Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableReflection, Evaluation and Metacognition: One Teacher’s Personal Journey(Teacher Learning Network, 2006)
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ItemChildren's mathematical thinking in different classroom cultures(NATL COUNCIL TEACHERS MATHEMATICS-NCTM, 2006-05)The relationship between normative patterns of social interaction and children's mathematical thinking was investigated in 5 classes (4 reform and 1 conventional) of 7- to 8-year-olds. In earlier studies, lessons from these classes had been analyzed for the nature of interaction broadly defined; the results indicated the existence of 4 types of classroom cultures (conventional textbook, conventional problem solving, strategy reporting, and inquiry/argument). In the current study, 42 lessons from this data resource were analyzed for children's mathematical thinking as verbalized in class discussions and for interaction patterns. These analyses were then combined to explore the relationship between interaction types and expressed mathematical thinking. The results suggest that increased complexity in children's expressed mathematical thinking was closely related to the types of interaction patterns that differentiated class discussions among the 4 classroom cultures.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAbstracting in the Context of Spontaneous Learning(SPRINGER, 2007-09)There is evidence that spontaneous learning leads to relational understanding and high positive affect. To study spontaneous abstracting, a model was constructed by combining the RBC model of abstraction with Krutetskii's mental activities. Using video-stimulated interviews, the model was then used to analyse the behaviour of two Year 8 students who had demonstrated spontaneous abstracting. The analysis highlighted the crucial role of synthetic and evaluative analysis, two processes that seem unlikely to occur under guided construction.
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ItemEast Learns from West: Asiatic Honeybees Can Understand Dance Language of European Honeybees(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2008-06-04)The honeybee waggle dance, through which foragers advertise the existence and location of a food source to their hive mates, is acknowledged as the only known form of symbolic communication in an invertebrate. However, the suggestion, that different species of honeybee might possess distinct 'dialects' of the waggle dance, remains controversial. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether different species of honeybee can learn from and communicate with each other. This study reports experiments using a mixed-species colony that is composed of the Asiatic bee Apis cerana cerana (Acc), and the European bee Apis mellifera ligustica (Aml). Using video recordings made at an observation hive, we first confirm that Acc and Aml have significantly different dance dialects, even when made to forage in identical environments. When reared in the same colony, these two species are able to communicate with each other: Acc foragers could decode the dances of Aml to successfully locate an indicated food source. We believe that this is the first report of successful symbolic communication between two honeybee species; our study hints at the possibility of social learning between the two honeybee species, and at the existence of a learning component in the honeybee dance language.
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ItemCommunity languages and LOTE provision in Victorian primary schools: Mix or match?(John Benjamins Publishing, 2007)Primary school languages education continues to be a challenging issue for all states in Australia. In Victoria, LOTE study is provided at the primary level to address the needs of linguistically diverse communities, as well as to provide an enriching learning experience for monolingual speakers of English. The challenge remains to ensure that programs that are run are effective, address the needs of the community and are embraced as a valuable and enriching component of the school curriculum. This study looks at the provision of LOTE in 2003 in Victorian primary schools and in particular, through an analysis of the geographical location of community groups and primary LOTE programs, how effectively community needs are being met. We also analyse the nature of LOTE programs through an examination of teachers’ qualifications, time allotment and program type. Factors identified by some schools as impinging on LOTE study at the primary level, such as literacy concerns and multilingual diversity, will also be examined.
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ItemThe rise and fall of indonesian in australian schools: implications for language policy and planning(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2007-01-01)The history of Asian language study in Australia has been about a struggle for recognition. For much of the twentieth century, xenophobia and racism ensured that few Asians were even allowed into Australia, while in the education system, the Euro-centric focus of the British-based education system only allowed for minimal study of Asia within the curriculum. In recent decades, Australia’s realisation of the political, economic and strategic importance of Asia has dramatically changed its relationship with the region. Within this evolving context, Asian languages and studies have slowly taken a greater role in the Australian education system. The National Asian Languages and Studies Strategy for Australia Schools (NALSAS) program in particular provided enormous support for four prioritised ‘Asian languages1’ – Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. Unfortunately, the study of Indonesian has been in decline in the Australian education system in recent years. This article will draw upon language planning and policy (LPP) theory and practice, more specifically language-in-education policy theory and practice, to examine Indonesian in the Australian education system. It is a complex endeavour to explore why the study of languages, or of particular languages, increases or decreases in popularity within an education system as the LPP process involves the consideration, inter alia, of linguistic, economic, political, historical and religious issues and contexts. The focus on Indonesian however, is justified in this instance, as over 80 per cent of the decline in language enrolments in Victorian government schools between 2000 and 2005 can be attributed to decreases in Indonesian language programs... (From introduction)
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ItemMutual obligation, shared responsibility agreements & indigenous health strategy.(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2006-09-25)Since 2004 the Howard Coalition government has implemented a new policy framework and administrative arrangements as part of its program of reform in Indigenous affairs. In this paper I will describe both the parameters of this reform program and review the processes established to support the implementation of national Indigenous health strategy. In particular, I will consider both the shift from a policy framework based on 'self-determination' to one based on 'mutual obligation', and the implementation of Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs) that are based on the latter principle. I will use the example of the Mulan SRA to illustrate the difficulties in articulating the 'new arrangements' with current approaches to Indigenous health planning and strategy implementation. I conclude that 'new arrangements' pose a number of problems for Indigenous health planning and strategy that need to be addressed.
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ItemThe development of a psychometrically-sound instrument to measure teachers’ multidimensional attitudes toward inclusive education(International Journal of Special Education, 2008)The Multidimensional Attitudes toward Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES) was developed to effectively measure affective, cognitive and behavioural aspects of attitudes, within the realm of inclusive education that includes physical, social and curricular inclusion. Models within Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory were used for calibrating the subscales. Using a sample of primary and secondary school regular teachers in Victoria, pilot study analyses indicate that the final three subscales of eighteen items successfully met standards for internal reliability, content validity, construct validity, criterion validity and convergent validity; and provide preliminary evidence to warrant further use of this instrument for the purpose of measuring teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education.
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ItemThe impact of a GP clinical audit on the provision of smoking cessation advice.(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2008-10-14)AIM: To investigate whether participation in a clinical audit and education session would improve GP management of patients who smoke. METHODS: GPs who participated in an associated smoking cessation research program were invited to complete a three-stage clinical audit. This process included a retrospective self-audit of smoking cessation management practices over the 6 months prior to commencing the study, attending a 2.5 hour education session about GP management of smoking cessation, and completion of a second retrospective self-audit 6 months later. Twenty-eight GPs completed the full audit and education process, providing information about their smoking cessation management with 1114 patients. The main outcome measure was changes in GP management of smoking cessation with patients across the audit period, as measured by the clinical audit tool. RESULTS: The majority of GPs (57%) indicated that as a result of the audit process they had altered their approach to the management of patients who smoke. Quantitative analyses confirmed significant increases in various forms of evidence-based smoking cessation management practices to assist patients to quit, or maintain quitting across the audit period. However comparative analyses of patient data challenged these findings, suggesting that the clinical audit process had less impact on GP practice than suggested in GP's self-reported audit data. CONCLUSION: This study provides some support for the combined use of self-auditing, feedback and education to improve GP management of smoking cessation. However further research is warranted to examine GP- and patient-based reports of outcomes from clinical audit and other educational interventions.
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ItemA Biological Model for Influenza Transmission: Pandemic Planning Implications of Asymptomatic Infection and Immunity(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2007-11-28)BACKGROUND: The clinical attack rate of influenza is influenced by prior immunity and mixing patterns in the host population, and also by the proportion of infections that are asymptomatic. This complexity makes it difficult to directly estimate R(0) from the attack rate, contributing to uncertainty in epidemiological models to guide pandemic planning. We have modelled multiple wave outbreaks of influenza from different populations to allow for changing immunity and asymptomatic infection and to make inferences about R(0). DATA AND METHODS: On the island of Tristan da Cunha (TdC), 96% of residents reported illness during an H3N2 outbreak in 1971, compared with only 25% of RAF personnel in military camps during the 1918 H1N1 pandemic. Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) methods were used to estimate model parameter distributions. FINDINGS: We estimated that most islanders on TdC were non-immune (susceptible) before the first wave, and that almost all exposures of susceptible persons caused symptoms. The median R(0) of 6.4 (95% credibility interval 3.7-10.7) implied that most islanders were exposed twice, although only a minority became ill in the second wave because of temporary protection following the first wave. In contrast, only 51% of RAF personnel were susceptible before the first wave, and only 38% of exposed susceptibles reported symptoms. R(0) in this population was also lower [2.9 (2.3-4.3)], suggesting reduced viral transmission in a partially immune population. INTERPRETATION: Our model implies that the RAF population was partially protected before the summer pandemic wave of 1918, arguably because of prior exposure to interpandemic influenza. Without such protection, each symptomatic case of influenza would transmit to between 2 and 10 new cases, with incidence initially doubling every 1-2 days. Containment of a novel virus could be more difficult than hitherto supposed.