A threshold concepts focus to curriculum design: supporting student learning through application of variation theory

This project develops and evaluates a model of curriculum design that aims to assist student learning of foundational disciplinary ‘Threshold Concepts’. The project uses phenomenographic action research, cross-institutional peer collaboration and the Variation Theory of Learning to develop and trial the model. Two contrasting disciplines (Physics and Law) and four institutions (two research-intensive and two universities of technology) were involved in the project, to ensure broad applicability of the model across different disciplines and contexts. The Threshold Concepts that were selected for curriculum design attention were measurement uncertainty in Physics and legal reasoning in Law. Threshold Concepts are key disciplinary concepts that are inherently troublesome, transformative and integrative in nature. Once understood, such concepts transform students’ views of the discipline because they enable students to coherently integrate what were previously seen as unrelated aspects of the subject, providing new ways of thinking about it (Meyer & Land 2003, 2005, 2006; Land et al. 2008). However, the integrative and transformative nature of such threshold concepts make them inherently difficult for students to learn, with resulting misunderstandings of concepts being prevalent...

Does DE need a C? A proposal for a DE curriculum

The vision of a digital earth (DE) is continuously evolving, and the next-generation infrastructures, platforms and applications are being implemented. In this article, we attempt to initiate a debate within the DE and with affine communities about 'why' a digital earth curriculum (DEC) is needed, 'how' it should be developed, and 'what' it could look like. It is impossible to do justice to the Herculean effort of DEC development without extensive consultations with the broader community. We propose a frame for the debate (what, why, and how of a DEC) and a rationale for and elements of a curriculum for educating the coming generations of digital natives and indicate possible realizations. We particularly argue that a DEC is not a déjà vu of classical research and training agendas of geographic information science, remote sensing, and similar fields by emphasizing its unique characteristics.

Internet teaching foundation for the Remote Sensing Core Curriculum program

The Remote Sensing Core Curriculum (RSCC) was initiated in 1993 to meet the demands for a college-level set of resources to enhance the quality of education across national and international campuses. The American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing adopted the RSCC in 1996 to sustain support of this educational initiative for its membership and collegiate community. A series of volumes, containing lectures, exercises, and data, is being created by expert contributors to address the different technical fields of remote sensing. The RSCC program is designed to operate on the Internet taking full advantage of the World Wide Web (WWW) technology for distance learning. The issues of curriculum development related to the educational setting, with demands on faculty, students, and facilities, is considered to understand the new paradigms for WWW-influenced computer-aided learning. The WWW is shown to be especially appropriate for facilitating remote sensing education with requirements for addressing image data sets and multimedia learning tools. The RSCC is located at http://www.umbc.edu/rscc. The Remote Sensing Core Curriculum (RSCC) was initiated in 1993 to meet the demands for a college-level set of resources to enhance the quality of education across national and international campuses. The American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing adopted the RSCC in 1996 to sustain support of this educational initiative for its membership and collegiate community. A series of volumes, containing lectures, exercises, and data, is being created by expert contributors to address the different technical fields of remote sensing. The RSCC program is designed to operate on the Internet taking full advantage of the World Wide Web (WWW) technology for distance learning. The issues of curriculum development related to the educational setting, with demands on faculty, students, and facilities, is considered to understand the new paradigms for WWW-influenced computer-aided learning. The WWW is shown to be especially appropriate for facilitating remote sensing education with requirements for addressing image data sets and multimedia learning tools. The RSCC is located at http://www.umbc.edu/rscc.

Mandate for remote sensing education and the remote sensing core curriculum

Consensus was developed by the remote sensing community during the 1980s and early 1990s regarding the need for an organized approach to teaching remote sensing fundamentals for collegiate institutions. Growth of the remote sensing industry might be seriously hampered without concerted efforts to bolster the capacity to teach state-of-the-practice remote sensing theory and practice to the next generation of professionals. A concerted effort of educators, researchers, government, and industry began in 1992 to meet these demands leading to the creation of the Remote Sensing Core Curriculum. The RSCC is currently sustained by cooperative efforts of the ASPRS, ICRSE, NASA, NCGIA, and others in the remote sensing community. Growth of the RSCC into the K-12 community resulted from its Internet teaching foundation that enables comprehensive and response reference links to the whole of the education community.

The ‘Indigenous Australian’ theme in the Australian Curriculum English : necessary or not?

On Friday 10 January 2014 Education Minister Christopher Pyne formally announced a review of the inaugural Australian curriculum. In his three and half minute televised justification, Pyne (2014) identified a number of criticisms of the national curriculum document, including the ‘necessity to have themes’ of ‘Australia’s place in Asia, Indigenous Australia and sustainability’. It is the second of these themes that we consider as ALEA’s Hot Topic for March 2014. We respond to Pyne’s momentary musing of the necessity of the ‘Indigenous Australian’ theme in the Australian Curriculum with a particular focus on the discipline of English. In the nomenclature of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2013), we are of course referring to the ‘cross curriculum priority’ of ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures’.

Higher Education and Sustainable Development : A Model for Curriculum Renewal

Responding to the global and unprecedented challenge of capacity building for twenty-first century life, this book is a practical guide for tertiary education institutions to quickly and effectively renew the curriculum towards education for sustainable development. The book begins by exploring why curriculum change has been so slow. It then describes a model for rapid curriculum renewal, highlighting the important roles of setting timeframes, formal and informal leadership, and key components and action strategies. The second part of the book provides detailed coverage of six core elements that have been trialled and peer reviewed by institutions around the world: - raising awareness among staff and students - mapping graduate attributes - auditing the curriculum - developing niche degrees, flagship courses and fully integrated programs - engaging and catalysing community and student markets - integrating curriculum with green campus operations. With input from more than seventy academics and grounded in engineering education experiences, this book will provide academic staff with tools and insights to rapidly align program offerings with the needs of present and future generations of students.

Fostering rapid transitions to education for sustainable development through a whole-system approach to curriculum and organizational change

Despite decades of attempts to embed sustainability within higher education, literature clearly suggests that highly regulated disciplines such as engineering have been relatively slow to incorporate sustainability knowledge and skill areas, and are generally poorly prepared to do so. With current efforts, it is plausible that sustainability could take another two decades to be embedded within the curriculum. Within this context, this paper presents a whole system approach to implement systematic, intentional and timely curriculum renewal that is responsive to emerging challenges and opportunities, encompassing curriculum and organizational change. The paper begins by considering the evolution of curriculum renewal processes, documenting a number of whole system considerations that have been empirically distilled from literature, case studies, pilot trials, and a series of workshops with built environment educators from around the world over the last decade. The paper outlines a whole-of-institution curriculum renewal approach to embedding sustainability knowledge and skills within the DNA of the institutional offerings. The paper concludes with a discussion of research and practice implications for the field of education research, within and beyond higher education.

Vocational education in science technology, engineering and maths (STEM) : Curriculum innovation through industry school partnerships

Governments have recognised that the technological trades rely on knowledge embedded traditionally in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In this paper, we report preliminary findings on the development of two curricula that attempt to integrate science and mathematics with workplace knowledge and practices. We argue that these curricula provide educational opportunities for students to pursue their preferred career pathways. These curricula were co-developed by industry and educational personnel across two industry sectors, namely, mining and aerospace. The aim was to provide knowledge appropriate for students moving from school to the workplace in the respective industries. The analysis of curriculum and associated policy documents reveals that the curricula adopt applied learning orientations through teaching strategies and assessment practices which focus on practical skills. However, although key theoretical science and maths concepts have been well incorporated, the extent to which knowledge deriving from workplace practices is included varies across the curricula. Our findings highlight the importance of teachers having substantial practical industry experience and the role that whole school policies play in attempts to align the range of learning experiences with the needs of industry.

Collaborative resource development for energy efficiency education

BACKGROUND There is a growing volume of open source ‘education material’ on energy efficiency now available however the Australian government has identified a need to increase the use of such materials in undergraduate engineering education. Furthermore, there is a reported need to rapidly equip engineering graduates with the capabilities in conducting energy efficiency assessments, to improve energy performance across major sectors of the economy. In January 2013, building on several years of preparatory action-research initiatives, the former Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIICCSRTE) offered $600,000 to develop resources for energy efficiency related graduate attributes, targeting Engineers Australia college disciplines, accreditation requirements and opportunities to address such requirements. PURPOSE This paper discusses a $430,000 successful bid by a university consortium led by QUT and including RMIT, UA, UOW, and VU, to design and pilot several innovative, targeted open-source resources for curriculum renewal related to energy efficiency assessments, in Australian engineering programs (2013-2014), including ‘flat-pack’, ‘media-bites’, ‘virtual reality’ and ‘deep dive’ case study initiatives. DESIGN/ METHOD The paper draws on literature review and lessons learned by the consortium partners in resource development over the last several years to discuss methods for selecting key graduate attributes and providing targeted resources, supporting materials, and innovative delivery options to assist universities deliver knowledge and skills to develop such attributes. This includes strategic industry and key stakeholders engagement. The paper also discusses processes for piloting, validating, peer reviewing, and refining these resources using a rigorous and repeatable approach to engaging with academic and industry colleagues. RESULTS The paper provides an example of innovation in resource development through an engagement strategy that takes advantage of existing networks, initiatives, and funding arrangements, while informing program accreditation requirements, to produce a cost-effective plan for rapid integration of energy efficiency within education. By the conference, stakeholder workshops will be complete. Resources will be in the process of being drafted, building on findings from the stakeholder engagement workshops. Reporting on this project “in progress” provides a significant opportunity to share lessons learned and take on board feedback and input. CONCLUSIONS This paper provides a useful reference document for others considering significant resource development in a consortium approach, summarising benefits and challenges. The paper also provides a basis for documenting the second half of the project, which comprises piloting resources and producing a ‘good practice guide’ for energy efficiency related curriculum renewal.

The past, present and future of carbon labelling for construction materials – a review

Global climate change is one of the most significant environmental issues that can harm human development. One central issue for the building and construction industry to address global climate change is the development of a credible and meaningful way to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050, the first international GHG standard, has been proven to be successful in standardizing the quantification process, its contribution to the management of carbon labels for construction materials is limited. With the recent publication of ISO 14067: Greenhouse gases – carbon footprint of products – requirements and guidelines for quantification and communication in May 2013, it is necessary for the building and construction industry to understand the past, present and future of the carbon labelling practices for construction materials. A systematic review shows that international GHG standards have been evolving in terms of providing additional guidance on communication and comparison, as well as less flexibility on the use of carbon labels. At the same time, carbon labelling schemes have been evolving on standardization and benchmarking. In addition, future actions are needed in the aspect of raising consumer awareness, providing benchmarking, ensuring standardization and developing simulation technologies in order for carbon labelling schemes for construction materials to provide credible, accurate and transparent information on GHG emissions.

Informing engineering education for sustainable development using a deliberative dynamic model for curriculum renewal

Literature from around the world clearly suggests that engineering education has been relatively slow to incorporate significant knowledge and skill areas, including the rapidly emerging area of sustainable development. Within this context, this paper presents the findings of research that questioned how engineering educators could consistently implement systematic and intentional curriculum renewal that is responsive to emerging engineering challenges and opportunities. The paper presents a number of elements of systematic and intentional curriculum renewal that have been empirically distilled from a qualitative multiple-method iterative research approach including literature review, narrative enquiry, pilot trials and peer-review workshops undertaken by the authors with engineering educators from around the world. The paper also presents new knowledge arising from the research, in the form of a new model that demonstrates a dynamic and deliberative mechanism for strategically accelerating for curriculum renewal efforts. Specifically the paper discusses implications of this model to achieve education for sustainable development, across all disciplines of engineering. It concludes with broader research and practice implications for the field of education research.

Numerical estimation of 3D mechanical forces exerted by cells on non-linear materials

The exchange of physical forces in both cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions play a significant role in a variety of physiological and pathological processes, such as cell migration, cancer metastasis, inflammation and wound healing. Therefore, great interest exists in accurately quantifying the forces that cells exert on their substrate during migration. Traction Force Microscopy (TFM) is the most widely used method for measuring cell traction forces. Several mathematical techniques have been developed to estimate forces from TFM experiments. However, certain simplifications are commonly assumed, such as linear elasticity of the materials and/or free geometries, which in some cases may lead to inaccurate results. Here, cellular forces are numerically estimated by solving a minimization problem that combines multiple non-linear FEM solutions. Our simulations, free from constraints on the geometrical and the mechanical conditions, show that forces are predicted with higher accuracy than when using the standard approaches.

Curricula integration : identifying and locating engineering education across the Australian curriculum

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has become an educational package emerging throughout the world (e.g. UK, China, US & Australia). Although science, technology and mathematics are taught in schools and engineering education occurs in universities, there appear to be few if any explicit engineering education programs in primary and junior secondary schools. A stronger inclusion of engineering education at these levels could assist students to make informed decisions about career opportunities in STEM-related fields. This paper suggests how engineering education can be integrated with other key learning areas such as English, mathematics, science, history and geography within the new Australian Curriculum.

Supporting future curriculum leaders in embedding Indigenous knowledge on teaching practicum

This report documents the outcomes of the OLT funded project on Supporting Future Curriculum Leaders in Embedding Indigenous Knowledges on Teaching Practicum. This project investigated the learning and teaching relationships between pre-service teachers and their supervisors on practicum, with pre-service teachers who were specifically engaged (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous pre-service teachers studying the Indigenous Studies minor) with embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in their teaching practice. It explored the negotiations of expectations, role modelling and the interactions that occur between pre-service teachers, their supervising teachers and QUT staff involved in supporting teaching practicum. The intent was to design a model to develop long term, future-oriented opportunities for teachers to develop expertise in embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

Bisphenol A degradation enhanced by air bubbles via advanced oxidation using in situ generated ferrous ions from nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composite materials

Novel nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composite materials prepared by evaporative and centrifuge methods are tested for the degradation of bisphenol A in an aqueous medium. A systematic study is presented which showed that nano zero-valent iron material has little effect on bisphenol A degradation. When hydrogen peroxide was added to initiate the reaction, some percentage of bisphenol A removal (∼20%) was achieved; however, with the aid of air bubbles, the percentage removal can be significantly increased to ∼99%. Compared with pristine nano zero-valent iron and commercial iron powder, nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composite materials have much higher reactivity towards bisphenol A and these materials are superior as they have little impact on the solution pH. However, for pristine nano zero-valent iron, it is difficult to maintain the reaction system at a favourable low pH which is a key factor in maintaining high bisphenol A removal. All materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, elemental analysis, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The optimum conditions were obtained based on a series of batch experiments. This study has extended the application of nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composites as effective materials for the removal of phenolic compounds from the environment.