Master of Science

thesisEarly childhood education is based on a developmental perspective, in which four areas of child development (social-emotional, language, cognitive and physical) are considered. In particular, healthy social-emotional development of young children is crucial for success in all areas of growth and achievement later in life. Healthy socialemotional development is promoted by building a safe, secure and respectful environment in an early childhood setting with positive and consistent relationships among adults and children. This study explored storytelling dramatizations as an opportunity to build community within the context of one early childhood classroom. The study was a qualitative, interpretive analysis of 20 videotaped storytelling dramatization sessions viewed from a community building perspective. Ethnographic methods were used to determine themes that emerged from the videotaped data. Triangulation across investigators, time and methods enhanced trustworthiness of interpretations. Results found that the storytelling dramatization activity provided opportunities to promote community building through four emerging themes: 1) participation, 2) membership and inclusion, 3) building relationships and 4) environment. Implications for practice include providing teachers with a teaching tool that builds community and aligns with current early childhood education quality standards and child development theory. To my mom, a gifted teacher and mother, who taught me invaluable lessons, but most of all encouraged me to be me, and fostered my unique interests and talents

Crossing the LINE Toward Genomic Instability: LINE-1 Retrotransposition in Cancer

Retrotransposons are repetitive DNA sequences that are positioned throughout the human genome. Retrotransposons are capable of copying themselves and mobilizing new copies to novel genomic locations in a process called retrotransposition. While most retrotransposon sequences in the human genome are incomplete and incapable of mobilization, the LINE-1 retrotransposon, which comprises approximately 17% of the human genome, remains active. The disruption of cellular mechanisms that suppress retrotransposon activity is linked to the generation of aneuploidy, a potential driver of tumor development. When retrotransposons insert into a novel genomic region, they have the potential to disrupt the coding sequence of endogenous genes and alter gene expression, which can lead to deleterious consequences for the organism. Additionally, increased LINE-1 copy numbers provide more chances for recombination events to occur between retrotransposons, which can lead to chromosomal breaks and rearrangements. LINE-1 activity is increased in various cancer cell lines and in patient tissues resected from primary tumors. LINE-1 activity also correlates with increased cancer metastasis. This review aims to give a brief overview of the connections between LINE-1 retrotransposition and the loss of genome stability. We will also discuss the mechanisms that repress retrotransposition in human cells and their links to cancer

Community volunteer support for families with young children: Protocol for the volunteer family connect randomized controlled trial

Background: Use of community volunteers to support vulnerable families is a widely employed strategy with a long history. However, there has been minimal formal scientific investigation into the effectiveness of volunteer home visiting programs for families. There is also a need for research examining whether volunteer home visiting leads to improved outcomes for volunteers. Objective: The objective of this paper is to describe the research protocol for a pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Volunteer Family Connect intervention, a volunteer home visiting program designed to support families of young children who experience social isolation or a lack of parenting confidence and skills. The project is being conducted in partnership with 3 leading not-for-profit organizations, designed to contribute to the body of evidence that informs decisions about appropriate family support services according to the level of need. It is the first study to examine outcomes for both the families and the volunteers who deliver the service. Methods: The RCT is being conducted in 7 sites across Australia. We aim to recruit 300 families to the study: 150 control (services as usual) and 150 intervention (services as usual + volunteer home visiting) families. Intervention families will receive the service for 3-12 months according to their needs, and all participants will complete 6 data collection points over 15 months. A minimum of 80 volunteers will also be recruited, along with a matched community comparison group. The volunteers will complete 3 data collection points over 12 months. Primary outcomes include community connectedness and parenting competence. Secondary outcomes include parent physical and mental health; general parent well-being; parent empowerment; the child-parent relationship; sustainability of family routines; child immunization; child nutrition or breastfeeding; number of accidental injury reports; and volunteer health, well-being, and community connectedness. Results: This effectiveness trial was funded in 2016, and we aim to complete data collection by the end of 2018. The first results are expected to be submitted early in 2019. Conclusions: There is a need to rigorously assess volunteer home visiting and whether it has a unique and important role on the service landscape, complementary to professional services. This research is the first trial of a volunteer home visiting program to be conducted in Australia and one of the largest of its kind worldwide

Capturing Debriefing and Enhancing Reflection within Simulated Clinical Learning Environments

This article presents findings from an evaluation of a new A3-size learner notes sheet designed for use by healthcare students engaging in clinical simulation and clinical skills sessions. The notes sheet consists of an adapted form of the SBAR (situation, background, assessment, response) tool, whilst capturing post-simulation oral debriefing provided by a facilitator. Additionally, the Driscoll (2007)model is used to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their engagement in clinical simulation. Two cohorts of students, who engaged in separate simulation sessions, completed the A3 sheet. The study featured 33 midwifery and 21 operating department practitioner (ODP) students undertaking a simulation. Documentary analysis was undertaken to identify the depth of reflective writing of both groups of students. Midwifery student participants reflected on their experiences of simulation at a slightly deeper level than their ODP counterparts. All students adhered to the structure of the notes sheet when receiving their briefing from the facilitator and when asked to write their reflective accounts. This study has sought to explore an under-researched area of clinical simulation: the extent to which healthcare students can utilise reflection when engaging with a clinical scenario within a simulated learning environment

Working with UK farmers to investigate anecic earthworm middens and soil biophysical properties

The conversion from conventional tillage to no-tillage soil management practices is generally associated with an improvement in aggregate stability and anecic earthworm populations. We worked with UK farmers who measured Lumbricus terrestris midden area (%) and earthworm numbers associated with middens compared to the general soil. They found that middens covered up to 42% of the soil surface. Middened soil (i.e., soil underlying the middens) was associated with significantly more earthworms than the general soil (i.e., non-middened soil) in agreement with research from scientific field trials. We compared the biophysical properties of middened soil to general soil across an experimental field trial recently converted to no-tillage soil management practices. We measured water-stable aggregation, soil porosity at scales relevant to water storage and gas diffusion and invertebrate feeding activity. Middened areas covered up to 13% of the field trial and were associated with significantly improved aggregate stability and porosity compared to the general soil. Our findings highlight the importance of considering middens when surveying soil quality and health in arable systems