A community of teachers: Using Activity Theory to investigate the implementation of ICTE in a remote Indigenous school

In 2001-2002, an innovative project entitled Reach In-Reach Out has been conducted in Far North Queensland. Its aim was to use telecommunications and Internet tools to facilitate communication between the children of Lockhart River who attend secondary school in such centres as Cairns, Townsville and Herberton and their families. This study was the first (of three) to investigate the impact of this project. Its focus is on the teachers of Lockart River State School and the changes made to their practice by the implementation of the project. The study described in this paper was conducted in Lockhart River which is situated on Kanthanumpu (Southern Kuuku Ya'u) land in Far North Queensland. The current population is estimated between 650 (Education Queensland, 2001a) and 800 (Lockhart River Land and Sea Management Agency, 2001) residents. The student population of Lockhart River State School in 2001was 26 (Kindy), 105 (Primary) and 30 (Alternate secondary/VET) programs) (Education Queensland, 2001a). At the end of 1999, the secondary school of Lockhart River was closed following a community decision to do so. This necessitated the majority of post-primary students having to leave Lockhart River to continue their education at boarding school. At the beginning of 2002, 38 students left the Lockhart River Community to attend boarding schools (and 8 remained to take part in the Alternate Secondary/VET program offered at the school). Table 1 details the secondary enrolments of Lockhart River students from 1998 to 2001, including the period covered by this study (2001)

Bach: Luther's Musical Prophet?

It is impossible to read much theological analysis of Bach without encountering Martin Luther. The reformer's name is ubiquitous: he is given both as source and as ultimate authority for the theological ideas supposedly expressed in Bach's music. Most would agree that Luther provides a vital context for interpreting Bach's sacred music.Perhaps it is unsurprising that musicologists have turned to Luther when interpreting Bach. Despite many critiques of the hermeneutic method-such as that of Carolyn Abbate (2004)-musicologists still search out meaning in music by investigating a suitable "horizon of expectations" within which to situate music's meaning and affect historically. My own view is that hermeneutics is inescapable to most of us brought up within the musicological tradition; I tend to agree with Karol Berger's assertion, contra Abbate, that "we cannot help it: we are hermeneutic creatures through and through". Abbate argues for the privileging of the experience of performed music over its hermeneutic interpretation; Berger counters that, while aesthetic experience is indeed an important and under-appreciated part of academic study, the hermeneutic and the experiential cannot be so neatly separated. I side with Berger on this point: whether because of training, conditioning, or instinctive response, many-perhaps most-listeners to Bach's music seem to want to contextualize and understand theirresponses by studying what Bach himself might have thought about his music's purpose and origin

Hooping through Interdisciplinary Intertwinings: Curriculum, Kin/aesthetic Ethics, and Energetic Vulnerabilities

Learning to become a teacher is inherently stressful. Daunting deadlines of final assignments become the curricular hoops students jump through, conceptualized as gateways to experiencing something meaningful on the ‘other’ side, beyond the circumscribed constraints of a university campus. In an ethic, kinaesthetic, and energetic pedagogical response, teacher candidates were invited to spend time with and physically explore the very object they associate with their exasperations: the hoop. This inquiry thus aimed to explore emergent interdisciplinary understandings between the practice of ‘learning to teach’ and ‘learning to hoop’ on campus and with children in local schools and a First Nations community. Student interviews revealed that the practice of hooping not only released stress, it afforded an opportunity to loosen rigid notions of curriculum and pedagogy, specifically that learning is more than a linear journey of jumping through a prescribed set of hoops and that teaching is more than a process of transmitting information. A bodily pedagogical practice of vulnerability, fluidity and interactivity thus emerged as teacher candidates became receptive to step into and be transformed by the hoop.

Engaging Students in Social Emotional Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lived Experience of Three High School Teachers in the United States

Although Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is recommended for grades K-12, research suggests that what is effective in elementary and middle schools—having a separate SEL curriculum—is less effective in high schools (Yeager, 2017). Instead, engaging high school students in SEL through pedagogic practice and the subject area curriculum is encouraged. To do this, high school teachers need SEL instruction and supports, but report few available opportunities (Hamilton et al., 2019). Additionally, few SEL studies exist in the secondary context to help guide high school teachers, and the COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized the need for SEL. To begin to address this gap in SEL research, a series of classroom observations and interviews were conducted to better understand three high school teachers’ lived experiences of SEL. Using an approach inspired by Max van Manen’s (2016) hermeneutic phenomenology, a common theme emerged. The teachers all identified adapting the pace of curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic as a phenomenon that inherently engaged students in SEL. The implications of this finding for teacher education and professional learning are considered

Giving and Taking Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Secondary Teachers’ Experiences of Social Emotional Learning

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has been primarily researched in elementary schools, and within this context, SEL curriculum is often presented as an isolated, preplanned curriculum, with a list of curricular objectives to be delivered. A phenomenological inquiry was conducted to better understand the ways in which SEL and SEL curriculum are understood and experienced in a high school context. Data gathered from close phenomenological observations and interviews with three high school teachers in mathematics and physical education afforded the opportunity to orient, interpret, and describe the phenomenon of SEL-in-action. Rich descriptions of SEL as it is lived were generated and analyzed in relation to van Manen’s reflections on pedagogy and curriculum. Findings reveal that SEL manifests in the pedagogical actions of teachers caring for students regardless of what subject is being taught, and often in moments where the curriculum-as-plan is disrupted. Experiential opportunities to understand SEL within the context of secondary teacher education are recommended for teacher education and ongoing professional development

Balancing the COVID-19 disruption to undergraduate learning and assessment with an academic student support package: implications for student achievement and engagement

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced emergency pivot to online teaching and assessment, an Academic Safety Net was implemented at a regional Australian university to provide academic student support. Bayesian hierarchical models were used to compare student performance between 2019 and 2020. More students withdrew from subjects in 2020, while fewer students remained enrolled but failed. While there was no overall year effect for overall student achievement, exam achievement increased and on-course assessment achievement decreased in 2020. When achievement was analysed according to an assessment task change, a year effect emerged, with the magnitude and direction of the effect dependent on the task changes. The results indicate that the enrolment component of the Academic Safety Net was an effective equity measure that enabled students an extended opportunity to self-withdraw in response to general impacts of the pandemic; while the results component protected the integrity of results awarded during the emergency pivot

Craig Hamilton and Rebecca Moore in a Faculty Recital

This is the program for the faculty recital featuring trumpet player Craig V. Hamilton and pianist Rebecca Moore. Trumpet player Jim Lloyd assisted the performance. This recital took place on September 29, 2003, in the McBeth Recital Hall

Multiyear trend in reproduction underpins interannual variation in gametogenic development of an Antarctic urchin.

Ecosystems and their biota operate on cyclic rhythms, often entrained by predictable, small-scale changes in their natural environment. Recording and understanding these rhythms can detangle the effect of human induced shifts in the climate state from natural fluctuations. In this study, we assess long-term patterns of reproductive investment in the Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri, in relation to changes in the environment to identify drivers of reproductive processes. Polar marine biota are sensitive to small changes in their environment and so serve as a barometer whose responses likely mirror effects that will be seen on a wider global scale in future climate change scenarios. Our results indicate that seasonal reproductive periodicity in the urchin is underpinned by a multiyear trend in reproductive investment beyond and in addition to, the previously reported 18–24 month gametogenic cycle. Our model provides evidence that annual reproductive investment could be regulated by an endogenous rhythm since environmental factors only accounted for a small proportion of the residual variation in gonad index. This research highlights a need for multiyear datasets and the combination of biological time series data with large-scale climate metrics that encapsulate multi-factorial climate state shifts, rather than using single explanatory variables to inform changes in biological processes

Squirrels on Longwood\u27s Campus

In this project, we aim to analyze the distribution, behavior, and abundance of squirrels on Longwood\u27s campus. We hypothesize that squirrels will be most abundant where canopy cover is high, and that these campus squirrels are generally unaffected by surrounding human activity. Multiple sites on campus were observed, and a survey was used to gather data about squirrel activity and sightings from Longwood students. The results indicate that Cox, Wheeler and Stubbs have the highest frequency of squirrels, and that squirrels are most commonly observed being active. Canopy cover was found to have no correlation with abundance of squirrels. Squirrels are highly active and adaptable to various locations on Longwood\u27s campus

The Utility of Home-Practice in Mindfulness-Based Group Interventions: A Systematic Review

A growing body of research supports the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). MBIs consider home-practice as essential to increasing the therapeutic effects of the treatment. To date however, the synthesis of the research conducted on the role of home-practice in controlled MBI studies has been a neglected area. This review aimed to conduct a narrative synthesis of published controlled studies, evaluating mindfulness-based group interventions, which have specifically measured home-practice. Empirical research literature published until June 2016 was searched using five databases. The search strategy focused on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and home-practice. Included studies met the following criteria: controlled trials, participants 18 years and above, evaluations of MBSR or MBCT, utilised standardised quantitative outcome measures and monitored home-practice using a self-reported measure. Fourteen studies met the criteria and were included in the review. Across all studies, there was heterogeneity in the guidance and resources provided to participants and the approaches used for monitoring home-practice. In addition, the guidance on the length of home-practice was variable across studies, which indicates that research studies and teachers are not adhering to the published protocols. Finally, only seven studies examined the relationship between home-practice and clinical outcomes, of which four found that home-practice predicted improvements on clinical outcome measures. Future research should adopt a standardised approach for monitoring home-practice across MBIs. Additionally, studies should assess whether the amount of home-practice recommended to participants is in line with MBSR/MBCT manualised protocols. Finally, research should utilise experimental methodologies to explicitly explore the relationship between home-practice and clinical outcomes