Transition of international postgraduate students : friends and societies

The study examines the experiences of international postgraduate (IP) student’s transition at a university, and adds to the literature as it focuses on student-based support for transition where mostly past research has focused on university-based support. The study utilises social support theory (House, 1981) and Illeris’ (2002) concepts on learning to explain why students transition. A qualitative methodology was used where 48 students were interviewed. It was found that IP students experienced negative transition experiences in the beginning, but adjusted as time went on. Involvement in the student society was beneficial for transition, as it gave students the opportunity to make friends, and these friends, in turn, give students social support, which assists with their learning and transition.

‘On the influence of the scientific societies of New Zealand on the character of the nation’ - Collecting and identity at the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Institute museum, 1874–1899

This paper explores the collection and collecting activity of the Hawke’s Bay Ph ilosophical Institute of Napier, New Zealand. It examines the development of the Institute’s museum and considers the motivations, intentions and interests of the collectors and their activity within the broader scientific and museum context. The work of two significant collectors is examined in detail: William Colenso, FLS, FRS, missionary, explorer and enthusiastic botanist, who engaged in over fifty years of correspondence and botanical exchange with Sir Joseph Hooker at Kew Gardens; and Augustus Hamilton, the curator of the museum who later became Director of New Zealand’s national collection at the Colonial Museum in Wellington. Through consideration of the Institute’s activities during the period 1874 to 1899, it is proposed that within the collection, the emergence of a distinct local identity can be discerned, during the early colonial period of Hawke’s Bay.

Training skills of divided attention among older adults

The current study examined whether video game training would help improve divided attention skills among older adults. Twenty-nine (4 males, 25 females) participants aged 50 to 84 years (M = 70) were tested for their skills of divided attention using a memory and reaction time task. Participants were randomly allocated to the experimental group and control group and only those in the experimental group trained with the computer game, Pac-Man Adventures in Time for three hours. Results show that three hours of training are not sufficient to enhance skills of divided attention amongst older adults as the differences in these skills were not significantly different between control and experimental groups. These findings suggest that greater amounts or other methods of training may be required to enhance older adults’ ability to perform dual tasks.

Approaching cultural landscapes in post-settler societies: ideas, policies, practices

This thesis contends that the concept of cultural landscape is a useful tool for dismantling heritage management programs that promote demarcations between natural/settler/indigenous heritage values in protected areas in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States.

Approaching cultural landscapes in post-settler societies: ideas, policies, practices

This thesis contends that the concept of cultural landscape is a useful tool for dismantling heritage management programs that promote demarcations between natural/settler/indigenous heritage values in protected areas in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States.