Student Communities and Individualism in American Cinema

Hollywood films partially construct how Americans think about education. Recent work on the representation of schools in American cinema has highlighted the role of class difference in shaping school film genres. It has also advanced the idea that a nuanced understanding of American individualism helps to explain why the different class genres are shaped as they are. This article attempts to refine this theoretical approach by focusing on the paradox of individualism, which suggests that individualism must always be dependent on community. We examine 5 films (Rushmore 1988, The Breakfast Club 1985, Mona Lisa Smile 2003, School of Rock 2003, and Stand and Deliver 1988) and argue that, although the values of individualism are certainly celebrated, these films also show, perhaps unwittingly, that the achievements of individualism require robust student communities. We describe how student communities function in these films, what achievements they make possible, and what obstacles they face.     

Metabolic power and energy expenditure in an international men’s hockey tournament

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the typical metabolic power characteristics of elite men’s hockey, and whether changes occur within matches and throughout an international tournament. National team players (n = 16), divided into 3 positional groups (strikers, midfielders, defenders), wore Global Positioning System devices in 6 matches. Energetic (metabolic power, energy expenditure) and displacement (distance, speed, acceleration) variables were determined, and intensity was classified utilising speed, acceleration and metabolic power thresholds. Midfielder’s average metabolic power (11.8 ± 1.0 W · kg^?1) was similar to strikers (11.1 ± 1.3 W · kg^?1) and higher than defenders (10.8 ± 1.2 W · kg^?1, P = 0.001). Strikers (29.71 ± 3.39 kJ · kg^?1) expended less energy than midfielders (32.18 ± 2.67 kJ · kg^?1, P = 0.014) and defenders (33.23 ± 3.96 kJ · kg^?1, P < 0.001). Energetic variables did not change between halves or across matches. Across all positions, over 45% of energy expenditure was at high intensity (>20 W · kg^?1). International hockey matches are intense and highly intermittent; however, intensity is maintained throughout matches and over a tournament. In isolation, displacement measures underestimate the amount of high-intensity activity, whereas the integration of instantaneous speed and acceleration provides a more comprehensive assessment of the demands for variable-speed activity typically occurring in hockey matches.     

ASERA: brief histor(y/ies)

This collection of historical accounts provides diverse perspectives on the structure and culture of the community of researchers who participate in activities of the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA). It describes the formation of the Association, and identifies major changes and challenges for the ever growing and internationalisation of its membership.

When parenting does not ‘come naturally’: providers’ perspectives on parenting education for incarcerated mothers and fathers

Learning to parent sensitively and safely can be challenging for adults with childhood abuse and neglect experiences. Such childhood experiences are prevalent among incarcerated parents whose ability to parent their own children is also limited by separation from them. Several prisons have developed programs to foster pro-social parenting skills among incarcerated mothers and fathers to assist them on release. This paper reports a qualitative research study that explored the factors affecting the delivery and outcomes of parenting programs in correctional facilities in New South Wales Australia from the perspective of individuals involved in developing and implementing the programs. Thematic analysis of 19 interviews identified two main themes: supporting parents’ learning in correctional settings and providers’ learning about parent education in correctional settings. Respondents reported the benefits of providing creative learning opportunities enabling parents to build on their strengths and to develop relationships. These factors contributed to changing prisoners’ attitudes and supporting them to consider alternative parenting approaches. The co-productive approach to parent education supported enhanced parenting knowledge among parents and greater insights among educators. Parenting education can be successfully delivered in correctional settings and can assist incarcerated parents to build on existing knowledge and adapt it to their own needs.     

Neuropsychological Correlates of Early Symptoms of Autism

Both the medial temporal lobe and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex have been implicated in autism. In the present study, performance on two neuropsychological tasks—one tapping the medial temporal lobe and related limbic structures, and another tapping the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—was examined in relation to performance on tasks assessing autistic symptoms in young children with autism, and developmentally matched groups of children with Down syndrome or typical development. Autistic symptoms included orienting to social stimuli, immediate and deferred motor imitation, shared attention, responses to emotional stimuli, and symbolic play. Compared with children with Down syndrome and typically developing children, children with autism performed significantly worse on both the medial temporal lobe and dorsolateral prefrontal tasks, and on tasks assessing symptoms domains. For children with autism, the severity of autistic symptoms was strongly and consistently correlated with performance on the medial temporal lobe task, but not the dorsolateral prefrontal task. The hypothesis that autism is related to dysfunction of the medial temporal lobe and related limbic structures, such as the orbital prefrontal cortex, is discussed.     

Concept mapping: How should it be introduced, and is there evidence for long term benefit?

A naturalistic study, with two cycles of intervention, was carried out to investigate the effects of two methods of introducing concept mapping to students taking introductory subjects in genetics in an Australian university. Some of these students' views relating to concept mapping were also investigated in the years following its introduction. The results of this study suggest that the method of introduction can influence students' perception of concept mapping, and its potential benefit. Although most students taking introductory subjects had taken part in the project, and many had realised the benefits of concept mapping, retrospective views of students indicated that almost none had adopted it as a regular part of study strategies. This outcome raises several questions in regard to introducing learning tools to students and, in particular, the reasons for doing so.     

Hemispheric specialization and the language abilities of autistic children

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between patterns of hemispheric specialization for speech processing and language ability in autistic children. 17 male autistic children, 6-18 years of age, and 17 normal children, matched for chronological age and gender, were tested. Measures of hemispheric asymmetry were differences in the averaged cortical evoked responses taken from right and left hemisphere scalp locations to linguistic and nonlinguistic auditory stimuli. A comprehensive battery of language tests was administered to autistic subjects. Autistic children's direction of hemispheric asymmetry in response to linguistic stimuli differed significantly from that of normal subjects. The majority of autistic subjects showed reversed (right hemisphere dominant), but not necessarily reduced, patterns of hemispheric asymmetry. Autistic children with more advanced language abilities were more likely to exhibit a normal direction of hemispheric asymmetry. The possibility that a shift from right to left hemisphere processing of speech occurs as the autistic child acquires spoken language is discussed.     

Assessment rubrics: towards clearer and more replicable design,research and practice

‘Rubric’ is a term with a variety of meanings. As the use of rubrics has increased both in research and practice, the term has come to represent divergent practices. These range from secret scoring sheets held by teachers to holistic student-developed articulations of quality. Rubrics are evaluated, mandated, embraced and resisted based on often imprecise and inconsistent understandings of the term. This paper provides a synthesis of the diversity of rubrics, and a framework for researchers and practitioners to be clearer about what they mean when they say ‘rubric’. Fourteen design elements or decision points are identified that make one rubric different from another. This framework subsumes previous attempts to categorise rubrics, and should provide more precision to rubric discussions and debate, as well as supporting more replicable research and practice.     

Gender differences when choosing school subjects: Parental push and career pull. Some tentative hypotheses

The literature has made us all aware of large gender differences in students' atttudes to science, in enrolment statistics in upper high school and tertiary level science courses, and in different spheres of employment. What have not been looked at in detail are the factors which are influential when students begin to make choices in early high school, choices which may well set them on a particular pathway from which it is difficult to turn. This preliminary study identifies factors which students in a Year 9 class believed were influential on the limited subject choices they had been able to make in Years 8 and 9, and the factors they believed would be most influential on choices to be made later in the school. In addition the students' views of science, of the separate sciences, and of their anticipated career patterns were sought. Several interesting findings were made which, if validated in further work, could lead to strategies which would support other approaches designed to reduce gender imbalances related to science. Specializations: non-scientific conceptions and conceptual change, problem solving, science teacher education. Specializations: Gender issues.     

Student perspectives of engagement in learning in contemporary and digital contexts

ABSTRACT

Increasing significance has been ascribed to student engagement, as a measure of success of both teachers and programs. However, since users of the term commonly tend not to explain, rationalise or problematise their understanding of engagement, its value to understand or transform learning may be limited. While clarification has occurred in conceptual work, there is a lack of empirical work that extends beyond understandings of engagement-as-behaviour, as well as insufficient work exploring what students understand engagement to be. Further, much work on engagement is rooted in physical campuses and face-to-face delivery, which represents an incomplete picture of how students actually engage in study. This article investigates student perceptions of engagement in two blended learning Initial Teacher Education programs. It offers a critical discussion of how research can be re-considered in light of changing learning contexts and changing understandings of ways to investigate engagement. The findings of this study support previous work that found multiple levels and meanings of student engagement exist. New complex and multidimensional models of engagement are proposed, which can open new possibilities for designing studies and analysing findings. This article argues that including and questioning physical, virtual and political contexts and power, affect, relationships, linearity and essential measurability are important features of new models of engagement.