Opening Gates and Windows: the Ethics and Aesthetics of Making a Documentary Poem

In this essay I discuss the ethical and aesthetic issues involved in making a short auto/biographical documentary, Separation, about an improvised parenting relationship I had with a young Sudanese-Australian man. I contextualize my discussion through reference to representations of Sudanese-Australians in the media, and the tendency towards reductive allegorical representations. I propose that a poetic approach offers a possible way forward in representing aspects of life stories involving shared privacies and/or sensitive cultural material. This suggests important scholarly consideration of an ethics that is specific to visual representation or video/film methods. Such a consideration is applicable both to contexts in which the central concern is an art product or event, and in which the primary concern is research.</jats:p

Playing for keeps : an examination of arepp : Theatre for Life's applied theatre pedagogy with regards to adolescent sexuality

Includes abstract.|Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-163).This dissertation examines the particular method developed by arepp: Theatre for Life, a South African Non Governmental Organisation, in its work of providing sexuality and social problem solving life-skills education for adolescents, towards the development of self-efficacy in school-going youth, by means of dramatic presentations. The research is broadly located in the fields of applied theatre, experiential learning and participatory action research. Social cognitive and self-efficacy theory underpin the educational goals, whilst phenomenology, the 'eventness' of theatre, narrative and diegesis are key to the conceptual framework within which arepp: Theatre for Life's use of theatre is examined. The arepp: Theatre for Life archive, including the organisation's internal monitoring and evaluation system, provide the primary data source for this investigation, which focuses on one arepp: Theatre for Life production, Look Before You Leap: Hangin' in 2007, for specific inverstigation and the provision evidence. arepp: Theatre for Life's applied theatre pedagogy combines the concepts of observational learning through a theatre show with the processes of experiential learning through a facilitated discussion to develop self-efficacy with regard to adolescent sexuality

Growth Responses of Great Basin Plant Species to Variation in Nitrogen Availability

For this dissertation, I examined the ability of field-grown plants to capture N presented in enriched patches or in whole-plant pulses. I assessed root proliferation in N-enriched patches when Agropyron desertorum plants had been previously fertilized or shaded. All plants responded with increased root growth rates in N-enriched patches. However, root proliferation by shaded plants was 50% less than unshaded plants. Unexpectedly, plants with higher N status had greater root growth rates in enriched patches than plants that had not received N supplement. I concluded that plants already under competitive pressure above ground for light and below ground for nutrients should be less able to respond to opportunities presented in nutrient patches. I then examined plant growth responses and biomass production of six Great Basin species (Bromus tectorum, Taeniatherum medusae, Agropyron desertorum, Pseudoroegneria spicata, Artemisia tridentata, and Chrysothamnus nauseosus) following a pulse ofN applied in the early, mid, or late spring. An equal quantity of N, applied continuously, was a control. Surprisingly, most of the species grown under the continuous supply had lower growth rates and less biomass production than plants recieving an N pulse. The exception was Chrysothamnus, which responded equivalently to all treatments. Generally, the greatest response occurred in early phenological stages. Four of the six species had their greatest response to the early-spring pulse, suggesting that these cold-season species are well-adapted to take advantage of early spring nutrient pulses. This study demonstrated that instead of benefitting from a season-long supply of N, there were times during the growing season when plants were able to use pulses of N for significant gains in biomass. I also investigated the root properties (root biomass, specific root length [the ratio of root length:root mass], and root uptake capacity) that determined plant response to pulses. Despite considerable temperature differences and changes in plant phenological stages, root uptake capacity remained remarkably constant throughout the season. However, this consistency did not explain the differences in productivity during the season. Root biomass also did not explain these growth responses to pulses. Instead, I suggest that the quantity of actively growing fine roots, plus the ability to effectively exploit the soil volume in the early spring, results in capture of early nutrient pulses

A gesture-based approach to teaching english as a second language.

An artificial hand-gesture code was designed by the author to present and elicit English as an L2 in the English language classroom. The gesture code was combined with a methodological approach bearing resemblances to input-based instruction and Focus on Form. The combination of the gesture code together with the methodology when applied in the classroom was named GestureWay (GW). The rationale behind this teaching focus was to provide students with an alternative input reference to text and allow learners accelerated exposure and practice of holistic language in its oral form thereby assisting in the development of communicative spoken L2 competency. An experiment was set up over an academic year comparing a group of nineteen nine-year-olds at a Seville primary school (Spain) who received a course of GW and a control group who continued with the usual programme of English instruction. Pre-tests and post-tests were carried out on both groups. Results showed that when communicative acquisition levels were assessed, the experimental group scored significantly higher marks than the control group especially in oral story-telling activities. Comparisons between non-communicative aspects of language knowledge such as controlled discrete item tests resulted in more evenly spread scores between the two groups or with a small advantage to the experimental group. Besides the quantitative measurements taken from both groups, a qualitative appraisal was made of the consequences of implementing GestureWay in the classroom with learners unused to this style of teaching. The overall observations were favourable in that learners quickly accepted and successfully continued with the dynamic to the end of the course and responded well despite some teething problems of difficulties in adapting to classroom environments of highly communicative and cognitively intensive classroom environments