The Youth Engagement Study (YES!): How can we optimise adolescent participation in chronic disease prevention research?

Background: Adolescent participation in decision-making is now widely accepted to enhance chronic disease prevention research and intervention development. However, optimal modes to engage adolescents, particularly in the digital age remains unknown. Aims: To identify a) how adolescents perceive youth participation, b) barriers and facilitators to participation c) how adolescents want to be engaged in chronic disease prevention decision-making. Methods: Two phases between Feb-July-2022: 1) digital cross-sectional survey, 2) digital focus groups. Eligible participants were 13-18 years-old and living in Australia. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analyses, respectively. Results: Overall, 520 participants completed the study (cross-sectional survey n=501, focus groups n=19; mean age 16 years SD1.2, 60% (319/520) female, 37% (194/520) culturally and linguistically diverse and 23% (121/520) lived rurally. Twenty percent (100/501) reported engagement in health promoting activities. Those who had not been involved reported ‘lack of opportunity’ (>60%, 171/278) as the major barrier to participation. Furthermore, 45% (227/501) of participants reported ‘hybrid’ participation combining digital and face-face components as preferred delivery method. Adolescents reported that participatory methods such as co-design, advocacy, leadership and advisory groups (42%, 213/501) would provide the most influence over health promoting activities for adolescents. Focus group data established a need for digital participatory methods to permit flexibility and accessibility. Conclusion: This digital study enabled the inclusion of a diverse sample of adolescent participants from across Australia. Findings suggest adolescents are rarely engaged in health promoting activities that affect them. Identified barriers need to be addressed to ensure meaningful engagement

Late Ordovician Conodonts and Macrofossils from Subsurface Carbonates near Quandialla and Inferred Depositional Age of the Currumburrama Volcanics in South-Central New South Wales

Late Ordovician conodonts and macrofossils (corals, calcareous algae and bryozoans) were recovered from an unnamed limestone unit within the Currumburrama Volcanics, intersected in drill hole CBMD006 located in the vicinity of Quandialla and Caragabal in south-central New South Wales. The conodont assemblage from the lower part of the limestone unit is characterized by moderately common  Belodina compressa  elements and is assigned to the B. compressa  Biozone of late Sandbian age, consistent with corals from the upper part of the limestone which suggest a latest Sandbian to earliest Katian age. These fossils support direct correlation with an unnamed carbonate unit within the Lake Cowal Volcanic Complex previously reported near Marsden, about 18 km to the WNW. Together these palaeontological and biostratigraphic studies provide crucial age constraints for the Upper Ordovician volcanic sequences distributed in the southern Junee–Narromine Volcanic Belt (JNVB). Furthermore, they underpin precise correlation with the well-dated marine shelf successions and associated volcanic sequences exposed in the central and northern part of the JNVB, within the Ordovician Macquarie Volcanic Province in central New South Wales

Are we developing career-readiness skills in science graduates?

BACKGROUND As students transition from university education to employment, they require a range of skills and competencies to ensure future career readiness, including technical expertise, problem-solving abilities, effective communication, social network building, cultural awareness, resilience, and adaptability (Jackson, 2018; Roberts, 2016; Tomlinson, 2017). A number of these attributes are captured within the Threshold Learning Outcomes for Science graduates (Jones et al., 2011). The fluidity of careers also requires a greater emphasis on the development of metacognitive and reflective abilities so that graduates will have the capability, capacity, and confidence to use their personal resources appropriately and flexibly, regardless of environment. However, recent research has suggested that generic skill development is lacking in undergraduate science curricula (Sarkar et al., 2020). The work presented here aimed to understand more about the employability skills viewed as important by academics, students, graduates, and industry whilst also gauging perceived levels of attainment and confidence in those skills. DESIGN AND METHODS The confidence and capability of academics to prepare Science students to be career ready was explored by conducting surveys and community-of-practice style workshops. The perspectives of industry employers, students, and graduates was sought via surveys and focus groups. This information was then used in a co-creation workshop to identify effective ways of providing career pathways and industry connections to students as well as to develop employability skills. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Survey results identified four key employability skills that were deemed important by all groups, but which industry felt were underdeveloped in graduates, and in which students were not confident. These were: working in a team and acknowledging other viewpoints, effective time management, communication to various audiences and making confident decisions. Discussions held in the academic-specific workshop identified key roadblocks to the effective implementation of employability skill development. These were: lack of opportunity/time to integrate skills into existing curricula, engaging students to participate, and assessment of the skills. The co-creation workshop then captured industry and academic insights facilitating the development of potential methodologies to overcome these roadblocks to help in teaching the key skills identified. Outcomes will be used to develop national best-practice guidelines for the integration of employability skill development. This may facilitate changes to the Science curriculum to ensure graduates are career ready. REFERENCES Jackson, D. (2018). Developing graduate career readiness in Australia: Shifting from extra-curricular internships to work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 19, 23-35. Jones, S., Yates, B., & Kelder, J. (2011). Science Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Statement. Australian Learning & Teaching Council, Sydney. Roberts, S. (2016). Capital limits: Social class, motivations for term-time job searching and the consequences of joblessness among UK university students. Journal of Youth Studies, 20, 1–18. Sarkar, M., Overton, T., Thompson, C. D., & Rayner, G. (2020). Academics’ perspectives of the teaching and development of generic employability skills in science curricula. Higher Education Research & Development, 39(2), 346–361. Tomlinson, M. (2017). Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability. Education + Training, 59, 338-352

Historical memory and national perspective in contemporary Ukrainian literature for children and youth

This article investigates the artistic verbalisation of historical memory and of a national perspective in contemporary Ukrainian literature of children and youth. Specifically, it examines Ukrainian young adults’ literature as representing a “past-present-future” paradigm. Four types of literary works give young readers an idea of ​​events, figures and places that are spiritual and socio-cultural components of national memory: 1) historical prose, 2) autobiographical texts, 3) realistic prose, the plot of which is set in a historical period with its characteristic features of public life, ideological principles and attitude to the national, and 4) anti-utopian fantasy. Links between forms of fictional retrospection, the experience of contemporary generations and visions of Ukraine’s future as represented in the discussed narratives are analysed. These links can be found in thematic Ukrainian-centric emphases and in representations of Ukrainian patriots as national heroes, of the problem of “national harassment” and of strategies for overcoming post-totalitarian traumas

Chris Mead. Wondrous Strange: Seven Brief Thoughts on New Plays: Sydney: Currency Press, 2022. 176 pages. AU$29.99. ISBN: 9781760627539 (Paperback)

Stephen Carleton reviews, Chris Mead's, Wondrous Strange: Seven Brief Thoughts on New Plays (2022)

Social Construction of Technology: An Experience for Development of Critical-thinking and Nature of Science and Technology

This research aims to contribute to the development of critical thinking skills and concepts of the nature of science and technology through joint work based on primary school curriculum content (energy). It has a mixed design in methodological terms, applying a variety of techniques such as surveys, interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. The total sample of participants is 130 students aged 11-12 from five different schools. The results of the study show improvements in the concepts of the nature of science and technology (dependence on the use of new technologies and control of technological development by individuals), as well as in critical thinking skills (thinking as hypothesis testing and argument analysis), among participants. For example, there is a perceived increase of 0.34 (2-point scale) in the mean between the initial and final assessment of dependence on the use of new technologies This leads us to conclude that the teaching design implemented is effective for improvement in both areas

“I try my very best and then I send it to the wizards, who make up numbers”: Science students’ perceptions of (in)effective assessment and feedback practices

Assessment and feedback are key concerns for tertiary students, as evidenced by university and national student experience surveys (QILT, 2020). While these large surveys convey the general student sentiment, literature recommends approaches other than surveys to deepen understanding of students' experiences in individual faculties, courses etc. (Berk, 2018). This is particularly important when planning any changes in assessment practices. Following on from an initial study into students’ assessment and feedback literacy (Wills et al., 2022), we present the second stage of our project aiming to understand students’ experiences and perceptions of assessment and feedback at the University of New South Wales. From a thematic analysis of semi-structured student interviews, we present several case studies of what science students consider to be effective assessment and feedback in their program. Some identified themes such as linked assessments, worked answers, and annotated submissions, were found to be effective practices across board. However, for other themes such as the usefulness of formative assessment, rubrics, and positive feedback, students were not in agreement. Resoundingly, students condemned the lack of closure around final exams. These and other findings will be presented before student suggestions for improvement are discussed, as well as looking to a future assessment co-design with students. Feedback on final exams: “…about final exams, it it's like a black box. You know, you answer and you might get, I don't know, 70%. But that means there's 30% you've got wrong and you still want to know why that is…” Effectiveness of formative assessment: “I think that often, they're just one or two questions that are about a detail that was unimportant. And the lecture isn't… the lecture content isn’t tested properly.” REFERENCES Berk, R. (2018). Beyond Student Rating: Fourteen Other Sources of Evidence to Evaluate Teaching. In E. Roger & H. Elaine (Eds.), Handbook of quality assurance for university teaching (pp. 317–344). London: Routledge. QILT. (2020). Student Experience Survey. Social Research Centre. https://www.qilt.edu.au/surveys/student-experience-survey-(ses)#report Wills, S.S, Jackson, K. & Wijenayake, N. (2022). On the same page: Science students' assessment literacy. In Spagnoli, D. & Yeung, A., Proceedings of The Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education (pp.76). Perth, Western Australi

social-ABI-lity - using an online training program and a private Facebook group for social media communication practice and peer support after brain injury

Title: social-ABI-lity - using an online training program and a private Facebook group for social media communication practice and peer support after brain injury Background: Social media may offer an important way for people with an acquired brain injury (ABI) to connect meaningfully with others. However, people with an ABI can find it challenging to use social media due to changes in their cognition and communication skills, and rehabilitation clinicians can be concerned about the risks associated with social media use. Furthermore, clinicians have limited resources available to target social media use during rehabilitation. Aims: To investigate the outcomes of a multicomponent social media communication skills intervention. Methods: A mixed-methods, pre-post intervention design was used. Participants completed a short, self-guided course about social media skills (social-ABI-lity program), and then participated in a private, moderated Facebook group over a 12-week period (social-ABI-lity Facebook group). Data were collected on social media use and quality of life and participants provided feedback on their experiences via a post-intervention interview. Statistical analysis compared pre-intervention and post-intervention measures and qualitative content analysis was conducted on post-intervention interview data. Results: 16 participants completed the 12-week intervention. At post-intervention, there were significant improvements in confidence in using Facebook (p = .002) and enjoyment of using Facebook to connect with others (p = .013). Although there was no significant change in reported quality of life, participants reported multiple benefits from the intervention. Conclusions: This pilot study provided preliminary evidence that this intervention improved outcomes for people with ABI and will inform future intervention development and research to assist people with ABI to build their social media skills for communication and social participation