Instruction Meets Learner: Success of an Inner-City Learner in a Traditional First Grade Classroom

In my language arts methods courses at the university, I spend time demonstrating the efficacy of a meaning-based curriculum. Students spend time in my classes reading and writing for functional purposes. They collaborate on assignments and choose many of the projects from an extensive list. They even design their own exams. I try to engage my students in activities which are alternatives to traditional instruction, so that they will teach young children in similar ways. Yet, I always have some students who argue for traditional instruction. One student may say, It worked for me, while another might question, If it\u27s so bad, why don\u27t all children who receive traditional instruction fail? These questions made me ponder Audrey, a child I observed closely for two years. Audrey was a low-SES learner in a traditional classroom who was a successful literacy learner

Information scanning – keeping in touch with best practice in breastfeeding

This paper describes some of the methods practitioners can use to scan sources for up-to-date information about best practice in breastfeeding

Decoding Skill and Successful Beginning Reading in Different Instructional Settings

The debate over whether to include phonics in early literacy instruction has been one of the hottest topics in the field of reading. Researchers and teachers agree that children must be able to use graphophonic knowledge in order to learn to read. That is, children must understand that written symbols correspond to sounds which make up written words, and they must be able to decode new words. Yet there is still debate over whether phonics instruction is necessary for children to learn these concepts and skills

Who supports breastfeeding?

‘Breastfeeding is best for baby ’ is the view supported by many health organisations including Australia’s National Health and Medical research council (NNHMrc) and the World Health Organization (WWHO). this literature review of both quantitative and qualitative studies was conducted to determine who supports women to breastfeed successfully in the current environment. results indicated that fathers, other family members and friends can have a significant impact in supporting breastfeeding if they are positive about breastfeeding and have the skills to support breastfeeding. Health professionals are more effective in their support if their attitude to breastfeeding is positive and they have appropriate knowledge and skills to help the breastfeeding mother, something that is often lacking in their training. Peer counsellors and breastfeeding support groups are very effective but only if women access them. Employers and the community know about the benefits of breastfeeding;however,they do not provide much support for breastfeeding. For breastfeeding to be better supported, family and friends need to be more aware of the importance of breastfeeding and how to help mothers;health professionals need more effective training in supporting breastfeeding;peer counsellors and breastfeeding support groups need to be more accessible to breastfeeding women;and employers and the community need to be more breastfeeding friendly

The contribution of Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development-supported research to primary health care policy and practice

The importance of primary health care (PHC) research is well understood yet conducting this research can be challenging. Barriers include a lack of funding, support and opportunity. In 2000 the Australian government introduced the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) Strategy to address the gap in high-quality research. One component of the strategy, the Research Capacity Building Initiative, provided funding to university departments of general practice and rural health, allowing them to expand their pool of researchers and produce more research relevant to policy and practice. This study investigates the impact of phase two of the PHCRED Strategy by analysing peer-reviewed publications from PHCRED-supported departments. Research output was recorded from 2006 to 2010 incorporating 661 publications in 212 journals. Rural departments often had fewer resources than urban departments yet demonstrated steady research contributions focusing on issues relevant to their community. Since its inception the PHCRED Strategy has enabled development of research capacity and contributed to the body of PHC knowledge. While PHC is a diverse field, reflected in the publications produced, the themes underlying much of this work were representative of current health reform and the priority areas and building blocks of the National PHC Strategy

Networking: the Human Factor in Knowledge Exchange

Evidence-influenced policy has become the 'gold standard' which compels a wide variety of researchers, research funders and policy makers, from very different organisational contexts, to share or exchange knowledge. Opportunities to facilitate interaction; better understand each other's professional cultures and goals and also build collaborations are important to promote the use of research to inform and influence policy and practice. It is important to find ways in which such interactions between people can be facilitated, particularly as many stakeholders are not trained in the practice of knowledge exchange. Conferences are powerful, albeit temporary, clusters of contextualised knowledge exchange which facilitate low risk initial contacts and the ongoing development of collaborations

The growing burden of multimorbidity

Over the past decade the Australian government has initiated a number of health care reforms to address the needs of those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, and heart disease. However, the success of chronic care management models has not been universal. Failure to achieve care goals in some patients might be because many patients have multimorbidity. The recently established Medicare Locals may be well placed to play a central role in providing improved care for those with chronic conditions, and in particular development of management plans that take account of multimorbidity. In this RESEARCH ROUNDup we define some of the key findings central to future discussions of this issue in the Australian setting

Learning About Language Arts Instruction Through Collaboration

Donna\u27s voice shows the confidence she feels today; however, her metamorphosis did not happen overnight, nor did that of the six other teachers with whom she worked on a research project during the past three years. In this article, we describe how Donna and her colleagues learned more about language arts teaching through collaborative team work — research, and writing. We also discuss what this means for teachers who are trying to change their practices and the teacher educators trying to help

Researcher development program of the primary health care research, evaluation and development strategy

Author accepted manuscript (Post-Print) made available according to publisher copyright policy.The Research Development Program (RDP) was initiated in 2004 under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) Strategy to increase the number and range of people with knowledge and skills in primary health care research and evaluation. RDP Fellows were invited to participate in an online survey about the effect the program had on their research knowledge, attitudes and practice. The response rate was 42% (105/248). Most were female (88%) with 66% aged between 31 and 50 years. Over two-thirds (72%) were health practitioners. Activities undertaken during the RDP ranged from literature reviews, developing a research question, preparing ethics submissions, attending and presenting at conferences and seminars, preparing papers and reports, and submitting grant applications. Despite the fact that only 52% agreed that the RDP time was adequate, 94% agreed that the RDP was a valuable experience, with 89% expressing interest in undertaking further research. These results indicate that this program has had a positive effect on the RDP Fellows in terms of their knowledge about research, their attitude to research, and the way they use research in their work

A new climate for Indigenous health

The Apology to the Stolen Generation set the tone for a new and vigorous approach to achieving health equity for Indigenous people. The symbolic impact of the Apology was reinforced and given practical direction by the Australia 2020 Summit and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing Budget Statements. The key primary health care messages arising from these are: improving health services for Indigenous people is essential to reducing health inequities between Australians; making health services accessible to Indigenous communities is a primary component of health service provision; and, Indigenous community engagement in health research, health services and health education is critical to meeting equity policy outcomes