School Science Lessons

This website is linked to UNESCO.org and is free to download for educational purposes. It contains a database of school science experiments and investigations in physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology, weather studies, agriculture projects for primary and secondary schools; and sexuality education and drugs education. It is based on a revision, updating and expansion of the "New UNESCO source book for science teaching", 1979 edition, UNESCO, Paris. It contains experiments from the "low cost" science teaching movement, simplified versions of classical experiments, experiments using locally available substances and kitchen chemicals, and environmental science. Some experiments anticipate experiments usually done in senior high school or college classes. The experiments should be "student-friendly" and "teacher-friendly" because there is no overwhelming technology. Enough theoretical background is included to remind teachers of the theoretical context of the experiment. Every experiment is based on materials listed in a modern commercial catalogue of chemicals and equipment for use by educational institutions. The procedures and safety standards are consistent with instructions issued by Education Queensland (Ministry of Education), State of Queensland, Australia.

Teaching in rural and remote schools: a literature review

In this paper. the authors examine a wide range of recent research into the preparation and support for teachers working in rural and remote schools. The paper reviews many preservice and inservice initiatives which highlight issues affecting:teaching and learning in schools outside the major metropolitan centres. The work is reviewed from an Australian perspective but evaluates research from throughout the world. The paper concludes that despite a large body of research (Gibson, 1994), that has identified the need for specialised pre-service preparation which accommodates the social and professional differences associated with work in rural and remote areas, the implementation of such programs by teacher training institutions has been sparse, lacking in cohesion and in many cases non-existent. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Researching University Teaching in Australia: themes and issues in academics' reflections

University teaching is a diverse enterprise which encompasses a range of disciplines, cirricula, teaching methods, learning tasks and learning approaches. Within this diversity, common themes and issues which reflect academics' understanding of effective teaching may be discerned. Drawing on written data collected from 708 practising teachers who were nominated by their Heads or Deans as exhibiting exemplary teaching practice, and from interviews conducted with 44 of these, a number of these themes and issues are identified and illustrated The findings offer insights which may stimulate further reflection on, and discussion of, the quality of teaching in higher education.

Male Teachers in Feminised Teaching Areas: marching to the beat of the men's movement drums?

Calls for more male teachers are prevalent in current gender debates in education. A dominant argument in this debate is that boys are often alienated from school because of a lack of male role models in feminised areas of the school curriculum and in primary schools. Little research has investigated male teachers' accounts of their work within feminised environments. Drawing on data collected in two research studies in music education, this paper focuses on accounts given by male teachers about (a) practices adopted specifically to work with boys and (b) the role of the male music teacher. Analysis of these data suggests that some male teachers working in feminised areas of the school curriculum adopt practices which, rather than challenging dominant constructions of masculinity, sometimes reinforce gender stereotypical behaviours in boys. We argue that calls for increasing the number of male teachers in feminised areas of schooling need also to be informed by open discussion of the underlying assumptions about masculinity which teachers themselves bring to their work.

Interactive health communication in preventive medicine - Internet-based strategies in teaching and research

Interactive health communication using Internet technologies is expanding the range and flexibility of intervention and teaching options available in preventive medicine and the health sciences. Advantages of interactive health communication include the enhanced convenience, novelty, and appeal of computer-mediated communication; its flexibility and interactivity; and automated processing. We outline some of these fundamental aspects of computer-mediated communication as it applies to preventive medicine. Further, a number of key pathways of information technology evolution are creating new opportunities for the delivery of professional education in preventive medicine and other health domains, as well as for delivering automated, self-instructional health behavior-change programs through the Internet. We briefly describe several of these key evolutionary pathways, We describe some examples from work we have done in Australia. These demonstrate how we have creatively responded to the challenges of these new information environments, and how they may be pursued in the education of preventive medicine and other health care practitioners and in the development and delivery of health behavior change programs through the Internet. Innovative and thoughtful applications of this new technology can increase the consistency, reliability, and quality of information delivered.

Soil carbon determination by high temperature combustion - A comparison with dichromate oxidation procedures and the influence of charcoal and carbonate carbon on the measured value

The measurement of organic carbon in soils has traditionally used dichromate oxidation procedures including the Wakley and Black and the Heanes methods. The measurement of carbon in soils by high temperature combustion is now widely used providing a rapid automated procedure without the use of toxic chemicals. This procedure however measures total carbon thus requiring some means of correction for soil samples containing carbonate and charcoal forms of carbon. This paper examines the effects of known additions of charcoal to a range of soil types on the results obtained by the Walkley and Black, Heanes and combustion methods. The results show, that while the charcoal carbon does not react under Walkley and Black conditions, some proportion does so with the Heanes method. A comparison of six Australian Soil and Plant Analysis Council reference soil samples by the three methods showed good agreement between the Heanes method, the combustion method and only slightly lower recoveries by the Walkley and Black procedure. Carbonate carbon will cause an overestimation of soil organic carbon by the combustion method thus requiring a separate determination of carbonate carbon to be applied as a correction. This work shows that a suitable acid pre-treatment of alkaline soils in the sample boats followed by a drying step eliminates the carbonate carbon prior to combustion and the need for an additional measurement. The measurement of carbon in soils by high temperature combustion in an oxygen atmosphere has been shown to be a rapid and reliable method capable of producing results in good agreement with one of the established dichromate oxidation procedures.

A randomized trial of a problem-based learning approach for teaching epidemiology

Purpose. To conduct a controlled trial of traditional and problem-based learning (PBL) methods of teaching epidemiology. Method. All second-year medical students (n = 136) at The University of Western Australia Medical School were offered the chance to participate in a randomized controlled trial of teaching methods fur an epidemiology course. Students who consented to participate (n = 80) were randomly assigned to either a PBL or a traditional course. Students who did not consent or did not return the consent form (n = 56) were assigned to the traditional course, Students in both streams took identical quizzes and exams. These scores, a collection of semi-quantitative feedback from all students, and a qualitative analysis of interviews with a convenience sample of six students from each stream were compared. Results. There was no significant difference in performances on quizzes or exams between PBL and traditional students. Students using PBL reported a stronger grasp of epidemiologic principles, enjoyed working with a group, and, at the end of the course, were more enthusiastic about epidemiology and its professional relevance to them than were students in the traditional course. PBL students worked more steadily during the semester but spent only marginally more time on the epidemiology course overall. Interviews corroborated these findings. Non-consenting students were older (p < 0.02) and more likely to come from non-English-speaking backgrounds (p < 0.005). Conclusions. PBL provides an academically equivalent but personally far richer learning experience. The adoption of PBL approaches to medical education makes it important to study whether PBL presents particular challenges for students whose first language is not the language of instruction.

A Practical Teaching Course in Directed Protein Evolution Using the Green Fluorescent Protein as a Model

Protein engineering is a powerful tool, which correlates protein structure with specific functions, both in applied biotechnology and in basic research. Here, we present a practical teaching course for engineering the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from Aequorea victoria by a random mutagenesis strategy using error-prone polymerase chain reaction. Screening of bacterial colonies transformed with random mutant libraries identified GFP variants with increased fluorescence yields. Mapping the three-dimensional structure of these mutants demonstrated how alterations in structural features such as the environment around the fluorophore and properties of the protein surface can influence functional properties such as the intensity of fluorescence and protein solubility.

The Australian Universities Teaching Committee project in 'Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Development in Psychology'

The Australian Universities Teaching Committee (AUTC) funds projects intended to improve the quality of teaching and learning in specific disciplinary areas. The project brief for 'Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Development in Psychology' for 2004/2005 was to 'produce an evaluative overview of courses ... with a focus on the specification and assessment of learning outcomes and ... identify strategic directions for universities to enhance teaching and learning'. This project was awarded to a consortium from The University of Queensland, University of Tasmania, and Southern Cross University. The starting point for this project is an analysis of the scientist-practitioner model and its role in curriculum design, a review of current challenges at a conceptual level, and consideration of the implications of recent changes to universities relating to such things as intemationalisation of programs and technological advances. The project will seek to bring together stakeholders from around the country in order to survey the widest possible range of perspectives on the project brief requirements. It is hoped also to establish mechanisms for fiiture scholarly discussion of these issues, including the establishment of an Australian Society for the Teaching of Psychology and an annual conference.

Effects of postnatal protein malnutrition on learning and memory procedures

Protein malnutrition induces structural, neurochemical and functional changes in the central nervous system leading to alterations in cognitive and behavioral development of rats. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of postnatal protein malnutrition on learning and memory tasks. Previously malnourished (6% protein) and well-nourished rats (16% protein) were tested in three experiments: working memory tasks in the Morris water maze (Experiment I), recognition memory of objects (Experiment II), and working memory in the water T-maze (Experiment III). The results showed higher escape latencies in malnourished animals in Experiment I, lower recognition indexes of malnourished animals in Experiment II, and no differences due to diet in Experiment III. It is suggested that protein malnutrition imposed on early life of rats can produce impairments on both working memory in the Morris maze and recognition memory in the open field tests.

History teaching today: wanderings, gains and losses

This article analyzes traditions of debate about the teaching of history in Brazil since the 1964-1984 dictatorship. It discusses the changes, continuities, achievements and losses in the history of the discipline. It emphasizes the importance of school culture, the necessary continuity of the school as an institution and dialogue with non-school forms of education.