title: Introduction to special edition.

authors: McGee, Clive

subjects: initial teacher education

abstract: This special issue of the Waikato Journal of Education arose from a symposium held at The University of Waikato in June, 2009. The symposium, Initial Teacher Education and the New Zealand Curriculum–Te Marautanga o Aotearoa Symposium, was attended by delegates from all major initial teacher education (ITE) providers in New Zealand. ITE refers to pre-service teacher education, that is, programmes that prepare student teachers to become beginning teachers. Curriculum includes the school and the ITE curriculum.

text: Introduction to special edition. This special issue of the Waikato Journal of Education arose from a symposium held at The University of Waikato in June, 2009. The symposium, Initial Teacher Education and the New Zealand Curriculum–Te Marautanga o Aotearoa Symposium, was attended by delegates from all major initial teacher education (ITE) providers in New Zealand. ITE refers to pre-service teacher education, that is, programmes that prepare student teachers to become beginning teachers. Curriculum includes the school and the ITE curriculum.

year: 2010

title: Indigenous aspirations and ecological integrity: Restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of an ancestral river for future generations in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Te Aho, Linda

subjects: Maori

abstract: This paper seeks to provide a domestic example of the application of the environmental ethic of the indigenous Māori which ensures that humans are kaitiaki (guardians) of their surrounding environment by virtue of shared genealogy and how this ethic is being applied to restore and protect the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River, New Zealand’s longest. This particular river restoration project reflects many of the important aspects of ecological integrity.  It serves too. as a domestic example of the most sophisticated attempt at powersharing to date between Māori and the Crown in relation to natural resources, which may be of interest to other jurisdictions.

text: Indigenous aspirations and ecological integrity: Restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of an ancestral river for future generations in Aotearoa New Zealand This paper seeks to provide a domestic example of the application of the environmental ethic of the indigenous Māori which ensures that humans are kaitiaki (guardians) of their surrounding environment by virtue of shared genealogy and how this ethic is being applied to restore and protect the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River, New Zealand’s longest. This particular river restoration project reflects many of the important aspects of ecological integrity.  It serves too. as a domestic example of the most sophisticated attempt at powersharing to date between Māori and the Crown in relation to natural resources, which may be of interest to other jurisdictions.

year: 2011

title: Human Visual Navigation: Effects of Visual Context, Navigation Mode, and Gender

authors: Thomson, Diane Marlene

subjects: visual perception

abstract: Abstract

This thesis extends research on human visual path integration using optic flow cues. In three experiments, a large-scale path-completion task was contextualised within highly-textured authentic virtual environments. Real-world navigational experience was further simulated, through the inclusion of a large roundabout on the route. Three semi-surrounding screens provided a wide field of view. Participants were able to perform the task, but directional estimates showed characteristic errors, which can be explained with a model of distance misperception on the outbound roads of the route. Display and route layout parameters had very strong effects on performance. Gender and navigation mode were also influential.

Participants consistently underestimated the final turn angle when simulated self-motion was viewed passively, on large projection screens in a driving simulator. Error increased with increasing size of the internal angle, on route layouts based on equilateral or isosceles triangles. A compressed range of responses was found.

Higher overall accuracy was observed when a display with smaller desktop computer monitors was used; especially when simulated self-motion was actively controlled with a steering wheel and foot pedals, rather than viewed passively. Patterns and levels of error depended on route layout, which included triangles with non-equivalent lengths of the two outbound roads. A powerful effect on performance was exerted by the length of the "approach segment" on the route: that is, the distance travelled on the first outbound road, combined with the distance travelled between the two outbound roads on the roundabout curve. The final turn angle was generally overestimated on routes with a long approach segment (those with a long first road and a 60° or 90° internal angle), and underestimated on routes with a short approach segment (those with a short first road or the 120° internal angle). Accuracy was higher for active participants on routes with longer approach segments and on 90° angle trials, and for passive participants on routes with shorter approach segments and on 120° angle trials. Active participants treated all internal angles as 90° angles. 

Participants performed with lower overall accuracy when optic flow information was disrupted, through the intermittent presentation of self-motion on the small-screen display, in a sequence of static snapshots of the route. Performance was particularly impaired on routes with a long approach segment, but quite accurate on those with a short approach segment. Consistent overestimation of the final angle was observed, and error decreased with increasing size of the internal angle. Participants treated all internal angles as 120° angles.    

The level of available visual information did not greatly affect estimates, in general. The degree of curvature on the roundabout mainly influenced estimates by female participants in the Passive condition. Compared with males, females performed less accurately in the driving simulator, and with reduced optic flow cues; but more accurately with the small-screen display on layouts with a short approach segment, and when they had active control of the self-motion.

The virtual environments evoked a sense of presence, but this had no effect on task performance, in general. The environments could be used for training navigational skills where high precision is not required.

text: Human Visual Navigation: Effects of Visual Context, Navigation Mode, and Gender Abstract

This thesis extends research on human visual path integration using optic flow cues. In three experiments, a large-scale path-completion task was contextualised within highly-textured authentic virtual environments. Real-world navigational experience was further simulated, through the inclusion of a large roundabout on the route. Three semi-surrounding screens provided a wide field of view. Participants were able to perform the task, but directional estimates showed characteristic errors, which can be explained with a model of distance misperception on the outbound roads of the route. Display and route layout parameters had very strong effects on performance. Gender and navigation mode were also influential.

Participants consistently underestimated the final turn angle when simulated self-motion was viewed passively, on large projection screens in a driving simulator. Error increased with increasing size of the internal angle, on route layouts based on equilateral or isosceles triangles. A compressed range of responses was found.

Higher overall accuracy was observed when a display with smaller desktop computer monitors was used; especially when simulated self-motion was actively controlled with a steering wheel and foot pedals, rather than viewed passively. Patterns and levels of error depended on route layout, which included triangles with non-equivalent lengths of the two outbound roads. A powerful effect on performance was exerted by the length of the "approach segment" on the route: that is, the distance travelled on the first outbound road, combined with the distance travelled between the two outbound roads on the roundabout curve. The final turn angle was generally overestimated on routes with a long approach segment (those with a long first road and a 60° or 90° internal angle), and underestimated on routes with a short approach segment (those with a short first road or the 120° internal angle). Accuracy was higher for active participants on routes with longer approach segments and on 90° angle trials, and for passive participants on routes with shorter approach segments and on 120° angle trials. Active participants treated all internal angles as 90° angles. 

Participants performed with lower overall accuracy when optic flow information was disrupted, through the intermittent presentation of self-motion on the small-screen display, in a sequence of static snapshots of the route. Performance was particularly impaired on routes with a long approach segment, but quite accurate on those with a short approach segment. Consistent overestimation of the final angle was observed, and error decreased with increasing size of the internal angle. Participants treated all internal angles as 120° angles.    

The level of available visual information did not greatly affect estimates, in general. The degree of curvature on the roundabout mainly influenced estimates by female participants in the Passive condition. Compared with males, females performed less accurately in the driving simulator, and with reduced optic flow cues; but more accurately with the small-screen display on layouts with a short approach segment, and when they had active control of the self-motion.

The virtual environments evoked a sense of presence, but this had no effect on task performance, in general. The environments could be used for training navigational skills where high precision is not required.

year: 2012