Enacting classroom inquiry: Theorizing teachers' conceptions of science teaching

Translating written curricular materials into rich, complex, learning environments is an undertheorized area in science education. This study examines two critical cases of teachers enacting a technology-rich curriculum focused on the development of complex reasoning around biodiversity for fifth graders. Two elements emerged that significantly impact teacher enactment—their conceptions of authenticity (authentic learning/authentic science) and their view of science (descriptive/inferential). The results suggest that disentangling the common conflation of these two elements supports a broader definition of inquiry science teaching that is more sensitive to context and individual teacher enactment. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 92: 973–993, 2008Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61211/1/20293_ftp.pd

The political tendency in environmental and sustainability education

This article presents a categorisation of the different situations in which the political dimension of environmental and sustainability education can be handled and experienced in practice: the political tendency'. Using a methodology inspired by Wittgenstein's user perspective on language, we empirically identified situations that express the political tendency by looking for language games centred around the question of how to organise social life, recognising that this inevitably requires decision-making about different and competing alternatives. Classifying these situations resulted in a typology (the political tendency) that distinguishes Democratic participation', Political reflection', Political deliberation' (sub-divided into Normative deliberation', Consensus-oriented deliberation' and Conflict-oriented deliberation') and Political moment'. Next, we discuss the developed typology from an educative perspective, showing that the distinguished situations in the political tendency differ as to how they enable the foregrounding and backgrounding of different educational goals: preparation, socialisation and person-formation (i.e. identification and subjectification as perspective shifting and subjectification as dismantling)

Communicative Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation: Exploring Ideology in the Calgary Herald

This major research paper explores how climate change is discussed in the Calgary Herald and what some of the potential implications might be for such discourse. I argue that communication about climate change must be altered in order to generate widespread public understanding. First, I argue that climate change must be regarded as an issue of social justice if it is to gain any traction as a social movement. Next, I review the current state of governmental and environmental action within Alberta. Then efforts are directed towards explaining the importance of communication, and in particular, how certain texts can be ideologically constrained. A content analysis and a critical discourse analysis are conducted on a sample of articles from the Calgary Herald that include the term climate change. Finally, suggestions are made to help readers improve communications on the subject, reduce their carbon footprint, and support sustainability

Developing Creativity to Enhance Human Potential in Sport: A Wicked Transdisciplinary Challenge

© Copyright © 2019 Vaughan, Mallett, Davids, Potrac and López-Felip. The challenge of developing creativity to enhance human potential is conceptualized as a multifaceted wicked problem due to the countless interactions between people and environments that constitute human development, athletic skill, and creative moments. To better comprehend the inter-relatedness of ecologies and human behaviors, there have been increasing calls for transdisciplinary approaches and holistic ecological models. In this paper we explore an ecological dynamics rationale for creativity, highlighting the conceptual adjacency of key concepts from transdisciplinarity, dynamic systems theory, ecological psychology and social-cognitive psychology. Our aim is to extend the scope of ecological dynamics and contextualize the application of non-linear pedagogy in sport. Foregrounding the role of sociocultural constraints on creative behaviors, we characterize the athlete-environment system as an ecological niche that arises from, and simultaneously co-creates, a form of life. We elaborate the notion that creative moments, skill and more generally talent in sport, are not traits possessed by individuals alone, but rather can be conceived as properties of the athlete-environment system shaped by changing constraints. This re-conceptualization supports a pedagogical approach predicated on notions of athletes and sports teams as complex adaptive systems. In such systems, continuous non-linear interactions between system components support the exploration of fluent and flexibly creative performance solutions by athletes and sports teams. The implications for practice suggest that cultivating a constellation of constraints can facilitate adaptive exploration of novel affordances (opportunities/invitation for action), fostering creative moments and supporting creative development in athletes. Future models or frameworks for practice contend that pedagogies should emerge from, and evolve in, interaction with the sociocultural context in which practitioners and athletes are embedded

How are we able to be here? : a creative & narrative inquiry into ANZATA-registered art therapy practitioner personal histories

This thesis considers the absence of an art therapy professional identity in the Australia and New Zealand region, and strives to critically discuss aspects of pedagogical delivery, peak body mechanisms, and practitioners in the field themselves which impede the development of a congruent professional identity. The purpose of this thesis is to highlight and foreground the role of the art therapist and to consider avenues of cultural change in the field to facilitate the development, growth, and dissemination of a unifying, coherent professional identity for regional art therapists and the peak body the Australia and New Zealand Arts Therapy Association (ANZATA). This thesis contributes to knowledge in the field by transferring the locus of importance from the process of art therapy and concentrating instead on the role of the art therapist. A move which privileges the therapist to prominence within research considerations will allow new constructs of fostering successful professional community outcomes to arise, and provide a space to consider options for the development and promotion of a cogent brand of art therapy. The aims of the research are to foreground the voices, stories, and ideas of art therapy practitioners, with the intention of generating an awareness of practitioner lived experiences as the focus of art therapy praxis. Heretofore the professional canon, and much of the profession’s research, has been concentrated towards the clients, methods, and workplace dynamics of art therapists at the expense of the practitioner herself. Qualitative methods have been employed for the purposes of the research. Eight members of the region’s peak body contributed artworks and personal narratives collected during one-hour, semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews. Thematic analysis and multiple lenses of theoretical consideration were employed to contextualise their personal reflections on the field, perceptions of profession identity, and insight into aspects of practice. Autoethnographic reflections and observations augment the perspectives and experiences of the participants. Creative questions inspired by the research design asked the participants to explore the choices that led them to art therapy, how they describe themselves as professionals, the elements of praxis they consider important, and whether their personal moments of pivotal illumination are still informing their choices and approach to practice today. From the beginning of the research a practitioner-focused approach determined that the participants shared their stories from a position of authority. New approaches to constructing professional identity, re-framing pedagogical systems, an assertion of the importance of the individual within the field, and what regional art therapy might look like for future practitioners are examined from the perspective of best practice outcomes for practitioners and field identity. For a profession which privileges process, and client or workplace needs before those of the practitioner herself, this thesis allows dialogues of belonging, identity, relationship, the personal in practice, purview, and difficulty, to be discussed in a manner that is ground-breaking. Verbatim transcript excerpts highlight the voices of passionate, dedicated, hardworking professionals articulating inner and outer realities as insiders to a frequently sidelined and relatively obscure section of the allied health sector. The findings highlight the incomplete and liminal nature of regional art therapist professional identity. There are also inconsistencies found between workplace and professional community realities for regional practitioners compared to the expected lived realities promoted by pedagogical delivery systems and professional literature content. Cultural changes to the structure and style of pedagogical delivery, and the role the peak body plays in cultivating a professional community, are required for a move to position the art therapist as a prominent and essential component in the art therapy process. Without changes which privilege the art therapist herself and promote a congruent sense of professional identity for practitioners, the field risks losing yet more ground to more strongly-positioned allied health therapies or even being subsumed by another, better-established, health category here in the region

An examination of the process of role change at end of life in a contemporary, regional Australian context

Daniel Lowrie examined the process of role change at end of life in contemporary Australia. He identified problems with role confusion and role relations mismatch, particularly during the protracted middle phase of dying. His findings highlight the need for better support for dying persons and their caregivers during this time

Leadership, resilience, and sensemaking at Colorado State University during the COVID-19 pandemic

2022 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.This study examines the crisis communication qualities of crisis leadership, communicative resilience, and enacted sensemaking in the case of Colorado State University's response to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020. The focus for university response is based in correspondence emailed from University President McConnell to the students. As groundwork for the study, I review crisis communication literature in general and focused studies in crisis leadership, Buzzanell's theory of constructed resilience, and Weick's enacted sensemaking. This foundation of literature informs a mixed method study comprising of a textual analysis of McConnell's correspondence and interviews with students enrolled at the time of the crisis. This methodology was used with the intention of addressing four research questions. RQ1: In what ways did President McConnell exhibit a leadership mindset in her response to the COVID-19 pandemic?, RQ2: In what ways did President McConnell's messages help construct a sense of resilience for CSU students?, RQ3A: In what ways did students make sense of the COVID-19 health crisis in the context of their student lives?, and RQ3B: What role did messages from President McConnell play in their sensemaking? These questions led to a wealth of insights about McConnell's communication in response to the pandemic and moving to virtual learning Spring 2020. Three major takeaways discussed are that the leadership role is particularly delicate in crisis situations, the practice of normalizing challenges in crisis should be paired with adjusting expectations, and that the reflex to strive for a business-as-usual approach should be cautiously balanced with an acceptance of the new normal a crisis requires

The confirmation of Betsy DeVos: Polarization, populism, and moral foundations in U.S. political rhetoric

The political communication behaviors from both the U.S. voting public and elected representatives contribute to a political discourse that is typified by hyper partisanship and extreme polarization (Hibbing, Smith, & Alford, 2013). Existing research (e.g., Feinberg & Willer, 2015; Haidt, 2012; Westen, 2007) suggested that this is potentially because U.S. Americans tend to craft persuasive messages that they themselves would find logically and morally impactful, rather than critically analyzing the positionality and belief system of their intended audience. Research on Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) suggested that, for a contemporary rhetor, understanding the moral, ontological, and ethical precepts that support their opponent’s ideology is crucial to designing persuasive appeals on moral issues (Haidt, 2012). This thesis sought to identify why the U.S. citizenry has such a difficult time communicating across political lines and whether the polarization in U.S. politics is driven from the top-down by political elites or from the bottom-up by average citizens. Utilizing the Rhetoric of Social Intervention RSI model of rhetorical analysis (Brown, 1978) as an ideal umbrella under which to unite the insights of research on political polarization, rural consciousness, populism, framing, social intuitionism, and MFT, the case study analysis examined the rhetoric of elected political elites as they debated the qualifications of Betsy DeVos, a contentious nominee for U.S. cabinet secretary. This study found it is possible for political elites to engage in audience- centered persuasive attempts, even if those attempts fall on deaf ears. This thesis also suggests that the centrality of a rhetorically Burkean view of identification as being central to persuasive success is underemphasized in many explanations of U.S. political communication. While this thesis is critical of Republican rhetoric during the DeVos hearings, this study is more focused on the interplay between the majority and minority parties in the Senate. Until the fundamentally communicative nature of the polarization problem is explored, it is unlikely that advocates and politicians will be able to break the maladaptive, conflict-laden cycle currently typifying American political rhetoric

The politics behind the establishment of United Nations-mandated fact-finding missions: the case of Myanmar

On 9 October 2016, a group of Rohingya militants, equipped with machetes, attacked police stations in northern Rakhine State (nRS), one of the most impoverished states in Myanmar, looting and killing nine police officers and injuring another five. In turn, military and police targeted and attacked Rohingya armed groups, killing many innocent civilians. On 24 March 2017, the European Union, supported by the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries, sponsored a United Nations resolution which gives effect to a UN factfinding mission to determine the facts on violations, especially in Rakhine State. With a view to challenging conventional explanations and views of United Nations-mandated fact-finding, this research study operationalizes a dynamic view of UN fact-finding. At first blush, a strong case can be made that these relatively extensively researched, and verified, across-case dynamics and processes arguably underlie the establishment of the UN-mandated fact-finding mission to Myanmar. However, structural explanations, like the gridlock in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), do not adequately take into account the timing of the establishment of this United Nations mandated fact-finding mission. The tatmadaw’s military operations have for many years been seen to involve systematic violations of human rights. Crimes such as arbitrary arrest, torture, or forced labour already featured centrally in the work on Myanmar by human rights organizations in the 1980s, and these and many other apparent human rights violations, to a certain extent, continue to preoccupy the United Nations. Furthermore, not only do structural explanations fail to take sufficient account of the dynamic interplay between domestic and international fact-finding and the strategic context in which they are established, but how the UN mission ‗reflects‘ the complexity of Myanmar‘s strategic context, characterised by the emergence and contestation of two audiences of legitimation. In this regard, this research study brings together two branches of scholarly literature‘ and focuses on the politics of the ‗here and now‘ and the contingencies of within case dynamics that underlie the establishment of the UN-mandated fact-finding mission to Myanmar. In this regard, structural explanations cannot fully account for how the UN-mission went from constituting an implicit challenge to the so-called ‗Annan Commission‘ to being framed as ‗complementary‘ to the Annan Commission. Bringing together two bodies of scholarly literature, this research study highlights how four factors in Myanmar‘s strategic context were key to the establishment of the UN-mission, namely, 1. increasing international debate and division over the ‗authority‘ of Aung San Suu Kyi; 2. a political shift within the UN headquarters towards an activist role; and 3. a critique of the United Nations‘ (UN) dominant approach in Myanmar, which has triggered a fourth, namely, 4. the contestation over the identity of the ‗audiences of legitimation.‘ This is most aptly illustrated by the establishment of the UN-mandate fact-finding mission to Myanmar, which ‗reflects‘ the complexity of Myanmar‘s strategic context, characterised by the contestation, navigation and co-optation of these now competing sources of legitimacy: the politics of personality and the politics of Rohingya victimhood. With a view to operationalizing Frederic Megret‘s (2016) ‗dynamic‘ view or conceptualization of international human rights fact-finding, it is argued that the establishment of the UN fact-finding mission to Myanmar is to be understood primarily in the context of the contested nature of the identity of ‗audiences of legitimation‘. Furthermore, this research study employs a process-tracing research methodology, looking to critical historical junctures where explanations challenge conventional wisdom of the literature, for example, that the UN-mandated fact-finding mission is intended to (only) discover the ‗truth about the past‘ or conceptualization of fact-finding that conflate what is ‗factual‘ with ‗the law‘ or presuppose a ‗fact-law distinction‘. Rather, United Nations-mandated fact-finding is a form of ‗discursive practise‘, established (primarily) with a view to the cultivation and maintenance of legitimacy