Preparing teachers for rural and remote (RR) schools in Australia appears to be an ongoing issue with many schools continuing to experience staff shortages. This research aimed to understand preservice teachers' (n=23) perceptions of their readiness for teaching in RR schools within four theoretical constructs, namely: self, classroom, school, and community. Following a RR professional experience, preservice teachers completed a literature-based Likert scale survey with written response questions to investigate their readiness for teaching in RR communities within the four constructs. Results showed that more than 80% of participants indicated self-readiness for teaching; yet, work recognition (70%), discussing career goals (65%), and having wellbeing supported (61%) had lower percentages. Classroom readiness was indicated by 83% or more of the preservice teachers for seven of the eight items; however, less than half claimed they had trust in the leadership for school readiness. Community readiness had percentages lower than 80% across the eight associated items. The results suggested preservice teachers can be supported during professional experience to promote teaching in RR contexts as a way to overcome teacher shortages.
Many Australian young people experience mental health concerns, academic and study-related stresses, and socio-economic pressures. Phenomenological research conducted among primary and secondary schoolteachers in four Australian states investigated how teachers manage student wellbeing concerns and academic pressures and stresses. Findings identify key stresses that affect students’ performance and how teachers respond to these stresses to progress student learning. Creating space, finding margin, mitigating and reducing pressures and stresses, while upholding academic rigour, are the salient capabilities described by teachers in this study for simultaneously managing student wellbeing concerns and academic performance.
Iron nanoparticles are used to remove pollutants from soil and water in the environment and from industrial waste streams. A laboratory experiment described here is based on this application of nanotechnology. The procedure is appropriate for first-year undergraduate students with some background in general chemistry. Students synthesize iron nanoparticles via borohydride reduction of iron(III) chloride. Following this, students perform a series of reactions in which iron nanoparticles or bulk iron powders react with an aqueous dye. Periodic measurements of the absorbance in the visible spectrum show the decline in dye concentration. Students can analyze their results several different ways. The nanoparticles consume orders of magnitude more dye per gram of iron than the bulk powders due to their greater surface area. On the other hand, economic considerations make the bulk iron a more appealing choice. This dichotomy can lead to an interesting discussion among students about the apparent value of nanotechnology for environmental remediation. A modified version of the experiment is described in which the chemical reaction between a dye and iron particles occurs within a nonaqueous solvent. This procedure is more similar to the actual method used for removing organic pollutants from soil and ground water.
When the assertion is made that arithmetic is being taught meaningfully, it is legitimate to ask how are meanings obtained by children. Axe meanings given to children by teachers and/ or textbooks through explanation, demonstration, and illustration, or are meanings being discovered by the pupils themselves with the aid of teachers and textbooks? These two questions represent extreme variations in opinion about appropriate methods of teaching arithmetic. Although little support can be found for a method of teaching arithmetic, in fact, for the teaching of any school subject, which features telling, showing, describing, and illustrating, this method is still widely used.
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