Enriching students’ intellectual diet through inquiry based learning

Traditionally, Science education has stressed the importance of teaching students to conduct ‘scientific inquiry’, with the main focus being the experimental model of inquiry used by real world scientists. Current educational approaches using constructivist pedagogy recognise the value of inquiry as a method for promoting the development of deep understanding of discipline content. A recent Information Learning Activity undertaken by a Grade Eight Science class was observed to discover how inquiry based learning is implemented in contemporary Science education. By analysing student responses to questionnaires and assessment task outcomes, the author was able to determine the level of inquiry inherent in the activity and how well the model supported student learning and the development of students’ information literacy skills. Although students achieved well overall, some recommendations are offered that may enable teachers to better exploit the learning opportunities provided by inquiry based learning. Planning interventions at key stages of the inquiry process can assist students to learn more effective strategies for dealing with cognitive and affective challenges. Allowing students greater input into the selection of topic or focus of the activity may encourage students to engage more deeply with the learning task. Students are likely to experience greater learning benefit from access to developmentally appropriate resources, increased time to explore topics and multiple opportunities to undertake information searches throughout the learning activity. Finally, increasing the cognitive challenge can enhance both the depth of students’ learning and their information literacy skills.

CCi Submission to ALRC Copyright Inquiry

The attached report was prepared by Professor Terry Flew, Dr. Nicolas Suzor and Dr. Bonnie Liu of the Queensland University of Technology.   It was developed in consultation with Professor Stuart Cunningham, Professor Anne Fitzgerald, Associate Professor Axel Bruns, Associate Professor Jean Burgess (QUT), Professor Julian Thomas (Swinburne University of Technology), Professor Christoph Antons (Deakin University), and film producer Ms. Cathy Henkel (Virgo Productions and Adjunct Professor, QUT).

Geographical inquiry in Australian schools : a retrospective analysis

This paper explores the occurrence of geographical inquiry in the Australian curriculum since Geography became a high school subject in 1911. In this historical overview, I reflect upon my own experiences of undertaking geographical inquiry during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Primary school geographical inquiry experiences can be virtually non-existent despite being advocated in syllabus documents. High school geographical inquiry experiences do exist in some classrooms, but that geographic drive is also necessary to complete a meaningful inquiry experience. Although geographical inquiry is heavily advocated in Australia’s new Australian Curriculum: Geography, more work is needed in this area relating to teacher professional learning.

Upper-body morbidity after breast cancer : incidence and evidence for evaluation, prevention, and management within a prospective surveillance model of care

The purpose of this paper is to review the incidence of upper-body morbidity (arm and breast symptoms, impairments, and lymphedema), methods for diagnosis, and prevention and treatment strategies. It was also the purpose to highlight the evidence base for integration of prospective surveillance for upper-body morbidity within standard clinical care of women with breast cancer. Between 10% and 64% of women report upper-body symptoms between 6 months and 3 years after breast cancer, and approximately 20% develop lymphedema. Symptoms remain common into longer-term survivorship, and although lymphedema may be transient for some, those who present with mild lymphedema are at increased risk of developing moderate to severe lymphedema. The etiology of morbidity seems to be multifactorial, with the most consistent risk factors being those associated with extent of treatment. However, known risk factors cannot reliably distinguish between those who will and will not develop upper-body morbidity. Upper-body morbidity may be treatable with physical therapy. There is also evidence in support of integrating regular surveillance for upper-body morbidity into the routine care provided to women with breast cancer, with early diagnosis potentially contributing to more effective management and prevention of progression of these conditions.

Classification—Content Regulation and Convergent Media

On 24 March 2011, Attorney-General Robert McClelland referred the National Classification Scheme to the ALRC and asked it to conduct widespread public consultation across the community and industry. The review considered issues including: existing Commonwealth, State and Territory classification laws the current classification categories contained in the Classification Act, Code and Guidelines the rapid pace of technological change the need to improve classification information available to the community the effect of media on children and the desirability of a strong content and distribution industry in Australia. During the inquiry, the ALRC conducted face-to-face consultations with stakeholders, hosted two online discussion forums, and commissioned pilot community and reference group forums into community attitudes to higher level media content. The ALRC published two consultation documents—an Issues Paper and a Discussion Paper—and invited submissions from the public. The Final Report was tabled in Parliament on 1 March 2012. Recommendations: The report makes 57 recommendations for reform. The net effect of the recommendations would be the establishment of a new National Classification Scheme that: applies consistent rules to content that are sufficiently flexible to be adaptive to technological change; places a regulatory focus on restricting access to adult content, helping to promote cyber-safety and protect children from inappropriate content across media platforms; retains the Classification Board as an independent classification decision maker with an essential role in setting benchmarks; promotes industry co-regulation, encouraging greater industry content classification, with government regulation more directly focused on content of higher community concern; provides for pragmatic regulatory oversight, to meet community expectations and safeguard community standards; reduces the overall regulatory burden on media content industries while ensuring that content obligations are focused on what Australians most expect to be classified; and harmonises classification laws across Australia, for the benefit of consumers and content providers.

Nurse staffing levels and the incidence of mortality and morbidity in the adult intensive care unit : a literature review

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that nurse staffing levels, among many other factors in the hospital setting, contribute to adverse patient outcomes. Concerns about patient safety and quality of care have resulted in numerous studies being conducted to examine the relationship between nurse staffing levels and the incidence of adverse patient events in both general wards and intensive care units. AIM: The aim of this paper is to review literature published in the previous 10 years which examines the relationship between nurse staffing levels and the incidence of mortality and morbidity in adult intensive care unit patients. METHODS: A literature search from 2002 to 2011 using the MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsycINFO, and Australian digital thesis databases was undertaken. The keywords used were: intensive care; critical care; staffing; nurse staffing; understaffing; nurse-patient ratios; adverse outcomes; mortality; ventilator-associated pneumonia; ventilator-acquired pneumonia; infection; length of stay; pressure ulcer/injury; unplanned extubation; medication error; readmission; myocardial infarction; and renal failure. A total of 19 articles were included in the review. Outcomes of interest are patient mortality and morbidity, particularly infection and pressure ulcers. RESULTS: Most of the studies were observational in nature with variables obtained retrospectively from large hospital databases. Nurse staffing measures and patient outcomes varied widely across the studies. While an overall statistical association between increased nurse staffing levels and decreased adverse patient outcomes was not found in this review, most studies concluded that a trend exists between increased nurse staffing levels and decreased adverse events. CONCLUSION: While an overall statistical association between increased nurse staffing levels and decreased adverse patient outcomes was not found in this review, most studies demonstrated a trend between increased nurse staffing levels and decreased adverse patient outcomes in the intensive care unit which is consistent with previous literature. While further more robust research methodologies need to be tested in order to more confidently demonstrate this association and decrease the influence of the many other confounders to patient outcomes; this would be difficult to achieve in this field of research.

A basis for inquiry into policy considerations for increasing the application of biophilic urbanism

Urban design that harnesses natural features (such as green roofs and green walls) to improve design outcomes is gaining significant interest, particularly as there is growing evidence of links between human health and wellbeing, and contact with nature. The use of such natural features can provide many significant benefits, such as reduced urban heat island effects, reduced peak energy demand for building cooling, enhanced stormwater attenuation and management, and reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The principle of harnessing natural features as functional design elements, particularly in buildings, is becoming known as ‘biophilic urbanism’. Given the potential for global application and benefits for cities from biophilic urbanism, and the growing number of successful examples of this, it is timely to develop enabling policies that help overcome current barriers to implementation. This paper describes a basis for inquiry into policy considerations related to increasing the application of biophilic urbanism. The paper draws on research undertaken as part of the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) In Australia in partnership with the Western Australian Department of Finance, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Green Roofs Australasia, and Townsville City Council (CitySolar Program). The paper discusses the emergence of a qualitative, mixed-method approach that combines an extensive literature review, stakeholder workshops and interviews, and a detailed study of leading case studies. It highlights the importance of experiential and contextual learnings to inform biophilic urbanism and provides a structure to distil such learnings to benefit other applications.

Submission to House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications inquiry into IT Pricing

The strategies of price discrimination engaged in by a number of international publishers, coupled with a lack of competition and restrictions on the ability of consumers to engage in arbitrage, is likely to undermine the legitimacy of copyright law in Australia. By increasing prices beyond a reasonable and fair level, these strategies also undermine the goal of copyright law to enhance access to cultural goods. Enhancing access – and therefore lowering prices – is crucial to enhancing Australia's innovative capacity and the ability of Australians to experience, learn, act, and grow through cultural works. We recommend that the committee investigates the following options: 1. Repeal parallel importation restrictions; 2. Fundamentally reconsider the operation of anti-circumvention law in the context of digital distribution models; 3. Prohibit and render unenforceable contractual restrictions on parallel importation; 4. Introduce a right of digital resale in Australia.

Submission to National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from The Australian Psychological Society

Executive Summary The Australian Psychological Society categorically condemns the practice of detaining child asylum seekers and their families, on the grounds that it is not commensurate with psychological best practice concerning children’s development and mental health and wellbeing. Detention of children in this fashion is also arguably a violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A thorough review of relevant psychological theory and available research findings from international research has led the Australian Psychological Society to conclude that: • Detention is a negative socialisation experience. • Detention is accentuates developmental risks. • Detention threatens the bonds between children and significant caregivers. • Detention limits educational opportunities. • Detention has traumatic impacts on children of asylum seekers. • Detention reduces children’s potential to recover from trauma. • Detention exacerbates the impacts of other traumas. • Detention of children from these families in many respects is worse for them than being imprisoned. In the absence of any indication from the Australian Government that it intends in the near future to alter the practice of holding children in immigration detention, the Australian Psychological Society’s intermediate position is that the facilitation of short-term and long-term psychological development and wellbeing of children is the basic tenet upon which detention centres should be audited and judged. Based on that position, the Society has identified a series of questions and concerns that arise directly from the various psychological perspectives that have been brought to bear on estimating the effects of detention on child asylum seekers. The Society argues that, because these questions and concerns relate specifically to improvement and maintenance of child detainees’ educational, social and psychological wellbeing, they are legitimate matters for the Inquiry to consider and investigate. • What steps are currently being taken to monitor the psyc hological welfare of the children in detention? In particular, what steps are being taken to monitor the psychological wellbeing of children arriving from war-torn countries? • What qualifications and training do staff who care for children and their families in detention centres have? What knowledge do they have of psychological issues faced by people who have been subjected to traumatic experiences and are suffering high degrees of anxiety, stress and uncertainty? • What provisions have been made for psycho-educational assessment of children’s specific learning needs prior to their attending formal educational programmes? • who are suffering chronic and/or vicarious trauma as a result of witnessing threatening behaviour whilst in detention? • What provisions have been made for families who have been seriously affected by displacement to participate in family therapy? • What critical incident debriefing procedures are in place for children who have witnessed their parents, other family members, or social acquaintances engaging in acts of self-harm or being harmed while in detention? What psychotherapeutic support is in place for children who themselves have been harmed or have engaged in self- harmful acts while in detention? • What provisions are in place for parenting programmes that provide support for parents of children under extremely difficult psychological and physical circumstances? • What efforts are being made to provide parents with the opportunity to model traditional family roles for children, such as working to earn an income, meal preparation, other household duties, etc.? • What opportunities are in place for the assessment of safety issues such as bullying, and sexual or physical abuse of children or their mothers in detention centres? • How are resources distributed to children and families in detention centres? • What socialization opportunities are available either within detention centres or in the wider community for children to develop skills and independence, engage in social activities, participate in cultural traditions, and communicate and interaction with same-age peers and adults from similar ethnic and religious backgrounds? • What access do children and families have to videos, music and entertainment from their cultures of origin? • What provisions are in place to ensure the maintenance of privacy in a manner commensurate with usual cultural practice? • What is the Government’s rationale for continuing to implement a policy of mandatory detention of child asylum seekers that on the face of it is likely to have a pernicious impact on these children’s mental health? • In view of the evidence on the potential long-term impact of mandatory detention on children, what processes may be followed by Government to avoid such a practice and, more importantly, to develop policies and practices that will have a positive impact on these children’s psychological development and mental health?

Researching 'what works' in early intervention and prevention of homelessness : From systematic reviews to collaborative inquiry

Mechanisms of intervention and the contexts they are used in interact in complex ways. This helps explain why we can’t overgeneralize about what works in respect of models of service designed to prevent or respond to homelessness. This said there are some key messages from the totality of evidence that has been accumulated to date. First homelessness would be a lot easier to prevent for first or subsequent episodes if adequate and appropriate (developmentally/ culturally) housing was available. Second (and often dependent on the first) timely support of a particular character ‘works’ both in a preventive sense and in periods when people experience ongoing challenges which may render them vulnerable to further homelessness. This paper reflects on some of the critical features of how we can generate and use evidence, and how these complement each other in important ways.

Towards connoisseurship in educational leadership : following the data in a three stage line of inquiry

Following an epistemic frame advanced by Elliott Eisner (2002), it is argued that the tradition of the arts and perspectives from artists have the potential to yield refreshing and interesting insights for the field of educational leadership. Moreover, it is argued that Eisner’s work on tacit knowledge which he advanced as an example of connoisseurship has important implications and posits the possibility of developing a more discerning “eye” in describing the work of educational leaders. To assess these assertions, the paper reports on two stages of interviews with nine former and current artists from Australia in order to understand the processes in which they engaged when they create art and how they encountered and managed barriers. The implications of this preliminary investigation are explored in this paper as they related to how leadership is defined and the issues pertaining to claims that leadership studies must be “scientific” to have currency and credibility. The article begins by making an argument for the value of the arts to advanced a more nuanced view of leadership, considers the importance of connoisseurship as a frame for understanding it, and then explores the cognitive functions performed by the arts before turning to the study at hand.

Assessing the short-term effects of heatwaves on mortality and morbidity in Brisbane, Australia : comparison of case-crossover and time series analyses

Background Heat-related impacts may have greater public health implications as climate change continues. It is important to appropriately characterize the relationship between heatwave and health outcomes. However, it is unclear whether a case-crossover design can be effectively used to assess the event- or episode-related health effects. This study examined the association between exposure to heatwaves and mortality and emergency hospital admissions (EHAs) from non-external causes in Brisbane, Australia, using both case-crossover and time series analyses approaches. Methods Poisson generalised additive model (GAM) and time-stratified case-crossover analyses were used to assess the short-term impact of heatwaves on mortality and EHAs. Heatwaves exhibited a significant impact on mortality and EHAs after adjusting for air pollution, day of the week, and season. Results For time-stratified case-crossover analysis, odds ratios of mortality and EHAs during heatwaves were 1.62 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.36–1.94) and 1.22 (95% CI: 1.14–1.30) at lag 1, respectively. Time series GAM models gave similar results. Relative risks of mortality and EHAs ranged from 1.72 (95% CI: 1.40–2.11) to 1.81 (95% CI: 1.56–2.10) and from 1.14 (95% CI: 1.06–1.23) to 1.28 (95% CI: 1.21–1.36) at lag 1, respectively. The risk estimates gradually attenuated after the lag of one day for both case-crossover and time series analyses. Conclusions The risk estimates from both case-crossover and time series models were consistent and comparable. This finding may have implications for future research on the assessment of event- or episode-related (e.g., heatwave) health effects.