources must be well monitored. There are many such situations in Pacific nations, which suggests that the thesis will be of usc to a wide research community.

Since research is grounded in ethnographic as well as other research, this kind of study generates many other research questions, and the research is designed to lead to other studies. Certain aspects of the design become disclosed when the research has progressed. As well, the background of an expatriate researcher is intrusive, and must be mitigated by some form of participation in the host culture. This is a central tenet of the thesis. This participation increases sensitivity to culture and yields a circumspect consideration of the colonial issue. Occupied for many years by colonial powers especially Australia, all New Guinea including West New Britain shows the effects of colonisation. It also shows evidence of the new colonialism of cash-cropping, and of the destruction of biodiversity. This becomes a central theme, as does the position of this researcher as a participant in a global economic culture encroaching on and invited by Papua New Guinea.

Professional development for school administrators : computer applications in data communication

This action research project set out to develop the competence of senior personnal from a private vocational college in Thailand in the use of administrative computer systems. The findings demonstrate the critical significance of progressive incremental learning that is tailored to the professional personal needs of learners. Learner competence was found to be dependent upon the creation of an environment promoting learner confidence.

Opiate dependent individuals' perceptions and experiences of methadone and rapid opiate detoxification treatments

Examines opiate dependent individuals' experiences and perceptions of methadone and other treatment programs to provide an insight into the process of reducing and/or ceasing heroin use. The findings indicated a need for a more inclusive model of care that values individual circumstances, needs and preferences.

Fractured lives : Australian prisoners of war of the Japanese and their families

Examines how the particular nature of captivity by the Japanese during World War II intensified and complicated the impact, legacy and memory of war for POWs and their families. It presents insights into the experience of the prisoners' wives and how battalion associations protect and promote the remembrance of war.

Architecture - culture : connections, representations, interpretations and implications

The thesis proposes a theory of the "relevance" and "significance" of cultures to human beings and the world, and a methodology to measure these. It applies architecture (as a culture) as the generator of thought and as an experimental case. A case study applies the theory and methodology in practice and contains as its main material a history of ideas in contemporary architecture.

Homeostatic mechanism : subjective quality of life and chronic pain

Investigates the maintenance of subjective quality of life in the presence of chronic pain. A homeostatic mechanism is proposed and examined in terms of the roles of the suggested components and how these are altered by the threat of chronic pain.

Hypermasculinity in schools: the good, the bad and the ugly

Beneath the common-sense understandings that some boys are sporty and some are not lies a complex suite of identity positions. For those that manage to have their identity confirmed within the powerful sporting discourses that dominate the masculinity landscape, the path to peer acceptance is a clearer one. Conversely, for boys that have their identity diminished by these same discourses, the consequences can be quite dramatic. While physical and athletic prowess are clearly prominent vectors in this sorting process there is a range of other personal and social conditions that impact such trajectories. Built on narrative methodological approaches, this chapter draws on research conducted in a range of settings to describe some of the ways young males understand and enact sporting masculinities. Through a series of research narratives I present the voices of a number of young males as they navigate their identities within and against dominant sporting discourses. To help make sense of the identity practices contained within these narratives a theoretical leaning towards ambivalence will be engaged. Drawing on the work of Foucault, the formation of a masculine sporting identity can be understood as the development of a specific relationship with oneself and with others. Within this framework, sporting identities, like all other identities, are viewed as a process not a state.

Cultural ways of knowing

As a strategic response to HIV, this research made a significant contribution to the development of effective models of translation - from a rhetoric of lived experiences of HIV to social, political and cultural change. This brought benefits to areas such as HIV health promotion and education, practice and policy.

Framing everyday experience

This practice-based research involved two blogs created within different contexts: one in the small Western Australian town of Kellerberrin, the other in the Sydney suburb of Petersham. Blogging was developed as an artform: to deepen social connection within small geographical areas; to reveal new knowledge about these specific localities; and to extend and critique traditions of socially-engaged and "relational" art practice.

Relationships and attraction among individuals with autism spectrum disorder

This research investigated attraction among individuals with autism. We found that those with autism prefer partners who assist them to meet their social and cognitive needs. Partners of those with autism chose to trade-off emotional and social skills for other traits. Lastly, those with autism had lower self-perceived mate value.