The relationship between the phonological strategies employed In reading and spelling

This paper summarises a longitudinal study which examined the relationship between the abilities of young children to read and spell phonologically. Empirical evidence of Bryant and Bradley (1980) and Cataldo and Ellis (1988) to show that children acquire the ability to use a phonological strategy for spelling before the ability to use an equivalent strategy for reading is confirmed. Implications for the teaching of reading are discussed.     

Workforce diversity in Kenyan public universities: an analysis of workforce representativeness and heterogeneity by employee gender and ethnic group

Workforce diversity is considered an indicator of successful diversity and equal employment opportunity initiatives. In Kenya, it is a legal requirement for all public establishments to seek to represent the diversity of the population in employment of staff. This study analyses ethnic and gender representativeness and heterogeneity of the workforce in public universities. The results show over-representation of certain ethnic groups and non-compliance with diversity requirements in most universities. Variations between universities with regard to workforce heterogeneity are not statistically significant. However, the link between workforce heterogeneity and degree of urbanisation of university location is statistically significant. The conclusion is that compliance with legal requirements does not necessarily translate into representativeness and heterogeneity of the workforce. A shift from legal compliance to planned increase in numbers of under-represented gender and ethnic groups through diversity initiatives that identify and address barriers to equal employment and discriminatory employment practices is recommended.     

Affect in the archive: trauma,grief, delight and texts. Some personal reflections

Historians, as users of archives, often discuss the thrill and emotion of their ‘discoveries’. We can form romantic attachments or be repulsed across the decades. Archives containing the physical remains of the past can transport us, we can move beyond the here and now. Before the Museum of Melbourne digitised Alfred Howitt’s correspondence, I once opened a letter written to him on classic nineteenth-century blued paper. As I pulled the missive from its envelope, I could smell tobacco smoke. I was immediately in the room with him. Recently, after completing an article on the topic of frontier violence, my co-author and I both described a feeling of stress and trauma that came from reading colonial records of ‘skirmishes’ and ‘dispersals’. In this paper, I want to reflect on the experience of Affect in the archive.     

From early career researcher to research leader: survival of the fittest?

The higher education sector is a dynamic environment where universities compete on a global basis for resources, students, and high-quality staff. The impending retirement of the baby boomer generation will create increased competition for research leaders. One way to address this is to develop research leaders from existing researchers. However, little is known about what it takes to transition from a leading researcher to a research leader, so there is much to be learned from the experiences of those who have successfully navigated those transitions. To explore the transition from early career researcher to leading researcher to research leader, we undertook a mixed methods study involving 30 senior research leaders and administrators from a range of organisations across Australia. In this paper, we describe how the career paths of these research leaders developed in a highly competitive research environment and discuss how universities can attract, retain, develop, and promote their researchers.     

A biological basis for generative learning in technology-and-science Part I: A theory of learning

The modern history of biology shows how Darwin's selectionist theory has replaced instructionist theories in explaining the operations of living things: first, in the 1850s, with inheritance through the gene pool and second, in the 1960s, with the replacement of a template theory of immune system function. Now, scholars in several disciplines consider that the brain is a Darwin machine, too. Underpinning Darwinism is a generative heuristic, in which entities (or variants) are generated, and later subjected to tests. Entities which survive the testing are re-generated, and so on. This heuristic offers considerable value for technology-and-science education. This article, the first of a set of two, is devoted to an exposition of the science on which such a view of learning is based. In the second article, we pursue the implications for technology-and-science learning and teaching of holding such a view.     

New Learning: Re-apprenticing the learner

The preparation of graduates who are able to use theoretical knowledge to become independent, critical thinkers ready for the workforce and career and life changes is a major problem facing academics in higher education. This paper explores the theoretical background to the development of The Interdisciplinary Critical Thinking Tool ( ¢ TICTT), a dynamic Internet tool based on an eclectic educative model that incorporates concepts from cognitive apprenticeship, problem-based learning and critical thinking. Through the use of these concepts, the tool's design re-apprentices the learner to develop contextual knowledge and compare this knowledge to expert ways of knowing. La nouvelle Education: un nouvel apprentissage de l'apprenant. La préparation d'étudiants diplÔmés qui peuvent utiliser des connaissances théoriques pour devenir des penseurs critiques prts pour faire face des changements de la force de travail, de la cariére et de la vie est un probléme majeur auquel doivent faire face les enseignants de l'enseignement supèrieur. Cet article explore l'arriére plan du Interdisciplinary Critical Thinking Tool ( ¢ TICTT), un outil dynamique d'internet fond modèl sur un clectique d'éducation qui incorpore divers concepts depuis l'apprentissage cognitif jusqu' l'enseignement quicebase sur des problémes et la penseé critique. GrÂceÀ l'emploi de ces concepts la structure de cet outil constitue un nouvel apprentissage pour l'apprenant faisant appel un savoir conceptuel et compare ce savoir des méthodes de savoir devéloppés par des experts. Neues Lernen: Zu Fragen des Wieder-in-die-Lehre-Gehens von Absolventen. Im Bereich der akademischen Bildung ist es ein größeres Problem, Absolventen darauf vorzubereiten, Ihre Fähigkeiten im Umgang mit theoretischem Wissen zu nutzen, um auch im eigenen Berufs- und Privatleben unabhängige, Kritische Denker zu werden. Dieses Papier beschreibt den theoretischen Hintergrund zur Entwicklung eines bereichsüberschreitenden dynamischen und kritischen Internet-Denk-Werkzeugs (üTICTT), das auf einem eklektischen erzieherischen Modell basiert, das Konzepte kognitiver Lehre, problemorienten Lernens und kritischen Denkens integriert. Durch die Verwendung dieser Konzepte wird es möglich, dieses Werkzeug so zu gestalten, dass die Studenten wieder lernen, kontextuelles Wissen zu entwickeln und dieses Wissen mit auf fachlichem Weg erworbenem zu vergleichen.     

Aztec Middle College: High School Alternatives in Community Colleges

The traditional high school model derived from the factory deficit model of the early 1900s has left many students, mainly minorities and/or low socioeconomic students, disenfranchised. This is evident in the poor school performance and high dropout rates of such students. Whereas the factory deficit model was created to promote only a few high school students to college, the rest of the students were trained for factory jobs. Today's job market requires that high school students go to college subsequent to their graduation. For this reason, middle college alternatives to traditional high schools are being adopted. Although research on middle colleges is limited due to their recent development, the results are encouraging: high school students who would otherwise have failed school or dropped out have high attendance rates and high graduation rates.     

Mobile Phones in the Bedroom: Trajectories of Sleep Habits and Subsequent Adolescent Psychosocial Development

Mobile phones are an essential part of an adolescent's life, leading them to text, phone, or message into the night. Longitudinal latent growth models were used to examine relations between changes in adolescent night‐time mobile phone use, changes in sleep behavior, and changes in well‐being (depressed mood, externalizing behavior, self‐esteem, and coping) for 1,101 students (43% male) between 13 and 16 years old. Both night‐time mobile phone use and poor sleep behavior underwent positive linear growth over time. Increased night‐time mobile phone use was directly associated with increased externalizing behavior and decreased self‐esteem and coping. Changes in sleep behavior mediated the relation between early changes in night‐time mobile phone use and later increases in depressed mood and externalizing behavior and later declines in self‐esteem and coping.