Digital Commons Network^™

A Balancing Act: Problematising Prescriptions About Food And Weight In School Health Texts, Jan Wright, R. Dean

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

School health syllabuses, health and physical education textbooks and most recently website resources targeting young people’s health are one of the main sources of knowledge in schools about how individuals should live their lives and come to know themselves and others, particularly as these relate to their bodies, their relationships and their daily practices of eating, drinking and engaging in physical activity. One of the most powerful and pervasive discourses currently influencing ways of thinking about health and about bodies is that associated with the notion of an ‘obesity epidemic’. In this paper, we use the notion of biopower as …

Framing The Integration Of Computers In Beginning Teacher Professional Development, N. F. Johnson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Government education departments mandate that computers should be and must be used in classrooms. Many beginning teachers are unsure of how to implement these expectations. Peter Twining’s (2002) Computer Practice Framework (CPF) provides us not only with how to conceptualise computer use in education, but with the means to practically and progressively integrate computers into classrooms. Explanation is given as to how the CPF can be used as a reference point for beginning teachers to plan and use computers in their primary classroom programmes, through drawing on a personal narrative and linking it to the framework of the CPF. As …

Understanding Teenager Technological Expertise In Out-Of-School Settings, N. F. Johnson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice, this study explored the construction of technological expertise of eight teenagers (five boys and three girls) aged 13 – 17. The qualitative study specifically employed observations and interviews and focused on home computer use, which for many of the participants was their primary site of leisure. All of the participants considered themselves to be technological experts, and their peers and/or their family supported this premise. This paper outlines findings that identify the participants’ multiple (and contradictory) understandings of expertise and the ways the participants perceive they have attained expertise and perform as experts …

A Social Semiotic Analysis Of Knowledge Construction And Games Centred Approaches To Teaching, Jan Wright, G. Forrest

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Games centred approaches (GCA) such as TGfU, Game Sense, Tactical Games are widely promoted as alternatives to traditional forms of teaching games within physical education. Despite a growing body of empirical research and a considerable theoretical literature, there are no analyses in the GCA literature, of interactions in actual lessons. In this paper we argue that social semiotics provides the tools for such an analysis. We give an example of how such an approach might be used by analysing questioning, as exemplified in the GCA literature and teacher resources, for the ways it constructs knowledge and interpersonal relations. We argue …

Exchanging Online Stories: A Space For Both Learning And Leisure, N. F. Johnson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The advent and popularity of The Sims and The Sims 2™has led to the telling, reading, reviewing and exchanging of stories in cyberspace on The Sims 2 website (http://thesims2.ea.com/), namely a section called the Story Exchange. Those involved in reading and evaluating these online stories include a 15-year-old female named Sarah, who was interviewed about her experiences in playing The Sims, The Sims 2, and using the Sims 2 website, including the Story Exchange section. The paper reviews some literature about the possible interrelationships between gaming and curriculum, and it introduces notions about plaisir and jouissance evident in the practice …

Community Service: Including A Social Justice Component In A Teacher Education Program, D. Konza, J. M. Kiggins, G. Brown

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Based on Dewey’s notion of experiential learning (1938), community service has long been recognised as a vehicle that builds awareness and appreciation of diversity, addresses social justice issues, provides a context for developing partnerships with different community groups, and contributes to personal feelings of worth and fulfilment. As such, it is seen as an increasingly effective form of pedagogy within teacher education programs. This paper provides a brief overview of the literature relating to community service programs in a range of contexts, with a particular focus on their implementation in pre-service teacher education programs. The paper then describes the process …

Prescribing Practices: Shaping Healthy Children In Schools, L. Burrows, Jan Wright

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Current concerns in New Zealand and abroad about the health and well-being of young people have generated a raft of government-sponsored and educational policies and practices geared towards the production of trim, taut and fit subjects who choose wisely from the range of risky ‘options’ available to them in avowedly new and changing times. These initiatives yield consequences for children and young people who are increasingly being urged, in Foucault’s terms, to conduct “…a certain number of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being…”(1997, p. 225) in an effort to ‘become’ the imagined healthful, …

What Adolescents Are Reading And What Their Teachers Are Not: Between The Deformed Discourse And Disdain Of The Graphic Novel, Philip R. Fitzsimmons

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

It was only at the beginning of this year that I realised that I had spent all of my teaching and research life talking with children under the age of twelve years, and even within this group it was mostly with children under six. While I had come to understand a great deal about literacy acquisition (Geekie, Cambourne and Fitzsimmons 1999) and elementary school reading development (Harris, Turbill, Fitzsimmons and McKenzie 2001), as my own teenage daughter constantly reminded me, all I knew was ‘ankle-biter speak’. Determined to change this, I began working with a group of students in a …

Pink Or Paris? Giftedness In Popular Culture., Wilhelmina J. Vialle

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

In gifted education there is a significant body of research that focuses on the socialising influences that enable gifted children to translate their potential into performance. However, there is very little research that has examined what role popular culture plays in the development of talent. This paper reports on the first phase of a research project investigating the impact of popular culture on gifted children and youth. It involves an analysis of the images of giftedness presented in a selection of popular culture texts. This analysis reveals that gifted young people are often stereotypically portrayed as female, studious, non-sporting and …

Representing Authentic Learning Designs Supporting The Development Of Online Communities Of Learners, Ron Oliver, Anthony J. Herrington, Janice A. Herrington, Thomas C. Reeves

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Authentic learning designs have been explored for some time now and have frequently been shown to provide learning settings that provide many meaningful contexts for learning. These meaningful contexts provide not only encouragement for students to learn but also a raft of learning enhancements including higher-order learning and forms of learning support. The establishment of a sense of community among learners creates support mechanisms that can readily enhance learning outcomes. This paper describes several technology-facilitated authentic learning designs that involve the development and support of learning communities. The learning designs are represented in several forms to provide an overview of …

Effective Pre-School And Primary Education 3-11 Project (Eppe 3-11): Influences On Children's Attainment And Progress In Key Stage 2: Cognitive Outcomes In Year 5, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Yvonne Grabbe, Sofka Barreau

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Research Brief: Effective Pre-School and Primary Education 3-11 (EPPE 3-11) (2003-2008) builds on the work of the earlier Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project (1996-2003) which investigated the impact of pre-school provision on a national sample of young children in England between the ages of 3 and 7 years. EPPE 3-11 is following the same sample of around 2,500 children to age 11, the end of Key Stage 2. This Research Brief focuses on the relationships between various child, family, home, pre-school and primary school characteristics and measures of children's cognitive attainment in Year 5 of primary school (age …

Applying Gis In Practitioner Settings, Pauline M. Mcguirk, Phillip O'Neill

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper focuses on the involvement of CURS in a project aimed at developing an integrated GIS to facilitate inter-agency data sharing and analysis so as to enhance the planning and provision of family services in the Hunter. The paper focuses on the process of developing the 'soft technologies of engagement' necessary to facilitate the co-operative data-sharing between key government human services agencies that must underpin an integrated GIS. These soft technologies are required to address the ethical, procedural and technical challenges of data sharing and, more intangibly, to manage the organisation and institutional barriers to inter-agency data sharing. The …

Building The Capacity To Govern The Australian Metropolis: Challenges And Opportunities, Pauline M. Mcguirk

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper traces key policy challenges facing Australia's metropolitan cities as a result of multiscaled shifts in their governance contexts. These shifts, related both to the neoliberal erosion of a national commitment to universal social provision and the adoption of a 'competitive city' governance paradigm at the urban scale, have produced a set of governance challenges, particularly concerning urban social inclusion and cohesion. Moreover, a range of institutional obstacles continues to hinder the generation of urban governance capacity to address these challenges. The paper works through the nature of these obstacles and takes a pragmatic approach to identifying opportunities to …

Banking On Housing; Spending The Home, Susan J. Smith, Beverley A. Searle, Nicole T. Cook

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

British mortgagors hold more wealth in their homes than ever before. They are spending more freely from these assets now than they are likely to again. 'Banking on housing' is concerned with when, where, why and how people choose and use their mortgages to roll equity out of housing and into other things. It is a study of the consumption of housing, the consumption of mortgages, and the use of housing wealth in consumption more broadly.

Promoting Equality In The Early Years: Report To The Equalities Review, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Pam Sammons, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In March 2006 the Effective Pre-school and Primary Education Project (EPPE 3-11) team were asked to give evidence on 'Associations between the Pre-School, Home Learning Environment (HLE), Family SES, Ethnicity, Gender and SEN status of children and their attainment at age 7 years' to The Equalities Review team to help inform the consultation paper being prepared for the Cabinet Office. The EPPE team were subsequently commissioned to provide further evidence on equality and inequality in early years education and care. This report to The Equalities Review Team provides an evidential base for practical recommendations that can enhance the life chances …

Effective Pre-School And Primary Education 3-11 Project (Eppe 3-11): Influences On Children's Development And Progress In Key Stage 2: Social/Behavioural Outcomes In Year 5, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Sofka Barreau, Yvonne Grabbe

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Research brief: The Effective Pre-School and Primary Education 3-11 project (EPPE 3-11) investigates the impact of pre-school provision on a national sample of young children in England between the ages of 3 and 11 years. This Research Brief focuses on the relationships between various child, family, home, pre-school and primary school characteristics and measures of children's social/behavioural development collected at age 10 in Year 5 of primary school. It compares the findings at age 10 with the influence of the same factors when the children were in Year 1 (age 6). The Brief also reports findings about the combined influence …

The Impact Of A Cancer Diagnosis On The Health Behaviors Of Cancer Survivors And Their Family And Friends, Nancy Humpel, Christopher Magee, Sandra C. Jones

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Goals The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a cancer diagnosis on the health behaviors of cancer survivors and their family and friends, and to determine whether a cancer diagnosis could be a teachable moment for intervention. Materials and methods This was a cross-sectional study of the health behaviors of individuals taking part in a cancer fundraising event. The questionnaire was completed by 657 participants. Main results Participants were 81.4% women, had a mean age of 46 years, and comprised of 17.2% cancer survivors. For cancer survivors, 31.3% reported an increase in physical activity, 50% of …

Talking About Food And Nutrition: Australian Women's Magazines, Danielle Mcvie, Heather Yeatman, Sandra C. Jones

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Cultivating Appetites for Knowledge International Food Conference, May 30 - Jun 3 2007, Victoria, Canada

Relationships Between Objectively Measured Physical Activity, Movement Competency And Psychosocial Outcomes In Overweight And Obese Children, Dylan P. Cliff, Anthony D. Okely, P Morgan, Julie R. Steele, Rachel A. Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This study examined cross-sectional associations between physical activity and the psychosocial outcomes of self-esteem and health related quality of life (HRQoL), and fundamental movement skills (FMS) and psychosocial outcomes in overweight/obese children. Measures were collected from 165 overweight/obese children aged 5-9y (mean age = 8.2 + 1.1; mean BMI-z = 2.81 + 0.71, 41% boys) as part of the Hunter and Illawarra Kids Challenge Using Parent Support (HIKCUPS) RCT. Baseline data, split by gender, were used to explore relationships between activity/FMS variables and psychosocial outcomes for boys and girls separately. Measures included objectively measured physical activity (Actigraph 7164 accelerometer), video-assessed …

The Australian Aboriginal View Of Giftedness, Wilhelmina J. Vialle, Kathleen Gibson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

To write a chapter on the conceptions of giftedness held by the indigenous people of Australia presents particular challenges to the authors. In framing this chapter, we are mindful that the structure of the book has looked at language as a defining aspect of culture but there is no single Aboriginal language (or culture) and the majority of Aboriginal people speak as their first language either Aboriginal English, a dialect of English, or one of three Kriols, the Aboriginal term for the creole languages (Sandefur, 1986) that have evolved following English settlement of Australia. Even if we were to look …

The New Symbolic Space: The Use Of Popular Culture As Tools Of Engagement, Philip R. Fitzsimmons, Barbra Mckenzie

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper will argue that young children are rapidly becoming the ‘new rich’ in regard to engaging with, understanding and exploiting the many forms of popular culture found in Australian society. While politicians, teachers and administrators argue and debate ‘skill acquisition’ and mastery over conventions, we will argue that children are tending to ignore school based texts and are engaging in reading texts that represent a ‘new interiorisation’ of cultural understanding and are using a new set of associated reading skills. At the turn of the new millennium Brockmeier predicted that reading as a skills based approach is only the …

Kinder Kids: Learning To Read In The 21st Century, Margaret Turner, Janice B. Turbill

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Children who enter kindergarten bring to the school environment, a wide range of abilities in reading. Prior literacy experiences in the home and the wider community have been shown to contribute towards these wide ranging abilities (Cairney & Munsie, 1992; Cairney & Ruge, 1997; Brown, 1998; Brooker, 2002; McNicol & Dalton, 2002; Manzo & Robelen, 2003). Our society today, though, is changing rapidly. Our task, therefore, as educators is to prepare our children to function in a future civilization created by the biggest leap in technology since the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago. We have entered a time when advances …

The Online Acculturation Of Chinese Student 'Sojourners', Tsai-Hung Chen, Susan J. Bennett, Karl A. Maton

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a work-in-progress research project that explores the acculturation of Chinese student 'sojourners' to online learning at an Australian university. Building on Berry's (1980, 2005) acculturation frameworks, this project examines the processes of change in the students' perceptions of online learning and the strategies they use to adapt to online learning. The research consists of two parts: a pilot study and the main study. The aims of this paper are to explain why Berry's frameworks have been chosen for this investigation and to report on the pilot study findings. The overall results indicate a strong clash of educational …

In-School Professional Development: Supporting Teachers With The Inclusion Of Critical Literacy In Their Classrooms, Lisa K. Kervin, Michelle Rodwell

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The voluminous literature within the field of teacher professional development presents varied components of what constitutes meaningful professional development experiences for teachers. The case reported herein describes how components identified from an analysis of the literature have been incorporated within an inschool model of professional development to support primary teachers as they explore their literacy teaching within their own school and individual classrooms. These ongoing, in-school professional development experiences aimed to support and encourage pedagogical change as the teachers reviewed their classroom teaching and learning practices with emphasis on critical literacy. The importance of the school professional culture, the organisation …

Social Class, Femininity And School Sport, Jan Wright, Gabrielle O'Flynn

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the relationship between the discursive and material practices associated with school sport and physical education and the formation of particular classed and gendered subjectivities; and how these, in turn, impact on young women’s potential life chances. In so doing, the paper will attempt to go beyond an understanding of ‘subjectivity’ as formed in relation to cultural and institutional discourses, to engage with the notion of ability or ‘embodied capacity’ as a form of physical capital (Shilling 1993) which has particular salience in a consumerist ‘performance’ motivated market economy and which is differentially made available in schools. This …

Association Analysis Of Chromosome 1 Migraine Candidate Genes, Francesca Fernandez, Robert P. Curtain, Natalie J. Colson, Micky Ovcaric, John Macmillan, Lyn R. Griffiths

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background Migraine with aura (MA) is a subtype of typical migraine. Migraine with aura (MA) also encompasses a rare severe subtype Familial Hemiplegic Migraine (FHM) with several known genetic loci. The type 2 FHM (FHM-2) susceptibility locus maps to chromosome 1q23 and mutations in the ATP1A2 gene at this site have recently been implicated. We have previously provided evidence of linkage of typical migraine (predominantly MA) to microsatellite markers on chromosome 1, in the 1q31 and 1q23 regions. In this study, we have undertaken a large genomic investigation involving candidate genes that lie within the chromosome 1q23 and 1q31 regions …

Influences On Children's Attainment And Progress In Key Stage 2: Cognitive Outcomes In Year 5, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Yvonne Grabbe, Sofka Barreau

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This report presents the results of analyses related to the Key Stage 2 phase of a major longitudinal study investigating the influence of pre-school and primary school on children's cognitive and social/behavioural development (EPPE 3-11) in England. The study is funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The focus of this report is on children's cognitive attainments at the end of Year 5. A report on children's social/behavioural development at this age has been published separately. The original EPPE pre-school sample was recruited to the study at age 3 years plus and followed to the end of Key …

Do Children's Food Preferences Align With Dietary Recommendations?, C G. Russell, Anthony Worsley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objectives To examine how Australian children's reported everyday food preferences reflect dietary recommendations, and the impact of sociodemographic factors on these associations.

Design Cross-sectional survey.

Setting/subjects Three hundred and seventy-one parents of children aged 2–5 years, recruited from three socio-economic groups in two Australian cities, completed a survey on their child's liking for 176 foods and drinks on a 5-point Likert scale in addition to demographic descriptors. Preferences were compared with the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.

Results Foods in the Extra Foods (non-nutritious foods) and …

Contraception Use And Pregnancy Among 15-24 Year Old South African Women: A Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Survey, Catherine L. Mac Phail, Audrey Pettifor, Sophie Pascoe, Helen Rees

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background Adolescent reproductive health has not continued to receive the attention it deserves since the start of the HIV epidemic. In South Africa, high numbers of adolescent women report pregnancies that are unwanted and yet few have accessed available termination of pregnancy services. Enabling contraception use is vital for meeting the goals of HIV prevention. Methods A nationally representative survey of South African 15-24 year olds was undertaken. Participants completed a questionnaire on sexual behaviour and provided an oral fluid sample for HIV testing. Analysis of the data was restricted to women (n = 6217), particularly those who reported being …

"Cheapening The Struggle:" Obese People's Attitudes Towards The Biggest Loser, Samantha Thomas, Jim Hyde, Paul Komesaroff

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Once the domain of clinicians and researchers, we must now accept that 'obesity' has become ingrained in popular culture. An example is the emergence of a feast of reality television shows about obesity and weight loss. The most popular show is The Biggest Loser, where contestants compete to lose weight and win cash.