Technological tools for science classrooms : choosing and using for productive and sustainable teaching and learning experiences

In this age of rapidly evolving technology, teachers are encouraged to adopt ICTs by government, syllabus, school management, and parents. Indeed, it is an expectation that teachers will incorporate technologies into their classroom teaching practices to enhance the learning experiences and outcomes of their students. In particular, regarding the science classroom, a subject that traditionally incorporates hands-on experiments and practicals, the integration of modern technologies should be a major feature. Although myriad studies report on technologies that enhance students’ learning outcomes in science, there is a dearth of literature on how teachers go about selecting technologies for use in the science classroom. Teachers can feel ill prepared to assess the range of available choices and might feel pressured and somewhat overwhelmed by the avalanche of new developments thrust before them in marketing literature and teaching journals. The consequences of making bad decisions are costly in terms of money, time and teacher confidence. Additionally, no research to date has identified what technologies science teachers use on a regular basis, and whether some purchased technologies have proven to be too problematic, preventing their sustained use and possible wider adoption. The primary aim of this study was to provide research-based guidance to teachers to aid their decision-making in choosing technologies for the science classroom. The study unfolded in several phases. The first phase of the project involved survey and interview data from teachers in relation to the technologies they currently use in their science classrooms and the frequency of their use. These data were coded and analysed using Grounded Theory of Corbin and Strauss, and resulted in the development of a PETTaL model that captured the salient factors of the data. This model incorporated usability theory from the Human Computer Interaction literature, and education theory and models such as Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) TPACK model, where the grounded data indicated these issues. The PETTaL model identifies Power (school management, syllabus etc.), Environment (classroom / learning setting), Teacher (personal characteristics, experience, epistemology), Technology (usability, versatility etc.,) and Learners (academic ability, diversity, behaviour etc.,) as fields that can impact the use of technology in science classrooms. The PETTaL model was used to create a Predictive Evaluation Tool (PET): a tool designed to assist teachers in choosing technologies, particularly for science teaching and learning. The evolution of the PET was cyclical (employing agile development methodology), involving repeated testing with in-service and pre-service teachers at each iteration, and incorporating their comments i ii in subsequent versions. Once no new suggestions were forthcoming, the PET was tested with eight in-service teachers, and the results showed that the PET outcomes obtained by (experienced) teachers concurred with their instinctive evaluations. They felt the PET would be a valuable tool when considering new technology, and it would be particularly useful as a means of communicating perceived value between colleagues and between budget holders and requestors during the acquisition process. It is hoped that the PET could make the tacit knowledge acquired by experienced teachers about technology use in classrooms explicit to novice teachers. Additionally, the PET could be used as a research tool to discover a teachers’ professional development needs. Therefore, the outcomes of this study can aid a teacher in the process of selecting educationally productive and sustainable new technology for their science classrooms. This study has produced an instrument for assisting teachers in the decision-making process associated with the use of new technologies for the science classroom. The instrument is generic in that it can be applied to all subject areas. Further, this study has produced a powerful model that extends the TPACK model, which is currently extensively employed to assess teachers’ use of technology in the classroom. The PETTaL model grounded in data from this study, responds to the calls in the literature for TPACK’s further development. As a theoretical model, PETTaL has the potential to serve as a framework for the development of a teacher’s reflective practice (either self evaluation or critical evaluation of observed teaching practices). Additionally, PETTaL has the potential for aiding the formulation of a teacher’s personal professional development plan. It will be the basis for further studies in this field.

Containing Queensland prickly pear : buffer zones, closer settlement, whiteness

By 1925, the introduced prickly pear (Opuntia and Nopalea spp.) covered up to 60 million acres of Queensland and New South Wales in what was perceived as prime agricultural land. After 40 years of experimentation, all Queensland Government strategies had failed. Faced with this failure and a diminishing expectation that the land would ever be conquered, buffer zones were proposed by the newly formed Queensland Prickly Pear Land Commission. A close reading of government documents, newspaper reports and local histories about these buffer zones shows how settler anxieties over who could or should occupy the land shaped the kinds of strategies recommended and adopted in relation to this alien species. Physical and cultural techniques were used to manage the uneasy coexistence between prickly pear, on the one hand, and farmers and graziers on the other. Furthermore, this environmental history challenges the notion of racially homogenous closer settlement under the White Australia Policy, showing the many different kinds of livelihood and labour in prickly pear land in the 1920s.

The politics of Twitter data

Talk of Big Data seems to be everywhere. Indeed, the apparently value-free concept of ‘data’ has seen a spectacular broadening of popular interest, shifting from the dry terminology of labcoat-wearing scientists to the buzzword du jour of marketers. In the business world, data is increasingly framed as an economic asset of critical importance, a commodity on a par with scarce natural resources (Backaitis, 2012; Rotella, 2012). It is social media that has most visibly brought the Big Data moment to media and communication studies, and beyond it, to the social sciences and humanities. Social media data is one of the most important areas of the rapidly growing data market (Manovich, 2012; Steele, 2011). Massive valuations are attached to companies that directly collect and profit from social media data, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as to resellers and analytics companies like Gnip and DataSift. The expectation attached to the business models of these companies is that their privileged access to data and the resulting valuable insights into the minds of consumers and voters will make them irreplaceable in the future. Analysts and consultants argue that advanced statistical techniques will allow the detection of ongoing communicative events (natural disasters, political uprisings) and the reliable prediction of future ones (electoral choices, consumption)...

Getting there, being there, staying and belonging: a case study of two indigenous Australian children’s transition to school

Indigenous Australians are among the most unhealthy populations in the world and yet they reside in a country where the non-Indigenous population enjoys high standards of well-being. Education has been identified as the key mechanism for closing this equity gap. At school commencement many Indigenous children are already at risk of disengagement. This four-year longitudinal study of two Indigenous boys from a socially marginalised community examined key factors affecting transitional trajectories into school. While child characteristics affected level of achievement the critical factors in sustaining positive educational engagement were social support, school practices, inclusion of family and positive expectation.

Context-specific stressors, work-related social support and work-family conflict : a mediation study

Understanding the antecedents of work-family conflict is important as it allows organisations to effectively engage in work design for professional employees. This study examines the impact of sources of social support as antecedents of work-family conflict. The hypotheses were tests using Partial Least Squares modelling on a sample of 366 professional employees. The path model showed that context-specific stressors impacted positively on job demand, which led to higher levels of work-family conflict. Contrary to our expectation, non-work related social support did not have any statistical relationship with job demand and work-family conflict. In addition, individuals experiencing high job demands were found to obtain more social support from both work and non-work-related sources. Individuals with more work-related social support were less likely to have less work-family conflict. Surprisingly, non-work social support sources had no statistically significant relationship with work-family conflict.

Sounds From The Empty City (soundtrack)

These wordless songs were composed as music first, and soundtrack second. There is a difference. A soundtrack will always be connected with whatever it is accompanying. Music doesn’t neccessarily need to reference anything else. The Empty City transformed a picture book into a non-verbal performance combining the live and animated. Without spoken words the show would dance on the dangerous intersection of music, image and action. In both theatre and film (and this production drew on both traditions) soundtrack and music are often added on at the end when everything’s been pre-determined, a passive, responsive mode for such a powerful artform. It’s literally added in ‘post’. In The Empty City, music was present from its inception and grew with the show. It was active in process and product. It frequently led rehearsals and shaped other key decisions in virtual and live performance. Rather than tailor-make music towards pre-determined moments, independent compositions created without specific reference to narrative experimented with the creation of a flock of small musical pieces. I was interested in seeing how they flew and where they roosted, rather than having them born and raised in (narrative) captivity. The sonic palette is largely acoustic, incorporating ukulele, prepared piano and supported by a range of other elements tending towards electronica. Eventually more than seventy pieces of music were made for this show, twice the number used. These pieces were then placed in relation to the emerging scenes, then adapted in duration, texture and progression to develop a relationship with the scene. In this way, music (even when it’s synced) has a conversation with a performance, an exchange that may result in surprise rather than fulfillment of expectation. Leitmotif emerged from loops and layers, as the pieces of music ‘conversed’ with each other, rather than being premeditated and imposed. Nineteen of these tracks are compiled for this release, which finds the compositions (which progressed through many versions) poised at the moment between their fullest iteration as ‘music’ and their editing and full incorporation into a sychronised soundtrack. They are released as the began: as 'music-alone' (Kivy) In picture-book writing, the mutual interplay of text and image is sometimes referred to as interanimation , and this is the kind of symbiosis this project sought in the creation of the soundtrack. Reviewers of the noted the important role of the soundtrack in two separate productions of The Empty City: “The original score…takes centre stage” (Borhani, 2013) “…swept up in its repetition of sounds and images, like a Bach fugue” (Zampatti, 2013)

Australian journalism students' motivations and job expectations : evidence from a survey across six universities

The value of tertiary journalism education is an often hotly-debated topic among journalism educators and in the industry. Yet, the voices of students are often not heard in these debates. For example, we know relatively little about why young people actually decide to study journalism, what area of journalism they want to work in and what they are looking for in a job. To shed more light on the student perspective, this paper reports on a survey of 320 undergraduate journalism students at six Australian universities. The results show that only a minority actually want to work in news journalism, while most prefer entertainment-focussed areas. Students are motivated mainly by a love for writing and because they like journalism as a profession. In terms of job characteristics, they are particularly interested in their own career progression, but also in the extent to which they can provide a public service.

Teaching colour theory online : challenges, opportunities and experiences [Abstract]

Over the past decade, various paradigm shifts and challenges have rapidly changed learning and teaching in higher education including meeting student expectation for more engaging, more interactive learning experiences, the increased focus in the tertiary sector to deliver content online, and dealing with the complexities of fast-changing technologies. Rising to these challenges and responding to them is a complex and multi-faceted task. This paper discusses a case study undertaken applying a framework drawn from engineering education teaching and learning methods using the concept of academagogy, which is learner-centric, actively empowering students in building effective learning and engages facilitators in meaningful teaching and delivery methods.

Response to “Comment on ‘Indications of energetic consequences of decoherence at short times for scattering from open quantum systems’” [AIP Advances 1, 049101 (2011)]

The Comment by Mayers and Reiter criticizes our work on two counts. Firstly, it is claimed that the quantum decoherence effects that we report in consequence of our experimental analysis of neutron Compton scattering from H in gaseous H2 are not, as we maintain, outside the framework of conventional neutron scatteringtheory. Secondly, it is claimed that we did not really observe such effects, owing to a faulty analysis of the experimental data, which are claimed to be in agreement with conventional theory. We focus in this response on the critical issue of the reliability of our experimental results and analysis. Using the same standard Vesuvio instrument programs used by Mayers et al., we show that, if the experimental results for H in gaseous H2 are in agreement with conventional theory, then those for D in gaseous D2 obtained in the same way cannot be, and vice-versa. We expose a flaw in the calibration methodology used by Mayers et al. that leads to the present disagreement over the behaviour of H, namely the ad hoc adjustment of the measured H peak positions in TOF during the calibration of Vesuvio so that agreement is obtained with the expectation of conventional theory. We briefly address the question of the necessity to apply the theory of open quantum systems.

Community media production : access, institutions, and ethics

In policy terms, community media are known as the “third sector” of the media. The description reflects the historical expectation that community media can fulfill a need not met by the commercial and public service broadcasters. A defining element of this “need” has been the means to production for nonprofessionals, particularly groups not represented in the mainstream media. The historical construction of community media reveals production to be a guiding principle; both a means and an end in itself. This chapter examines the various rationales underpinning community media production, including empowerment, media diversity, and the independent producer movement. Using case studies from youth media, the chapter critiques producer-centric models of community media. In the contemporary media environment, production alone cannot meet the social needs that community media were established to address. Instead, I propose a rationale that combines both production and consumption ethics.

Outsourcing income tax returns : convenient and/or controversial

This paper investigates the outsourcing of income tax return preparation by Australian accounting firms. It identifies the extent to which firms are currently outsourcing accounting services or considering outsourcing accounting services, with a focus on personal and business income tax return preparation. The motivations and barriers for outsourcing by Australian accounting firms are also considered in this paper. Privacy, security of client data, and the competence of the outsourcing provider's staff have been identified as risks associated with outsourcing. An expectation relating to confidentiality of client data is also examined in this paper. Statistical analysis of data collected from a random sample of Australian accounting firms using a survey questionnaire provided the empirical data for the paper. The results indicate that the majority of Australian accounting firms are either currently outsourcing or considering outsourcing accounting services, and firms are outsourcing taxation preparation both onshore and offshore. The results also indicate that firms expect the volume of outsourced work to increase in the future. In contrast to the literature identifying labour arbitrage as the primary driver for organisations choosing to outsource, this study found that the main factors considered by accounting firms in the decision to outsource were to expedite delivery of services to clients and to enable the firm to focus on core competencies. Data from this study also supports the literature which ndicates that not all tax practitioners are adhering to codes of conduct in relation to client confidentiality. Research identifying the extent to which accounting services are outsourced is limited, therefore significant contributions to the academic literature and the accounting profession are provided by this ndicates that not all tax practitioners are adhering to codes of conduct in relation to client confidentiality. Research identifying the extent to which accounting services are outsourced is limited, therefore significant contributions to the academic literature and the accounting profession are provided by this study.

International hermelin brain tumor symposium on matricellular proteins in normal and cancer cell-matrix interactions

The second of the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center Symposia was held once again at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan on October 24th and 25th, 2003. A public conference was held on the 24th while a closed-door session took place on the 25th. The purpose of these symposia is to bring together experts in a particular field of study with the aim to share information with each other and the public, but then to meet privately to present novel data, hold discussions, and share concepts. While the interaction is intended to benefit all involved, the incentive is the expectation that the shared information will aid researchers at the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center in their quest to identify potential therapeutic targets and explore translational therapeutic strategies for the treatment of patients suffering nervous system tumors...

Evaluation of public hospital performance in Khanh Hoa Province : Vietnam in connection with patient and staff satisfaction surveys

This research aimed to develop a framework for performance evaluation of public hospitals in Vietnam that is culturally, socially, and politically appropriate. The research included both qualitative and quantitative methods and identified and validated novel instruments to measure patient satisfaction and job satisfaction of hospital staff and to determine a set of hospital indicators that reflect the quality of hospital performance. New models for understanding the determinants of patient and staff satisfaction were developed along with a new performance indicator framework for hospital performance. These instruments will now be applied to the evaluation of hospital services in Khanh Hoa Province, permitting longer term evaluation of their effectiveness in changing system wide performance and satisfaction.

Same but different? Mobile technology adoption in China

Purpose This paper seeks to answer two research questions which are “What are key factors which influence Chinese to adopt mobile technology?” and “Do these key factors differ from factors which are identified from Western context?” Design/methodology The findings from a pilot study with 45 in-depth interviews are used to develop questionnaires and test across 800 residents from the three research cities. The data were analyzed by Structural Equation Modelling together with Multi-group Analysis. Findings Our data suggest eight important concepts, i.e. utilitarian expectation, hedonic expectation, status gains, status loss avoidance, normative influence, external influence, cost, and quality concern, are influential factors affecting users’ intentions to adopt 3G mobile technology. Differences are found between the samples in the three research cities in the effect of hedonic expectation, status gains, status loss avoidance, and normative influence on mobile technology adoption intention. Research limitations/implications: As the stability of intentions may change over time, only measuring intentions might be inadequate in predicting actual adoption behaviors. However, the focus on potential users is thought to be appropriate, given that the development of 3G is still in its infancy in China. Originality/value Previous research into Information Technology (IT) adoption among Chinese users has not paid attention to regional diversity. Some research considered China as a large single market and some was conducted in only one province or one city. Culturally, China is a heterogeneous country.

Enhancing Research Productivity of TEFL Academic in China : A Mixed Method Study

As research has become an important indicator of TEFL academics’ overall performance in Chinese higher education institutions, it is critical that TEFL academics are able to meet the expectation of conducting research. This mixed-method study (an initial survey followed by a qualitative collective case study)investigated research productivity of Chinese TEFL academics and associated influences, with the ultimate objective of constructing a framework to help build their research capacity in the future. The findings from this study revealed that the 182 Chinese TEFL academics’ research productivity during 2004-2008 was relatively low. Four influences were identified that impacted on thier research productivity: TEFL disciplinary influences, institutional and departmental research environments, individual characteristics desirable for research, and TEFL academics’ perceptions about research. Drawing upon the above findings, a Framework towards Enhancing Chinese TEFL Academics’ Research Productivity (FECTARP) was constructed. The FECTAR presented a framework for Chinese institutions and TEFL departments to enhance their TEFL academics' research capacity.