Barriers,Successes and Enabling Practices of Education for Sustainability in Far North Queensland Schools: A Case Study

There are many documented barriers to implementing school-based sustainability. This article examines a) the barriers faced by principals and staff in two regional primary schools in Far North Queensland, Australia, well known for their exemplary practice, and b) ways the barriers were overcome. Through interviews conducted with principals and key staff, the authors found lack of time, direct funding for innovation, teacher conceptual understanding, resistance from some fellow staff to sustainability education, and being positioned as a “greenie” were presented as barriers to effective practice. The research reveals how innovation, determination, trust, and active principal support enabled the teachers to push ahead. Other educators experiencing difficulties with implementing sustainability education will likely find the discussion useful.     

What observer rats don’t learn about foods from demonstrator rats

Naive “observer” rats that interact with conspecific “demonstrators” fed a distinctive food increase intake of the food their demonstrators have eaten. Here we found that observer rats that had interacted simultaneously with 2 demonstrator rats, 1 fed a distinctively flavored, protein-poor food, the other a distinctively flavored, protein-rich food, did not prefer the former. Similarly, observer rats ate equal amounts of two distinctively flavored foods after interacting simultaneously with 2 demonstrator rats, 1 that had consumed all food available to it, the other fed from a surplus of the second food. Last, observer rats that had interacted with both a “trustworthy” demonstrator (1 an observer had learned ate only nutritious foods) and an “untrustworthy” demonstrator (1 an observer had learned ate noxious substances) did not prefer unfamiliar foods eaten by trustworthy demonstrators to those eaten by untrustworthy demonstrators. These findings suggest limits on social information observers use in selecting foods.     

Learning from demonstrations: the role of visual search during observational learning from video and point-light models

In this study, we examined the visual search strategies used during observation of video and point-light display models. We also assessed the relative effectiveness of video and point-light models in facilitating the learning of task outcomes and movement patterns. Twenty-one female novice soccer players were divided equally into video, point-light display and no-model (control) groups. Participants chipped a soccer ball onto a target area from which radial and variable error scores were taken. Kinematic data were also recorded using an opto-electrical system. Both a pre- and post-test were performed, interspersed with three periods of acquisition and observation of the model. A retention test was completed 2 days after the post-test. There was a significant main effect for test period for outcome accuracy and variability, but observation of a model did not facilitate outcome-based learning. Participants observing the models acquired a global movement pattern that was closer to that of the model than the controls, although they did not acquire the local relations in the movement pattern, evidenced by joint range of motion and angle-angle plots. There were no significant differences in learning between the pointlight display and video groups. The point-light display model group used a more selective visual search pattern than the video model group, while both groups became more selective with successive trials and observation periods. The results are discussed in the context of Newell's hierarchy of coordination and control and Scully and Newell's visual perception perspective.     

INTEGRATION AND REGULATION MATTERS IN EDUCATIONAL TRANSITION: A THEORETICAL CRITIQUE OF RETENTION AND ATTRITION MODELS

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the appropriateness of models developed to understand why students do or do not complete their courses in higher education. It is suggested that emphasising integration above regulation has taken attention away from a possible anomic interpretation. A more contextualised, nuanced and psychosocial approach to understanding student participation and retention is needed to address difficulties and inequalities in the transition to higher education.     

Deconstruction and reconstruction: Diversity as a productive resource

This article uses critical discourse analysis to show that a series of advertisements by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are premised on a discourse of sameness that constructs difference negatively. The article moves from deconstructing these advertisements to possibilities for reconstruction that show difference as a positive and productive resource.