Non‐hierarchical learning: sharing knowledge, power and outcomes

Arguing that every student has the capacity to succeed and that every student must be provided with the opportunity to reach their full potential, this article introduces a new pedagogic approach that draws on a wide range of influences. Linking theoretical practices from sociology, pedagogy, social and educational psychology, and cultural studies, the approach posits that teaching and learning should be conducted in non‐hierarchical classrooms where all members are equal and working towards shared objectives. A theoretical frame is outlined and the factors that helped shape it are reflected on. A conceptual framework which covers the goals of instruction, instructional materials, classroom management, instructional methods, and assessment is also presented. It is hoped that educators will consider the concepts included in this article and, if possible, incorporate them into their teaching practices

The folly of fancy fonts

Research has indicated that the font information is presented in can be used by readers as a visual guide to the potential difficulty of the content; specifically that disfluent fonts are perceived as indicating greater task difficulty. A series of preliminary experiments was conducted in a Japanese high school in order to determine if such effects can be found in second language learners. It was found that students do indeed use the font lesson materials are presented in as a guide to the perceived difficulty or enjoyability of a task. Furthermore, these decisions are made within seconds of first seeing the material. The potential effects of disfluent fonts in boosting vocabulary retention were also investigated. However, while the results were inconclusive, it was determined that the students believed that such an effect existed. While further research is needed, these results indicate that teachers can potentially engineer small increases (or decreases) in student motivation via the font they choose when preparing lesson materials

ENCOURAGING MORE STUDENT OUTPUT: ALTERNATIVES TO QUESTIONS

Classroom interaction has traditionally been shaped by questions and students can become accustomed to little reflection being given before the next question is posed, hindering discussion and discouraging students from producing more language. Addressing this issue to the Japanese context, in order to avoid reinforcing the student’s role as passive, teachers need to encourage effective communication and it has been claimed that using alternatives to questions promotes more student output (Edwards & Westgate, 1994; Wells, 1999; Dashwood, 2005). This article investigates the effect alternatives to questions had on the amount of student output in English oral communication classes in a Japanese high school. The results suggest that alternatives to questions should be employed more, in conjunction with more common questions, and regularly incorporated into classroom interaction to provide students the opportunity to produce more

Developing and enhancing communicative competence among foreign language learners in Japan

This thesis presents and discusses ten peer-reviewed publications that focus on enhancing the development of communicative competence among foreign language learners in Japan. This is an important area of research as, despite emphasis being placed on effective communication by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in policy and educational guidelines, many students are not deemed to have reached satisfactory levels of communicative competence when they graduate (MEXT, 2011). In view of this, this PhD by Published Works investigates the impact that different teaching approaches and interventions had on three main themes connected to the development of communicative competence: students’ productive output and lexical retrieval, students’ self-perceptions of ability and levels of confidence, and students’ and teachers’ perceptions of, and reactions to, the interventions. The research was conducted in a range of secondary and tertiary educational contexts, and employed quantitative and qualitative methods in a complementary manner. This enabled different research paradigms to be bridged and a wider range of data to be collected. This body of work contributes to theory by extending a range of concepts, theories, and approaches, including the Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985, 1995), Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1981, 1983, 1996), information-processing theory, study-phase retrieval, and the spacing effect, by adding empirical evidence from different teaching contexts. It also has major implications in terms of practical application, providing access to research on alternative teaching practices and introducing a variety of activities, courses, and materials, that can be employed by educators both in Japan and internationally. Furthermore, the thesis make a methodological contribution by introducing of the Cycle of practitioner-research, which has the potential to motivate other educators to embark on a similar journey to my own and experience the many benefits that it has brought. Overall, the research presented in this thesis has contributed to enhanced recognition of the value of core principles, namely maximizing productive output, developing lexical retrieval, and enhancing students’ self-perceptions of ability and levels of confidence

Systematic prey preference by introduced mice exhausts the ecosystem on Antipodes Island

For assistance collecting samples in the field the authors thank David Thompson, Erica Sommer, David Boyle and Mark Fraser in summer 2011, Helen Nathan, Terry Greene and Graeme Elliott in winter 2013, Fin Cox in autumn 2016 and Jose Luis Herrera in winter 2016. Thanks to the Department of Conservation, Murihiku, for logistical support, and Hank Haazen and crew of the Tiama for transport. Funding was provided for the summer 2011 expedition by NIWA and winter 2013 expedition by the National Geographic Society (Grant No. 9322-13). Thanks to Stephen Thorpe, Robert Hoare, and John Marris for taxonomic identification of invertebrate samples. Thanks to Surrya Khanam for laboratory sorting, Julie Brown and Anna Kilimnik for stable isotope laboratory analyses and Wendy Nelson for macroalgae identification. JCR is currently funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (Grant No. RDF-UOA1404). TWB is currently funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (Grant No. 747120). Thanks to Katherine Russell and two anonymous reviewers for feedback on the manuscript. This research was conducted under DOC entry (SO-29716-LND 1011/35) and research (SO-29140-FAU 1011/20) permits, and University of Auckland Animal Ethics Committee approval (R845).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Short-chain fatty acid level and field cancerization show opposing associations with enteroendocrine cell number and neuropilin expression in patients with colorectal adenoma

BACKGROUND: Previous reports have suggested that the VEGF receptor neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) is expressed in a singly dispersed subpopulation of cells in the normal colonic epithelium, but that expression becomes dysregulated during colorectal carcinogenesis, with higher levels in tumour suggestive of a poor prognosis. We noted that the spatial distribution and morphology if NRP-1 expressing cells resembles that of enteroendocrine cells (EEC) which are altered in response to disease state including cancer and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We have shown that NRP-1 is down-regulated by butyrate in colon cancer cell lines in vitro and we hypothesized that butyrate produced in the lumen would have an analogous effect on the colon mucosa in vivo. Therefore we sought to investigate whether NRP-1 is expressed in EEC and how NRP-1 and EEC respond to butyrate and other short-chain fatty acids (SCFA - principally acetate and propionate). Additionally we sought to assess whether there is a field effect around adenomas. METHODOLOGY: Biopsies were collected at the mid-sigmoid, at the adenoma and at the contralateral wall (field) of 28 subjects during endoscopy. Samples were fixed for IHC and stained for either NRP-1 or for chromogranin A (CgA), a marker of EEC. Stool sampling was undertaken to assess individuals' butyrate, acetate and propionate levels. RESULT: NRP-1 expression was inversely related to SCFA concentration at the colon landmark (mid-sigmoid), but expression was lower and not related to SCFA concentration at the field. Likewise CgA+ cell number was also inversely related to SCFA at the landmark, but was lower and unresponsive at the field. Crypt cellularity was unaltered by field effect. A colocalisation analysis showed only a small subset of NRP-1 localised with CgA. Adenomas showed extensive, weaker staining for NRP-1 which contrastingly correlated positively with butyrate level. Field effects cause this relationship to be lost. Adenoma tissue shows dissociation of the co-regulation of NRP-1 and EEC. CONCLUSION: NRP-1 is inversely associated with levels of butyrate and other SCFA in vivo and is expressed in a subset of CgA expressing cells. EEC number is related to butyrate level in the same way

Facilitating children’s contributions in clinic? Findings from an in-depth qualitative study with children with type 1 diabetes

Aims: There is a policy drive for children to contribute more directly in clinic visits. However, this has yet to be routinely achieved in practice and relatively little is known to date about younger children’s views of their illness and care. This in-depth qualitative study set out to explore the experiences of children 10 years or younger living with Type 1 diabetes. Methods: The sample of 17 children was self-selecting from a population of 140 children under 11 years receiving treatment for Type 1 diabetes at two outpatient clinics in a large, multicultural city. Fieldwork comprised home visits, discussion groups and observation in outpatient clinics. Results: Children’s strong experiential understandings of their condition, the impact of their social position on experiences of care and their active role in maintenance of the regimen were at odds with how they were positioned, and how the disease was discussed, in clinic. Conclusion: Findings have implications for facilitating children’s contributions in clinic, understanding how ideas about children are reproduced in clinical settings and supporting clinicians to engage with the capacities and priorities of children living with long-term illness

Venus Landsailer Zephyr

Imagine sailing across the hot plains of Venus! A design for a craft to do just this was completed by the COncurrent Multidisciplinary Preliminary Assessment of Space Systems (COMPASS) Team for the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project. The robotic craft could explore over 30 kilometers of the surface of Venus, driven by the power of the wind. The Zephyr Venus Landsailer is a science mission concept for exploring the surface of Venus with a mobility and science capability roughly comparable to the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission, but using the winds of the thick atmosphere of Venus for propulsion. It would explore the plains of Venus in the year 2025, near the Venera 10 landing site, where wind velocities in the range of 80 to 120 centimeters per second (cm/s) were measured by earlier Soviet landing missions. These winds are harnessed by a large wing/sail which would also carry the solar cells to generate power. At around 250 kilograms (kg), Zephyr would carry an 8 meter tall airfoil sail (12 square meters area), 25 kg of science equipment (mineralogy, grinder, and weather instruments) and return 2 gigabytes of science over a 30 day mission. Due to the extreme temperatures (450 degrees Centigrade) and pressures (90 bar) on Venus, Zephyr would have only basic control systems (based on high temperature silicon carbide (SiC)electronics) and actuators. Control would come from an orbiter which is in turn controlled from Earth. Due to the time delay from the Earth a robust control system would need to exist on the orbiter to keep Zephyr on course. Data return and control would be made using a 250 megahertz link with the orbiter with a maximum data rate of 2 kilobits per second. At the minimal wind speed required for mobility of 35 cm/s, the vehicle move at a slow but steady 4 cm/s by positioning the airfoil and use of one wheel that is steered for pointing control. Navigation commands from the orbiter will be based upon navigation cameras, simple accelerometers and stability sensors; Zephyr's stability is robust, using a wide wheel base along with controls to "feather" or "luff" the airfoil and apply brakes to stop the vehicle in the case of unexpected conditions. This would be the science gathering configuration. The vehicle itself would need to be made from titanium (Ti) as the structural material, with a corrosion-barrier overcoating due to extreme temperatures on the surface