Omani senior secondary school students' knowledge of and attitudes to antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem that is increasing largely due to the misuse of antibiotics in human health and agriculture. This situation is further exacerbated by a dearth of new antibiotic development, the focus of pharmaceutical companies having shifted to more lucrative treatments for chronic conditions such as elevated blood pressure. To conserve the efficacy of the current crop of antibiotics, it is vital that they are used appropriately by individuals. Effective education may be a means to achieve such appropriate use. This paper reports on a large-scale, mixed methods study, which employed a survey and oral questionnaires, undertaken with senior secondary Omani students. The study explored students' understanding of antibiotic resistance as well as their attitudes to the issue of antibiotic resistance. The study findings indicated that, although some students had a reasonably clear understanding of antibiotic resistance, many had serious misconceptions that could result in misuse of antibiotics. The article concludes with suggestions for amending secondary school pedagogy in Oman to address the misconceptions

Assessing Educating for Gross National Happiness: Applying the Theory of Practice Architectures

Gross National Happiness (GNH) is a central policy, symbolic of Bhutan, which gave rise to Educating for GNH (EGNH). In Bhutan, the school Performance Management System is the sole instrument used by the Ministry of Education to evaluate the performance of schools. To test the utility of the Performance Management System in fulfilling the intended goals of EGNH, two of its key subcomponents—the School Self-Assessment and School Performance Scorecards—were assessed through the lens of the theory of practice architectures. The theory describes what comprises social practices and how they are shaped by the social, cultural and political contexts in which they occur. Content analysis was carried out using Leximancer text-mining software. The findings showed that the sayings and relatings and their corresponding cultural-discursive and social-political arrangements were not as evident in the School Self-Assessment indicators as the doings and material-economic arrangements. The findings also indicated that both the School Self-Assessment's and the School Performance Scorecards' indicators focus more on assessing leadership than teaching. The authors present several suggestions to ensure a closer alignment with the goals of EGNH, to demonstrate a balanced focus on assessing teaching and leadership, and to represent all practice architectures proportionately. Implications of this study should inform the policy and practices of Educating for GNH values in Bhutanese schools. The methods of the study could be adapted to examine educational practices beyond those of Bhutan

Physical separation techniques in water purification: an inquiry-based laboratory learning experience

This article outlines a structured investigative activity for students in lower secondary school. It was developed for the Australian Mathematics and Science Partnership Programme, a government initiative intended to promote the employment of more hands-on investigations in secondary science within Australian schools. The investigation focuses on water purification and is intended to develop conceptual knowledge of this topic and also high-level skills such as experimental design, particularly in relation to identifying and controlling variables. The investigation is outlined in detail and was trialed with practicing science teachers, school students and preservice secondary teachers. All of these groups provided feedback in various forms that indicated the investigation was valuable, relevant, interesting and allowed students to take some responsibility for their own inquiry learning

Starting out in STEM : a study of young men and women in first year science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses

In late 2011, first year university students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses across Australia were invited to participate in the international Interests and Recruitment in Science (IRIS) study. IRIS investigates the influences on young people\u27s decisions to choose university STEM courses and their subsequent experiences of these courses. The study also has a particular focus on the motivations and experiences of young women in courses such as physics, IT and engineering given the low rates of female participation in these fields. Around 3500 students from 30 Australian universities contributed their views on the relative importance of various school and non-school influences on their decisions, as well as insights into their experiences of university STEM courses so far. It is hoped that their contributions will help improve recruitment, retention and gender equity in STEM higher education and careers

An exploratory analysis of TPACK perceptions of pre-service science teachers: a regional Australian perspective

Four distinct constructs were identified from a survey of a sample of pre-service science teachers at a regional Australian University. The constructs emerged after employing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on respondents' perceptions of pedagogical practices incorporating the use of Information Communication and Technology (ICT). The key components of the survey were derived from a Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) survey developed for a national project. For future investigations of TPACK application in university contexts, a four-construct configuration of pre-service teacher TPACK perceptions is proposed requiring empirical confirmation. This inquiry depicts a portrait of emerging domains of TPACK. The relevance of the findings and their implications for universities that rely heavily on ICT in the delivery of are discussed, especially in relation to improving teaching practices

Subjective Decision-Making in Healthcare: The Case of Vaccinations

Although an understanding of socio-scientific issues is purported to influence and inform individuals’ behavior and decision-making, this may ultimately depend on the level of control any person feels they have to enact change. Current major issues such as global warming and consequent climate change or the production of genetically modified foods, may well appear to be out of the control of individuals. Consequently, people may look to the government to enact legislation to deal with these. However, one area where individuals have almost total control, in most western societies at least, is that of vaccination. In this study, 33 university graduates (largely university lecturers) from science and non-science backgrounds were interviewed in an attempt to ascertain their attitudes to vaccination programs and to determine where they obtained their own information from in relation to vaccinations. The small sample of this inquiry precludes generalisation. However, the preliminary findings indicated that in general, background (science or non-science) did not appear to be a determinant of support for vaccination programs, and although both groups drew on a wide range of information sources about vaccination, the most common sources of information cited by the participants included general practitioners or health care workers. Furthermore, despite being aware of some side effects, they generally had high confidence in vaccine safety

SMARTFARM learning hub: Next generation precision agriculture technologies for agricultural education

Background The industry demands on higher education of agricultural students are rapidly changing. New precision agriculture technologies are revolutionizing the farming industry but the education sector is failing to keep pace. We report on the development of the SMARTfarm Learning Hub that will increase the skill base of students using a range of new agricultural technologies and innovations. The Hub is a world first; it links real industry technologies with educator resources and student learning packages. This gives higher education providers and their student’s online access to data and systems from commercial scale smart-farms across Australia and the world. Aims The SMARTfarm Learning Hub project will integrate infrastructure (web site and industry tools) with the development of case study learning modules, methodologies and templates to enable project communication. This will be undertaken in an action research context providing both research outcomes and critical feedback to improve the learning modules, educator and student experience. Description of intervention The SMARTfarm Learning Hub is based around a central landing page that provides links to cloud based technologies across Australia and the globe. Participating universities have farms with a diverse range of enterprises and environmental conditions from highly productive dairy systems in Tasmania to tropical beef production in North Queensland and the arid rangelands of New Mexico. This is real data from real agricultural landscapes, and is matched with learning materials developed to challenge student’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. Design and methods Selected learning modules will be evaluated under an action research methodology. Student engagement and attitudes will be assessed during delivery of learning modules in real classroom situations as they are integrated into teaching units through pre and post surveys and semi-structured interviews. A further study will be undertaken which determines employer perceptions of the value of certain skills gained by students through participation in SMARTfarm Learning Hub modules. This will involve quantitative assessment of employers’ perceptions through ranking of student CV’s (with and without various skills gained from the Hub) as well as qualitative assessment of the perceived value of these skills. Results Utilization of the SMARTfarm Learning Hub is tracked using the Square Space metrics tools. SMARTfarm Learning Hub web site was launched in mid-December 2015 and since this time has reached 890 unique visitors an average of 127 per month. Conclusions When fully developed, we expect the SMARTfarm Learning Hub will maximize transitions from secondary to tertiary study as it will become a point of commonality between different AQF levels with student familiarity providing confidence to move to the next level. In time, it is planned that specific learning packages will engage high school agriculture teachers in the development of their own landscape resources. Packages will be tailored so that schools are able to deploy some of the sensor platforms and technologies on their own school farms or on a local property to which they have ready access for field evaluation. There will be a strong focus on providing information regarding potential progression of study within the teaching materials developed

Examining Pre-Service Non-Experienced Secondary Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This study examined the PCK of four pre-service non-experienced secondary science teachers who were finishing their preparation program. A qualitative approach was used that generated rich descriptions of teachers' PCK. Three instruments were used for data collection: (1) unit plan followed by a semi-structured interview, (2) peer teaching lesson followed by a guided case analysis, and (3) a CoRe matrix followed by a semi-structured interview. an analysis framework for defining PCK consisting of six dimensions was utilized to derive a coding scheme that contained descriptors for each dimension. Data were coded and profiles containing descriptors of teachers' PCK in planning, action and reflection were generated. Then, data bits, each consisting of three parts - main idea, how it was applied and how it was reflected upon- were used to generate teachers' profiles. Findings revealed that teachers' PCK profiles ranged from poor to proficient. Also, teachers had moderate knowledge of students and demonstrated consistently the same level of proficiency across the dimensions 'knowledge of instructional strategies', 'orientations to teach science' and 'knowledge of assessment'. Findings were interpreted by appealing to theories of learning and transfer. Implications for research, teachers education programs and teacher educators were discussed

The TAMAM Project: Shifting the Paradigm of Educational Reform in the Arab World

This paper presents a descriptive case study of the TAMAM project as a new school reform initiative in the Arab world. The case addresses goals, strategies and assumptions of the project, its distinctive and promising design features, and the cultural and contextual factors critical to its successful implementation. The work adopted grounded theory procedures for collecting and analyzing data. The study provides researchers interested in cross cultural transfer of conceptual knowledge insights into the aspects of widely accepted reform models that need to be emphasized if those western models are to be successfully adapted to the Arab Schools cultural context

Remote classroom modelling: a professional development model for in‑service generalist primary teachers of science

We present a model for Professional Development (PD) for in-service generalist primary teachers of science. The Remote Classroom Modelling (RCM) model is specifically designed to address salient challenges in the context of professional isolation. We share the principles that supported the design of this PD prototype, and the insights and lessons learned from a pilot of the model. We employed open-ended questionnaires, individual interviews and focus group interviews using a qualitative exploratory study to capture the experiences of teachers and students involved in this trial. Our findings suggest that the model supports primary teachers in developing: (1) their technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge, (2) their leadership, and (3) their resourcefulness in science. Our analysis reveals two important factors underpinning the successful implementation of this model: participant engagement and expert support. We discuss the applicability of this model in different settings and propose an agenda to progress the development of the RCM