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An Early Years Toolbox For Assessing Early Executive Function, Language, Self-Regulation, And Social Development: Validity, Reliability, And Preliminary Norms, Steven J. Howard, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Several methods of assessing executive function (EF), self-regulation, language development, and social development in young children have been developed over previous decades. Yet new technologies make available methods of assessment not previously considered. In resolving conceptual and pragmatic limitations of existing tools, the Early Years Toolbox (EYT) offers substantial advantages for early assessment of language, EF, self-regulation, and social development. In the current study, results of our large-scale administration of this toolbox to 1,764 preschool and early primary school students indicated very good reliability, convergent validity with existing measures, and developmental sensitivity. Results were also suggestive of better capture of …

The Development And Testing Of The Dementia Friendly Communities Environment Assessment Tool (Dfc Eat), Richard Fleming, Kirsty A. Bennett, Terri Preece, Lyn Phillipson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: There is a growing recognition of the need to make the built environment in towns and cities more enabling for people with dementia. This study reports the development of a reliable tool to assess the support provided to people with dementia by public and commercial buildings such as council offices, supermarkets, banks, and medical centers as they approach, use, and leave them.

Methods: A three-step process was carried out to develop and establish the reliability of the tool: (1) a review of principles and available tools informed the development and modification of an environmental audit tool of …

'Involve Me And I Learn': Development Of An Assessment Program For Research And Critical Analysis, Judy Mullan, Kylie J. Mansfield, Kathryn M. Weston, Warren C. Rich, Pippa Burns, Christine A. Brown, Peter L. Mclennan

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Evidence-based medical practice is best achieved by developing research understanding in medical practitioners. To this end, medical councils worldwide increasingly recognise the importance of medical schools graduating students with well-developed research skills and research capacity. To meet this need, the principles of programmatic assessment were implemented in designing a research and critical analysis curriculum and assessment program that aimed to enhance the research and critical analysis skills of medical students. The program was developed by mapping assessment tasks to a research capabilities framework that was in turn scaffolded to different levels of Miler's pyramid. The curriculum and assessments were integrated …

Transformative Travel As A Sustainable Market Niche For Protected Areas: A New Development, Marketing And Conservation Model, Isabelle D. Wolf, Gillian Ainsworth, Jane Crowley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Many protected areas worldwide are mandated to provide visitor enjoyment and sustainable heritage conservation but face growing challenges and competition. To satisfy modern aspirational markets, parks must design meaningful experiences delivering long-lasting participant benefits that cultivate visitation rates and a conservation constituency. Transformative travel can deliver such benefits through participants' psycho-physiological transformation but market insights critical for experience development in parks are lacking. Our systematic quantitative review of 126 transformative travel articles provides those insights, linking experiential characteristics, participant traits and motivations to experience outcomes according to five transformative travel typologies pertinent to parks: health and wellness, nature-based physical activity, …

Joint Development Of Teacher Cognition And Identity Through Learning To Teach L2 Pronunciation, Michael S. Burri, Honglin Chen, Amanda Ann Baker

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The constructs of teacher cognition and teacher identity have recently gained considerable attention in second language teacher education research for their crucial roles in understanding teacher learning. While a number of current studies have examined the contributions of both constructs, the connections between cognition and identity are yet to be fully conceptualized. This article addresses this gap by drawing on the notion of identification to examine the identity construction and cognition development of 15 student teachers in the context of a postgraduate course on pronunciation pedagogy. Questionnaires, focus group interviews, observations, and semi-structured interviews were triangulated to obtain an in-depth …

Development Of A Dynamic Model For A Hybrid Photovoltaic Thermal Collector - Solar Air Heater With Fins, Wenke Fan, Georgios Kokogiannakis, Zhenjun Ma, Paul Cooper

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

A dynamic model for a hybrid Photovoltaic Thermal Collector-Solar Air Heater (PVT-SAH) with longitudinal fins was developed to enable assessment of the potential of the system to provide high temperature outlet air (60-90 °C) under dynamic boundary conditions. The model description includes the method for discretising the system into a number of control volumes, the energy balance equations for each control volume and the implementation of the numerical solution. Model validation has been successfully undertaken by using empirical verification of model predictions with an experimental facility and by comparing the model outputs with the reference data from the literature. The …

Development Of Microencapsulated Phase Change Material For Solar Thermal Energy Storage, Weiguang Su, Jo Darkwa, Georgios Kokogiannakis

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

In this paper a novel microencapsulated phase change material (MF-3) has been developed and tested for solar assisted hot water storage systems. Even though the morphology of the sample was affected by the type of emulsifier used for fabrication it recorded the highest energy storage capacity of 126 kJ/kg with encapsulation efficiency of 97.4% as compared with other developed samples. For the purpose of assessing its thermal effectiveness it was theoretically evaluated in a compacted fixed bed TES unit and found to be capable of achieving a higher energy storage density as well as relatively smaller physical storage size than …

The Development Of Professional Practice Standards For Australian General Practice Nurses, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Moira Stephens, Julianne Bryce, Elizabeth Foley, Christine Ashley

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Aims The aim of this study was to explore the current role of general practice nurses and the scope of nursing practice to inform the development of national professional practice standards for Australian general practice nurses.

Background Increasing numbers of nurses have been employed in Australian general practice to meet the growing demand for primary care services. This has brought significant changes to the nursing role. Competency standards for nurses working in general practice were first developed in Australia in 2005, but limited attention has been placed on articulating the contemporary scope of practice for nurses in this setting.

Design …

Development Of Advanced Practice Competency Standards For Dietetics In Australia, Claire Palermo, Sandra Capra, Eleanor J. Beck, Janeane Dart, J Conway, Susan Ash

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Aim: This study aimed to explore the work roles, major tasks and core activities of advanced practice dietitians in Australia to define the Competency Standards for advanced practice. Methods: A qualitative approach was used to review advanced dietetic practice in Australia involving experienced professionals, mostly dietitians. Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 17 participants and an average of 20 years experience: 15 dietitian practitioners plus 2 employers (1 dietitian and 1 non-dietitian). The focus groups explored the key purpose, roles and outcomes of these practitioners. Data from the focus groups were confirmed with in-depth interviews about their …

Playwriting And Flow: The Interconnection Between Creativity, Engagement And Skill Development, Paul Gardiner

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Understanding, encouraging and developing creativity in the classroom is an international priority (Craft, 2011). This article outlines the findings of research into playwriting pedagogy. It interrogates the conceptual assumptions that surround teaching and learning for creativity, and how these ideas influence teacher practice and student experience. It argues that student engagement and creativity are fundamentally and reciprocally linked. To better understand how to teach and foster creativity in a classroom, teachers' views on creativity and creative processes are explored through Csikszentmihalyi's (2008) theory of 'flow' and the lessons this provides for understanding engagement. The article argues that the teachers' views …