An ABC of drumming: children's narratives about beat, rhythm and groove in a primary classroom

In this paper, I use a bricolage of arts-based research and writing practices to explore narratives by Grade 4 children about their experiences in a drumming circle called 'Bam Bam' as represented in a text they created with me called An ABC of drumming. The term 'narrative' is used here in a contemporary sense to simultaneously invoke a socially and musically situated and constructed story (Chase, 2005 p. 657); as an 'account to self and others' (Barrett & Stauffer, 2009, p. 7) about drumming in a particular place, with a particular group of children during a particular set of events; and, to explore narratives of drumming as the 'shared relational work' of myself as a drummer, teacher, researcher and 'story-teller/story-liver' (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, p. 12) alongside the children. In synchronicity with the ABC of drumming produced by the children, the paper itself is framed and written creatively around letters of the alphabet and variously includes poetry and data or research poetry; ethnographic 'thick descriptions' (Geertz, 1973) of our drumming circle; and, visual and textual expressions by the children. By doing so, my aim is to move collectively from 'narrative as a story-presented to narrative as a form of meaning-making, indeed, a form of mind-making' (Barrett & Stauffer, 2009, p. 10) about the children's experience of drumming and the drumming circle itself. The central question underpinning this paper then is, what makes children's experience in a drumming circle meaningful, and how do they make sense of such meaning

PEARL: a reflective story about decolonising pedagogy in Indigenous Australian studies

In this article, I take a creative and autoethnographic approach to reflect upon processes of decolonisation in Indigenous Australian studies classrooms. Positioning myself as a non-Indigenous educator, I take the reader on a journey through my search for pedagogy which makes space for the colonial, difficult and messy politics of race, whiteness and knowledge to be actively challenged, deconstructed and reimagined in this context as PEARL

Transformative learning in first year Indigenous Australian Studies: Posing problems, asking questions and achieving change. A practice report

Indigenous Australian studies necessarily addresses emotionally-difficult topics related to race, history, colonialism and our identities as Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. As educators in this discipline, it is important for us to find teaching and learning approaches which make space for these topics to be accessed, understood, discussed and engaged with in meaningful ways. Problem-Based Learning (PBL), because of its emphasis on dialogic learning, is a pedagogical tool used in many Indigenous Australian studies classrooms in preference to other methods. In this presentation we want to explore the potential of PBL to allow personal and emotional responses to become accessible, dialogic and discursive, so that the resulting new awareness translates into practical action and change. We will focus on a practice-based initiative which involves the implementation of PBL in a first year introductory course at The University of Queensland and provide practical guidance on the incorporation of PBL in curriculum development

Unknown and unknowing possiblities: transformative learning, social justice and decolonising pedagogy in Indigenous Australian Studies

For tertiary educators in Indigenous Australian Studies, decolonising discourse in education has held much promise to make space for the diversity of Indigenous Australian peoples to be included, accessed, understood, discussed, and engaged with in meaningful ways. However, Tuck and Yang provide us with the stark reminder that decolonisation requires the return of Indigenous lands and does not equate to social justice. In this article, we take up Tuck and Yang’s concerns about decolonisation discourse into the terrain of transformative learning and pedagogical practice in Indigenous Australian Studies. We first position ourselves personally, professionally, and politically as non-Indigenous educators in the context of Indigenous Australian Studies in higher education and introduce the transformative learning environment of Political, Embodied, Active, and Reflective Learning (PEARL) in which we are currently involved. We then explore in more detail PEARL’s relationship to critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and decolonisation as praxis in the context of Indigenous Australian Studies. Ultimately, we enter into this discussion in a spirit of “unknowing” to question previously held assumptions about the transformative, socially just, and decolonizing potential of our educational praxis in Indigenous Australian Studies while at the same time exploring the possibilities, as Maxine Greene encourages, of decolonised vistas in this field as yet “unknown.

On the Mesospheric Removal of Very Long-lived Greenhouse Gases

The fluorinated gases SF6, NF3 and CFC-115 are chemically inert with atmospheric lifetimes of many centuries which, combined with their strong absorption of infrared radiation, results in unusually high global warming potentials. Very long lifetimes imply that potential mesospheric sinks could make important contributions to their atmospheric removal. In order to investigate this, the reactions of each species with the neutral metal atoms Na, K, Mg and Fe, which are produced by meteoric ablation in the upper mesosphere, were therefore studied. The observed non-Arrhenius temperature dependences of the reactions are interpreted using quantum chemistry calculations of the relevant potential energy surfaces. The absorption cross-section at the prominent solar Lyman-α solar emission line (121.6 nm) was also determined. In the second part of this study updated values for the infrared absorption cross sections of SF6, NF3 and CFC-115 were experimentally determined and used in two radiative transfer models in order to determine radiative forcing and efficiency values. These were carried out with thorough sensitivity analysis and included the effect of clouds and stratospheric adjustment. A three-dimensional chemistry climate model was used separately to determine updated atmospheric lifetimes of each species. Finally, we combined our results to determine updated global warming potentials over a 20, 100 and 500 year time period

Using a fingertip whole blood sample for rapid fatty acid measurement: Method validation and correlation with erythrocyte polar lipid compositions in UK subjects

It is well accepted that n-3 long-chain PUFA intake is positively associated with a range of health benefits. However, while benefits have been clearly shown, especially for CVD, the mechanisms for prevention/benefit are less understood. Analysis of plasma and erythrocyte phospholipids (PL) have been used to measure the status of the highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA), especially EPA (20 : 5n-3) and DHA (22 : 6n-3), although the time and complexity of the process places limitations on the sample numbers analysed. An assay has been developed using whole blood, collected by finger prick, and stored on absorbant paper, subjected to direct methylation and fatty acids quantified by automated GC. Tests on fatty acid stability show that blood samples are stable when stored at - 20°C for 1 month although some loss of HUFA was seen at 4°C. A total of fifty-one patients, including twenty-seven who consumed no fatty acid supplements, provided a blood sample for analysis. Concentrations of all major fatty acids were measured in erythrocyte PL and whole blood. The major HUFA, including EPA, DHA and arachidonic acid (ARA; 20 : 4n-6), as well as the ARA:EPA ratio and the percentage n-3 HUFA/total HUFA all showed good correlations, between erythrocyte PL and whole blood. Values of r2 ranged from 0·48 for ARA to 0·95 for the percentage of n-3 HUFA/total HUFA. This assay provides a non-invasive, rapid and reliable method of HUFA quantification with the percentage of n-3 HUFA value providing a potential blood biomarker for large-scale nutritional trials