Format-free databases and the construction of knowledge in primary school science projects

Most current science education reform documents are placing much emphasis on having students become competent in identifying, accessing and operating upon relevant information sources and in using the information to construct new knowledge. One of the means they suggest for achieving these aims is science project work. However, a review of the research literature indicates that little knowledge construction occurs during science projects. This article reports on a study in which a teacher used the collaborative development of a format-free computer database to facilitate the construction of knowledge by a group of three Year 6 students during a science project.     

Are children in need of liberation?

Conclusion In spite of my reservations on the key points of Professor McMurtry's article, I think that he has written the most interesting and sustained case for the liberation of children which I have seen. If he is wrong that children are not identical in status to slaves, he is surely right that some children are treated as badly as slaves were often treated and that our laws at the present time make it very difficult to intervene. If he is wrong in his presupposition that children are persons by the very fact of their being human beings, then he is erring on the side of angels. Because if we thought them so, then we would be much less likely to abuse them. And if our laws treated them so, we would have grounds for preventing the treatment of children as less than human by parents or other adults.     

Framing the benefits of higher education participation from the perspective of non-completers

ABSTRACT

Ensuring that students of all backgrounds are smoothly transitioned through the stages of access, participation and completion in higher education has been the focus of much public policy and research in recent decades. Subsequently, public policy discourse treats those who do not complete their higher education degrees as unsuccessful, despite a lack of research considering the beneficial outcomes of non-completing students. Evidence of beneficial outcomes of higher education participation without completion has potential to challenge the deficit-centric discourse of completion dependent on a binary view of success and failure. This article details a critical discourse analysis of responses to a 2017 survey of university non-completers asked ‘were there any benefits from the time you spent doing an [sic] incomplete degree?’. This study finds that non-completers experience a wide range of benefits from incomplete studies despite the dominant discourse discounting their experiences as unsuccessful. Additionally, this study presents a critique of framing surveys of non-completing students within the normative bounds of success as completion in higher education, and instead calls for a more nuanced construction of success in higher education.     

Careers in the environment in Australia: surveying environmental jobs

Internationally, commentators have identified a growing demand for environmental expertise. Matching this has been an expansion in the range of environmental careers available to workers: from environment protection and bio‐physical areas, to local government operations, environmental auditing, assessment, and management. However, in Australia there is no overall picture of the types of jobs graduates in this sector have undertaken, which has limited the advice that can be given about environmental careers. To redress this situation a survey was conducted with 600 respondents working in the environment professions in Australia. The results identified a wide range of professional areas; these are grouped into 12 subcategories for three main environmental employment sectors: Environmental protection (19% of respondents), Conservation and preservation of natural resources (26%), Environmental Sustainability (55%). Respondents mainly had a bachelor‐level degree; however, a substantial proportion had an honours degree or postgraduate qualification. Respondents strongly recommended undertaking work experience to acquire key general skills that they identified as important for working in the environment sector. A related suggestion was for tertiary environmental courses to have a practical focus that produces ‘work‐ready’ students. Comparison with the situations in the UK, Canada and the USA and are also offered regarding the results and trends, and suggestions for further research.     

Exploring Visual Displays involving Beanie Baby Data

This article describes the learning experiences of young children meeting stem-and-leaf plots for the first time.     

Pedagogic democracy versus pedagogic supremacy: migrant academics’ perspectives

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the underexplored area of othering of migrant academics within their teaching context. Nine personal narratives of migrant academics’ teaching were analysed qualitatively for indications of pedagogical othering. Migrant academics indicated the need to align their own pedagogic values and practices with that of their host institutions they work in as they felt their own values and practices were considered less desirable. We argue, from a Gramsci’s hegemonic perspective, that the pedagogic adaptation by migrant academics aimed at improving student learning is not problematic in itself, but more problematic is the inequality of opportunity for migrant academics to contribute to pedagogical decisions which can meaningfully influence the departmental culture. Lack of pedagogic democracy where the ‘home’ academic environment has a monopoly of knowledge and a hegemonic position regarding learning and teaching can compromise the student-learning experience by limiting articulation of alternative pedagogical perspectives by the migrant international academics.     

Biculturalism—Outsiders Within: The Career Development Experiences of Black Human Resource Developers

Consistent with the career development issues that black* people encounter, it is likely that black human resource developers face unique career development issues versus human resource developers in general. However, an exhaustive search did not find research that has focused specifically on the career development process of black human resource development professionals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the career experiences of black human resource developers. A qualitative study was conducted of 10 black human resource developers. Interviewing was the primary data collection method and the data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The results of this study indicate that the respondents experienced similar career challenges to other black workers. Based on the results, we posit that because of racial prejudice and discrimination, black human resource developers serve as outsiders within traditional work organizations and become skilled at using bicultural strategies for managing various aspects of their lives.     

Licencing and training reform in the Australian aircraft maintenance industry

The training and licencing of aircraft maintenance engineers fulfils a crucial protective function since it is they who perform and supervise aircraft maintenance and certify that planes are safe afterwards. In Australia, prior to training reform, a trades-based system of aircraft maintenance engineer training existed in an orderly relation with the system of licencing, regulated by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Training reform through the 1990s gave rise to concerns that the training system could not be relied upon to deliver adequate numbers of trainees with valid qualifications. From 2007, CASA introduced new regulations, designed to align Australia’s qualifications and licencing with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This process saw the aviation regulator effectively cede much quality control of training to an increasingly dysfunctional training system, giving rise to doubts about whether Australia’s international obligations for quality aircraft maintenance training can be fulfilled.     

Is There a Role for Microteaching in the 1990s?

Microteaching, once considered a major advance in teacher education, has largely fallen from favour. The reasons why this has occurred are considered here. The approaches adopted in recent research to establish successful skill development, durability, generalization and transfer are examined, and the importance of self‐instruction strategy and problem‐solving components is highlighted. Problems associated with teaching‐skill development in the natural classroom are explored. Advances in microteaching research and technology and the problems encountered in teaching‐skill development in the natural classroom together provide good reasons for the serious re‐deployment of microteaching processes in teaching‐skill development. A case study is used to illustrate the ways in which microteaching processes may be employed with modem video technology. It is concluded that the two empirically validated microteaching models possess elements which reflect a number of current research concerns and that they have the potential to produce more thoughtful, critical and skilled teachers.