Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354538
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$30,000.00
Summary
Enabling Sciences Education (EnSE) Research Network. The Network aims to ensure the long-term ability of Australians to excel in scientific and technological innovation at all levels of community activity. This will be achieved by establishing significant and ambitious research agendas for improving the teaching and learning of Mathematics, Science and Technology in primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. Of significance will be the productive synergies flowing from uniting, across ....Enabling Sciences Education (EnSE) Research Network. The Network aims to ensure the long-term ability of Australians to excel in scientific and technological innovation at all levels of community activity. This will be achieved by establishing significant and ambitious research agendas for improving the teaching and learning of Mathematics, Science and Technology in primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. Of significance will be the productive synergies flowing from uniting, across the three disciplines, Australia's most outstanding, experienced and dedicated researchers with new and mid-career colleagues. Expected outcomes include a diverse but cohesive and collaborative research community that provides international leadership in helping students achieve their full potential. Read moreRead less
Using and creating knowledge in the high school years: Performance, production, process and value-adding in electronic curricular literacy. Success in the emerging communicational demands of high-school learning is crucial for cultural cohesion, economic productivity, and employment. It also minimizes inter-generational exclusion and alienation for at-risk socio-economic and cultural groups. No research exists into the products and processes associated with high-school students' engagements in e ....Using and creating knowledge in the high school years: Performance, production, process and value-adding in electronic curricular literacy. Success in the emerging communicational demands of high-school learning is crucial for cultural cohesion, economic productivity, and employment. It also minimizes inter-generational exclusion and alienation for at-risk socio-economic and cultural groups. No research exists into the products and processes associated with high-school students' engagements in electronic curricular literacy practices (ECLs), so 'standards' frameworks for ECL cannot be developed. This project will provide an empirical map of students' expected achievements in ECLs in key curricular areas at various year levels. It aims to inject a practical and a futures orientation into research, debate and policy formation in literacy education.Read moreRead less
The impact of attitudes and policies relating to obesity and related health issues on school policy and practices. Governments have made and are continuing to make substantial investments in policies, strategies and research to address the perceived risk of obesity and related health issues. Schools in particular have been targeted to address the issue. This research seeks to inform public policy and school practices by examining how the new health imperatives are being taken up by schools. It w ....The impact of attitudes and policies relating to obesity and related health issues on school policy and practices. Governments have made and are continuing to make substantial investments in policies, strategies and research to address the perceived risk of obesity and related health issues. Schools in particular have been targeted to address the issue. This research seeks to inform public policy and school practices by examining how the new health imperatives are being taken up by schools. It will examine how these imperatives are shaping schools' priorities and teaching about health, and how this, in turn, influences young people's attitudes and understandings of their own and others' health, in particular in relation to physical activity and food.Read moreRead less
Fear, sadness and alcohol in adolescence: A test of innovative curriculum models to prevent adverse outcomes. Lack of mastery over fear, sadness and alcohol use are risk factors for the common forms of mental ill health. When fully developed, anxiety, depressive and substance use disorders account for three quarters of the disability attributed to mental disorders. While prevention strategies exist, none are universally feasible. Climate schools represents a utility that is acceptable, fits with ....Fear, sadness and alcohol in adolescence: A test of innovative curriculum models to prevent adverse outcomes. Lack of mastery over fear, sadness and alcohol use are risk factors for the common forms of mental ill health. When fully developed, anxiety, depressive and substance use disorders account for three quarters of the disability attributed to mental disorders. While prevention strategies exist, none are universally feasible. Climate schools represents a utility that is acceptable, fits within the school syllabus, is effective, and is scaleable to meet the needs of all schools in Australia. If it reduces the target risk factors by 10-20%, a minimal estimate based on the pilot work, then it will be a most cost effective contribution to promoting and maintaining the good health of the community.
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From high school to higher education: Gendered pathways in information, communication and computer technology education. Serious gender-based disparities exist in participation in the Information, Communication, and Computing Technologies (ICCT) field, in both higher education and industry, with a 2004 review of Australian university participation rates identifying women as an equity target group in this field. A multi-method, multi-stage project has been design to identify the processes that le ....From high school to higher education: Gendered pathways in information, communication and computer technology education. Serious gender-based disparities exist in participation in the Information, Communication, and Computing Technologies (ICCT) field, in both higher education and industry, with a 2004 review of Australian university participation rates identifying women as an equity target group in this field. A multi-method, multi-stage project has been design to identify the processes that lead to this gender gap. Specifically, the project will focus on students' experiences and decisions at secondary school in three states to ascertain why so few girls choose to enter university-level ICCT courses, and what strategies could be implemented in schools to remedy this problem. Read moreRead less
Enabling place pedagogies in rural and urban Australia. This project will tell us how children and adults learn about place in the local areas where they live and work. The findings will be applied in action research with teachers in early childhood, school, and adult education settings, and in the preparation of teachers. It will address two Research Priority areas, 1: An Environmentally Sustainable Australia and 2. Strengthening AustraliaÍs economic and social fabric, which we argue are insepa ....Enabling place pedagogies in rural and urban Australia. This project will tell us how children and adults learn about place in the local areas where they live and work. The findings will be applied in action research with teachers in early childhood, school, and adult education settings, and in the preparation of teachers. It will address two Research Priority areas, 1: An Environmentally Sustainable Australia and 2. Strengthening AustraliaÍs economic and social fabric, which we argue are inseparable. Incorporating the findings into the curricula of teacher education will ensure that the project will have sustained long term benefits as well as the immediate application built into the study.Read moreRead less
The influence of evidence-based decisions by collaborative teacher teams on student achievement. National testing and concerns about literacy and numeracy skills as enabling competencies for learning have had a central focus for decades. Recent studies by Griffin and Care have established large gains in student reading comprehension in an uncontrolled study of years 3 to 6 in primary schools. This study seeks to determine if the process can be manipulated, scaled up and applied in a sustainable ....The influence of evidence-based decisions by collaborative teacher teams on student achievement. National testing and concerns about literacy and numeracy skills as enabling competencies for learning have had a central focus for decades. Recent studies by Griffin and Care have established large gains in student reading comprehension in an uncontrolled study of years 3 to 6 in primary schools. This study seeks to determine if the process can be manipulated, scaled up and applied in a sustainable manner across a larger number of year levels, systems of education, and subject areas.Read moreRead less
Interactive Distance E-Learning for Isolated Communities: 'Opening Our Eyes'. The project will investigate people's use, and experience, of a new satellite-based communications system, being deployed for isolated communities in NSW and the NT. This system (IDeL) supports distance learning, using two-way video communications and interactive computer technologies. Our project will work at three levels: (1) gathering evidence about the experiences and new working practices of learners, teachers and ....Interactive Distance E-Learning for Isolated Communities: 'Opening Our Eyes'. The project will investigate people's use, and experience, of a new satellite-based communications system, being deployed for isolated communities in NSW and the NT. This system (IDeL) supports distance learning, using two-way video communications and interactive computer technologies. Our project will work at three levels: (1) gathering evidence about the experiences and new working practices of learners, teachers and others using IDeL; (2) seeing how different ways of capturing and sharing these local practices and experiences support the spread of ideas across the system; (3) understanding the dynamics of implementation and take-up of complex, highly-distributed systems of this kind.Read moreRead less
New Ways of Doing School: Mixing story and technology to generate innovative learning, social and cultural communities. This project brings together academic, social and educational expertise and strong partnership networks of UTS, the Exodus Foundation, and the Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning. Indigenous and mainstream educators collaborate to develop new perceptions of school and learning through creative mixes of story arts and multimedia technologies. Too often, the imaginations of ....New Ways of Doing School: Mixing story and technology to generate innovative learning, social and cultural communities. This project brings together academic, social and educational expertise and strong partnership networks of UTS, the Exodus Foundation, and the Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning. Indigenous and mainstream educators collaborate to develop new perceptions of school and learning through creative mixes of story arts and multimedia technologies. Too often, the imaginations of the disenfranchised young are recruited into antisocial causes. This project seeks to build positive learning and social communities across remote and targeted urban regions, with a specific focus on, but not limited to, Indigenous children. The broad aim is to improve the lived experience of all Australians.Read moreRead less
Cross-cultural analysis of constructions of health and fitness in lives of young people. This project aims to extend our understanding of how young people in Canada and Australia construct notions of health and fitness and the implications of these constructions for the ways they see themselves and the choices they make about how they live their lives. The data collected at six sites in Australia and Canada covers a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, from questionnaires to interviews ....Cross-cultural analysis of constructions of health and fitness in lives of young people. This project aims to extend our understanding of how young people in Canada and Australia construct notions of health and fitness and the implications of these constructions for the ways they see themselves and the choices they make about how they live their lives. The data collected at six sites in Australia and Canada covers a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, from questionnaires to interviews, activity observations, and visual media such as photographs. The cross-cultural comparison will serve to highlight aspects of Anglophone, Francophone, Canadian, Australian and global culture that examining in isolation may not appear 'important' to those immersed within a given culture. By bringing the existing Australian project together with a newly established Canadian project, the different expertise of the Australian and Canadian Investigators can be drawn on for the analysis and interpretation of the data.Read moreRead less