Digital Commons Network^™

Symbiotic Radicalisation Strategies: Propaganda Tools And Neuro Linguistic Programming, Robyn Torok

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

The rise of Islamic State has seen a rise in the threat and incidences of domestic terrorism. Sophisticated strategies are being used to target youth and draw them into the ideology of Islamic state and other terrorist groups. Two common strategies used by Islamic State are the use of propaganda tools as well as Neuro linguistic programming strategies. This paper looks at how these strategies were used through a longitudinal online ethnographic study on the social media site Facebook. Data collected revealed that these two strategies were used in a targeted manner and worked together in a symbiotic fashion to …

Analysis Of Road Sprint Cycling Performance, Paolo Menaspa

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Sprint cycling ability is a key determinant of road cycling performance, with many races designed specifically for sprinters. The ability to excel in the final sprint is relevant for both individual riders and teams. Despite the importance of sprints within professional road cycling, the characteristics of professional road sprints and sprinters have yet to be extensively described. Thus, the overall objective of the five research studies contained within this doctoral thesis was to describe road cycling sprint performance and improve the general understanding of the physical, technical and tactical factors associated with such performances.

The first two descriptive field studies …

Leaving Home: Investigating Transitioning Challenges Faced By Boarding Students And Their Families, Kate Margaret Hadwen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Transitioning to boarding school during the middle years of childhood impacts upon the social, emotional and academic wellbeing of young people (Bramston & Patrick, 2007; Connell & Wellborn, 1991; Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991; Earls & Carlson, 2001). Students who live at school as boarders, may experience greater transitional changes in all three components of wellbeing due to the extent of change experienced during this transition. While research addressing transitioning to school has indicated the importance of connectedness to school, bonding, friendships and a sense of autonomy (Eccles et al., 1993), there is limited research addressing the transitioning experiences …

Fowl Feathered Fox: Monsters, Pipers, Families And Flocks, Michelle Aslett

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Fowl Feathered Fox: Monsters, Pipers, Families and Flocks is a doctoral work consisting of a full-length stage play and an exegesis. An introduction outlines the scope of the doctoral work, while a concluding chapter reflects on research findings and considers staging issues and implications. Appendices include images incorporated into the play’s action as well as photographed excerpts from a series of visual diaries used to document the play’s evolution. The play, Fowl Feathered Fox, explores the nature of delusion, deception and the tragedy of The Beast Within. Borrowing as it does from the traditions of revenge tragedy, comedy and horror, …

Enter The Movement: Generating Stimulus From Sceneography And Proposing 'De-Sign' As A Tool For Choreographic Invention, Helene Gee Markstein

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to provide the notion of ‘de-sign’ as a proposed aid for movement composition and is the core framework of my research, which is aimed at empowering the dancer/choreographer with a multi-disciplinary aesthetic and a focus for dialectic discussion and experimentation with all material enclosed within the scenographic. De-sign is a method for decoding scenography (as a deconstruction tool to extract the components of composition classified as elements and principles). The play on words is a deliberate acknowledgement of the ‘design’ in the scenographic environment which, in this study, takes into account that all forms …

Rising To The Challenge: Exploring The Transition From Primary To Secondary Education In A Western Australian School, Elizabeth Joan Wenden

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The ‘Rising to the Challenge: Exploring the transition from Primary to Secondary education in a Western Australian School’ study explored the positive predictors of primary to secondary school transition of a cohort of Year 7 students (n=182) at a school in Western Australia. The transition from primary to secondary school is an important process in the lives of adolescents aged around 11-13 years old. It is a challenging and exciting time that coincides with social, emotional, physical and cognitive changes of the adolescent stage of development. Enabling a positive transition to secondary school can give adolescents the support they need …

Cognitive Fatigue: Exploring The Relationship Between The Fatigue Effect And Action Video-Game Experience, James Brooks

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

the effects of cognitive fatigue. Despite this, there remain advantages to regularly playing action video games. In Study 1, VGPs were significantly better at multitasking on the MATB-II compared to the NVGPs. Further, VGPs also demonstrated superior multitasking when driving, as they made significantly fewer traffic violations compared to NVGPs when not fatigued. VGPs demonstrated eye-movements similar to those of expert drivers; however, this did not result in any difference in performance between the two groups. There was also some evidence of a positive effect of video game training, although there was no advantage of one training technique over the …

Indonesian Teachers’ Implementation Of New Curriculum Initiatives In Relation To Teaching Writing In Lower Primary School, Sulfasyah, Yvonne Haig, Caroline Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper reports an investigation of teachers’ implementation of a new Indonesian curriculum, the Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP), meaning school-based curriculum. The specific context chosen was the teaching of writing in Year 2 in the primary schools of Makassar City, Indonesia. The teachers’ implementation was examined through the lens of the KTSP’s key constructivist-based concepts. Using qualitative methods, the study found that the teachers’ implementation of the new writing curriculum reflected a traditional view of teaching, despite the intent of the KTSP to move away from this approach to one that better reflected a constructivist approach. The study also …

Inter-Rater Reliability And Validity Of The Australian Football League’S Kicking And Handball Tests, Ashley J. Cripps, Luke S. Hopper, Christopher Joyce

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Talent identification tests used at the Australian Football League’s National Draft Combine assess the capacities of ath-letes to compete at a professional level. Tests created for the National Draft Combine are also commonly used for talent identification and athlete development in development path-ways. The skills tests created by the Australian Football League required players to either handball (striking the ball with the hand) or kick to a series of 6 randomly generated targets. Asses-sors subjectively rate each skill execution giving a 0-5 score for each disposal. This study aimed to investigate the inter-rater reliability and validity of the skills tests …

Galvanic Skin Response In Mood Disorders: A Critical Review, Roisin Vahey, Rodrigo Becerra

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

To critically review the literature on Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) within Mood Disorder populations. GSR profiles were examined for the various types of Mood Disorder and their association with comorbidity, suicidality and predispositions. This review examined studies with emotional and non-emotional stimuli whilst aiming to identify a Mood Disorder GSR profile by comparisons with healthy controls and other psychological or physical disorders. A systematic search for relevant literature was conducted using PsychINFO, CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Studies using emotional stimuli to measure GSR in mood disorder patients were included. Some studies did not use emotional stimuli, however were included as …

Support After Brain Tumor Means Different Things: Family Caregivers' Experiences Of Support And Relationship Changes, T. Ownsworth, E. Goadby, Suzanne K. Chambers

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Shorter hospital stays and greater emphasis on outpatient care means that family members have the primary responsibility for supporting a person with brain tumor to manage the physical, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional effects of the illness and its treatment. Given the integral role of family caregivers, it is essential to understand their experience of the impact of brain tumor and their own support needs. Accordingly, this qualitative study aimed to investigate family caregivers' experiences of support and relationship changes in the context of brain tumor. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 family caregivers (8 spouse/partner, 3 parents) of people with …

Psychological Distress And Quality Of Life In Lung Cancer: The Role Of Health-Related Stigma, Illness Appraisals And Social Constraints, Suzanne Chambers, P. Baade, P. Youl, J. Aitken, S. Occhipinti, S. Vinod, P.C. Valery, G. Garvey, K.M. Fong, D. Ball, H. Zorbas, J. Dunn, D.L. O'Connell

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objective: Health-related stigma is associated with negative psychological and quality of life outcomes in lung cancer patients. This study describes the impact of stigma on lung cancer patients' psychological distress and quality of life and explores the role of social constraints and illness appraisal as mediators of effect. Methods: A self-administered cross-sectional survey examined psychological distress and quality of life in 151 people (59% response rate) diagnosed with lung cancer from Queensland and New South Wales. Health-related stigma, social constraints and illness appraisals were assessed as predictors of adjustment outcomes. Results: Forty-nine percent of patients reported elevated anxiety; 41% were …

The Requirement To Be Fit And Proper: What Does It Mean To Australian Psychologists?, Francesca A. Bell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The phrase fit and proper is used in the Health Practitioners Regulation National Law Act (Qld), 2009, which came into effect nationally in 2010 and governs psychologists. As with previous legislation that used the phrase, the legislator does not define fit and proper, leaving it up to each profession to determine its exact meaning and inform the courts accordingly. A review of the literature established that to date no Australian psychologist has attempted to define the construct. This means that Australian lawyers do not get any guidance from psychologists regarding how they should interpret the phrase fit and proper in …

Teacher Emotion Research: Introducing A Conceptual Model To Guide Future Research, Leanne Fried, Caroline Mansfield, Eva Dobozy

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article reports on the development of a conceptual model of teacher emotion through a review of teacher emotion research published between 2003 and 2013. By examining 82 publications regarding teacher emotion, the main aim of the review was to identify how teacher emotion was conceptualised in the literature and develop a conceptual model to illustrate the findings. Interestingly, few papers explicitly defined ‘emotion’ or ‘teacher emotion’ but described the functions of emotion (such as providing information) and influences on emotion (such as personal characteristics), so these were also used to build the conceptual model. The literature also highlighted the …

Accidental Opioid Overdose Fatalities In Western Australia, 2008-2012: A Case For More Targeted Intervention, Natalie J. Castalanelli

Theses : Honours

While there are current opioid overdose prevention strategies in Western Australia, these strategies are targeted at illicit opioid users and rely on bystander presence to intervene. The aim of the current study was to identify disparities between current overdose prevention strategies and the actual circumstances surrounding opioid related fatalities, to inform the development of best-practice opioid overdose prevention strategies for Western Australia. To do this, coronial files were drawn from the National Coronial Information System for accidental illicit opioid related fatalities (N = 329) and accidental prescription opioid related fatalities (N = 126) for the years 2008 to 2012. Each …

“To Get A Foot In The Door”: New Host Country Educated Immigrant Teachers’ Perceptions Of Their Employability In Finland, Kaisa Hahl, Heini Paavola

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article sets out to find factors that promote or hinder employment opportunities for immigrant teachers educated in the host country. The data were collected through online questionnaires and focus group discussions among two student cohorts. After a year of graduating from English-medium teacher education in Finland, the employment situations ranged from full-time permanent teaching posts in Finland to unemployment. Although the majority was successful in securing at least some work, no one was teaching in mainstream classrooms in a Finnish-medium school. The scope of teaching qualifications and references from substitutions were considered factors for employment. Lacking “strong enough” Finnish …

A Study On Preferred Learning Styles Of Turkish Efl Teacher Trainees, Sevim Inal, Oya Büyükyavuz, Mustafa Tekin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Since people have different ways of perception, levels of motivation, and attitudes towards teaching and learning they consistently differ from each other in their preferences of learning and acquiring knowledge. Therefore, the more instructors understand the differences, the better chance they have of understanding and meeting the diverse learning needs of their students. The present study has been conducted to investigate the Turkish ELT students’ learning style preferences in relation to gender and age to see if there is any relationship between achievement and learning style preferences. To perform the aim of the study Wintergerst and DeCapua’s (1999) learning style …

Picturebooks In Teacher Education: Eight Teacher Educators Share Their Practice, Nicola Daly, Marilyn M. Blakeney-Williams

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There is a great deal of contemporary research demonstrating the effective use of picturebooks in the classroom; however, there are few studies recording perceptions and use of picturebooks in Initial Teacher Education [ITE]. This study explores the reported use of picturebooks within a New Zealand university-based ITE degree programme. The data discussed in this article was collected using semi structured interviews with eight teacher educators from different learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum. In order to unpack the power of using picturebooks as part of teacher preparation a discussion of why and how picturebooks are used by teacher educators …

Preparing Palestinian Reflective English Language Teachers Through Classroom Based Action Research, Majida "Mohammed Yousef" Dajani

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: This study aimed to describe the implementation of individual action research projects among some forty English language teachers distributed in thirty Palestinian schools in Ramallah and Qabatya districts-Palestine. It aimed to analyze the outcomes of the teachers’ action research as part of a broader participatory action research project that is intended to increase the capacity among teachers in Palestine as part of the LTD program. The data revealed that in spite of the difficulties that Palestinian teachers face, action research was a powerful, inquiry and exploratory tool that impacted teachers’ classroom practices and professional development. Furthermore, the implementation of …

The Effects Of Microteaching On The Critical Thinking Dispositions Of Pre-Service Teachers, Zeki Arsal

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of microteaching on pre-service teachers’ critical thinking dispositions. The participants of the study consisted of 70 pre-service teachers (64.3% females, 35.7% males) in the Turkish Language teacher education program at a public university in the North of Turkey. In the study, an experimental and a control group with a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used to determine the impact of microteaching training on the critical thinking dispositions of the pre-service teachers in the teacher education programme. The results revealed that the pre-service teachers in the experimental group showed a statistically …

Interrogating The Lesson Plan In A Pre-Service Methods Course: Evidence From A University In Kenya, Kefa L. Simwa, Maropeng Modiba

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper reports on research that examined how the content of a History methods course, taught in a university in Kenya, influenced student teachers’ lesson planning and pedagogical skills. A lecture on a lesson plan, micro-teaching lesson plan documents and presentations were examined to determine student teachers’ preparedness for teaching the History and Government (H&G) secondary school curriculum in Kenya. A case study was employed including lesson observations, interviews and document analysis. The findings demonstrate that focusing on parts of a lesson in lesson planning in the lecture may have derailed student teachers from developing the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) …

Personality, Resilience, Self-Regulation And Cognitive Ability Relevant To Teacher Selection, Eleanor Sautelle, Terry Bowles, John Hattie, Daniel N. Arifin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The current study uses social judgment theory to inform the design of processes to be used in selecting teachers for training programs. Developing a comprehensive selection process to identify individuals who are likely to succeed as teachers is a mechanism for improving teacher quality and raising the profile of the profession. The design of such a process requires the identification of qualities of effective teaching that can be assessed at selection, and their relative importance. Six psychological constructs are identified from previous literature that are likely to differentiate between teaching candidates – Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Resilience, Self-Regulation and Cognitive Ability. …

Thinking Differently About Infants And Toddlers: Exploring The Reflections Of Future Australian Early Childhood Teachers In Australia, Susanne Garvis, Donna Pendergast

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In Australian early childhood teacher education programs, there appears to be a greater focus on the age group of kindergarten children compared to that of infants and toddlers (Garvis, Lemon, Pendergast and Yim, 2013). As a consequence, pre-service teachers may have little opportunity to interact and learn about this important age range. This paper reports on the incorporation of videos of young child and educator interaction into early childhood teacher education programs at one Australian university. The cohort of pre-service teachers (18) were asked to think in a structured way about the videos with the help of a reflective template, …

Teaching Mindfulness To Year Sevens As Part Of Health And Personal Development, Kathy Arthurson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Recently the adoption of mindfulness or contemplative based approaches has escalated across many sectors, including in education. Proponents argue that mindfulness based teaching programs improve students’ life skills, provide emotional balance, reduce stress and enhance classroom climate. To date though there is little evaluation or knowledge of how young people experience such programs introduced to classroom settings. This paper reports some key insights gained from an independent evaluation of a pilot mindfulness based teaching program implemented (over nine weeks) with a class of thirty, year seven students at a private school in Adelaide. The research methods incorporated a self-completed student …

Connecting Attitudes Toward Teaching And Pedagogical Formation Courses: A Study Of Turkish Pre-Service Teachers, Oksana Parylo, Hilmi Süngü, Abdurrahman Ilgan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This quantitative study aimed to examine (1) the pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward the teaching profession and (2) whether their attitudes are impacted by the pedagogical formation courses that are part of teacher preparation. The findings of the pre-test showed that participants had positive attitudes toward teaching as a profession. However, the examination of the difference between the pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards teaching profession based on before and after taking pedagogical formation courses revealed no statistically significant differences in the participants’ responses. The results of this analysis provide a better understanding of Turkish teacher candidates’ attitudes toward the teaching profession and …

Parent-Teacher Interactions: Engaging With Parents And Carers, Michelle Ellis, Graeme Lock, Geoff Lummis

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study sought to identify factors that parents and teachers described as impacting on their interactions. Previous research indicated that student performance levels increase when parents and teachers work together; however, in practice, there are underlying tensions. The key findings revealed that the nature of parent-teacher interactions was either collaborative or non-collaborative, several activities underpinned these practices, and positive or less than satisfactory outcomes were afforded to students. Furthermore, parents and teachers had similar preferences on what practices made their interactions collaborative; however, they had different views (preferences) on what constituted non-collaborative practices. The findings from this research have implications …

Teachers´ Practices And Mental Models: Transformation Through Reflection On Action, María Soledad Manrique, Verónica Sánchez Abchi

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This contribution explores the transformation of the teaching practices of 10 in- service kindergarten teachers who participated in a teaching education (T.E) course in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study is based on the assumption that representations underlie teaching practices and that T.E affects these representations (Scheuer & Pozo, 2006). Hence, a T.E course was designed and implemented to answer the following research question: how do teaching practices and teaching discourses change after teacher education? The T.E. course focused on the practices of personal narrative telling in kindergarten. It concerned the viewing and analyzing of videos of each participant´s classes. The …

Should Educators Be ‘Wrapping School Playgrounds In Cotton Wool’ To Encourage Physical Activity? Exploring Primary And Secondary Students’ Voices From The School Playground, Brendon P. Hyndman, Amanda Telford

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Physical activity in school playgrounds has changed considerably over recent decades to reflect a climate of ‘surplus safety’. A growing culture of surplus safety can be attributed to a desire of parents and teachers responsible for children to protect school students from danger. The aim of this research was to examine students’ perceptions of playground safety influences on physical activity during school breaks from the perspectives of the ‘users’ of school playgrounds. Data collection consisted of seven focus groups (4 primary school & 3 secondary school) conducted across four schools (2 primary & 2 secondary). During this study, the focus …

Preparing Elementary English Teachers: Innovations At Pre-Service Level, Mochamad Subhan Zein

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The teaching of English for Young Learners has become a global phenomenon, but many countries are facing dilemma in terms of teacher preparation (Nunan, 2003; Kaplan, Baldauf, & Kamwangamalu, 2011). Indonesia is of no exception. Its pre-service system has not been adequate to sufficiently prepare elementary English teachers with knowledge and skills pertaining to their occupational needs. Moreover, systematic ways to overhaul the pre-service system remain yet to be seen. This study investigated the perceptions of English teachers and language teacher educators on educational policy measures for the improvement of pre-service education to better prepare elementary English teachers. The findings …

Exploring Turkish Social Studies Student Teachers’ Development Of Identity, Banu Çulha Özbaş

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this study was to explore professional identity development among social studies student teachers in four-year teacher education program in Turkey. Fifty-five student teachers participated in the study. Data were collected about their metaphorical images about teachers and social studies teachers and a series of in-depth interviews was conducted with five of them. All data were analysed across different study years in the teacher education program using inductive content analysis. In the light of this analysis, the experiences of the five student teachers’ were examined in detail to gain a deeper understanding of how they had become social …