Investigating illegal fishing practices on Lake George: a case study of Kayinja landing site, Kamwenge District

The study was done at Kayinja landing site, one of the six gazzeted landing sites located on the eastern side of Lake George, Kamwenge district to investigate illegal fishing practices on the lake. The objectives of the study were to identify the fish species most affected by illegal fishing, factors that drive illegal fishing on the lake, impact of illegal fishing to the fishery and livelihoods of the communities around the lake and to find out the prospect of ending illegal fishing on the lake. A participatory approach was used during the study where fishers and fisheries staff were interviewed for the fish species targeted, current management approach so as to find out species at risk and anticipate the prospect or ending illegal fishing respectively also past records of the daily catch ror a period of five years were used to study the trend henee ascertain the impact of illegal fishing to the fishery and livelihoods of the communities around. Results indicated that the most targeted fish hence other wise affected by illegal fishing is Oreochromis niloticus, the most immediate impact being a decline in fish stocks, whereas defining mechanisms to increase fish stocks through closed seasons and implementation of minimum mesh size policy being the prospect to end illegal fishing on the lake.

Renewing assessment practices: literacy teaching and learning in digital environments

Interpretations of “literacy” and approaches to literacy pedagogy and assessment are under renewal as meaning-making and learning are increasingly situated in digitized environments. While the implications of these shifts are in part technological, they are also relational, as students are increasingly positioned as interactive with participatory roles in self-knowledge and increased responsibility for their learning. However, while shifts are occurring in understandings of literacy and approaches to literacy pedagogy, the same cannot be said for the way in which assessments of digital literacies are undertaken. There is a lack of valid, reliable, and practical assessments of new literacies to inform and help students to become better prepared for study, work, and citizenship in digital environments. This article maps five characteristics of effective formative assessment in print-based classrooms with seven affordancesin digital learning and assessment to suggest an analytical framework for examining teacher and student assessment in digital environments. Drawing on data from a research project in which a team of teachers introduced a one-to-one computing program and worked to renew their literacy assessment practices, this article discusses how each of the seven affordances are enacted in the assessment practices in a years five and six primary school classroom. The findings from this research project show that educational technologies have the potential to enable new approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment that better align with the needs of twenty-first century literacy learners. The findings alsosupport approaches to formative assessment that value print and multimodality and engage students in more flexible and differentiated ways. They can enable teachers and students to be re-positioned as designers, knowledge producers, and collaborative learners. The seven affordances provide a framework that holds rich possibilities for teacher learning and planning as prompts to support reflection on formative assessment practices, critique habitual practices, and considernew opportunities.

Promoting critical thinking to high school students when teaching about climate change through a participatory approach

New paradigms in science education are focused on moving towards a sustainable society, meaning redefining the educational practices and developing new methods in order to establish better relationships among individuals, groups, and the society. Being able to reflect upon developing new pedagogic strategies, that support collective action, is crucial to favour social change. Education in the twenty-first century should be based on critical and social theories of the environment and development, in order to link the prospects for sustainability to new forms of economy, social welfare, governance and education (Barraza et al., Environ Educ Res 9(3):347-357, 2003). The nature of contemporary knowledge and knowledge construction demands increasing collaboration and communication between once isolated disciplines. Curriculum integration can reduce curriculum fragmentation, promoting a better awareness of the way different forms of knowledge work and contribute to collaborative knowledge construction, stimulating a critical and a reflexive perspective in their learners. This chapter will focus on the pedagogic strategies used in a research project aiming to provide potential young scientists from rural communities of Mexico and Alaska with a unique opportunity to learn more about their own local knowledge whilst gaining a better understanding of how it intersects with global processes. The project has helped students make cognitive links between their scientific knowledge and life experience, and has established affective and behavioral links which have intensified the ways in which they value their environment, culture, traditions and communities (Tytler et al. 2010; Bodenhorn, Learning about environmental research in a context of climate change: an international scholastic interchange (pilot project). Final report. BASC (Barrow Arctic Science Consortium)). The conjunction of collaborative, interdisciplinary work and multiple pedagogic strategies applied in this specific educational practice has shown the potential of implementing research group initiatives in science education. We believe that educational approaches that create spaces for students to work together towards a goal defined as a common good, can contribute significantly to develop effective science programs in schools.

Creative Practices Around the Production of Cork

Cork, as a natural product provided by the bark of the cork oak tree, is an important staple of the Portuguese economy and important to Portuguese culture. It is a sustainable product with a positive ecological footprint, from harvesting to industrial production, with the advantage of creating a local economic model through regional labour activity and distribution. Within the balance between nature-human-economy to create a sustainable system, cork production in Portugal represents a human and social dimension. By focusing on that dimension and by creating an awareness of the cultural and social impact of the activity and by re-appraising the meaning of the material within the culture, the study reframes a consideration of the actual place of labour and production. The human, geophysical, historical, social, economic, ecological and cultural aspects of the place are observed as regards their relation to work or labour in that physical space. A pilot study is being developed in the village of Azaruja in the district of Évora, Portugal. In this small locality, cork is very important in terms of the relationships between the physical subsistence of their residents and the local natural resources, because it structures the place in its cultural, social and economical dimensions. This paper outlines the theoretical foundations, the process and the outcomes of the participatory ecodesign project titled Creative Practices Around the Production of Cork which was initiated by a Portuguese artist/design researcher and developed further through the collaboration with the other two authors, one a Portuguese visual artist/researcher and the other a Turkish fashion designer/theorist. The investigation focuses on questions that expand the notion of place for artists and designers, filtered through the lenses of manual labourers in order to understand their physical, social, cultural and economic relationship with the environment. To create the process of interaction with the place and the people, a creative collaborative dynamic is developed between the authors with their range of artistic sensibilities and the local population. To adopt a holistic notion of sustainability and cultural identity a process of investigation is designated to: (1) analyse, test and interpret - through the dissemination of life stories, visual representation of the place and the creation of cork objects - the importance of culture related to the labour activity of a local natural resource that determines and structures the region; (2) to give public recognition to those involved, taking into account their sense of belonging to the place and in order to show the value of their sustainable labour activities related to local natural resources; (3) to contribute to the knowledge of the place and to its dynamism through an aesthetic approach to labour activities. With reference to fields of knowledge such as anthropology, the social arts and sustainable design, a practice-based research is conducted with collaborative and participatory design methods to create an open model of interaction which involves local people in the realization of the project. Outcomes of this research will be presented in the paper as a survey analysis with theoretical conclusions.