The Cosmology Distinction Course for gifted students

The Cosmology Distinction Course is an innovative subject introduced in 1994 for gifted students completing their Higher School Certificate (HSC) in New South Wales, Australia. It seeks to provide a challenging and stimulating, broadly based one year course that goes beyond the normal confines of traditional matriculation subjects. Provided free of charge it is taught via distance learning mode and includes a residential component

The Student as Scientist: Secondary Student Research Projects in Astronomy

Student research projects are becoming either integral or optional components of Science curricula in several countries. They provide a valuable opportunity for high school students to experience many of the joys and frustrations that make up the intellectual challenge of Science. Astronomy is one branch of Science that lends itself to student projects. Student Research Projects (SRPs) can be individual, group or collaborative between groups in other schools or countries and may involve professional mentors. Use of the Internet and remote access telescopes allow students to undertake challenging research and make worthwhile contributions to professional programs. This paper presents case studies of student projects in optical and radio astronomy from Australian and overseas schools and details both the benefits and problems faced in conducting such projects. Student responses to involvement in projects are discussed. Potential areas for future collaboration and development are highlighted together with the need for more research as to the most effective ways to implement projects and develop student skills

Engaging Gifted Science Students through Astronomy

Astronomy is a subject that poses many deep questions that intrigue students. It can effectively engage gifted and talented science students in their school years. Numerous international and Australian schemes utilize astronomy as a means of challenging and extending such students. Using Gagne's definition, gifted students have potential distinctly above average in one or more of the domains; intellectual, creative, social and physical. Talented students exhibit skills that are distinctly above average in an area of human performance. Such students may comprise about 10-15% of age peers in that field. They may be identified through a variety of means; by teacher, parent or self, sometimes via diagnostic tests, at others through participation in hobbies or other interests

The Internet as a Tool for Student Research and Communication - Australian Perspectives

The Internet is a valuable tool that allows students to access resources hitherto unobtainable in most high schools. The range, depth and power of resources related to astronomy provide school students with the tools to conduct educationally exciting and scientifically valid research projects. The use of the World Wide Web and Email allows students to communicate with each other and professionals. This is particularly useful for the delivery and support of distance learning and for collaborations. Examples of research and collaborative projects undertaken by students of Blue Mountains Grammar School, Australia, are given. The importance of a web-based bulletin board for student-student and student-teacher communication is demonstrated, using the NSW Cosmology Distinction Course as an example

The Cosmology Distinction Course in NSW

The Cosmology Distinction Course is a new one-year course to be introduced for Year 12 candidates in the 1994 Higher School Certificate (HSC) examinations in NSW. It is one of three challenging courses of study that will enrich the HSC for talented students who accelerate and complete part of the HSC one year early. The courses will be taught through distance learning and will include residential seminars. They will be implemented on behalf of the Board of Studies by Charles Sturt University and the University of New England. The Cosmology Course is organized into nine modules of course work covering historical and social aspects of cosmology, observational techniques, key observatons and the various models developed--Newtonian, de Sitter, Friedmann, Lemaitre, steady-state, quasi-steady-state and big bang. Assessment will be through assignments, exams and a major project. As the first Distinction Course in a scientific area, the Cosmology Course represents an exciting and important educational initiative that needs the cooperation of NSW astronomers and, in return, promises to benefit the astronomical and general scientific community in Australia

Speech perception results for children with implants with different levels of preoperative residual hearing

This is a publisher’s version of an article published in American Journal of Otology 1997. This version is reproduced with permission of Lippincott Wilkins & Williams.Objective: Many reports have established that hearing-impaired children using the Nucleus 22 channel cochlear implant may show both significant benefits to lipreading and significant scores on open-set words and sentences using electrical stimulation only. These findings have raised questions about whether severely or severely-to-profoundly deaf children should be candidates for cochlear implants. To study this question, postoperative results for implanted children with different levels of preoperative residual hearing were evaluated in terms of speech perception benefits. Study Design/Setting: A retrospective study of the first 117 children, sequentially, to undergo implantation in the Melbourne and Sydney Cochlear Implant Clinics was undertaken. All children had been assessed by and received their implants in a tertiary referral centre. Main Outcome Measures: To assess aided residual hearing, the children were grouped into four categories of hearing on the basis of their aided residual hearing thresholds measured preoperatively. To assess benefits, the scores of children on standard speech perception tests were reviewed. As different tests were used for children with different ages and language skills, children were grouped into categories according to the level of postoperative speech perception benefit. Results: The results showed that children in the higher categories of aided preoperative residual hearing showed significant scores on open-set word and sentence perception tests using the implant alone. For children in lower categories of aided residual hearing, results were variable within the groups. More than 90% of children with implants with aided residual hearing thresholds in the speech range above I kHz achieved open-set understanding of words and sentences. Conclusion: While the results of this preliminary study confirm previous findings of differential outcomes for children with different levels of preoperative residual hearing, they suggest that children with severe to profound hearing impairments should be considered for cochlear implantation

PULSE@Parkes: Pulsar Observing for High School Students

The PULSE@Parkes (PULsar Student Exploration online at Parkes) project has been designed to allow high school students to control the 64m Parkes radio telescope. The students analyze their observations of radio pulsars and share their results with students in other schools. The data they obtain are also used by professional astronomers to support ongoing mainstream science projects. PULSE@Parkes provides students with an opportunity to use an iconic Australian major national facility, experience a real observation session and interact with professional astronomers. The embedded education research program seeks to determine the true value of the observing experience and whether students engage with the extensive online project materials. This project is the first stage of a long-term plan to develop effective and stimulating education activities that utilize the wealth of data that will be produced by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope that will be completed early next decade

Speech perception in implanted children: effects of speech processing strategy and residual hearing

The ability of implanted children to adapt to different speech processing strategies has been demonstrated for the Nucleus implant system. Children previously experienced with the Multipeak speech processing strategy. were able to gain significant improvements in consonant, word and sentence perception using the Speak speech processing strategy. suggesting some degree of neural plasticity in neural-auditory coding. Of 192 implanted children with different degrees of preoperative residual hearing, 65% were found to obtain significant scores on open-set speech materials using electrical stimulation alone. Those children with more residual hearing had a greater probability of achieving open-set understanding and at a minimum level, perceived high frequency consonant information which would not have been available through conventional hearing aids.2-7 Marc

Speech perception in implanted children: effects of preoperative residual hearing and speech processing strategy [Abstract]

Since the first child was implanted with the Nucleus 22-channel cochlear prosthesis in Melbourne in 1985, the number of implanted children world-wide has rapidly expanded. Over this period, more effective paediatric assessment and management procedures have developed, allowing cochlear implants to be offered to children under the age of 2 years. In addition, a succession of improved speech processing strategies have been implemented in the Nucleus implant system, resulting in increased mean speech perception benefits for implanted adults. Research in the Melbourne and Sydney Cochlear Implant Clinics has also demonstrated that young children can adapt to and benefit from improved speech processing strategies such as the Speak strategy. Reported speech perception results for implanted children show that a considerable proportion (60%) of paediatric patients in the Melbourne and Sydney clinics are able to understand some open set speech using electrical stimulation alone. These results, and the upward trend of speech perception benefits to improve over time with advances in speech processing. have raised questions as to whether severely, or severely-to-profoundly deaf children currently using hearing aids would in fact benefit more from a cochlear implant. To investigate the potential effect of the level of preoperative residual hearing on postoperative speech perception. results for all implanted children in the Melbourne and Sydney cochlear implant programs were analysed. Results showed that as 8 group, children with higher levels of preoperative residual hearing were consistently more likely to achieve open-set speech perception benefits. Potential factors in this finding could be higher levels of ganglion cell survival or greater patterning of the auditory pathways using conventional hearing aids prior to implantation. Conversely, children with the least preoperative residual hearing were less predictable, with some children achieving open-set perception, and others showing more limited closed-set benefits to perception. For these children, it is likely that preoperative residual hearing is of less significance than other factors in outcomes.2-7 Marc