Digital Commons Network^™

A Critical Exploration Of The School Context For Young Adolescents Completing Primary Education [Thesis], Sasha A. Stumpers

Theses : Honours

Recent research suggests that students' classroom engagement, increased academic effort, and subsequent success or failure arc not only influenced by individual differences in skills and pre-dispositions, but also by the school context. However, there is a need to further investigate the school context in relation to the well-being of the collective through concepts such as power and control. Therefore, this research sought to critically explore young adolescents' perceptions and experiences of their school context. Furthermore, how year seven students experience their school prior to the transition into high school was investigated. Using a semi-structured interview schedule, 8 male and 7 …

The Importance Of Gross Motor Coordination In Adolescent Boys Self-Perceptions And Level Of Physical Activity, Nick Sloan

Theses : Honours

To date there has been limited research addressing the psychosocial consequences of poor coordination in Australian adolescent boys. The implications of failing to meet the expected physical standards of their peers, teachers and parents, can result in low self-esteem and subsequent withdrawal from participation (Lintunen, 1995). According to Harter's (1981) Theory of Competence Motivation, low motor competence is likely to lead to low self-perceptions in the athletic domain. Research with children (Rose, Larkin & Berger, 1997) has demonstrated that poor coordination is more pervasive, influencing many aspects of children's self-esteem. However limited research has addressed the pervasiveness of poor motor …

Prisoners' Coping And Use Of Family Support, And Impact Of The Visiting Experience For Families, Lois F. Lange

Theses : Honours

This review was focussed on three areas (1) theoretical concepts of stress, coping and social support; (2) explanations for the patterns of prisoners' perceptions of their support-seeking behavior; and (3) the impact on families providing support. Prisoners' patterns of support seeking in the prison environment appear more consistent with hierarchical organisations than the domestication model of unit management. For stressful, uncontrollable situations, emotional support is sought from families, who are difficult to access. The family obligation to provide the free service of support to prisoners has implications for prison management and policy. Priorities for future research are (1) the impact …

General Practitioners' Attitudes To Palliative Care : A Regional Perspective, Richelle Lee-Steere

Theses : Honours

The study explores regional general practitioners' attitudes to palliative care through semi- structured interviewing using a qualitative methodology. Attitudes to palliative care were examined using the general practitioners' accounts of their experiences and perceptions of caring for terminally ill patients. The participants were ten registered general practitioners located within the Greater Sunbury Division of General Practice in the South West of Western Australia. A semi-structured interview schedule containing ten open-ended questions was used to assess regional general practitioners' attitudes to palliative care. Examples of the research questions included: What are regional general practitioners' attitudes to palliative care? What supports are …

An Exploratory Study Of Constructive Differentiation By Managers Of Multi-Ethnic Workforces In Indonesia And Malaysia, M. A. Fergusson-Stewart

Theses : Honours

Indonesia and Malaysia are two of Australia's closest geographical neighbours and represent major trading partners; Malaysia, as one of the economic success stories of Southeast Asia and Indonesia, as the third most populous nation in the world are politically and economically of great significance to business in Australia. Both have experienced racial rioting, the former as recently as 1998, and the later in 1969. Much of the tension that has led to these riots centres around the relationship between the ethnic Chinese communities in these countries and the other ethnic groups, particularly the Pribumi in Indonesia and the Bumiputera in …

Validating The Use Of The Shuttle Walking Test In Healthy Adult Women, Micheal C.M. Lim

Theses : Honours

The Shuttle Walking Test (SWT), with its externally paced characteristics, is commonly used as an objective measure of functional capacity. The reliability and validity of the SWT has been previously shown but only in patient populations. No studies have been carried out to investigate the validity of the SWT in healthy adult women. Therefore, the primary aim of this test was to determine if the SWT is a valid field measure of cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy adult women. A secondary aim was to identify if variables, such as age, body composition and habitual physical activity influence performance on the SWT. …

The Children Overboard Event: Constructing The Family And Nation Through Representations Of The Other, Kate Slattery

Theses : Honours

This thesis presents a selection of representations of the Children Overboard event of October 7, 2001, sourced from the Australian government and print news media. Employing an interpretative and critical discourse approach, I explore how the event could be seen to define the physical and cultural boundaries of the Australian nation. In particular I explore how a threat to nation is articulated. From my analysis of the representations, I identify a rhetoric of the 'Other' set within the discursive spaces of family and nation. These discourses circulated within the Children Overboard event are pursued in this thesis in terms of …

A Deconstruction And Reconstruction Of Advanced Nurse Specialisation And Education, Miriam E. Langridge

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to present issues and the paradoxes surrounding advanced nurse specialisation (ANS) and education, This study was conducted in two parts. Part A examined the prospective experiences of 13 registered nurses (RNs) who were advancing in an area of special is III ion: they were working in a specialist area of practice and studying in II course specific 10 their specialisation. Two rounds of interviews were completed over six-month intervals. Part B examined the data gathered from a focus group interview and follow-up feedback from 10 nurse executives as stakeholders. The intersubjective data from this …

Yoghurts For Fruit-Time : A Narrative Study Of Language Learning In The Kindergarten, Denise Lindsay

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study focuses on how a group of seven Kindergarten teachers perceive their practices to support the language learning of young children. From a socio-cultural perspective, developing language competency at Kindergarten is a priority because of its pivotal role across all learning areas and the opportunity it creates for all children to add to their linguistic capital in an informal setting prior to formal schooling. This study is based on a collaborative, participatory model built on a mutually beneficial relationship between researcher and participants. It uses a narrative methodology to foreground the teacher's voice. Teacher participants in the study contribute …

Bottle-Feeding Mothers' Experiences Of Coping In A Pro-Breastfeeding Context : The Case For A Caring-Options-Responsive Model Of Midwifery Services, Elizabeth P. Duffy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The original contribution of this qualitative study is that it sketches the front-line of the contested domain of infant feeding choices by exploring the under-researched experiences and perceptions of mothers who actively choose to bottle-feed their babies. Twelve bottle-feeding mothers in Western Australia participated in open-ended, in-depth interviews. The interview findings were further explored using participant observations of relevant hospital practices and critical, hermeneutic re-readings of midwifery's professional and policy documents. The thesis argues that bottle-feeding is marginalised by the midwifery profession that currently defines its practices in accordance with policies such as the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. Bottle-feeding mothers …

Conceptual-Associative System In Aboriginal English : A Study Of Aboriginal Children Attending Primary Schools In Metropolitan Perth, Farzad Sharifian

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

National measures of achievement among Australian school children suggest that Aboriginal students, considered as a group, are those most likely to end their schooling without achieving minimal acceptable levels of literacy and numeracy. In view of the fact that many Aboriginal students dwell in metropolitan areas and speak English as a first language, many educators have been unconvinced that linguistic and cultural difference have been significant factors in this underachievement. This study explores the possibility that, despite intensive exposure to non-Aboriginal society, Aboriginal students in metropolitan Perth may maintain, through a distinctive variety of English, distinctive conceptualisation which may help …

Year One Children's Literacy Behaviours And Perceptions Of Literacy Learning In The Classroom And Reading Recovery Contexts, Fiona Callaghan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates the ways in which four Year One children engage in the literacy events of their regular and Reading Recovery classrooms. It explores how these children perceived their beginning reading instruction and possible relationships between the children's perceptions and the ways in which they ‘did' literacy in each setting. The study draws on research in beginning reading instruction from both a psychological and socio-cultural perspective, as well as research into withdrawal programs for children experiencing difficulty in learning to read and the Reading Recovery program itself. A case study approach was used in this study and data collection …

'Bringing You Up To Speed' Challenges Of A Mother Using Amphetamines : A Case Study, Derek Bilton

Theses : Honours

The purpose of the current study was to explore the challenges of parenting from the perspective of a woman who uses amphetamines. The types of parenting challenge that arise as a direct result of both intoxication and a drug using lifestyle were examined. The study also investigated the types of coping strategies that the participant adopted in meeting her parenting challenges in conjunction with the factors that aided and impeded her preferred method of responding. The study extends onto the existing literature by drawing a participant from a non-clinical setting. The participant was recruited from word of mouth field recruitment. …

"I Only Wish I Had Known It Sooner." Education Students' Changing Conceptions Of Learning Strategies., Irene Styles, Susan Beltman, Alex Radloff

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

One of the cornerstones of student learning is the ability to use appropriate learning strategies. Awareness and orchestration of learning strategies are central to self-regulation of learning. Effective learners have a range of strategies and use them appropriately for different tasks. Effective learners are flexible and can adapt their strategy use to achieve their learning goals. If we expect prospective teachers to help their students become effective learners, they themselves need to be aware of and manage their own learning. But are our prospective teachers themselves effective learners in terms of strategy use? Using a qualitative approach, we examined the …

The Empty Centre : Power/Knowledge, Relationships And The Myth Of 'Student Centered Teaching' In Teacher Education., David R. Geelan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The notion of ‘student centred learning’ is a popular and influential one in education at all levels. Questions of exactly how this may be defined, and what it would look like in practice are, however, much more difficult to address. During second semester 1998, I was involved in teaching a Masters level unit on teacher action research to a group of middle school teachers. I placed a high value on the knowledge, values and experience of these students, and attempted to allow them considerable freedom to construct their own learning activities and assessment procedures. Some students accepted the offered challenges, …

A Disjunction Between Personal, Professional And Societal Values In Pre-Service Teacher Education, Peter Reynolds

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Following the development of the Common and Agreed National Goals for Schooling (Australian Education Council, 1989) the Western Australian Curriculum Council was established and it has subsequently developed a Curriculum Framework for eight learning areas as well as for the values identified as implicit within those learning areas and within the governance of schools (Curriculum Council, 1998). These values have been called the shared core values of Australian society. Within the context of an analysis of these values, this paper presents the findings from a survey of the personal and the perceived societal values of Australia held by a sample …

Mapping The Land : Spatial, Social And Sacred Relationships Of Australian Indigenous People To Land, Marianne Best

Theses : Honours

The people who claimed the great southern continent came from Britain, which was experiencing the industrial revolution, the Enlightenment, a new sense of nationalism and a drive to colonise. Australia was regarded as an uninhabited land. Colonisation brought with it a European form of ownership of land and a way of mapping the landscape on paper with finite borders for administrative purposes. Meanwhile Indigenous people had lived on the Australian continent for over 55 000 years. These lndigenous Australians had a way of life, which was completely different from the Western colonisers. They were very successful hunter-gatherers with complex beliefs …

What Is The Relationship Between Activity, Social Support And Health-Related Quality Of Life In People Who Are Sixty Years Of Age And Older?, Jaqueline Ebbott

Theses : Honours

Over one third of individuals aged sixty years and older have health conditions which limit their ability to live an independent and active life. With the older Australian population increasing, the prevention of functional decline and preservation of wellbeing in this age group has become a major clinical focus in gerontology research. Therefore an important goal of health professionals is to identify behavioural factors which encourage wellbeing and quality of life in this age group. The purpose of the present study was to explore the importance of physical activity passive activity (activities such as craft, reading and board games) and …

Experiences Of Relapse In Smoking Cessation, Natalie Kay D'Abrew

Theses : Honours

Relapse is regarded as a common occurrence, and it is known that smokers make an average of three to four attempts to cease smoking before maintaining smoking cessation. Thus, relapse continues to be a problem for interventions for smoking cessation. This qualitative study explored the experiences of relapse in smoking cessation. Fourteen participants, seven maintainers and seven relapsers aged between 21-80 participated in the study, which was facilitated by a semi-structured interview format. Several themes and sub-themes were generated under the categories of strategies, reasons for relapse, and reasons for cessation. The themes highlighted that there were differences between the …

Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Health At The End Of The 20th Century, Neil Thomson (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

The papers were presented originally at the 1999 Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP). Reflecting the importance that the RACP attaches to the issue, Indigenous health was a major theme of the ASM. Six sessions over two days were devoted to various aspects of Indigenous health - the general policy context, lessons from the experiences of Indigenous peoples internationally, consideration of specific health services initiatives, and detailed examination of individual health topics...

A Boredom Theory Of Youth Criminality, Julie-Anne Newton

Theses : Honours

Boredom, although a regular occurrence among the general youth population of the modern society and a possible causal factor of truancy, drug use, suicide and crime, has been widely neglected within the fields of education, psychology, sociology, and criminology. Since it is the intention of this thesis to show that boredom is a causal factor of youth criminality which must be recognised and studied further, it is essential that boredom is thoroughly researched for both theoretical and practical reasons within the field of criminology. In a two part documentary analysis on boredom and youth criminality, this thesis demonstrates what makes …

Skewness Is The Name Of The Game, Y. H. Cheung

Research outputs pre 2011

Theoretical models of risk taking attempt to explain why risk-averse individuals participate in unfair gambles. This paper evaluates the two explanations as to why rational individuals would accept gambles with negative expected returns. It is found that it is skewness, not the mean or the variance of the prize distribution that attracts risk-averse gamblers. However, evidence shows that there seems to be an optimal trade-off between operators’ sales revenues and skewness of the pay-off; a point that designer of gambling games needs to heed to.

Gender Differences In Information Resource Usage When Making Retirement Saving Decisions, Marilyn Clark-Murphy, Paul Gerrans

Research outputs pre 2011

Population ageing is raising the profile of retirement incomes policy. In Australia assets of retirement savings funds are growing rapidly and fund members are assuming a greater role in determining funds' investment strategies. The decision processes of fund members have not been extensively researched, however, these decisions are significant not only for members but also for employers and government. This paper provides information on retirement savings in Australia and reports on a survey of members of the Superannuation Scheme for Australian Universities (SSAU). In 1999 members of SSAU were asked to choose between a defined benefit scheme or one of …

On The Evolution Of Probability-Weighting Function And Its Impact On Gambling, Steven Li, Yun Hsing Cheung

Research outputs pre 2011

It is well known that individuals treat losses and gains differently and there exists non-linearity in probability. The asymmetry between gains and losses is highlighted by the reflection effect. The non-linearity in probability is described by the curvature of the probability-weighting function. This paper studies the evolution of the probability-weighting function. It is assumed that the probability weighting for an individual follows a mean-reverting stochastic process. The Monte Carlo simulation technique is employed to study the evolution of the weighting function. The evolution of the probability- weighting function implies that an individual does not treat gains or losses consistently over …

Supporting Students With Learning Difficulties In A School Of The Air, Judith Rivalland, Mary Rohl, Pru Smith, Centre For Inclusive Schooling Learning Difficulties Team, Department Of Education

Research outputs pre 2011

This project was funded by Edith Cowan University and the Centre for Inclusive Schooling (Department of Education, formerly Education Department of Western Australia) as an Institute for the Service Professions Collaborative Grant. It was carried out in order to examine the following questions:

• What are the ways in which identification, assessment and teaching processes make provision for students with learning difficulties who are enrolled in a School of the Air?

• In what ways do Support Officers Learning Difficulties support these children, their home tutors and their teachers?

Developing E-Learning Environments That Support Knowledge Construction In Higher Education, Ron Oliver

Research outputs pre 2011

Much of the conventional development of Web-based learning environments the creation of electronic forms of existing print-based materials. In such instances the Web-based courses have tended to display limited evidence of an underpinning learning design and varying degrees of use of the opportunities and affordances of the new technologies. This paper provides an overview of instructional design principles that can guide the creation of Web-based learning materials that support learner engagement and knowledge construction. The paper describes the attributes of constructivist learning settings and provides some examples of explicit learning designs that can be applied in the design of Web-based …

Developing Generic Tools For Use In Flexible Learning: A Preliminary Progress Report, Ron Oliver, Barry Harper, Shirley Agostinho

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper presents a description of the Australian University Teaching Committee (AUTC) funded project titled: "Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Their Role in Flexible Learning" that aims to provide opportunities for university teachers to create high quality flexible learning experiences for students. This is to be accomplished by the development of a range of software tools and templates based on previously successful ICT-based learning projects in a form that will enable teachers in other settings and subject areas to create similar learning environments for their students. The project is a two-year endeavor and began in November 2000. The purpose …

New Designs For Web Based Learning Environments, Ron Oliver, Barry Harper, John O'Donoghue, N O Name

Research outputs pre 2011

With the continued advances in information and communication technology comes the interconnectivity of education institutions, businesses and industries. Either by default or association, the traditional education system will need to change and adapt to these new demands and opportunities. With these changes we are in danger of losing the focus of the learning process, and not recognising the importance of maintaining a balance between technology and pedagogy. This paper will review these issues, and examine an investigation of new learning designs which take advantage of the affordances of the Web and the opportunities which arise.

Assuring The Quality Of Online Learning In Australian Higher Education, Ron Oliver

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper discusses the major issues confronting the successful adoption and sustained use of online learning in higher education within the Australian context. The paper argues that four main issues which universities must deal with to achieve maximum potential from online learning technologies are: the establishment of cost-effective practices; the achievement and maintenance of quality in online learning delivery; ensuring access and equity in the delivery of programs; and establishing practices which can enable online learning to be sustained and to grow as a mainstream activity in university teaching and learning. While these issues are suggested as discrete entities, it …

Promoting Self-Regulated Learning In An On-Line Environment, Mark Mcmahon, Ron Oliver

Research outputs pre 2011

Self-Regulation has long been seen as a desirable but difficult to achieve instructional aim. This is particularly true of on-line learning, where users have limited instructional support and where attrition rates tend to be greater than in face-to-face teaching. This paper examines the nature of self-regulation, identifying affective and cognitive skills which make for self-regulated learners. The broad psychological states of metacognition and self-concept are identified as well as the motivational and cognitive processes that underpin them. The volitional, learning, and regulatory strategies which learners use are delineated. These are placed within the context of online learning. Aspects which characterise …