Description:
Calvin Tromp and Rob Davis lead us through a mapping task that engages students in significant learning in the final weeks of the year: this paper reports on a classroom investigation of a sequence of cross-disciplinary mapping lessons undertaken by Grade Five students at Black Hill Primary, a Victorian State Primary School in Ballarat
Description:
As universities embrace new technologies to enhance students’ learning experiences and increase flexibility for student learning, tertiary students are increasingly presented with a wider range of learning resources to support their studies. This study investigates ways in which a diverse group of undergraduate science students use the resources that are provided to them. The majority of these students favoured face-to-face lectures due to the ability to interact with lecturers and other students and the ability to ask questions in real time. Recorded lectures were seen to be useful for clarification and revision, largely because they can be paused and rewound, facilitating review of difficult material. Text-based resources such as study guides remain highly valued and highly used, especially for students working in off-campus mode. On-line discussion forums are not seen as a substitute for face to face interaction; a need for active facilitation of such forums is highlighted.
Description:
As universities embrace new technologies to enhance students’ learning experiences and increase flexibility for student learning, tertiary students are increasingly presented with a wider range of learning resources to support their studies. This study investigates ways in which a diverse group of undergraduate science students use the resources that are provided to them. The majority of these students favoured face-to-face lectures due to the ability to interact with lecturers and other students and the ability to ask questions in real time. Recorded lectures were seen to be useful for clarification and revision, largely because they can be paused and rewound, facilitating review of difficult material. Text-based resources such as study guides remain highly valued and highly used, especially for students working in off-campus mode. On-line discussion forums are not seen as a substitute for face to face interaction; a need for active facilitation of such forums is highlighted.
Description:
Parent-controlled and community based Christian schools are a relatively new phenomenon in Australia. Nearly two-thirds of all students in Australia attend State, or public, schools. Around twenty percent attend Catholic schools, with the remainder attending other non-government or independent schools (Schools Australia, 2010). Most of the independent schools are tied to particular religious affiliations, such as Anglican, Baptist, Greek Orthodox, Islamic, Jewish, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist. Approximately forty per cent of these independent schools, roughly five percent of the total Australian student population, comprise other new Christian schools. This paper explores leadership issues in new Christian schools that foster religious education as an integral part of the total formation of the individual.
Description:
This study analyses some of the consequences of adopting a functional/modelling approach to the teaching of algebra. The teaching of one class of 17 students was observed over five weeks, with 15 students undertaking both pre- and post-tests and 6 students and the teacher being interviewed individually. Use of graphics calculators made the predominantly graphical approach feasible. Students made considerable progress in describing linear relationships algebraically. They commented favourably on several aspects of learning concepts through problems in real contexts and were able to set up equations to solve contextualised problems. Three features of the program exerted a triple influence on students use and understanding of algebraic symbols. Students concern to express features of the context was evident in some responses, as was the influence of particular contexts selected. Use of graphics calculators affected some students choice of letters. The functional approach was evident in the meanings ascribed to letters and rules. Students were very positively disposed to the calculators, and interesting differences were observed between the confidence with which they asked questions about the technology and the diffidence with which they asked mathematical questions.
Description:
This study analyses some of the consequences of adopting a functional/modelling approach to the teaching of algebra. The teaching of one class of 17 students was observed over five weeks, with 15 students undertaking both pre- and post-tests and 6 students and the teacher being interviewed individually. Use of graphics calculators made the predominantly graphical approach feasible. Students made considerable progress in describing linear relationships algebraically. They commented favourably on several aspects of learning concepts through problems in real contexts and were able to set up equations to solve contextualised problems. Three features of the program exerted a triple influence on students use and understanding of algebraic symbols. Students concern to express features of the context was evident in some responses, as was the influence of particular contexts selected. Use of graphics calculators affected some students choice of letters. The functional approach was evident in the meanings ascribed to letters and rules. Students were very positively disposed to the calculators, and interesting differences were observed between the confidence with which they asked questions about the technology and the diffidence with which they asked mathematical questions.
Description:
Telomeres are tandem repeat DNA sequences located at distal ends of chromosomes that protect against genomic DNA degradation and chromosomal instability. Excessive telomere shortening leads to cellular senescence and for this reason telomere length is a marker of biological age. Abnormally short telomeres may culminate in the manifestation of a number of cardio-metabolic diseases. Age-related cardio-metabolic diseases attributable to an inactive lifestyle, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, are associated with short leukocyte telomeres. Exercise training prevents and manages the symptoms of many cardio-metabolic diseases whilst concurrently maintaining telomere length. The positive relationship between exercise training, physical fitness and telomere length raises the possibility of a mediating role of telomeres in chronic disease prevention via exercise. Further elucidation of the underpinning molecular mechanisms of how exercise maintains telomere length should provide crucial information on how physical activity can be best structured to combat the chronic disease epidemic and improve the human health span. Here, we synthesise and discuss the current evidence on the impact of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on telomere dynamics. We provide the molecular mechanisms with a known role in exercise-induced telomere length maintenance and highlight unexplored, alternative pathways ripe for future investigations.
Description:
Telomeres are tandem repeat DNA sequences located at distal ends of chromosomes that protect against genomic DNA degradation and chromosomal instability. Excessive telomere shortening leads to cellular senescence and for this reason telomere length is a marker of biological age. Abnormally short telomeres may culminate in the manifestation of a number of cardio-metabolic diseases. Age-related cardio-metabolic diseases attributable to an inactive lifestyle, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, are associated with short leukocyte telomeres. Exercise training prevents and manages the symptoms of many cardio-metabolic diseases whilst concurrently maintaining telomere length. The positive relationship between exercise training, physical fitness and telomere length raises the possibility of a mediating role of telomeres in chronic disease prevention via exercise. Further elucidation of the underpinning molecular mechanisms of how exercise maintains telomere length should provide crucial information on how physical activity can be best structured to combat the chronic disease epidemic and improve the human health span. Here, we synthesise and discuss the current evidence on the impact of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on telomere dynamics. We provide the molecular mechanisms with a known role in exercise-induced telomere length maintenance and highlight unexplored, alternative pathways ripe for future investigations.
Description:
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of in-game physical exertion on decision-making performance of Australian football umpires. Fifteen Australian football umpires (Mage = 36, s = 13.5 years; Mgames umpired = 235.2, s = 151.3) volunteered to participate in the study. During five competitive Australian football pre-season games, measures of in-game physical exertion (blood lactate levels, global positioning system [GPS]) and decision-making performance (video-based test) were obtained. There were no significant correlations between physical exertion in a particular quarter and decision-making performance in either the same quarter or any other quarter. Video-based decision-making performance was effected by time in game χ2(3) = 24.24, P = 0.001, with Quarter 4 performance significantly better than both Quarter 2 and Quarter 3. In-game physical exertion (blood lactate) significantly decreased over the course of the game χ2(3) = 11.58, P = 0.009. Results indicate no definable link between in-game physical exertion and decision-making performance. It is, however, presumed that decision-making performance may be affected by the time or context of the game. Future research is warranted to explore the relationship between physical exertion and decision-making performance to potentially inform Australian football umpire training programmes that replicate in-game physical and decision-making demands.
Description:
Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET) are a common device for assessing units and teaching ability in higher education. Despite the wealth of research in the area of SETs, little has been done to examine student and academic perceptions of SETs. This research examined student (n=235) and academic (n=49) perceptions concerning SETs at one Australian regional university. Almost one-third of respondents felt that some students punish academics for failing their work by giving the lecturer low scores on the SET form. Thus, academics can essentially be burnt at the student evaluation stake as punishment for failing students.
Description:
Science education in Papua New Guinea has been influenced by neo- colonial practices that have significantly contributed to the silencing of the Papua New Guinea voice. This silencing has led to the production of science curriculum documents that are irrelevant to the students for whom they are written. To avoid being caught up in neocolonial practices, Western science educators ought to consider the notion of cultural mediators. This position, the author argues, infers an obligation to take responsibility for their actions and to consider postcolonial discourses as a way of understanding the relationships and dialogue between different ways of knowing. [Author abstract]
Description:
In this paper the authors draw on a larger project related to diasporic identification in order to explore the concept of transcultural literacy. They argue that transcultural literacy grows out of border-crossing dynamics that extend beyond the binaries of 'us' and 'them' as these are lived within and between nations. In this way it is responsive to, and reflects, the various shifts between the local and the global; between place and space. Transcultural literacy is inseparable from social and cultural practices of meaning- and identity-making on the fault-line between various and often competing cultures. This model of transcultural literacy uses theorisations of space to connect textual practices to the construction of hybrid identities. In so doing, it offers an alternative to models of literacy premised on liberal or neo-conservative understandings of cultural difference. In this paper, we explore transcultural literacy in relation to current literacy debates.