Critical Literacy and Second Language Learning in the Mainstream Classroom: An Elusive Nexus?

Critical Literacy (CL) is now a core component of Queensland secondary school English programs. These programs are delivered to a significant number of students from Non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) whose linguistic and cultural resources are diverse and not necessarily representative of mainstream high school cultural capital (Bourdieu 1990). In response to the current emphasis on CL, it is vital for English as a Second Language (ESL) educators to identify the points of contention as well as the possibilities for promoting critical engagement with texts with adolescent ESL learners and to seek to create pedagogy that reflects the critical needs and capacities of these learners. This paper outlines the version of CL in secondary schools as theorised by a number of Australian researchers; discusses the relevance and importance of CL to NESB learners and finally raises a number of issues that need resolving if such learners are to be provided with a well-rounded literacy education amid contemporary Australian social relations and textual practice

Critical Literacy and Second Language Learning in the Mainstream Classroom: An Elusive Nexus?

Critical Literacy (CL) is now a core component of Queensland secondary school English programs. These programs are delivered to a significant number of students from Non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) whose linguistic and cultural resources are diverse and not necessarily representative of mainstream high school cultural capital (Bourdieu 1990). In response to the current emphasis on CL, it is vital for English as a Second Language (ESL) educators to identify the points of contention as well as the possibilities for promoting critical engagement with texts with adolescent ESL learners and to seek to create pedagogy that reflects the critical needs and capacities of these learners. This paper outlines the version of CL in secondary schools as theorised by a number of Australian researchers; discusses the relevance and importance of CL to NESB learners and finally raises a number of issues that need resolving if such learners are to be provided with a well-rounded literacy education amid contemporary Australian social relations and textual practice

Campus as a Living Lab: Community Centered Environmental Service Learning

During the Fall Quarter of 2018, California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) students (GEOG 390) partnered with the Inland Empire Resources Conservation District (IERCD) to assists the CSUSB Housing and Residence Life program to develop educational programs aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and water resource management. The purpose of this initiative was for students to learn how collaborative partnerships and shared expertise and resources can assist with educating the public through environmental stewardship and service based learning activities that collectively aim to reduce human impacts to Earth systems and related resources. This is an important component of supporting campus and community sustainability because the CSUSB Master Plan call for a major increase in on campus housing over the next decade. The Fall 2018 Campus as a Living Lab Project served as a pilot program that may supports future campus residential education programs as well as the expansion of the CSUSB Sustainability Living and Learning Community. This project developed multiple environmental education, outreach and volunteer opportunities for the campus as well as forging new partnerships that addressed goals 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the CSUSB 2015-2020 strategic goals

Participatory Water Resource Management: Advancing Engagement in Disadvantaged Communities across the Santa Ana River Watershed

Santa Ana River Watershed, California, Proposition 1 Integrated Regional Water Management, Disadvantaged Community Involvement Program The Santa Ana River (SAR) Watershed is the largest, most populated and fastest urbanizing watershed in Southern California, draining an estimated 2,700 square miles of diverse landscape and hydrological features. Headwater streams of the SAR Watershed are located in the San Bernardino National Forest near Big Bear Lake, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the San Jacinto Mountains. These streams traverse the coastal sage habitat through numerous water infrastructure features in the Inland Empire before terminating into the Pacific Ocean at the City of Huntington Beach. Groundwater resources, seasonal rains, and snowmelt provide a small fraction of the water resources needed to sustain the estimated 5.9 million residents living in the watershed. To augment limited local water supply, the SAR Watershed imports water into the region from Northern California and the Colorado River. With recent drought conditions and a growing population, community stakeholders and the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA), a leading regional water agency, are exploring innovative ways to manage water resources that support both human and ecological activities

Envisioning Indigenous Models for Social and Ecological Change in the Anthropocene

Indigenous societies provide alternatives to hegemonic social institutions that global capitalism spread around the world, contributing to human caused environmental degradation called the Anthropocene, coterminous with the development of the modern world-system. In this work we describe Indigenous communities using ten social spheres, that balance human needs through ecological mindfulness, including spirituality, and then we model how these social spheres can be adapted to contemporary world-systems using a radical imaginary, building off Indigenous works by Fenelon (2015; 2016), social perspectives of Pellow (2017) and Norgaard (2019), and environmental geospatial sciences (Lui, Springer, and Wagner 2008; Jankowski 2009). We identify four social constructs from Indigenous peoples—(1) decision-making, (2) land tenure and resource management, (3) economic and (4) community—which we model for societies in world-systems through the ten imagined social spheres, to present foundations that empower communities to resist the coming climate change futures of the Anthropocen

Geospatial Applications for Identifying Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and Impaired Streams in California

The objective of this study is to identify and spatially illustrate the location of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations in California, their proximity to impaired surface waters listed on the US Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) 303(d) list and communities defined as “Pollution Burden” (i.e. affected by and vulnerable to multiple pollution sources) by the CA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) CalEnviroScreen tool

Deans\u27 Panel: Digital Collections and Institutional Repositories

Three library deans/chief directors from public universities representing different sizes and missions will address how their unique places in their communities have influence the choices they make around digital collections and institutional repositories. Each panelist will share contextual information and an example of an initiative that reflects the needs of the defined community and furthers the libraries’ goals and values

Crossing international boundaries through doctoral partnerships: Learnings from a Chinese-Australian forum

International forums for doctoral students offer a fertile context for developing strategic partnerships between higher education institutions, as well as for building the intercultural capacity of early career academics. However, there is limited research investigating the benefits of international doctoral forum partnerships. This paper presents learnings from a recent international doctoral forum held in Beijing, China and attended by doctoral students and academics from Beijing Normal University (China) and Queensland University of Technology (Australia). Drawing on qualitative case study method and a model of boundary crossing mechanisms, we identify the beneficial outcomes of the forum. We describe how the forum arose from a strong ongoing partnership between the Education Faculties of Beijing Normal University and Queensland University of Technology. We then identify how, at the institutional and individual level, international doctoral forum participants can be challenged and benefit in four areas: collaboration, intercultural capacity, academic enhancement and program development. Implications for engaging successfully in international doctoral forum partnerships are also discussed

The thalamic reuniens is associated with consolidation of non-spatial memory too

The nucleus reuniens (RE) is situated in the midline thalamus and provides a key link between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. This anatomical relationship positions the Re as an ideal candidate to facilitate memory consolidation. However, there is no evidence that this role extends beyond spatial memory and contextual fear memory, which are both strongly associated with hippocampal function. We, therefore, trained intact male Long–Evans rats on an odor–trace–object paired-associate task where the explicit 10-s delay between paired items renders the task sensitive to hippocampal function. Neurons in the RE showed significantly increased activation of the immediate early gene (Zif268) when rats were re-tested for previous non-spatial memory 25 days after acquisition training, compared to a group tested at 5-days post-acquisition, as well as a control group tested 25 days after acquisition but with a new pair of non-spatial stimuli, and home cage controls. The remote recall group also showed relatively augmented IEG expression in the superficial layers of the medial PFC (anterior cingulate cortex and prelimbic cortex). These findings support the conclusion that the RE is preferentially engaged during remote recall in this non-spatial task and thus has a role beyond spatial memory and contextual fear memory