Learning to be an Art Educator: Student Teachers’ Attitudes to Art and Art Education

Visual Art educators are keenly aware of the significant contribution art can make to the growth and development of young children as it provides unique opportunities for personal expression and creativity. However, while it is acknowledged that art contributes to the development of the whole child, the link between thought and practice is often tenuous. Hence the question needs to be asked, what do student teachers really think about art and art education. This longitudinal study aimed at an exploration of student teachers prior experiences, existing knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and interest in the visual arts. One hundred and ten B.Ed. (Primary) students enrolled in two compulsory Visual Arts Education units of study were surveyed in March 1999 and then in October 2001 to ascertain how they interpreted the term visual arts; how this related to visual arts education (if, in fact it did); where they would position visual arts amongst the other five key learning areas of the primary curriculum; and ultimately how they felt about the prospect of teaching visual arts in a primary school context. The findings of the research revealed a number of significant differences between the initial data (March 1999) and the final data (October 2001).     

Changing Literacies and Civic Pathways: Multiliteracies in Inquiry-Driven Classrooms

Reflecting on how “the very nature of language learning has changed”(New London Group [NLG], 1996, p. 64), this article describes an inquiry-driven teaching approach to middle school English. Looking at student outcomes utilizing Google’s 20% approach, this study explored how mentorship, digital tools, and student interests provide “opportunities [for students] to find their own voices” (NLG, 1996, p. 71). In particular, this article analyzes student inquiry based on the 4 pedagogical foundations of multiliteracies: situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing, and transformed practice. By focusing on the voices and experiences of students, this framework highlights what multiliteracies can look like within classrooms. Ultimately, this study of literacies within inquiry-driven classrooms responds to the call of multiliteracies research from 20 years ago that, “Students need to develop the capacity to speak up, to negotiate, and to be able to engage critically with the conditions of their working lives” (New London Group, 1996, p. 67).     

Measuring the impact of a community of practice in Aboriginal health

Effective strategies to enhance the competence of practising health professionals are limited. Communities of Practice are proposed as strategy, yet little is known about their ability to develop cultural competency and practice. This study aimed to measure the impact of a Community of Practice on the self-assessed cultural competency and change to practice of dietitians working in Aboriginal health. A mixed-method approach including a quantitative 16-item cultural-competency self-assessment tool (completed at baseline and after 12 months of participation) together with the qualitative most significant change stories were used. Quantitative and qualitative data were compared together for congruence and difference. All participants (n?=?13) completed the cultural competency-self assessment and participated in the significant change story development. They reported that through networking and joint problem solving they increased competence (13 of 16 performance indicators) and qualitative described increased self-confidence for their work in Aboriginal health through improved understanding of the factors related to the impact of history, culture and utilisation of resources on service delivery, appropriate communication strategies, effective relationships and managing conflict. These findings suggests that formalised and structured Communities of Practice may be an effective workforce development strategy to influence the practice of health professionals working in Aboriginal health.     

Theory-based Correlations and Their Role in Children's Concepts

Recent accounts of conceptual development have emphasized the important role intuitive theories play in concept formation; however, it is still not clear exactly how these theories exert their influence. We present evidence that elementary school age children use theories to link together specific features associated with individual concepts. The results of our first experiment indicate that theory-based correlations play a prominent role in typicality judgments and in decisions about category membership. In a second experiment, we demonstrate that children's theories play an important role in determining which attributes will be considered most central to the concept. The results of these studies suggest that feature correlations can serve to link children's concepts with their intuitive theories of the world.     

Global learning partnerships in the Café: peer feedback as a formative assessment tool for animation students

This paper reports on a global learning partnership using the Café: the collaborative application for education as an e-learning environment within the Facebook framework, for first-year animation students at the University of South Australia (USA) in Australia and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “The Café” has been designed based on five principles of user interface design – visibility, usability, relevance, accessibility, and interactivity – and aims to provide institutions with an established, structured, and dedicated e-learning environment that meets the needs of modern-day tertiary students and teaching staff. From July to November in 2013, 71 students participated within the e-learning environment. Students submitted work-in-progress imagery related to major assignments, and provided feedback and critiques to their local and global peers. A post-semester survey provided students with the opportunity to critically reflect on the learning experience. The results are discussed in light of the use of peer feedback as a formative assessment tool.     

征途(英文)

在这部小说里,作者将西方世界塑造成一个后启示时代(人类经历了大灾难后的世界,post-apocalyptic one)。没有法制的地带常常滋生暴力(engender violence),但在这里一场核子大屠杀(a nuclear holocaust)几乎将一切化为灰烬,只剩下几个可怜的灵魂等待着悲惨的命运。主要人物是一对父子,讲述了他们如何抗争命运的不幸,努力避免"坏家伙"的生存技巧,做着人性最后的挣扎。虽然是恐怖小说,但温情描写仍不乏见于字里行间,细节刻画的微妙作用从以下这段文字可见一斑。     

Reconceptualising professional experiences in pre-service teacher education…reconstructing the past to embrace the future

This paper provides a conceptual framework for developing high-quality professional experiences for pre-service teachers. The paper begins with a discussion of how professional experiences are conceptualised, structured and supervised in each of three orientations, which we have termed traditional, reflective and learning communities. We then describe a number of professional experience initiatives at two Australian universities, which are being reconceptualised around the notion of learning communities. We argue that framing professional experience around the notion of learning communities has the potential to support pre-service teachers to work with their peers and mentor teachers in more collegial and reciprocal ways.     

Increasing explanatory behaviour,problem-solving,and reasoning within classes using cooperative group work

The present study builds on research that indicates that teachers play a key role in promoting those interactional behaviours that challenge children’s thinking and scaffold their learning. It does this by seeking to determine whether teachers who implement cooperative learning and receive training in explicit strategic questioning strategies demonstrate more verbal behaviours that mediate children’s learning than teachers who implement cooperative learning only. The study also sought to determine whether students who receive training in explicit questioning strategies demonstrate more explanatory behaviour than their untrained peers, and, as a consequence, do these same students demonstrate more advanced reasoning and problem-solving skills on follow-up reasoning and problem-solving tasks. The study involved 31 teachers in two conditions, the cooperative + strategic questioning condition and the cooperative condition, and two groups of students from each teacher’s classroom. The results show that the teachers in the cooperative + strategic questioning condition used significantly more mediating behaviours than their peers in the cooperative condition. The study also showed that the children in these teachers’ classes engaged in more elaboration and obtained significantly higher scores on the follow-up reasoning and problem-solving tasks. The study demonstrates the importance of explicitly teaching strategic questioning strategies to children during cooperative learning.     

How mature-age students succeed in higher education: implications for institutional support

This article draws on stories of success in higher education by mature-age students of diverse backgrounds to highlight some key implications for institutional support. We begin by reviewing the post-World War II background of mature-age study in Australian higher education to provide a context for presenting some major findings from a small, in-depth research project. We examine these findings to focus on the role of institutional support in the success of mature-age students, particularly given recent sectoral factors affecting their access and support. The study findings show students’ primary supports were families and friends. Participants all belonged to equity categories as designated by the Australian government, but many did not use institutional supports. Some lacked the confidence to approach staff; others were unaware support services existed or lacked the time to access them. The participants’ stories demonstrate the complex disadvantages experienced by mature-age students. They highlight universities’ need to ensure support services are ‘student-centred’ in order to ensure improved educational and equity outcomes for their mature-age student populations.