Multimodal Literacy: Journey Through the Collaborative Transmediation of Wordless Picturebooks

With a shift towards 21st century literacy practices and a greater variety of literature, the mere definitions of literacy and text are shifting. The focus on traditional text that heavily relies on words and supporting pictures to convey meaning has changed to text of multiple modes. Teachers are now charged with fostering new skills in students in order to help them engage with these texts effectively and to allow them to make meaning of the multimodal texts that surround them (Siegel, 2006). In this qualitative case study, the primary investigator assumed a dual role as the classroom teacher and researcher in order to examine the meaning-making process and find trends in students’ learning, particularly in the context of a social constructivist learning environment. The study examined a group of ten first graders in an independent school setting as they explored and constructed meaning of the wordless picturebook, Trainstop, by Barbara Lehman. This genre offered an opportunity to examine meaning-making without the constraints of decoding and interpreting written text (Serafini, 2014). Students were asked to collaboratively read the book and transmediate their meanings by creating a digital book with the iPad application, Book Creator. This afforded them a means to create collaborative versions of this story on a multimodal platform. Data collection included video recordings of student exchanges through the processes of reading, rereading, and then creating their meaning in the form of their digital book. Video transcriptions, researcher’s notes and reflections, as well as the final digital books were examined for paths of meaning-making and collaborative exchanges. The findings show how each pair approached the text differently, assumed distinctive roles, and used a blend of modes in order to make meaning of the wordless picturebook. Students collaborated to navigate, interpret, interrogate, and design their stories (Serafini, 2012), but this process also highlighted how the collaborative environment provided a means to discover performative meaning in their stories. As they blended their transactions to create a collaborative poem, these modes of reading translated into modes of creating without losing this performative nature

Evaluating emotional distress and health-related quality of life in patients with heart failure and their family caregivers:Testing dyadic dynamics using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

Purpose: 1) To compare levels of emotional symptoms and health-related quality of life between patients with heart failure and their family caregivers; and 2) to examine whether patients’ and caregivers’ emotional symptoms were associated with their own, as well as their partner’s health-related quality of life. Method: In this cross-sectional study, 41 patients-caregiver dyads (78% male patients, aged 68.6 years; and 83% female caregivers, aged 65.8 years) completed all nine dimensions of the Brief Symptom Inventory and the Minnesota Living with Heart failure Questionnaire. Dyadic data were analysed for 6 sub-scales of the Brief Symptom Inventory, using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in emotional symptoms and health-related quality of life between patients with heart failure and their caregivers. Patients’ and caregivers’ emotional symptoms were associated with their own health-related quality of life. Caregivers’ anxiety, phobic anxiety, obsession-compulsion, depression and hostility negatively influenced their partner’s (i.e. the patient’s) health-related quality of life. There were no partner effects of patients’ emotional symptoms on the health-related quality of life of caregivers. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that patients may be particularly vulnerable to the emotional distress, i.e. thoughts, impulses and actions of their caregivers. It may be possible to improve patients’ health-related quality of life by targeting specific detrimental emotional symptoms of caregivers

Do Individual Differences And Aging Effects In The Estimation Of Geographical Slant Reflect Cognitive Or Perceptual Effects?

Several individual differences including age have been suggested to affect the perception of slant. A cross-sectional study of outdoor hill estimation (N = 106) was analyzed using individual difference measures of age, experiential knowledge, fitness, personality traits, and sex. Of particular note, it was found that for participants who reported any experiential knowledge about slant, estimates decreased (i.e., became more accurate) as conscientiousness increased, suggesting that more conscientious individuals were more deliberate about taking their experiential knowledge (rather than perception) into account. Effects of fitness were limited to those without experiential knowledge, suggesting that they, too, may be cognitive rather than perceptual. The observed effects of age, which tended to produce lower, more accurate estimates of hill slant, provide more evidence that older adults do not see hills as steeper. The main effect of age was to lower slant estimates; such effects may be due to implicit experiential knowledge acquired over a lifetime. The results indicate the impact of cognitive, rather than perceptual factors on individual differences in slant estimation

PISA 2022. Reporting Australia’s results. Volume I: Student performance and equity in education

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative study of student performance directed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA measures 3 core domains of reading literacy, mathematical literacy, and scientific literacy. The assessment focuses on young people’s ability to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems and situations. The term ‘literacy’ reflects a focus on broader skills. As a concept, literacy is more than simply being able to read and write. Eighty-one countries or economies, involving around 690,000 students, participated in PISA 2022. In Australia, 743 schools and a total of 13,437 students (representing the full population of around 265,000 15-year-old students) completed the assessment. In Australia, PISA is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research and is jointly funded by the Australian Government and all state and territory governments. PISA is a key part of Australia’s National Assessment Program. This report presents the results for Australia as a whole, for the Australian states and territories and for the other groups in PISA 2022. The results can be viewed in an international context, and student performance can be monitored over time. The results also allow for nationally comparable reports of student outcomes against the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) education declaration (Education Council, 2019)

PISA in Brief 2022: Student performance and equity in education

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an assessment that measures the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students, an age at which they have nearly completed compulsory schooling. PISA assesses young adults’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life problems and situations rather than how well they have learned a specific curriculum. This PISA in Brief report provides a summary of student performance in the PISA 2022 assessment and tells us about their capacity to apply knowledge and skills in the domains of reading, mathematical, and scientific literacy

PISA 2015 : a first look at Australia’s results

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative study of student achievement directed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA 2015 represents the sixth such study since PISA was first conducted in 2000. Seventy-two OECD countries or partner economies participated in PISA 2015. In Australia, PISA is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and is jointly funded by the Australian Government and the state and territory governments. The goal of PISA is to measure how well 15-year-olds, who are nearing the end of their compulsory schooling in most participating educational systems, are prepared to use the knowledge and skills in particular areas to meet real-life opportunities and challenges. It also provides comparative perspectives on trends in achievement in the context of different education systems, school organisational approaches and instructional practices; to enable this, PISA collects a rich array of background data from students, schools and teachers. This report is a first look at the results from PISA 2015. This report focuses on the achievement results in scientific, reading and mathematical literacy, and was followed by the full Australian National Report (2017), which examined achievement more fully, and incorporated descriptive and analytical findings based upon the background and demographic data

Patients' and partners' health-related quality of life before and 4 months after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery

Background: Patients having coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) often depend on their partners for assistance before and after surgery. Whilst patients' physical and mental health usually improves after surgery little is known about the partners' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in CABG. If the partners' physical and emotional health is poor this can influence their caregiving role and ability to support the patient. This study aimed: to increase understanding of patients' and partners' HRQoL before and after CABG; to explore whether patients' and partners' pre-operative socio-demographics and HRQoL predict their own, and also partners' HRQoL 4 months after CABG. Methods: This prospective study recruited 84 dyads (patients 84% males, aged 64.5 years; partners 94% females, aged 61.05 years). Patients' and partners' perceived health status was assessed using the Short-Form 12 Health Survey. Patients' physical limitation, angina symptoms and treatment satisfaction were assessed using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire. Partners' emotional, physical and social functioning was assessed using the Quality of Life of Cardiac Spouses Questionnaire. Data were analysed using hierarchical multiple (logistic) regressions, repeated measures analysis of variance, paired t test and Chi square. Results: Patients most likely to have poorer physical health post-operatively were associated with partners who had poorer pre-operative physical health. Partners most likely to have poorer emotional, physical and social functioning post-operatively were associated with patients who had poorer pre-operative mental health. Patients" and partners' poorer post-operative HRQoL was also explained by their poorer pre-operative HRQoL. Conclusion: The partners' involvement should be considered as part of patients' pre-operative assessment. Special attention needs be paid to patients' pre-operative mental health since it is likely to impact on their post-operative mental health and the partner's emotional, physical and social functioning

PISA 2018: Reporting Australia’s Results. Volume I Student Performance

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative study of student performance directed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA measures the cumulative outcomes of education by assessing how well 15-year-olds, who are nearing the end of their compulsory schooling in most participating educational systems, are prepared to use the knowledge and skills in particular areas to meet real-life opportunities and challenges. The term literacy is attached to the assessment domains of reading, mathematics and science to reflect the focus on these broader skills and as a concept it is used in a much broader sense than simply being able to read and write. The OECD considers that mathematics and science are so pervasive in modern life that it is important for students to be literate in these areas as well. This report presents the results for Australia as a whole, for the Australian states and territories and for the other participants in PISA 2018, so that Australia’s results can be viewed in an international context, and student performance can be monitored over time