Contextualizing a university-school STEM education collaboration : distributed and self-activated leadership for project outcomes

Implementing educational reform requires partnerships, and university-school collaborations in the form of investigative and experimental projects can aim to determine the practicalities of reform. However, there are funded projects that do not achieve intended outcomes. In the context of a new reform initiative in education, namely, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, this article explores the management of a government-funded project. In a university school partnership for STEM education, how can leadership be distributed for achieving project outcomes? Participants included university personnel from different STEM areas, school teachers and school executives. Data collected included observations, interviews, resource materials, and video and photographic images. Findings indicated that leadership roles were distributed and selfactivated by project partners according to their areas of expertise and proximal activeness to the project phases, that is: (1) establishing partnerships; (2) planning and collaboration; (3) project implementation; and (4) project evaluation and further initiatives. Leadership can be intentional and unintentional within project phases, and understanding how leadership can be distributed and selfactivated more purposefully may aid in generating more expedient project outcomes.

The role of mindfulness in an extended TPB framework to understand drivers’ speeding intentions in school zones.

Many researchers have demonstrated the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in predicting both intention to speed and actual speeding behaviour. However, there remain shortcomings in the explanatory power of the TPB, with research suggesting that even when drivers had reported an intention to not speed approximately 25% of drivers report behaviour that does not align with their intentions (i.e., they engaged in speeding, Elliott & Armitage, 2006). This research explores the role of a novel and promising construct, mindfulness, in enhancing the explanatory utility of the TPB for the understanding of drivers’ speeding behaviour in school zones. Mindfulness is a concept which has been widely used in studies of consciousness, but has recently been applied to the understanding of behaviour in other areas, including clinical psychology, physical activity, education and business. It has been suggested that mindfulness can also be applied to road safety, though its application within this context currently remains limited. This study was based on an e-survey of the general driving public (N=240). Overall, the results identified mindfulness as a construct which may aid understanding of the relationship between drivers’ intentions and behaviour. Theoretically, the findings may have implications in terms of identifying mindfulness as an additional explanatory construct within a TPB framework. In road safety practice, the findings suggest that efficacious countermeasures around school zones may be those that function to heighten drivers’ mindfulness, such as flashing lights and physical speed reduction measures.

Power of engineering : changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 female school students towards an engineering career

BACKGROUND The engineering profession in Australia has failed to attract young women for the last decade or so despite all the effort that have gone into promoting engineering as a preferred career choice for girls. It is a missed opportunity for the profession to flourish as a heterogeneous team. Many traditional initiatives and programs have failed to make much impact or at best incremental improvement into attracting and retaining more women in the profession. The reasons why girls and young women in most parts of the world show little interest in engineering haven't changed, despite all the efforts to address them, the issue proposed here in this paper is with the perceptions of engineering in the community and the confidence to pursue it. This gender imbalance is detrimental for the engineering profession, and hence an action-based intervention strategy was devised by the Women in Engineering Qld Chapter of Engineers Australia in 2012 to change the perceptions of school girls by redesigning the engagement strategy and key messages. As a result, the “Power of Engineering Inc” (PoE) was established as a not-for-profit organisation, and is a collaborative effort between government, schools, universities, and industry. This paper examines a case study in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 school girls towards an engineering career. PURPOSE To evaluate and determine the effectiveness of an intervention in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 school girls about engineering career options, but specifically, “What were their perceptions of engineering before today and have those perceptions changed?” DESIGN/METHOD The inaugural Power of Engineering (PoE) event was held on International Women’s Day, Thursday 8 March 2012 and was attended by 131 high school female students (year 9 and 10) and their teachers. The key message of the day was “engineering gives you the power to change the world”. A questionnaire was conducted with the participating high school female students, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The survey instrument has not been validated. RESULTS The key to the success of the event was as a result of collaboration between all participants involved and the connection created between government, schools, universities and industry. Of the returned surveys (109 of 131), 91% of girls would now consider a career in engineering and 57% who had not considered engineering before the day would now consider a career in engineering. Data collected found significant numbers of negative and varying perceptions about engineering careers prior to the intervention. CONCLUSIONS The evidence in this research suggests that the intervention assisted in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 female school students towards engineering as a career option. Whether this intervention translates into actual career selection and study enrolment is to be determined. In saying this, the evidence suggests that there is a critical and urgent need for earlier interventions prior to students selecting their subjects for year 11 and 12. This intervention could also play its part in increasing the overall pool of students engaged in STEM education.

Australia at the crossroads : a review of school science practical work

In Australia we are at a crossroad in science education. We have come from a long history of adopting international curricula, through to blending international and Australian developed materials, to the present which is a thoroughly unique Australian curriculum in science. This paper documents Australia’s journey over the past 200 years, as we prepare for the unveiling of our first truly Australian National Curriculum. One of the unique aspects of this curriculum is the emphasis on practical work and inquiry-based learning. This paper identifies seven forms of practical work currently used in Australian schools and the purposes aligned with each form by 138 pre-service and experienced in-service teachers. The paper explores the question “What does the impending national curriculum, with its emphasis on practical inquiry mean to the teachers now, are they ready?” The study suggests that practical work in Australian schools is multifaceted, and the teacher aligned purposes are dependent not only upon the age of the student, but also on the type of practical work being undertaken. It was found that most teachers are not ready to teach using inquiry-based pedagogy and cite lack of content knowledge, behaviour management, and lack of physical resources and availability of classroom space as key issues which will hinder their implementation of the inquiry component of Australia’s pending curriculum in science.

Narratives of the 'everyday' in Rio de Janeiro's favelas : community photographers' attempts at generating alternative news values [Narrativas do cotidiano nas favelas do Rio de Janeiro: tentativas de construção de valores-notícia alternativos pelos fotógrafos populares]

Abstract This paper presents the partial results of an ongoing research project which investigates ethnographically community (photo)journalism media initiatives, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Viva Rio and Observatorio de Favelas (NGOs) run projects that provide favela residents with skills to take, edit and print their own (photo) journalism contents that enables community-based framing and documentation of favela live, personalities and issues. Three months of fieldwork related to these projects in Rio's favelas generated remarkable theoretical issues that represent the community photographers' attempt to establish counter news values by shifting the focus from poverty, shortages, violence and criminality to images of the ordinary life which included the myriad events that occurs in the day of the favelas. Resumo Este artigo apresenta os resultados parciais de uma pesquisa em andamento que, a partir do método etnográfico, investiga os projetos de comunicação comunitária, jornalismo e fotojornalismo, no Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. As organizações não-governamentais (ONGs) Viva Rio e Observatório de Favela apoiam projetos que objetivam tornar moradores de favelas capazes de produzir, editar e publicar as suas próprias narrativas sobre personagens e questões do cotidiano de suas comunidades. O trabalho de campo sobre estes projetos, realizado durante três meses nas favelas do Rio de Janeiro, forneceu questões teóricas relevantes que representam o esforço dos fotógrafos populares para estabelecer contra valores-notícia transferindo o foco da pobreza, escassez, violência e criminalidade para imagens do cotidiano que inclui uma miríade de eventos que acontecem no dia-a-dia das favelas.

School based youth health nurses and a true health promotion approach : the Ottawa what?

Aim: The purpose of this research is to examine School Based Youth Health Nurses experience of a true health promotion approach. Background: The School Based Youth Health Nurse Program is a state-wide school nursing initiative in Queensland, Australia. The program employs more than 120 fulltime and fractional school nurses who provide health services in state high schools. The role incorporates two primary components: individual health consultations and health promotion strategies. Design/Methods: This study is a retrospective inquiry generated from a larger qualitative research project about the experience of school based youth health nursing. The original methodology was phenomenography. In-depth interviews were conducted with sixteen school nurses recruited through purposeful and snowball sampling. This study accesses a specific set of raw data about School Based Youth Health Nurses experience of a true health promotion approach. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986) is used as a framework for deductive analysis. Results: The findings indicate school nurses have neither an adverse or affirmative conceptual experience of a true health promotion approach and an adverse operational experience of a true health promotion approach based on the action areas of the Ottawa Charter. Conclusions: The findings of this research are important because they challenge the notion that school nurses are the most appropriate health professionals to undertake a true health promotion approach. If school nurses are the most appropriate health professionals to do a true health promotion approach, there are implications for recruitment and training and qualifications. If school nurses are not, who are the most appropriate health professionals to do school health promotion? Implications for Practice: These findings can be applied to other models of school nursing in Australia which emphasises a true health promotion approach because they relate specifically to school nurses’ experience of a true health promotion approach.

Does teaching sequence matter when teaching high school chemistry with scientific visualisations?

Five Canadian high school Chemistry classes in one school, taught by three different teachers, studied the concepts of dynamic chemical equilibria and Le Chatelier’s Principle. Some students received traditional teacher-led explanations of the concept first and used an interactive scientific visualisation second, while others worked with the visualisation first and received the teacher-led explanation second. Students completed a test of their conceptual understanding of the relevant concepts prior to instruction, after the first instructional session and at the end of instruction. Data on students’ academic achievement (highest, middle or lowest third of the class on the mid-term exam) and gender were also collected to explore the relationship between these factors, conceptual development and instructional sequencing. Results show, within this context at least, that teaching sequence is not important in terms of students’ conceptual learning gains.

Air crimes and atmospheric justice

This chapter explores the political economy of air pollution. It draws on discourses of power, harm and violence to analyse air pollution within emerging frameworks of 'eco-crime' and atmospheric justice' (see Vanderheiden 2008; Walters 2010). In doing so, it identifies how green criminology continues to push new boundaries by engaging with issues of both global and local concern.

Responding to national curriculum goals for English language learners : enhancing reading strategies in high school content areas

The official need for content teachers to teach the language features of their fields has never been greater in Australia than now. In 2012, the recently formed national curriculum board announced that all teachers are responsible for the English language development of students whose first language or dialect is not Standard Australian English (SAE). This formal endorsement is an important juncture regarding the way expertise might be developed, perceived and exchanged between content and language teachers through collaboration, in order for the goals of English language learners in content areas to be realised. To that end, we conducted an action research project to explore and extend the reading strategies pedagogy of one English language teacher who teaches English language learners in a parallel junior high school Geography program. Such pedagogy will be valuable for all teachers as they seek to contribute to English language development goals as outlined in national curricula.

Feminist criminologies’ contribution to understandings of sex, gender, and crime

This chapter provides an overview of the contribution of feminist criminologies to understandings of the complex intersections between sex, gender and crime. Dozens of scholars and activists have participated in these debates over the past four decades. For our contribution to this handbook, we interviewed ten distinguished scholars whose contributions are recognized internationally. Through the commentary provided by these scholars, this chapter examines some of the distinctive contributions of feminism to our knowledge about sex, gender, and crime, as well as some of the challenges it continues to face in the field of criminology. We conclude that feminist work within criminology continues to face a number of lingering challenges, most notably in relation to the struggle to maintain relevance in a world where concerns about gender inequality are marginalized and considered as historical relics not contemporary issues; where there are on-going tensions around the best strategies for change, as well as difficulties in challenging distorted representations of female crime and violence; and where a backlash, anti-feminist politics seeks to discredit explanations that draw a link between sex, gender, and crime. This chapter critically reviews these lingering challenges—locating feminist approaches (of which there are many) at the centre and not the periphery of advancing knowledge about gender, sex, and crime.

'These are my photos of when I was little' : Locating Media Arts in the Primary School Curriculum

‘Media Arts’ has been included as a fifth area of the Arts for the Australian Curriculum which will become mandatory learning for all Australian children from pre-school to Year Six (Y6) from 2014. The current curriculum design is underpinned by an approach familiar to media educators who combine creative practice and critical response to develop students’ media literacies. Media Arts within the Australian Curriculum will place Australia at the forefront of international efforts to promote media education as an entitlement for all children. Even with this mandated endorsement, however, there remains ongoing debate about where to locate media education in school curricula. Historically, media education in Australia has been approached through diverse curriculum activities at the secondary school level. These include subject English’s critical literacy objectives; vocationally oriented media and technology education or ICTs education; and Arts courses using new media technologies for creativity. In this chapter we consider the possibilities and challenges for Media Arts, specifically for primary school student learning. We draw on empirical evidence from a research project that has trialled a Media Arts curriculum with students attending a primary school in a low socio-economic status and culturally diverse community on the outskirts of Brisbane, Queensland.

Teacher Reporting Attitudes Scale (TRAS): confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses with a Malaysian sample.

The Teacher Reporting Attitude Scale (TRAS) is a newly developed tool to assess teachers’ attitudes toward reporting child abuse and neglect. This article reports on an investigation of the factor structure and psychometric properties of the short form Malay version of the TRAS. A self-report cross-sectional survey was conducted with 667 teachers in 14 randomly selected schools in Selangor state, Malaysia. Analyses were conducted in a 3-stage process using both confirmatory (stages 1 and 3) and exploratory factor analyses (stage 2) to test, modify, and confirm the underlying factor structure of the TRAS in a non-Western teacher sample. Confirmatory factor analysis did not support a 3-factor model previously reported in the original TRAS study. Exploratory factor analysis revealed an 8-item, 4-factor structure. Further confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated appropriateness of the 4-factor structure. Reliability estimates for the four factors—commitment, value, concern, and confidence—were moderate. The modified short form TRAS (Malay version) has potential to be used as a simple tool for relatively quick assessment of teachers’ attitudes toward reporting child abuse and neglect. Cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward reporting may exist and the transferability of newly developed instruments to other populations should be evaluated.

Self-proxy agreement and weekly school travel behaviour in a sectarian divided society

Proxy reports from parents and self-reported data from pupils have often been used interchangeably to identify factors influencing school travel behaviour. However, few studies have examined the validity of proxy reports as an alternative to self-reported data. In addition, despite research that has been conducted in a different context, little is known to date about the impact of different factors on school travel behaviour in a sectarian divided society. This research examines these issues using 1624 questionnaires collected from four independent samples (e.g. primary pupils, parent of primary pupils, secondary pupils, and parent of secondary pupils) across Northern Ireland. An independent sample t test was conducted to identify the differences in data reporting between pupils and parents for different age groups using the reported number of trips for different modes as dependent variables. Multivariate multiple regression analyses were conducted to then identify the impacts of different factors (e.g. gender, rural–urban context, multiple deprivations, and school management type, net residential density, land use diversity, intersection density) on mode choice behaviour in this context. Results show that proxy report is a valid alternative to self-reported data, but only for primary pupils. Land use diversity and rural–urban context were found to be the most important factors in influencing mode choice behaviour.

Nambour : the model rural school

This paper examines the Rural Schools of Queensland. Starting with Nambour in 1917, the scheme incorporated thirty schools, and operated for over forty years. The rhetoric of the day was that boys and girls from the senior classes of primary school would be provided with elementary instruction of a practical character. In reality, the subjects taught were specifically tailored to provide farm skills to children in rural centres engaged in farming, dairying or fruit growing. Linked to each Rural School was a number of smaller surrounding schools, students from which travelled to the Rural School for special agricultural or domestic instruction. Through this action, the Queensland Department of Public Instruction left no doubt it intended to provide educational support for agrarian change and development within the state; in effect, they had set in motion the creation of a Queensland yeoman class. The Department’s intention was to arrest or reverse the trend toward urbanisation — whilst increasing agricultural productivity — through the making of a farmer born of the land and accepting of the new scientific advances in agriculture.