Science teachers accelerated programme model: a joint partnership in the Pacific region

The paper heralds a new pedagogical model known as the Science Teachers Accelerated Programme as a platform to upgrade the qualifications of secondary school science teachers throughout the Pacific region. Based on a tripartite partnership between a higher education provider, a regional government and a cohort of science teachers, the model offers an accelerated Bachelor’s degree programme to the cohort. Using this tripartite partnership model, a pilot of the Science Teachers Accelerated Programme is underway between the University of the South Pacific, the Government of Samoa and a cohort of science teachers in Samoa. The underpinning activities garnering social and academic integration are highlighted with analytics. The strengths, challenges and opportunities of the new, cohort-taught science model are presented with relevant diagnoses, interventions and adaptive works carried out in the first half of the delivery plan. While the Government of Samoa is considering the implementation of a second cycle, the University of the South Pacific is considering extending the model to other regional countries.     

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Nature of Science and Scientific Inquiry as Illustrated in the Scientific Research on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Interviews with key scientists who had conducted research on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), together with analysis of media reports, documentaries and other literature published during and after the SARS epidemic, revealed many interesting aspects of the nature of science (NOS) and scientific inquiry in contemporary scientific research in the rapidly growing field of molecular biology. The story of SARS illustrates vividly some NOS features advocated in the school science curriculum, including the tentative nature of scientific knowledge, theory-laden observation and interpretation, multiplicity of approaches adopted in scientific inquiry, the inter-relationship between science and technology, and the nexus of science, politics, social and cultural practices. The story also provided some insights into a number of NOS features less emphasised in the school curriculum—for example, the need to combine and coordinate expertise in a number of scientific fields, the intense competition between research groups (suspended during the SARS crisis), the significance of affective issues relating to intellectual honesty and the courage to challenge authority, the pressure of funding issues on the conduct of research and the ‘peace of mind’ of researchers, These less emphasised elements provided empirical evidence that NOS knowledge, like scientific knowledge itself, changes over time. They reflected the need for teachers and curriculum planners to revisit and reconsider whether the features of NOS currently included in the school science curriculum are fully reflective of the practice of science in the 21st century. In this paper, we also report on how we made use of extracts from the news reports and documentaries on SARS, together with episodes from the scientists’ interviews, to develop a multimedia instructional package for explicitly teaching the prominent features of NOS and scientific inquiry identified in the SARS research.

Dog ownership, dog walking, and children's and parents' physical activity

This study aimed to determine cross-sectional associations of dog ownership, dog walking, and physical activity (PA) among children and their parents. Objective measures of PA were obtained for children ages 5-6 and 10-12 years from 19 primary schools across Melbourne, Australia. Parents self-reported their PA, dog ownership, and frequency of dog walking: 53% of families owned a dog, 41% of children who owned a dog did not walk their dog at all, and 32% reported never or rarely walking their dog as a family. Dog ownership was associated with an additional 29 min/day in PA among younger girls, and 70 and 59 min/week more in PA among mothers of younger boys and older girls, respectively. Among mothers of older girls, dog owners were 1.6 times as likely to meet PA guidelines. Mothers with older boys and girls, and fathers with younger boys, who reported walking the dog regularly as a family, spent more time in PA (105, 90, and 158 more min/week, respectively). Promoting dog ownership and dog walking among children and as a family are potential strategies for increasing PA participation in some families.     

Bimbo or boffin? Women in science: an analysis of media representations and how female scientists negotiate cultural contradictions

This paper examines the gendered representations of scientists in the UK media. Our analysis reveals the asymmetrical ways in which men and women working in science, engineering and technology are portrayed, in particular through the emphasis on women's appearance and a focus on their exceptional status. It also highlights the way female scientists may be used to "sex up" the discipline in the context of increasing concern about the (un)popularity of science. This media analysis is contextualized by drawing on data from 86 scientists examining how women themselves experience press and television coverage and address the cultural contradictions surrounding their role. The research highlights the challenges facing women working in these fields and the dilemmas for those seeking to develop a "human" face for science and promote a positive image for women.     

Incorrigible Offenders

As a contribution to the historiography of female criminality, this article charts the discursive contours of media representations of female habitual criminals. The discussion is based on analysis of the ways in which the late Victorian and Edwardian newspaper press in New Zealand reported cases of female criminals through the gendered and classed trope of ‘the adventuress’. The specific focus is on how concepts of class were implicated in the ways in which competing representations of female fraudsters, swindlers and thieves were portrayed in syndicated international articles and local news media. It is argued that representations of adventuresses sensationalised as headline-making anomalies in the news media need to be understood within the context of changing constructions of the thief. Newspaper reporting of their ‘exploits’ operated as implicit cautionary moral tales that reinforced normative constructions of feminine respectability.     

MEETING THE NEEDS OF MATURE STUDENTS — AN EVALUATION OF THE DIP H.E. AT HUMBERSIDE COLLEGE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Since its inception in 1977 the Dip H.E. at Humberside College has attracted increasing numbers of mature applicants. This paper seeks to identify the reasons for the popularity of the course and its appropriateness for mature students. It goes on to consider two further questions: how the Dip H.E. affects the way students learn and how successful mature students are on the course.     

Ontology matters: a commentary on <Emphasis Type="Italic">contribution</Emphasis> to cultural historical activity

This commentary promotes discussion on the imaginary provided by Sanaz Farhangi in her article entitled, Contribution to activity: a lens for understanding students’ potential and agency in physics education. The commentary is concerned with aligning ontological assumptions in research accounts of learning and development with transformative aims. A broad definition of ontology as the theory of existence is preferred. Sociocultural approaches share relational ontology as a common foundation. I agree with scholars elaborating Vygotsky’s Transformative Activist Stance that a relational ontology does not imply activism. However, I argue that relational ontology provides a necessary and sufficient theoretical grounding for intentional transformation. I draw upon positioning theory to elaborate the moral aspects of language use and to illustrate that a theory of being as relational already eliminates the transcendental position. I draw on Farhangi’s article to further the discussion on the necessity and sufficiency of relational ontology and associated grammars in accounting for activism.     

The silence about oral presentation skills in distance and online education: new perspectives from an Australian university preparatory programme

Oral presentation skills are considered essential workplace skills and are therefore highly valued in higher education. However, research into this aspect of adult learning is limited, especially in the context of distance and online education. This paper reports on an innovative approach used in a university preparatory program in Australia. Distance students were responsible for choosing a topic, setting and audience, and assessment was based on their self-reflections on the experience. Such an approach represents a radical departure from the usual methods used to practise and assess oral presentations. In this qualitative case study, we draw on students’ responses via portfolio reflections and interviews, using principles of adult learning as a framework for thematic analysis. Findings suggest that this activity fulfilled the needs of adult learners in a number of significant ways, and for some of these students, this oral presentation was a meaningful, even transformative experience.