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Designing an environmental educational park to enhance environmental education for primary school students in New Zealand
No full textSeveral environmental problems often arise from a lack of understanding of the nature and the ecosystem processes, as well as inappropriate use of natural resources. As future generations, children need to be equipped with awareness that humans are part of the ecosystem and that understanding of ecosystems might help prevent some of environmental problems, such as erosion or extinction of certain species of plants. Going to an environmental educational park is part of environmental education conducted outdoor to make sure that the children have the hands-on experience of being in the environment. Therefore, this study aims to design an environmental educational park for primary school students in New Zealand. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied. Specifically, water and soil samples were collected and tested for contaminants and nutrient contents to ensure that the area is safe for children to play in. Educators and parents were interviewed to determine the criteria of a good environmental educational park for primary school students. Results from the interviews were then applied to the design of the park
Beyond the battlefield: Journey to a better place
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION:
How can architecture respond to the needs of veterans of the Republic of Fiji military forces to reintegrate them back into the society?
ABSTRACT:
Beyond the Battlefield” is a project intended to improve the lives of the veterans in Fiji. It is an exploration of the issues they face adjusting back to society. The transition from warzone to civilian life can be daunting, and the consequences are reflected later in their lifestyle.
This project emphasises combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder as an integral problem which requires immediate attention and provides a proposition of a non-institutionalised rehabilitation facility, which aims to help the veterans readjust into the civilian lifestyle.
The approach of this project begins with a directed study of the problem of combat-related PTSD, the causes and the treatments which are currently available. A series of relevant precedent studies have been explored and analysed to determine a functional design strategy. Pursuing this further, the traditional architecture of Fiji is used as a model; therefore the vernacular architecture, the historical canoes and traditional healing methods are investigated.
Analysis through drawings and diagrams as methods of testing the theoretical claims from the previous researches and precedents provides a starting point for the design suggestion. The architectural elements that show prospective design drivers have been extracted and integrated into the design of the rehabilitation facility. This project intends to articulate a design that complements the local architectural context of this project, creating the spirit of a nurturing environment for the occupants of the facility.
Site: Suva, Fij
A cancer centre cure : re-envisioning the healing environment
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION
How can healthcare environments provide a reassuring and comforting experience for cancer patients and their families?
ABSTRACT
Cancer is a disease that touches everyone; much of a cancer sufferer’s time is spent in hospitals and clinics, and for many, joined by family and caregivers. The role of architecture becomes increasingly important in the areas of health and medical care where the experience of the sick and the traumatised ultimately defines how a space may be perceived. Aotearoa’s healthcare architecture has for a long time been neglected; alienating those that use it. This alienation is a consequence of a lack of integration with its context and nature; its inhuman scale and difficulty of wayfinding, among other things.
Humans have a natural affiliation with nature built into them over thousands of years of evolution. Biophilic design has been shown to have scientific advantages in the healing process of patients in the integration of architecture with the natural environment. A Salutogenic approach provides a way in which human health can be explored through influences that have a positive impact on a person’s ability to cope with stress and the preservation and promotion of their physical and mental wellbeing. Decentralisation of urban planning has led to a disconnection between communities and has been shown to have a negative impact on society, physical and mental wellbeing. By providing a series of physical and visual clues, intuitive wayfinding has been shown to reduce stress and increase enjoyability for users on their journey.
This project addresses the need for a community based and scaled approach for healthcare facilities. It uses architecture to create an uplifting and healing environment for users by utilising the aesthetic beauty and healing qualities of Biophilia, Salutogenics and scale with a strong focus on the patient journey
The reimagining of the healthcare environment will manifest in the form of a Community Cancer Care Centre. With the objective of creating a healing environment for cancer patients and caregivers that alleviates unnecessary stress and anxiety through the use of nature and community scale
Toi Tū Te Whenua : a study of Māori visual arts as dialogue with Papatūānuku
No full textThis article expands on ideas developed in Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho Māori Visual Arts and Cultural Fusion. Studying Authentic Engagement (Wrightson & Heta-Lensen, 2013). In it we discussed the integrated nature of ngā toi ataata (visual arts) to Māori life and the connectedness to people, places, things and time. In this article we demonstrate how ngā toi ataata dialogues with histories, values and locations across time, place and space.
Authentic engagement in ngā toi ataata in the context of early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand is critiqued through a socio-cultural and socio-political lens. Through the examples that we present, stories emerge that demonstrate a growing relationship with Ranginui (Sky father) and Papatūānuku (Earth mother) which contribute to developing student teachers’ own working theories, stories, and understandings about the world and their place in it. Employing the visual arts in this way provides opportunities to deepen understandings of indigenous world views and develop a sense of connection to the natural world. It engages student teachers in understandings of artsbased teaching and learning practice from both an educational and a cultural perspective. It provides an opportunity to reflect on multiple perspectives held about the world and how different peoples express their relationship with it. The article also explores how the incorporation of Māori visual arts in an initial teacher education programme supports teachers to meet the requirements of the Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki. He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa. Early childhood curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2017)
Retention of Pasifika students in an institute of technology trades programme
No full text“We must behave like chiefs to lead our Pacific learners to success”
Introduction: My personal experience as a trades tutor
Aims of research
Issue highlighted in the literature review
Qualitative approach: Semi structured interviews: Talanoa focus group ; Sevusevu presentation
Perspective of Pasifika student:
Building the bridge
Findings
Supporting Pasifika students for sustainable success & retentio
The heart of a community: Belonging in architecture
No full textRESEARCH QUESTION:
How can architecture cultivate a sense of community through an integrated town centre typology?
ABSTRACT:
Architecture and the built environment provide a backdrop to our daily lives. If designed well, it can support health and wellbeing, thereby promoting human flourishing. Public dwelling is one of the different facets of a human settlement. Such buildings can host a variety of programmes and have the potential to enrich a sense of community. A sense of community promotes feelings of belonging. When done well, public architecture can be the heart of a community and assist with people’s feelings of belonging in architecture. This leads to the question: how can architecture cultivate a sense of community through an integrated town centre typology?
This project examines the phenomenological experience and how that relates to some fundamental architectural concepts. Ideas such as centrality and axis, form and space, and boundary all provide useful ways of considering the lived world and the experience of existential space. These ideas provide a useful way of considering architecture from an experiential standpoint.
The ideas of third places and third spaces are utilised as ways of architecturally considering community space. Leveraging these concepts, the broader concept of a community commons provides a useful typology for this architectural design project.
The Auckland suburb of Three Kings (Te Tātua-a-Riukiuta) has an interesting geographic history that leaves the area without two-thirds of the geographic landmark that once graced the site. In appreciating this history, the absence of two maunga is an inescapable reality that changes both the present and future of this area. Moreover, this location has significant changes in the future with residential development and the Auckland Council’s intension to improve the Three Kings town centre
Integrating community typologies, key architectural ideas, and contextual considerations leads to a serendipitous overlap of ideas that inform the design outcomes. This leads to an architectural form that incorporates a variety of discrete programmes in the unifying ideas of community commons
Understanding health workers’ views on addressing the unmet need for family planning in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
No full textRationale: This study supports access to family planning based on evidence that impacts of contraceptive use range from improved health to socioeconomic benefits and sustainable development. This study hears from health workers providing essential family planning care to women and their families in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. This region was chosen for this study as it has a subnational disparity of highest unmet need for family planning in the Solomon Islands. The aim was to understand health workers’ perspectives on barriers to contraception in this region, and to hear their proposed solutions.
Design: This study was based on an exploratory descriptive research approach using a survey method. In particular, the survey was designed to explore health workers’ perspectives on Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) in their communities. Fifty-six surveys comprised of 32 open-ended and closed-ended questions were completed and analysed.
Results: Health workers identified multiple structural, social, and service-driven barriers to meeting the contraceptive needs of women in their communities. Structural barriers include gender inequity and religious influence. Barriers that may be more amenable to influence include misinformation and fear about contraceptive side effects; contraceptive stigma; and access to contraceptive training and education for health workers. Health workers expressed eagerness to address the unmet need for contraception in their communities and are a resource that should be prioritised in programmes seeking to expand access to contraception in the Pacific region. Health workers are embedded in their communities and insightful about health service complexities in their settings. They identified solutions including increased access to education and LARC training; increased efforts in raising community awareness and ways of encouraging contraceptive acceptance; and a continued investment in enabling environments- for health workers, and for women.
Conclusions: This study affirms health workers as a key resource in addressing the unmet need for contraception in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, and calls for programme and policy solutions informed by their perspectives. The two main priorities they emphasised to help tackle the persistent problem of unmet need for contraception are an increase in their capacity to provide contraceptive implants, and an increase in community education to boost acceptance of family planning care from women and their families
Report of the data from the 2018 year of the Jade Speaks Up Pilot
No full textEXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Speaks Up, a teacher-led programme that gives Year 4 to 8 school children practical and relational strategies, emotional literacy and self-agency tools to develop trusting relationships, build resilience and keep themselves safe from bullying and family violence.
In 2018 we quadrupled engagement of students in school years 4 to 6 to 41.5%, reducing the average age to 10.5 years, 9 months younger than the 2017 cohort. . There were also 17% more Māori participants (now 39%) and 14% fewer Pacific Island participants (now 27%) along with 15% Asian/African and 19% Pākehā/European. The 2018 data set had the same number of schools as in 2017, but they were smaller schools with less classrooms (33 vs 50), less students (863 at pre-test vs 1106; 813 at post-test vs 666); and less attrition (496 at follow-up vs 482)
The 2018 pilot shortened the three online student evaluation questionnaires and had only one control group (class as usual). A new short evaluation measure drawn from ClassMAP (Doll, Spies, Leclair, Kurien & Foley, 2010) was included to enquire about children’s perspectives of the class environment. We also asked teachers about their values underpinning their work. There were also several modifications to the manual and teacher resource
Because the internet : re-framing film school for the 21st century
Get PDFThis research argues for a fundamental re-imagining of screen education.
Once upon a time, motion pictures were destined solely for the cinema. But developments over the past few decades have ushered us into an era of dynamic evolution in the area of moving image. Accelerating change brought on by bourgeoning technological disruption has shifted our relationship to information - and to each other (Smart, 2012) - and has radically transformed our methods for and approaches to moving image content creation, delivery, usage, and spreadability (Jenkins, Ford, & Green, 2013). There will (hopefully) always be cinema, yet there are now more ways than ever to create, partake in, and interact with moving image content. Many of these emerging avenues challenge conventional understandings around audience, around narrative, and around what is possible.
These changes are reverberating into creative careers of all kinds, causing shifts in the jobs landscape (Frenette, 2017). Some of the old film job roles are being redefined and new moving image career pathways are opening up. Whilst there is still room for learning conventional filmmaking methods, there is also an argument for developing an enhanced skill set to address the changing needs of an ever-morphing user base and an evolving marketplace (Meitzner & Kamprath, 2013). Increasingly, creative practitioners are deriving multiple income streams from portfolio careers in order to remain flexible and adaptable to a dynamic environment (Bakhshi, Hargreaves, & Mateos-Garcia, 2013). As the tools for creation and delivery continue to develop, and the contexts within which moving image is applied continue to evolve, it is imperative for many of tomorrow’s moving image practitioners to become multi-skilled and trained for agility amidst continual transformation if they are to remain relevant . . . and solvent.
There has been much discussion over the years about the nature of moving image education and how it might best be practised to nurture and grow tomorrow’s filmmakers (Aquilia & Kerrigan, 2018; Fritze, Haugsbakk, & Nordkvelle, 2016; Kohl, 2015; Liston & Renga, 2015; Petrie & Stoneman, 2014; Ziemsen, 2017; etc.). But there is a gap in the current literature around what can be evidenced as a growing cultural and economic need for multi-specialist (as opposed to generalist) media makers - the folks Helen Baxter calls “the new Leonardos” (Wenmoth, 2007). These Swiss Army content crafters are artists, programmers, graphic designers, UX designers, spatial designers, storytellers, architects, app designers, organisers, poets. They know their way around both conventional and emerging business models (Gothelf & Seiden, 2017a); are familiar with game architecture and design; have assembled a basket of 21st Century Skills (Boyles, 2012); know how to manage projects and have spent time cultivating their leadership skills. And sitting in the driver’s seat, at the heart of these composite craftspeople, are highly capable and inspired filmmakers. These are tomorrow’s moving image practitioners. But how do we help them to get there?
This research draws on a fusion of ideas from agile software development and principles of design thinking to a blend of film workflow linearity with the non-linear exploration of one’s creative centre to arrive at a suggestion for re-framing film education in a way that develops tomorrow’s hybrid creative practitioner. In this day and age, Moving Image education needs to include more than just Moving Image. We need to be training up a new breed of maker who is hard-wired to push the medium forward through an advanced skill set. Tomorrow’s moving image-maker needs to be able to create their own career, to carve out their own niche. Tomorrow’s moving image maker needs to be trained in more than just film skills; they need to be an artist, a designer, a programmer, an international collaborator. They need to think differently, independently, bravely, roguishly
Staff attitudes toward borderline personality disorder
No full textOverview - Borderline Personality Disorder - Current Study - Future Study - Questions & Answers
Sigma and discrimination
Why does this matter?
Self-harm
Suicide
Impact on staff
Current study - Factors influencing staff members’ care of clients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder
Study phases - AMHS [Addiction and Mental Health Services], Professional leads
Questionnaire
APDQ [Attitude to Personality Disorder Questionnaire]
Responses
Analysis
Results
Professional group
Work area
Supervison
Meaning
International comparison
Completion of study
Future study
References
Image credit