Engaging economically disadvantaged adolescent girls in physical activity and healthy eating to improve health and prevent obesity. Secondary school represents the final opportunity to influence individuals as they develop adult lifestyle behaviours and enter a transitional period in their lives. Considering the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases among Australian adults and increases in the prevalence of obesity among young Australians, targeting health-promoting behaviours in adolescent ....Engaging economically disadvantaged adolescent girls in physical activity and healthy eating to improve health and prevent obesity. Secondary school represents the final opportunity to influence individuals as they develop adult lifestyle behaviours and enter a transitional period in their lives. Considering the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases among Australian adults and increases in the prevalence of obesity among young Australians, targeting health-promoting behaviours in adolescents is clearly a national priority. Furthermore, rates of obesity are much higher in economically disadvantaged areas, with girls more susceptible to the SES disadvantages. This project has the potential to develop a knowledge base and improve the health behaviours of current and future Australians most at risk for the development of lifestyle diseases.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI100100113
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,000.00
Summary
Wingara Mangami (to follow the dream of understanding): Seeding innovative intervention success to challenge and pracism for Inyouth. Intervention to combat racism towards Indigenous youth is vital given the pervasiveness and long-term consequences for academic failure, mental health costs and anti-social behaviour. Consistent with the priority of promoting andmaintaining good health and well-being, the study offers important educational and socio-economic benefits by enriching the psychosocial ....Wingara Mangami (to follow the dream of understanding): Seeding innovative intervention success to challenge and pracism for Inyouth. Intervention to combat racism towards Indigenous youth is vital given the pervasiveness and long-term consequences for academic failure, mental health costs and anti-social behaviour. Consistent with the priority of promoting andmaintaining good health and well-being, the study offers important educational and socio-economic benefits by enriching the psychosocial adjustment and life potential of Indigenous Australians. Effective intervention to address racism will enhance pro-social behaviours, self-concept, mental health, and school engagement of Indigenous secondary students and build capacity of non-Indigenous students to address racism and foster safer schools that contribute to individual, local community, and national well-being.Read moreRead less
Cultivating Capability: Explicating Critical Psychosocial Drivers of Educational Outcomes and Wellbeing for High-Ability Aboriginal Students. Despite emphasis worldwide on enabling high-ability students to realise their potential, little is known about drivers that seed success in educational outcomes and wellbeing for high ability Aboriginal students who underachieve, are under identified and are underrepresented in selective settings. Capitalising on interdisciplinary theory and research, a po ....Cultivating Capability: Explicating Critical Psychosocial Drivers of Educational Outcomes and Wellbeing for High-Ability Aboriginal Students. Despite emphasis worldwide on enabling high-ability students to realise their potential, little is known about drivers that seed success in educational outcomes and wellbeing for high ability Aboriginal students who underachieve, are under identified and are underrepresented in selective settings. Capitalising on interdisciplinary theory and research, a powerful multi-method design and state-of-the-art statistics, the project aims to explicate psychosocial determinants of high-ability Aboriginal students' educational outcomes and wellbeing and test the efficacy of novel research-derived interventions. This aims to advance knowledge, policy and practice to enhance the provision of education to high-ability Aboriginal students ensuring they realise their full potential.Read moreRead less
Lexical expertise and reading skill: An experimental analysis of individual differences in written language proficiency. The Federal Government's current National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy highlights the importance of an evidence-based approach to teaching and assessing literacy. Considerable research and policy effort has been directed towards early reading programs. Much less attention has been paid to evaluating children's later development of reading comprehension and spelling pr ....Lexical expertise and reading skill: An experimental analysis of individual differences in written language proficiency. The Federal Government's current National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy highlights the importance of an evidence-based approach to teaching and assessing literacy. Considerable research and policy effort has been directed towards early reading programs. Much less attention has been paid to evaluating children's later development of reading comprehension and spelling proficiency, but there is wide diversity in these skills within the adult population that influence educational and vocational opportunity. This investigation of the factors underlying expertise in reading and spelling will provide evidence that can contribute to developing educational policy and curricula for the later stages of schooling.Read moreRead less
Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. This project will examine what attracts or deters potential, future and practising teachers of the sciences and mathematics, by focusing on current teachers, school and university students in Queensland. Promises of a technological revolution and rapid economic development will be hollow if students do not study sciences and mathematics, and there are too few qu ....Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. This project will examine what attracts or deters potential, future and practising teachers of the sciences and mathematics, by focusing on current teachers, school and university students in Queensland. Promises of a technological revolution and rapid economic development will be hollow if students do not study sciences and mathematics, and there are too few qualified teachers. This project will identify where to intervene in the science and mathematics teacher supply pipeline, and policy levers to attract and sustain quality teachers. The project is expected to uncover what attracts or deters teachers of science and mathematics—disciplines essential to industry innovation, a skilled workforce and productivity growth.Read moreRead less
Gendered engagement and participation in sciences and mathematics. This project aims to identify the reasons for the declining numbers of girls (and boys) studying sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects during secondary school. This project will conduct complementary longitudinal studies in Australia, in collaboration with leading international scholars, analysing declining motivations, especially for girls/women, to show how this predicts different STEM career choices ....Gendered engagement and participation in sciences and mathematics. This project aims to identify the reasons for the declining numbers of girls (and boys) studying sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects during secondary school. This project will conduct complementary longitudinal studies in Australia, in collaboration with leading international scholars, analysing declining motivations, especially for girls/women, to show how this predicts different STEM career choices and actual occupational outcomes, to yield theoretical developments and inform policy to improve the participation of girls/women (and boys/men) in these fields. Expected outcomes of this project include the provision of comprehensive evidence-informed recommendations to Federal and State government, industry and education stakeholders, which will enable the coordinated development of intervention programs to address these issues.Read moreRead less
Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the c ....Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the critical importance of family involvement with schools to effect enduring change and the difficulties of achieving this within current structures. We address this challenge by nurturing whole-school culture change, providing teacher professional development, and locating family support resources within schools to promote home-school partnerships, family functioning, and child well-being. Read moreRead less
School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in princ ....School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in principals’ motivation and wellbeing, and share information about the most productive and cost effective interventions with key stakeholders across Australia. This research could reverse the declining wellbeing of Australia’s school leaders.Read moreRead less
Longitudinal twin study of literacy, language and attention. The primary practical national benefit will be in the unrivalled picture that emerges about how genetic factors interact with aspects of the familial and educational environment to determine the course of children's development in literacy and language. Policy makers in preschool and school education will be able to use the information to guide curriculum refinement and to develop policies for the early identification of children at d ....Longitudinal twin study of literacy, language and attention. The primary practical national benefit will be in the unrivalled picture that emerges about how genetic factors interact with aspects of the familial and educational environment to determine the course of children's development in literacy and language. Policy makers in preschool and school education will be able to use the information to guide curriculum refinement and to develop policies for the early identification of children at developmental risk in these domains. As an international project, the research will also promote scientific cooperation between Australia, the USA, and Scandinavia in a cutting-edge branch of human psychology, the interaction of genes and environment in psychological development.Read moreRead less
Babera dariadya yewing (Echoes of a flawed truth): investigating theory and practice on the interplay between bullying and racism. The negative impact of bullying and racism is being increasingly documented for Aboriginal youth, yet little attempt has been made to understand the differential impact of these stressors on the wellbeing and identity of Aboriginal Australian youth. This project will seek to address this issue, to guide future action-based research.