Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project at Dickey, Maine : draft environmental statement.

Vols. [2-11]: Appendices.

The proposed Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes hydroelectric power project.

Title from 1st paragraph, p. [1]

Researching employment relations : a self-reflexive analysis of a multi-method, school-based project

Drawing on primary data and adjunct material, this article adopts a critical self-reflexive approach to a three-year, Australian Research Council-funded projectthat explored themes around 'employment citizenship'for high school students in Queensland. The article addresses three overlapping areas that reflect some of the central dilemmas and challenges arising through the project- consent in the context of research ethics, questionnaire administration in schools, and focus group research practice. It contributes to the broader methodological literature addressing research with young people by canvassing pragmatic suggestions for future school-based research, and research addressing adolescent employment.

Catapulting into STEM education : female students’ interactions within a middle school engineering project

Despite efforts to motivate students to engage in Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, women are still underrepresented in these areas in the workforce and higher education. Targeting females at high school or earlier may be a key towards engaging them in STEM. In this paper we report on the research question: How do middle school females interact for learning about engineering education? This ethnographic study, part of a three-year longitudinal research project, investigated Year 8 female students’ learning about engineering concepts associated with designing, constructing, testing, and evaluating a catapult. Through a series of lead-up lessons and the four lesson catapult challenge (total of 18 x 45-minute lessons over 9 weeks), data from two girls within a focus group showed that the students needed to: (1) receive clarification on engineering terms to facilitate more fluent discourse, (2) question and debate conceptual understandings without peers being judgemental, and (3) have multiple opportunities for engaging with materials towards designing, constructing and explaining key concepts learnt. Implications for teachers undertaking STEM education are evident, including outlining expectations for clarifying STEM terms, outlining to students about interacting non-judgementally, and providing multiple opportunities for interacting within engineering education.

Empowering the school community for change : an evaluation of participation in the Ashgrove Healthy School Environment Project

The purpose of this study was to evaluate aspects of participation in a participatory action research project, the Ashgrove Healthy School Environment Project. Participatory action research is a form of research that creates change as an explicit part of the research process and requires the active participation of those by and for whom the research is being conducted. This study arose from concems by this researcher, who is also a co-facilitator of the project, that levels of participation were not as extensive as one might have hoped and that this seemingly low level would have a negative impact on the continuing participation of those already involved. Specifically. this evaluation sought to uncover the reasons that prompted participation, to identify structural barriers to initial involvement and to uncover participants' perceptions of the process, including barriers and opportunities. It also sought to record evidence of any shift in decision making and to draw implications about the findings that could assist the project, the school, other schools and the wider community. This evaluation involved focus group discussions and interviews with participants actively involved in the school project. The purpose was to uncover their views, feelings and perceptions about their participation and the participatory processes in use generally. It also included some examination of school documents and newsletters and as also drawn on the reflections of this 'insider' researcher, based on two years of involvement in facilitating the project. The findings that emerge from this study are heartening. Rather than feeling anxious about the long-term sustainability of the project, this researcher now feels more confident about its achievements, both in terms of the changes that have occurred in the school and about the participatory processes and levels of participation. Whilst the evaluation has identified a number of barriers, both institutional, personal and project related, it has also identified several key factors that serve to promote participation.

Female students’ interactions in a middle school engineering project : a case study

Targeting females at high school or earlier may be a key towards engaging them in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. This ethnographic study, part of a three-year longitudinal research project, investigated Year 8 female students’ learning about engineering concepts associated with designing, constructing, testing, and evaluating a catapult. There was a series of lead-up lessons and four lessons for the catapult challenge (total of 18 x 45-minute lessons) over a nine-week period. Data from two girls within a focus group showed that they needed to: (1) receive clarification on engineering terms to facilitate more fluent discourse, (2) question and debate conceptual understandings without peers being judgemental, and (3) have multiple opportunities for engaging with materials towards designing, constructing and explaining key concepts learnt. There are implications for teachers facilitating STEM education, such as: clarifying STEM terms, articulating how students can interact in non-judgmental ways, and providing multiple opportunities for interacting within engineering education.

Preliminary economic feasibility report on Deadening Lakes project, Washington County, Florida.

On cover: Economic Development Administration, Technical Assistance Project, U.S. Department of Commerce.

A formative evaluation of the Stronger Smarter Learning Communities Project. 2011 report.

This report is a formative evaluation of the operations of the DEEWR funded Stronger Smarter Learning Community (SSLC) project from September 2009 to July 2011. It is undertaken by an independent team of researchers from Queensland University of Technology, the University of Newcastle and Harvard University. It reports on findings from: documentary analysis; qualitative case studies of SSLC Hub schools; descriptive, multivariate and multilevel analysis of survey data from school leaders and teachers from SSLC Hub and Affiliate schools and from a control group of non-SSLC schools; and multilevel analysis of school-level data on SSLC Hubs, Affiliates and ACARA like-schools. Key findings from this work are that: • SSLC school leaders and teachers are reporting progress in changing school ethos around issues of: recognition of Indigenous identity, Indigenous leadership, innovative approaches to staffing and school models, Indigenous community engagement and high expectations leadership; • Many Stronger Smarter messages are reportedly having better uptake in schools with high percentages of Indigenous students; • There are no major or consistent patterns of differences between SSLC and non-SSLC schools in teacher and school leader self-reports of curriculum and pedagogy practices; and • There is no evidence to date that SSLC Hubs and Affiliates have increased attendance or increased achievement gains compared to ACARA like-schools. Twenty-one months is relatively early in this school reform project. Hence the major focus of subsequent reports will be on the documentation of comparative longitudinal gains in achievement tests and improved attendance. The 2011 and 2012 research also will model the relationships between change in school ethos/climate, changed Indigenous community relations, improved curriculum/pedagogy, and gains in Indigenous student achievement, attendance and outcomes. The key challenge for SSLC and the Stronger Smarter approach will be whether it can systematically generate change and reform in curriculum and pedagogy practices that can be empirically linked to improved student outcomes.

Now they belong to the ages : Abraham Lincoln and his contemporaries in Oak Ridge Cemetery /

"The papers of Abraham Lincoln is a project of Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, co-sponsored by the University of Illinois at Springfield. funding for Series I: Legalpapers provided by Abraham Lincoln Association, National Historical Publications and Records Commission, National Endowment for the Humanities, Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation. funding for SeriesII: Illinois Papers and Series III: Presidential papers provided by National Endowment for the Humanities"--P. 2 of cover.

Beyond a battery hen model? : a computer laboratory, micropolitics and educational change

This paper investigates what happened in one Australian primary school as part of the establishment, use and development of a computer laboratory over a period of two years. As part of a school renewal project, the computer lab was introduced as an ‘innovative’ way to improve the skills of teachers and children in information and communication technologies (ICT) and to lead to curriculum change. However, the way in which the lab was conceptualised and used worked against achieving these goals. The micropolitics of educational change and an input-output understanding of computers meant that change remained structural rather pedagogical or philosophical.

Teachers' work and pedagogy in an era of accountability

A great deal of educational policy proceeds as though teachers are malleable and ever-responsive to change. Some argue they are positioned as technicians who simply implement policy. However, how teachers go about their work and respond to reform agendas may be contingent upon many factors that are both biographical in nature and workplace related. In this paper we discuss the work of middle school teachers in low-socioeconomic communities from their perspectives. Referring to reflective interviews, meeting transcripts and an electronic reporting template, we examine how teacher participants in a school reform project describe their work - what they emphasise and what they down-play or omit. Using Foucaultian approaches to critical discourse analysis and insights from Dorothy Smith's (2005) Institutional Ethnography, we consider the 'discursive economy' (Carlson, 2005) in teachers' reported experiences of their everyday practices in northern suburbs schools in South Australia in which a democratic progressive discourse exists alongside corporate and disciplinary discourses.