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Untying The Knot: A Scoialist-Feminist Analysis Of The Social Construction Of Care: Social Research And Development Monograph No. 7, Dani Stehlik

Research outputs pre 2011

As the Australian population ages, policy and human service practice in the field of aged care assumes an increasingly important and relevant position. In this monograph I argue that women who are providing care for aged spouses, parents or relatives in their (or their carer's) own homes, are doing essential, hard and stressful work, work which is unpaid and often unacknowledged, and that the Australian welfare system is now structured around the invisible unpaid labour of such women. The rhetoric of Australian political parties is focussing more and more on the notion of an ideal' family' and 'community' and a …

"I Wasn't Aware, Until I Was Aware" : Teaching Gender Equity To Second Year Education Students, Lesley Newhouse-Maiden, Susan Cullen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The study sought to ascertain the success of a preservice unit in which one module focussed on developing 'gender fair' attitudes in education students. The subjects of the study were students in their second year of a Bachelor of Education degree studying the 'Social Justice and Equity in Schools' unit. Collaborative action research methods were used to collect data over a three month period. It was found that 85% of students attempted to use gender fair approaches and material when observed on teaching practice. While the outcome of pre-service teacher education was positive, it was acknowledged that there was always …

A Descriptive Process Analysis And Comparison Of Game Modifications In Junior Netball And Basketball, Andrew Watt

Theses : Honours

The amount of time participants spend successfully engaged with skill content has been found to have a high correlation with skill learning and achievement. For children to learn motor skills it is clear that they must be provided with sufficient opportunities to exhibit skill responses, during practice and game sessions. For this to occur, activities must be designed to cater for the developmental requirements of the children, whilst maintaining high levels of active involvement for all participants. In response to these needs, basketball and netball associations have employed modifications to game structures. This study provides a descriptive analysis of junior …

The Development, Implementation And Evaluation Of A Constructivist Learning Approach Based On Personal Construct Psychology, A. R. Fetherstonhaugh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study involved the development, implementation and evaluation of a constructivist learning model based on Kelly's (1955) Personal Construct Psychology (PCP). The thesis begins with a rationale for the use of PCP and then the instructional approach is derived from this theoretical basis. Following the derivation, examples of learning materials used in the implementation are presented. The second half of the thesis deals with data gathered before, during and after the implementation which occurred in two Year 9 science classes. The classes were part of a city high school in Western Australia.

Measurement Of Teacher Attitude To Direct Instruction, Beth P. Hands

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates teacher attitude towards a teaching innovation, Direct Instruction. In particular, it is concerned with what aspects of this teaching strategy affect a teacher's decision to implement the method and the relationship between experience with Direct Instruction and teacher attitude. A repeated measures, pretest-posttest design was employed to assess participants' attitude before and after viewing a video demonstrating the teaching method, Direct Instruction. The 40 item Attitude towards Direct Instruction (AD I) scale comprised 30 items derived from a questionnaire designed by Proctor (1989) in addition to ten new items created especially for the study. The scoring function …

Preoperative Predictors Of Postoperative Pain, Robyn A. Paterson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to investigate five factors, which have been identified in the literature as having influence on the experience of postoperative pain. (1) Patient satisfaction with preoperative information, (2) Anticipated postoperative pain, (3) General self-efficacy, (4) Age, (5) Gender. These variables were examined to determine their relationship, if any with postoperative pain. Any relationship between these variables was also examined. Review of the literature revealed considerable research on pain, and that much of that research has been directed at the treatment of, rather than prediction of postoperative pain. Also, these studies have focused on patients who …

Art Therapy With Latency Period Boys Exhibiting Overt Anger And/Or Aggression, Sylvia Blades

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using art as therapy, with latency period boys, to develop anger management skills. The respondents for this study were male children selected by an outpatient psychiatric clinic, using the criteria of age (latency period) and problem (anger/aggression). The six subjects assigned to the group agreed to attend a therapy session for one hour per week for six consecutive weeks. Sessions involved the use of art to therapeutically achieve the aims of anger management and ego strength, while incorporating projective drawing tests as part of the evaluative process. The Achenbach …

A Comparison Of Three Midwifery Interventions On The Continuity And Knowledge Of Breast Feeding, Athalie Johnston

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although it is widely recognised that breast milk is biologically perfect to provide nutrition for the newborn infant many new mothers do not continue to breast feed throughout the postpartum period. A possible influencing factor is the decreased length of hospital stay, whereby new mothers are discharged home away from the supportive-educative role of the midwife before they are ready to learn the art of breast feeding. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of three midwifery interventions on the continuity and knowledge of first time breast feeding mothers at 6 weeks postpartum. A convenience sample of …

The Effect(S) Of Word Processing Software On The Equality Of The Composing Process, Product, And Attitudes Of Adult Academic Esl (English As A Second Language) Writers, L. J. Oliver

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The focus of this study was on the effect of word processing on the quality of the composing process, product, and attitudes of adult academic ESL writers. Twenty adult ESL students, comprising an ‘intact’ EAP (English for Academic Purposes) group, completed a number of written assignments as part of their ESL unit, using either word processing or conventional ‘pen and paper’ composition methods. Their handwritten and word processed work was analysed and compared through the use of an holistic/analytic scale of writing quality. In addition to this analysis of the ‘finished product’, texts were analysed in terms of the frequency, …

The Effect Of 'Environmental Manipulation' On Agitation And 24-Hour Sleep In Dementia Sufferers In An Institutional Setting, Ernest A. Matthews

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Living in an institutional setting places on residents certain constraints in relation to freedom of choice as to when, where, and how they conduct activities of daily living, such as, sleeping eating, attending to hygiene needs. Studies indicate this loss of control over the environment contributes to loss of self-esteem, leads to stress, and at times precipitates agitation among nursing home residents. Cognitive impairment may render dementia sufferers more vulnerable to loss of control over their control over their environment and result in agitation, which may in turn influence sleep. The study therefore, investigated if ‘environmental manipulation’ as in introducing …

An Evaluation Of A Workshop On Pain Assessment And Management For Nurses, Beverley Bradshaw

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to assess nurses’ knowledge of pain assessment and management, examine what change occurred immediately following a pain assessment and management workshop and examine whether any changes were retained one month later. Chin and Benne’s theory of change provided the theoretical framework for this study. Their approach to planned change involves assessing the existing structure, formulating and implementing a plan to change that structure, then evaluating the change. The following hypothesis was formulated for investigation: That nurses’ knowledge of pain assessment and management would increase after a workshop on the subject and be retained over …

Exclusion: Procedures And Provisions In Western Australia With Special Reference To The Role Of [The] Distance Education Centre In The Accommodation Of Excluded Students, Iyleen Vickers

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The problem at the centre of this research study was whether the educational provisions at the Western Australian Distance Education Centre met the special needs of those students who are classified as "at risk" and those who are excluded from Government schools on disciplinary grounds. Contextual data which related to these students, such as off-campus programs were examined also. The bounded case study was chosen as the research mode to investigate the problem. Distance Education Centre constituted the bounded case, and the Referral Program formed the unit of analysis. Data collection techniques included audio taped structured interviews with relevant personnel, …

Adolescent Coping Styles And Response To Stress: A Study Of The Relationship Between The Preferred Coping Styles Of Female Senior High School Students And Their Levels Of Anxiety And Self-Confidence When Facing A Major Academic Stressor, Elizabeth J. Lawson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A growing body of research indicates the importance of coping strategies when an individual responds to environmental demands. Community concern about the maladaptive responses of some adolescents, limited research with this age group, and the development of a new Australian measure of adolescent coping provided the impetus for this study. The study was conducted with 141 female students in their final year of High School. They completed the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS) in March, and measures of anxiety and self-confidence in November, just before major external examinations. Behavioural rating scales were completed by parents and teachers. The adolescent group reported …

The Prevalence And Sources Of Perceived Occupational Stress Among Teachers In Western Australian Government Metropolitan Primary Schools, Graeme Lock

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence and sources of self- reported occupational stress among primary school teachers in Western Australian Government schools. Five specific objectives form the basis of this study. First, the study develops an instrument which measures the perceived levels of occupational stress and reveals the sources of such stress. Second, the study applies this instrument to determine the perceived levels, and sources, of occupational stress among primary school teachers in metropolitan Perth. Third, the study investigates differences in the perceptions of stress and stressors when categorised by socio-biographical characteristics of teachers. Fourth, the …

Using Hypermedia To Improve The Dissemination And Accessibility Of Syllabus Documents With Particular Reference To Primary Mathematics, Alistair B. Campbell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The fundamental question that this study set out to investigate was: Can the advantages of hypermedia be extended to curriculum materials that are for the sole use of teachers? To consider this question, three areas needed to be investigated: hypermedia (the medium); teachers (the target) and curriculum documents (the content). Hypermedia has a long history dating back to Bush (1986) who in 1945 imagined his Memex system as building information trails between ideas. However, it was not until the mid 1980s that technology caught up with the theory and hypermedia came of age. The evaluation of hypermedia documents is still …

International Marketing Educators Conference, Edith Cowan University

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

The Nature And Purposes Of Advocacy For People With Disabilities, Errol Cocks, Gordon Duffy

Research outputs pre 2011

Although all human beings experience vulnerability, people with disabilities experience heightened vulnerability. For some people, the consequences of this heightened vulnerability may include social devaluation, physical and social rejection, a loss of control over important areas of their lives and brutalisation. Advocacy is one vital response to vulnerability and its consequences. This monograph presents the results of the National Advocacy Research Project which involved an analysis of the status of advocacy for people with disabilities within Australia and provides direction for the future development of advocacy nationally. The monograph explicates the need for and the purposes of advocacy for people …

A Study Of The Benefits Of Reflection By Journal Writing In Mathematical Learning And Attitudes In The Primary School, Sally Edmonds

Theses : Honours

This descriptive study examines journal writing for the purpose of identifying aspects of children's mathematical reflective ability. It was hypothesised that encouragement to engage with the process of mathematics by reflective writing would reveal and assist learning, and give children a vehicle through which they could express their attitudes about the mathematics they were learning. The aim of this study was to find answers to the following question: How does the keeping of a mathematical journal reveal children's understandings of the mathematics they are learning? Other questions related to the study were: -What evidence is there from the journals about …

The Relationship Between Quantity Of Possessions Transported And Homesickness In Migrants, Rosalynn M. Morrow

Theses : Honours

The study addresses the relationship between the quantity of possessions transported by migrants from their country of origin and reported levels of homesickness. Eighty-nine subjects from the United Kingdom and Eire participated in the study, which was limited to those migrants who have been resident in Australia for less than 5 years (M=2.53). The sample was non random (purposive and accidental), consisting of 51 males and 38 females, and the mean age of the participants on arrival in Australia was 33 years. Participants completed a 32 item, Likert scale, questionnaire which incorporated items from the Fisher (1989) Dundee Relocation Inventory …

Expert And Novice Teachers Compared : A Comparison Of Their Roles And Functions With Implications For Teacher Education, Peter Cole

Research outputs pre 2011

What is the nature of expertise and what characterizes expert performance? What features of cognition and problem solving are typically associated with a highly proficient performance? At one level the answers to these questions are obvious. By definition, expert performers are highly knowledgeable of their subject disciplines and capable of very competent performances in their particular fields of endeavour. The expert in the present context refers to those with knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge. This definition excludes the ivory tower stereotype: that is, the person with theoretical knowledge without practical or applied knowledge. But the definitional parameters …

Measurement Precision Test Construction And Best Test Design, Pender J. Pedler

Research outputs pre 2011

This article examines the precision of measurements obtained from using the Rasch Dichotomous Model to analyse test data. Considering tests in which the item difficulties are uniformly spaced from easiest to most difficult, permits the derivation of an alternative expression for the standard error of measurement. This expression is sufficiently simple to enable the precision properties of uniform tests to be readily described and to enable a variety of problems of test construction to be solved. One particular problem is that of best test design. Regarding measurement precision as a property of the test only, we show that the best …

An Exploratory Study Of The Development Of Perceived Body Image In Elite Female Artistic Gymnasts In One Central Programme, Michelle A. Saliba

Theses : Honours

Women's elite gymnastics is characterised by subjective and aesthetic judgement and together with increasing technical requirements imposes strict body composition and body image requirements throughout the international gymnastic community. Limited research has been conducted on the younger, smaller, leaner and almost prepubescent gymnasts who now dominate the International arena. The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of the way in which current and retired elite, female artistic gymnasts perceive their own and the "ideal" gymnast's body image, and to identify factors influencing the development of these perceptions. Nineteen subjects were drawn from one Australian women's artistic gymnastics …

A Hermeneutic Approach To The Detective Story In Our Mutual Friend, Peter Spriggins

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Assigning Specific Roles In Science Groups On The Gender Behaviour Of Primary School Children, Janet F. Bant

Theses : Honours

This thesis reports on an investigation into the effects on gender behaviour of assigning specific roles (Manager, Tracker, Recorder, Communicator) to primary aged members of a cooperative learning group in science. The study was: carried out in a Year 4 and a Year 5 classroom in a Perth primary school. Both classes used a six lesson programme on a physical science topic prepared by the researcher and taught by the classroom teacher. The target subjects were randomly chosen from students meeting certain criteria defined by the researcher. All other subjects were allocated to either single- or mixed-gender groups of four. …

Clio And The Curriculum: History And The True Professional, Thomas A. O'Donoghue

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

For many years the history of education had a prominent place as a subject in courses for the education and training of teachers. At least three major aspects are discernible in the history programmes in question: the ideas of the ideologues of the subject, the history of institutions nourishing them, and a narrative study of education systems with the focus on Acts and "Great Men". One of the foci in each case was the curriculum. By the late 1960s the subject was so firmly entrenched in courses that Simon (1969: 91) could argue as follows: "There is no need to …

Back To The Future: The De-Professionalisation Of Initial Teacher Education In England And Wales, Peter Gilroy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In many ways this paper reads like a report from an educational battlefield. From the 1980s those involved with initial teacher education in England and Wales can be seen as dealing with sporadic sniping at their work, followed by more substantial skirmishes, culminating in the 1990s with fUll-blooded assaults. This paper begins by describing the position being attacked, identifies the first intimations of aggression, then focuses upon the battering inflicted, in the 1990s upon initial teacher education. The analysis which follows indicates that, savage though it has been, the attack on initial teacher education is in some ways only a …

School-Based Teacher Education In The United States : An Uneven Evolution, Mary K. Ducharme, Edward R. Ducharme

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

What does school-based teacher education mean in the United States? Certainly, it does not mean that funding, decision-making and management of programs are the province of individual school districts; in the United States, teacher education is firmly ensconced in higher education. The overwhelming majority of teachers are prepared in colleges and universities, licensed by individual states, and employed by local school districts. Law, tradition, and funding suggest that this general pattern will not change soon. While teacher education is located primarily in higher education institutions, school-based teacher education exists. It exists in many forms, ranging from student teaching and other …

Partners In Teacher Education : A Programme In Alberta, Glenda Campbell-Evans

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A persistent quest for improvement and change seems to be characteristic of Western education. New ways of thinking, doing and knowing occupy the time and energy of educators at all levels. Educators concerned with the pre service education of teachers plan and deliver programmes which vary from institution to institution. In Canada, some teacher education courses are school-based, some are traditional, some are developed from a school-university partnership model and some follow a discipline based degree. This article presents a descriptive account of the Teaching Partnership programme; a school based teacher education initiative implemented in September 1993 in Alberta, Canada. …

Preservice Intern Teaching : A P-12 Approach In The University Of Melbourne Bachelor Of Teaching Degree For Graduates, Jocelyn Grant

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The report of the consultancy on future directions of the Institute of Education at the University of Melbourne (September 1992) recommended the replacement of concurrent undergraduate courses with a two year course in education for graduates in which the student spends an extensive period in schools. However, forms of school based teacher education had been practised for twenty years. This commitment to the role of schools in teacher education in the Diploma in Education, Bachelor of Education (Secondary) and Bachelor of Education (Primary) courses was a major factor in the development of the Bachelor of Teaching degree which will be …

Learning To Teach, Teaching To Learn, William Louden

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Clandinin, D., Davies, A, Hogan, P and Kennard, B. (1993)( Eds). Learning to teach, teaching to leam. New York: Teachers College Press. 238 pages.

Dow, G. (1979). Leaming to teach: Teaching to learn. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 262 pages.