UniSA Open Journal System (Univ. of South Australia)
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The role of participatory action research in leading the development of engaging assessment
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Assessing student understanding in the molecular life sciences using a concept inventory
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Proliferating illiteracy in the universities: A Nigerian perspective
No full textThe Nigerian educational system is in crisis. This paper aims to describe that crisis and demonstrate how this situation is contributing to a downward spiral in academic standards, and in particular its effect on decreasing literacy among Nigerian students. While recognising that the educational system is part of a much broader societal predicament, this paper nevertheless makes a number of recommendations for improvements to the Nigerian educational system, including a call for increased government funding of the education system, the need for constructive solutions to end cultism, and a multifaceted approach to entrenched social problems
“Roots of Empathyâ€: A research study on its impact on teachers in Western Australia.
No full textIf the current view of literature is that social emotional competence is essential for academic learning and achievement, what does this mean for the classroom teacher? (McCombs 2004). What is emotional literacy? How can emotional competency be developed? The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact that training in social emotional learning has on the pedagogy and practice of classroom teachers. It examined the effect of the Canadian developed social-emotional learning program Roots of Empathy (ROE) on teachers, children, the classroom environment and its subsequent impact on the broader community. This research study documented the changes that occurred for teachers and children who participated in the social emotional learning program. It seeks to understand how both the instructor training and program implementation has impacted on the participants, what this has meant for their understanding of social emotional learning (SEL), how the children have responded to the program and what subsequent changes have occurred in their behaviours and learning. It investigated the perceptions of the participants to the effectiveness of ROE as an SEL learning program, its benefits and limitations. From collective data and current literature on SEL, conclusions and recommendations are made. ROE is currently operating in over 1100 classrooms in Canada, with a pilot program being implemented in Australia and New Zealand.
The findings of this phenomenology are significant in providing evidence-based research to inform the ongoing implementation of ROE in Australia and specifically Western Australia. For developing emotional literacy, the Roots of Empathy program was highly effective. It contributed positively to the professional learning of the teachers and increased their awareness of the emotional competencies of their children. It was also evident that pro-social behaviour of the children in the Roots of Empathy classes increased while bullying and aggression decreased. It was also noted that a whole school approach is essential for effective long term implementation of a chosen social emotional learning program and that administration support was a key factor to successful learning outcomes for all participants. Ongoing longitudinal evaluation of a social emotional learning program implementation is recommended to accurately evaluate the long term impact of these programs on the learning outcomes for students. Roots of Empathy is unique, even being described as "revolutionary in its potential to change the way young people see themselves and their world" (Gordon 2005, p.26), as it gives children direct experiential learning of emotional literacy through their interaction with a real baby.
This study emphasises the need for all teachers, and pre-service teachers, to be trained in programs that specifically address social-emotional competencies. It supports the need for all schools to be resourced to implement programs that explicitly teach social emotional learning, essential for students’ cognitive and academic skills’ development. What policymakers and educators must now address is the question, “Can we afford not to support this program?
Improvements in the self and peer assessment tool SPARK: Do they improve learning outcomes?
No full textStudent engagement through assessment in Applied Finance: evaluation of changes at UniSA
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Causal chain effects and turning points in young people’s lives: a resilience perspective
No full textIn 1997, we began a research project that tracked a cohort of approximately 55 students aged between 9 and 12 years over a period of 5 years. The students lived in highly disadvantaged areas in Adelaide. Our aim was to identify the individual, social and environmental factors that contributed to each student’s risk status and resilience and to track how this changed over time. By the end of the project the participants were aged from 13–16 years so we had been able to follow most of them through early adolescence and the often difficult transition from primary to high school. Our insights from the huge body of data thus gathered have been reported at Australian Association for Research in Education conferences from 1997 onwards, and in Australian and international refereed journals.
Many longitudinal studies, particularly in the areas of physical health and social adjustment (e.g., the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development study), have shown the benefits of tracking research participants beyond adolescence. Accordingly, we set about finding some of our former participants (aged now between 17 and 21) to ascertain their present risk and resilience status. In this paper, we draw on the work of Rutter (1999) to show, in two case studies, how negative and positive chain reactions influence people’s lives and how key events, turning points or critical life choices disrupt these chain effects