Educating for global citizenship: Australia as a case study

Twenty-first-century teaching prepares students for a globalized existence. The long-established goal of schooling to prepare a responsible citizenry who strive for the benefit of the community must now be extended, assisting students to become global citizens, equipped to deal with global issues. This article investigates how civics and citizenship education is addressed in curricula; in particular, to what extent the ongoing issue of supporting a critical citizenry, locally and globally, is addressed. Using Australia as a case study, we present an analysis of selected Australian primary school (ages 5–12) curriculum documents to determine the extent of commitment to educating for global citizenship specifically. While intentions are good, work is needed to ensure that these are enacted within schools

Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This fourth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation

Magnetic Quantum Tunneling: Insights from Simple Molecule-Based Magnets

This article takes a broad view of the understanding of magnetic bistability and magnetic quantum tunneling in single-molecule magnets (SMMs), focusing on three families of relatively simple, low-nuclearity transition metal clusters: spin S = 4 Ni4, Mn(III)3 (S = 2 and 6) and Mn(III)6 (S = 4 and 12). The Mn(III) complexes are related by the fact that they contain triangular Mn3 units in which the exchange may be switched from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic without significantly altering the coordination around the Mn(III) centers, thereby leaving the single-ion physics more-or-less unaltered. This allows for a detailed and systematic study of the way in which the individual-ion anisotropies project onto the molecular spin ground state in otherwise identical low- and high-spin molecules, thus providing unique insights into the key factors that control the quantum dynamics of SMMs, namely: (i) the height of the kinetic barrier to magnetization relaxation; and (ii) the transverse interactions that cause tunneling through this barrier. Numerical calculations are supported by an unprecedented experimental data set (17 different compounds), including very detailed spectroscopic information obtained from high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance and low-temperature hysteresis measurements. Diagonalization of the multi-spin Hamiltonian matrix is necessary in order to fully capture the interplay between exchange and local anisotropy, and the resultant spin-state mixing which ultimately gives rise to the tunneling matrix elements in the high symmetry SMMs (ferromagnetic Mn3 and Ni4). The simplicity (low-nuclearity, high-symmetry, weak disorder, etc..) of the molecules highlighted in this study proves to be of crucial importance.Comment: 32 pages, incl. 6 figure

“The Road We Travel”: Developing a co-produced narrative for a photovoice project

4.1 Introduction: PhotoVoice is a participatory methodology in which marginalized communities represent their lived experiences through photography. While the methodology aims to foster partnerships throughout all phases, the literature suggests that in the field of mental health, some phases are often completed without participant involvement. 4.2 Aims: This paper elaborates on how the PhotoVoice method was used to engage service users and family members around their experience of involvement in a co-produced and co-facilitated mental health education intervention, in order to enhance public and policymakers knowledge of the project. 4.3 Methods: Ten participants were recruited and trained in the PhotoVoice method. Participants documented, through photography, their experiences of involvement in the education intervention. Following this, participants came together to co-produce and disseminate the photography exhibition to the public. 4.4 Results: PhotoVoice proved to be a flexible and creative method by which to include marginalized groups. By adhering to the collaborative principles of the methodology, service users and family members can retain decision-making power from the project's inception to its conclusion. 4.5 Implications for Practice: PhotoVoice is ideal for use within mental health nursing as it coincides with the recovery principle of promoting collaborative partnership between service users, family members and clinicians

Randomized clinical trial of therapeutic music video intervention for resilience outcomes in adolescents/young adults undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant: a report from the Children's Oncology Group

BACKGROUND: To reduce the risk of adjustment problems associated with hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for adolescents/young adults (AYAs), we examined efficacy of a therapeutic music video (TMV) intervention delivered during the acute phase of HSCT to: 1) increase protective factors of spiritual perspective, social integration, family environment, courageous coping, and hope-derived meaning; 2) decrease risk factors of illness-related distress and defensive coping; and 3) increase outcomes of self-transcendence and resilience. METHODS: This was a multisite randomized, controlled trial (COG-ANUR0631) conducted at 8 Children's Oncology Group sites involving 113 AYAs aged 11-24 years undergoing myeloablative HSCT. Participants, randomized to the TMV or low-dose control (audiobooks) group, completed 6 sessions over 3 weeks with a board-certified music therapist. Variables were based on Haase's Resilience in Illness Model (RIM). Participants completed measures related to latent variables of illness-related distress, social integration, spiritual perspective, family environment, coping, hope-derived meaning, and resilience at baseline (T1), postintervention (T2), and 100 days posttransplant (T3). RESULTS: At T2, the TMV group reported significantly better courageous coping (Effect Size [ES], 0.505; P = .030). At T3, the TMV group reported significantly better social integration (ES, 0.543; P = .028) and family environment (ES, 0.663; P = .008), as well as moderate nonsignificant effect sizes for spiritual perspective (ES, 0.450; P = .071) and self-transcendence (ES, 0.424; P = .088). CONCLUSIONS: The TMV intervention improves positive health outcomes of courageous coping, social integration, and family environment during a high-risk cancer treatment. We recommend the TMV be examined in a broader population of AYAs with high-risk cancers

Glycated hemoglobin, prediabetes and the links to cardiovascular disease: data from UK Biobank

OBJECTIVE: HbA1c levels are increasingly measured in screening for diabetes; we investigated whether HbA1c may simultaneously improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment, using QRISK3, American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), and Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) scoring systems. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: UK Biobank participants without baseline CVD or known diabetes (n = 357,833) were included. Associations of HbA1c with CVD was assessed using Cox models adjusting for classical risk factors. Predictive utility was determined by the C-index and net reclassification index (NRI). A separate analysis was conducted in 16,596 participants with known baseline diabetes. RESULTS: Incident fatal or nonfatal CVD, as defined in the QRISK3 prediction model, occurred in 12,877 participants over 8.9 years. Of participants, 3.3% (n = 11,665) had prediabetes (42.0–47.9 mmol/mol [6.0–6.4%]) and 0.7% (n = 2,573) had undiagnosed diabetes (≥48.0 mmol/mol [≥6.5%]). In unadjusted models, compared with the reference group (<42.0 mmol/mol [<6.0%]), those with prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes were at higher CVD risk: hazard ratio (HR) 1.83 (95% CI 1.69–1.97) and 2.26 (95% CI 1.96–2.60), respectively. After adjustment for classical risk factors, these attenuated to HR 1.11 (95% CI 1.03–1.20) and 1.20 (1.04–1.38), respectively. Adding HbA1c to the QRISK3 CVD risk prediction model (C-index 0.7392) yielded a small improvement in discrimination (C-index increase of 0.0004 [95% CI 0.0001–0.0007]). The NRI showed no improvement. Results were similar for models based on the ACC/AHA and SCORE risk models. CONCLUSIONS: The near twofold higher unadjusted risk for CVD in people with prediabetes is driven mainly by abnormal levels of conventional CVD risk factors. While HbA1c adds minimally to cardiovascular risk prediction, those with prediabetes should have their conventional cardiovascular risk factors appropriately measured and managed

A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: let us err on the side of caution

We greatly appreciate the care and thought that is evident in the 10 commentaries that discuss our debate paper, the majority of which argued in favor of a formalized ICD-11 gaming disorder. We agree that there are some people whose play of video games is related to life problems. We believe that understanding this population and the nature and severity of the problems they experience should be a focus area for future research. However, moving from research construct to formal disorder requires a much stronger evidence base than we currently have. The burden of evidence and the clinical utility should be extremely high, because there is a genuine risk of abuse of diagnoses. We provide suggestions about the level of evidence that might be required: transparent and preregistered studies, a better demarcation of the subject area that includes a rationale for focusing on gaming particularly versus a more general behavioral addictions concept, the exploration of non-addiction approaches, and the unbiased exploration of clinical approaches that treat potentially underlying issues, such as depressive mood or social anxiety first. We acknowledge there could be benefits to formalizing gaming disorder, many of which were highlighted by colleagues in their commentaries, but we think they do not yet outweigh the wider societal and public health risks involved. Given the gravity of diagnostic classification and its wider societal impact, we urge our colleagues at the WHO to err on the side of caution for now and postpone the formalization