Mapping the language of science and science teaching practices : a case study of early childhood school science

Concerns raised in educational reports about school science in terms of students. outcomes and attitudes, as well as science teaching practices prompted investigation into science learning and teaching practices at the foundational level of school science. Without science content and process knowledge, understanding issues of modern society and active participation in decision-making is difficult. This study contended that a focus on the development of the language of science could enable learners to engage more effectively in learning science and enhance their interest and attitudes towards science. Furthermore, it argued that explicit teaching practices where science language is modelled and scaffolded would facilitate the learning of science by young children at the beginning of their formal schooling. This study aimed to investigate science language development at the foundational level of school science learning in the preparatory-school with students aged five and six years. It focussed on the language of science and science teaching practices in early childhood. In particular, the study focussed on the capacity for young students to engage with and understand science language. Previous research suggests that students have difficulty with the language of science most likely because of the complexities and ambiguities of science language. Furthermore, literature indicates that tensions transpire between traditional science teaching practices and accepted early childhood teaching practices. This contention prompted investigation into means and models of pedagogy for learning foundational science language, knowledge and processes in early childhood. This study was positioned within qualitative assumptions of research and reported via descriptive case study. It was located in a preparatory-school classroom with the class teacher, teacher-aide, and nineteen students aged four and five years who participated with the researcher in the study. Basil Bernstein.s pedagogical theory coupled with Halliday.s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framed an examination of science pedagogical practices for early childhood science learning. Students. science learning outcomes were gauged by focussing a Hallydayan lens on their oral and reflective language during 12 science-focussed episodes of teaching. Data were collected throughout the 12 episodes. Data included video and audio-taped science activities, student artefacts, journal and anecdotal records, semi-structured interviews and photographs. Data were analysed according to Bernstein.s visible and invisible pedagogies and performance and competence models. Additionally, Halliday.s SFL provided the resource to examine teacher and student language to determine teacher/student interpersonal relationships as well as specialised science and everyday language used in teacher and student science talk. Their analysis established the socio-linguistic characteristics that promoted science competencies in young children. An analysis of the data identified those teaching practices that facilitate young children.s acquisition of science meanings. Positive indications for modelling science language and science text types to young children have emerged. Teaching within the studied setting diverged from perceived notions of common early childhood practices and the benefits of dynamic shifting pedagogies were validated. Significantly, young students demonstrated use of particular specialised components of school-science language in terms of science language features and vocabulary. As well, their use of language demonstrated the students. knowledge of science concepts, processes and text types. The young students made sense of science phenomena through their incorporation of a variety of science language and text-types in explanations during both teacher-directed and independent situations. The study informs early childhood science practices as well as practices for foundational school science teaching and learning. It has exposed implications for science education policy, curriculum and practices. It supports other findings in relation to the capabilities of young students. The study contributes to Systemic Functional Linguistic theory through the development of a specific resource to determine the technicality of teacher language used in teaching young students. Furthermore, the study contributes to methodology practices relating to Bernsteinian theoretical perspectives and has demonstrated new ways of depicting and reporting teaching practices. It provides an analytical tool which couples Bernsteinian and Hallidayan theoretical perspectives. Ultimately, it defines directions for further research in terms of foundation science language learning, ongoing learning of the language of science and learning science, science teaching and learning practices, specifically in foundational school science, and relationships between home and school science language experiences.

Distribution trade sector output and productivity performance : a case study of Singapore and Hong Kong 2001-2008

This paper employs the industry of origin approach to compare value added and productivity of Singapore and Hong Kong's Distribution Trade Sector for the period 2001-2008. The direct comparison between these two economies was motivated by the statements of the Singapore government: Its services sector, especially in Retail Trade, lags behind Hong Kong's productivity levels. The results show that since 2005, Singapore's Distribution performance in terms of labour productivity was below Hong Kong's level, which was largely due to poor performance in its Retail Trade sector arising from an influx of foreign workers. Results from total factor productivity (TFP) between these two economies also suggest that Hong Kong's better performance (since 2005) was largely due to its ability to employ more educated and trained workers with limited use of capital. The results suggest that polices that worked in Hong Kong may not work for Singapore because its population is more diverse which poses a challenge to policy-makers in raising its productivity level.

Interactive peer-based learning in a comparative case study : what do students gain?

As English increasingly becomes one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world today for a variety of economic, social and cultural reasons, education is impacted by globalisation, the internationalisation of universities and the diversity of learners in classrooms. The challenge for educators is to find more effective ways of teaching English language so that students are better able to create meaning and communicate in the target language as well as to transform knowledge and understanding into relevant skills for a rapidly changing world. This research focuses broadly on English language education underpinned by social constructivist principles informing communicative language teaching and in particular, interactive peer learning approaches. An intervention of interactive peer-based learning in two case study contexts of English as Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduates in a Turkish university and English as Second Language (ESL) undergraduates in an Australian university investigates what students gain from the intervention. Methodology utilising qualitative data gathered from student reflective logs, focus group interviews and researcher field notes emphasises student voice. The cross case comparative study indicates that interactive peer-based learning enhances a range of learning outcomes for both cohorts including engagement, communicative competence, diagnostic feedback as well as assisting development of inclusive social relationships, civic skills, confidence and self efficacy. The learning outcomes facilitate better adaptation to a new learning environment and culture. An iterative instructional matrix tool is a useful product of the research for first year university experiences, teacher training, raising awareness of diversity, building learning communities, and differentiating the curriculum. The study demonstrates that English language learners can experience positive impact through peer-based learning and thus holds an influential key for Australian universities and higher education.

Captured legislators and their twenty billion dollar annual superannuation cost legacy

By December 2010 total superannuation assets had reached $1.3 trillion, covering 94% of all Australians. This substantial growth was not a natural evolution. Rather it can be directly traced to three decades of bipartisan reform strategies based on a claimed public interest ideology. This article investigates the concerns raised by Superannuation Select Committees, consumer and union organisations, independent researchers and actuarial experts that, in contrast to the public interest rhetoric, the regulatory reforms have primarily achieved major private interest gains for powerful lobbyists. The findings of this analysis indicate that the democratic power of Australian governments to set economic policy agendas has been progressively eclipsed by the power of the financial services industry's producer groups. Rather than producing a best practice governance structure, fund members remain trapped in a post-reform cost paradox: no right of exit regardless of the deepening cost burden imposed. In an industry set to control a projected nominal figure of $6.7 trillion in superannuation assets by 2035, these findings suggest that the real change necessary to improve the deepening cost burden faced by fund members within a life-long, mandatory superannuation investment is now beyond any government's reach.

The current context of Queensland primary teacher engagement with professional learning through professional associations

Engaging Queensland primary teachers in professional associations can be a challenge, particularly for subject-specific associations. Professional associations are recognised providers of professional learning. By not being involved in professional associations primary teachers are missing potential quality professional learning opportunities that can impact the results of their students. The purpose of the research is twofold: Firstly, to provide a thorough understanding of the current context in order to assist professional associations who wish to change from their current level of primary teacher engagement; and secondly, to contribute to the literature in the area of professional learning for primary teachers within professional associations. Using a three part research design, interviews of primary teachers and focus groups of professional association participants and executives were conducted and themed to examine the current context of engagement. Force field analysis was used to provide the framework to identify the driving and restraining forces for primary teacher engagement in professional learning through professional associations. Communities of practice and professional learning communities were specifically examined as potential models for professional associations to consider. The outcome is a diagrammatic framework outlining the current context of primary teacher engagement, specifically the driving and restraining forces of primary teacher engagement with professional associations. This research also identifies considerations for professional associations wishing to change their level of primary teacher engagement. The results of this research show that there are key themes that provide maximum impact if wishing to increase engagement of primary teachers in professional associations. However the implications of this lies with professional associations and their alignment between intent and practice dedicated to this change.

Redesigning school spaces : creating possibilities for learning

This chapter reports on a project in which university researchers’ expertise in architecture, literacy and communications enabled two teachers in one school to expand the forms of literacy that primary school children engaged in. Starting from the school community’s concerns about an urban renewal project in their neighbourhood, participants collaborated to develop a curriculum of spatial literacies with real-world goals and outcomes. We describe how the creative re-design of curriculum and pedagogy by classroom teachers, in collaboration with university academics and students, allowed students aged 8 to 12 years to appropriate semiotic resources from their local neighbourhood, home communities, and popular culture to make a difference to their material surrounds. We argue that there are productive possibilities for educators who integrate critical and place-based approaches to the design and teaching of the literacy curriculum with work in other learning areas such as society and environment, technology and design and the arts. The student production of expansive and socially significant texts enabled by such approaches may be especially necessary in contemporary neoconservative policy contexts that tend to limit and constrain what is possible in schools.

An efficient public key management regime for vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETS)

The primary goal of the Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) is to provide real-time safety-related messages to motorists to enhance road safety. Accessing and disseminating safety-related information through the use of wireless communications technology in VANETs should be secured, as motorists may make critical decisions in dealing with an emergency situation based on the received information. If security concerns are not addressed in developing VANET systems, an adversary can tamper with, or suppress, the unprotected message to mislead motorists to cause traffic accidents and hazards. Current research on secure messaging in VANETs focuses on employing the certificate-based Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) scheme to support message encryption and digital signing. The security overhead of such a scheme, however, creates a transmission delay and introduces a time-consuming verification process to VANET communications. This thesis has proposed a novel public key verification and management approach for VANETs; namely, the Public Key Registry (PKR) regime. Compared to the VANET PKI scheme, this new approach can satisfy necessary security requirements with improved performance and scalability, and at a lower cost by reducing the security overheads of message transmission and eliminating digital certificate deployment and maintenance issues. The proposed PKR regime consists of the required infrastructure components, rules for public key management and verification, and a set of interactions and associated behaviours to meet these rule requirements. This is achieved through a system design as a logic process model with functional specifications. The PKR regime can be used as development guidelines for conforming implementations. An analysis and evaluation of the proposed PKR regime includes security features assessment, analysis of the security overhead of message transmission, transmission latency, processing latency, and scalability of the proposed PKR regime. Compared to certificate-based PKI approaches, the proposed PKR regime can maintain the necessary security requirements, significantly reduce the security overhead by approximately 70%, and improve the performance by 98%. Meanwhile, the result of the scalability evaluation shows that the latency of employing the proposed PKR regime stays much lower at approximately 15 milliseconds, whether operating in a huge or small environment. It is therefore believed that this research will create a new dimension to the provision of secure messaging services in VANETs.

A Cochrane review on the effects of end-of-life care pathways : do they improve patient outcomes?

Clinical pathways for end-of-life care management are used widely around the world and have been regarded as the gold standard. The aim of this review was to assess the effects of end-of-life care pathways (EOLCP), compared with usual care (no pathway) or with care guided by a different end-of-life care pathway, across all healthcare settings (e.g. hospitals, residential aged care facilities, community). We searched the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Review group specialised register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, review articles and reference lists of relevant articles. The search was carried out in September 2009. All randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomised trials or high quality controlled before and after studies comparing use versus non-use of an EOLCP in caring for the dying were considered for inclusion. The search identified 920 potentially relevant titles, but no studies met criteria for inclusion in the review. Without further available evidence, recommendations for the use of end-of-life pathways in caring for the dying cannot be made. There are now recent concerns regarding the big scale roll-out of EOLCP despite the lack of evidence, nurses should report any safety concerns or adverse effects associated with such pathways.

Developing sustainable housing through building utilities and transport innovation

Sustainability concerns every citizen. Housing affordability and sustainable solutions are being highlighted in research and practice in many parts of the world. This paper discusses the development of a Commuter Energy and Building Utilities System (CEBUS) in sustainable housing projects as a means of bridging the gap between current median house pricing and target affordable house pricing for low income earners. Similar scales of sustainable housing development cannot be achieved through independent application of current best practice methods in ecologically sustainable development strategies or transit oriented development master plans. This paper presents the initial stage of research on first capital and ongoing utilities and transport cost savings available from these sustainable design methods. It also outlines further research and development of a CEBUS Dynamic Simulation Model and Conceptual Framework for the Australian property development and construction industry.

Marginalised students and insider knowledge

One of the claims made for valuing the voices of marginalised students is that an insider perspective can be revealed on student issues and the ways in which education policies and systems impact on them. This chapter examines the ways in which participants in an Australian ‘students-as-researchers’ (SaR) project were able to raise knowledge of and address, to some extent, long-standing issues of racism in their schools. The SaR project has operated in more than thirty schools for periods of one to five years. Based on a participatory action research model, groups of secondary school students from schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged communities have worked with nominated teachers and university researchers to identify and research local issues relating to low academic outcomes and to develop and enact responses to the identified concerns. The voices of marginalised students quoted in this chapter illustrate that important insider knowledge can be revealed through the SaR process. Where student views have been acknowledged and acted on by the schools, significant change to student-teacher relationships and school culture has been achieved; the participants have been personally empowered and academic improvements across the schools have been noted. For such change to occur, however, a culture of mutual respect must be created in which teachers and school administrators value students’ views and are open to the possibility of unfavourable criticism.

Caregiving attachment in mothers with schizophrenia: Child and Youth Mental Health Service, Mater Misericordiae Health Services, South Brisbane, Australia

The assessment of parenting capacity and appropriate provision of services to assist parents with mental illness requires improved understanding of how a mental illness may affect the parent-child relationship. Mothers with mental illness may be defensive when providing self-report accounts of their parenting. Within the framework of attachment theory, this study developed a methodology for investigating the quality and characteristics of caregiving through exploration of the mothers' perceptions and strategies in managing her child at bedtime. Utilising questions derived from caregiving attachment research, five mothers with schizophrenia participated in a semi-structured interview concerning bedtime separation. In addition the mothers completed a modified standardised measure of attachment style, the Parent Bonding Instrument, to provide information regarding how they perceived their parenting style. The mothers demonstrated very poor understanding of their child's bedtime anxiety. They described difficulty being effective with bedtime strategies and attributed it to medication-induced fatigue. The interview data contrasted significantly with the Parent Bonding Instrument data in which the mothers did not identify concerns in themselves as caregivers. This study demonstrated the feasibility of a novel approach to gathering information regarding parenting from mothers with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Adolescent experiences of 'family meals' in Australia

Popular discourse laments the decline of the ‘family meal’, leading to family fragmentation and nutritional compromise. This article reports findings of a study investigating beliefs and practices surrounding the ‘family meal’, using data drawn from an on-line survey completed by 625 adolescents in Perth, Western Australia. The results challenge current concerns about the loss of the ‘family meal’, demonstrating that, for a majority, meals are eaten together rather than in isolation; are home-made rather than store bought or fast food; and are sites of conversation regardless of the presence of a television. Adolescents are divided, however, on the value of the ‘family meal’, with half seeing it as a positive experience of family togetherness and half regarding it negatively or as unimportant. The findings go some way to dispelling the notion that the ‘family meal’ no longer exists in Australia.

Acetabular impaction grafting in total hip replacement

Background and purpose: Acetabular impaction grafting has been shown to have excellent results, but concerns regarding its suitability for larger defects have been highlighted. We report the use of this technique in a large cohort of patients with the aim of better understanding the limitations of the technique. Methods: We investigated a consecutive group of 339 cases of impaction grafting of the cup with morcellised impacted allograft bone for survivorship and mechanisms for early failure. Results: Kaplan Meier survival was 89.1% (95% CI 83.2 to 95.0%) at 5.8 years for revision for any reason, and 91.6% (95% CI 85.9 to 97.3%) for revision for aseptic loosening of the cup. Of the 15 cases revised for aseptic cup loosening, nine were large rim mesh reconstructions, two were fractured Kerboull-Postel plates, two were migrating cages, one medial wall mesh failure and one impaction alone failed. Interpretation: In our series, results were disappointing where a large rim mesh or significant reconstruction was required. In light of these results, our technique has changed in that we now use predominantly larger chips of purely cancellous bone, 8-10 mm3 in size, to fill the cavity and larger diameter cups to better fill the mouth of the reconstructed acetabulum. In addition we now make greater use of i) implants made of a highly porous in-growth surface to constrain allograft chips and ii) bulk allografts combined with cages and morcellised chips in cases with very large segmental and cavitary defects.

The geometric modelling of social frames and contexts

How do humans respond to their social context? This question is becoming increasingly urgent in a society where democracy requires that the citizens of a country help to decide upon its policy directions, and yet those citizens frequently have very little knowledge of the complex issues that these policies seek to address. Frequently, we find that humans make their decisions more with reference to their social setting, than to the arguments of scientists, academics, and policy makers. It is broadly anticipated that the agent based modelling (ABM) of human behaviour will make it possible to treat such social effects, but we take the position here that a more sophisticated treatment of context will be required in many such models. While notions such as historical context (where the past history of an agent might affect its later actions) and situational context (where the agent will choose a different action in a different situation) abound in ABM scenarios, we will discuss a case of a potentially changing context, where social effects can have a strong influence upon the perceptions of a group of subjects. In particular, we shall discuss a recently reported case where a biased worm in an election debate led to significant distortions in the reports given by participants as to who won the debate (Davis et al 2011). Thus, participants in a different social context drew different conclusions about the perceived winner of the same debate, with associated significant differences among the two groups as to who they would vote for in the coming election. We extend this example to the problem of modelling the likely electoral responses of agents in the context of the climate change debate, and discuss the notion of interference between related questions that might be asked of an agent in a social simulation that was intended to simulate their likely responses. A modelling technology which could account for such strong social contextual effects would benefit regulatory bodies which need to navigate between multiple interests and concerns, and we shall present one viable avenue for constructing such a technology. A geometric approach will be presented, where the internal state of an agent is represented in a vector space, and their social context is naturally modelled as a set of basis states that are chosen with reference to the problem space.

Spatial Science News from QUT April 2011

Multiple awards for Spatial/Surveying lecturer, raising entry quality and commencing numbers at QUT, Gardens Point rapt in promise of things to come, STEM building progress.