title: How reflective exchanges of second language students can have an impact on their learning outcomes and on future curriculum planning in a tertiary environment

authors: Campbell, Lucy

subjects: academic english

abstract: Teaching academic English and study skills at tertiary level can be a restricted and pressured environment due to factors such as heavy course content, large numbers of students or lack of time to teach all areas that are needed. Situations like this often mean there is little opportunity for students to voice personal opinions on the content and method of how they are being taught in ESL oriented papers or their mainstream majors. It also means limited chances for them to articulate and share personal learning experiences and cultural backgrounds to allow them to extend their knowledge of their present situations. This paper describes how giving students time for reflection on these areas in an undergraduate second language academic discourse paper allowed them to contemplate learning and studying strategies for this and other papers they were engaged with. The outcomes for them included an increase in confidence to express themselves to their peers, a realisation that their previous learning and cultural backgrounds had value and use to their New Zealand experiences and a greater understanding of some basic tertiary processes. Web conferencing was used to support their reflection process. The results of these reflective exchanges for the tutor has had an impact on current and future curriculum design and led to the compiling of a list of simple but important factors that could of be of use to the wider tertiary community in their teaching of non-English speaking background students.

text: How reflective exchanges of second language students can have an impact on their learning outcomes and on future curriculum planning in a tertiary environment Teaching academic English and study skills at tertiary level can be a restricted and pressured environment due to factors such as heavy course content, large numbers of students or lack of time to teach all areas that are needed. Situations like this often mean there is little opportunity for students to voice personal opinions on the content and method of how they are being taught in ESL oriented papers or their mainstream majors. It also means limited chances for them to articulate and share personal learning experiences and cultural backgrounds to allow them to extend their knowledge of their present situations. This paper describes how giving students time for reflection on these areas in an undergraduate second language academic discourse paper allowed them to contemplate learning and studying strategies for this and other papers they were engaged with. The outcomes for them included an increase in confidence to express themselves to their peers, a realisation that their previous learning and cultural backgrounds had value and use to their New Zealand experiences and a greater understanding of some basic tertiary processes. Web conferencing was used to support their reflection process. The results of these reflective exchanges for the tutor has had an impact on current and future curriculum design and led to the compiling of a list of simple but important factors that could of be of use to the wider tertiary community in their teaching of non-English speaking background students.

year: 2005

title: Finding the good vibes of life, man: Identifying catalytic vibrations in enzyme catalysis

authors: Schipper, Daniel-Albert

subjects: MMRT

abstract: Enzyme catalysis is one of the most vital components of life. As such the elucidation of the exact mechanics of this kind of catalysis is important. The aim of this work is to look into enzyme catalysis though the lens of macromolecular rate theory (MMRT). MMRT is an idea focused around the heat capacity of an enzyme changing over the course of a reaction. Our hypothesis is that this change in heat capacity is strongly tied to the nature of enzyme catalysis. As such, the focus of this thesis is to determine what a large change in heat capacity at the transition state on the reaction pathway means and why it happens.     
			
From previous work I know that there is a difference in heat capacity when an enzyme is bound to a reaction state compared to a transition state analog. One of the components of this project is to investigate the causes of this difference using all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) and calculations based on the MD trajectories.
			
In the harmonic case, it was found that there was no significant difference between our chosen enzyme in the reaction state and it in a transition state analog; which was possibly either due to insufficient simulation time or higher order anharmonic behavior driving the change in heat capacity. I computed the vibrational frequencies used to test this from the trajectories of a molecular dynamics simulation. 
			
			
In addition, the patterns of how the change in heat capacity evolves with temperature acts similarly to how changes in heat capacity act during phase transitions. These transitions are characterized by long range fluctuations, which I aimed to detect; however, no change in the distance of fluctuations was detected in the harmonic case in the simulations. 
			
Finally, I looked into computing heat capacities for a large system using the variance in energies. Previous attempts at doing this found reasonable values for the change in heat capacity when looking at an enzyme bound to a transition state analog vs bound to the reactant state. However, the absolute values of the heat capacities were an order of magnitude too high for each state. I investigated why this was the case and concluded that it was almost entirely due to not including quantum effects and the fact that interaction energies between the system and the solvent are dynamic.

text: Finding the good vibes of life, man: Identifying catalytic vibrations in enzyme catalysis Enzyme catalysis is one of the most vital components of life. As such the elucidation of the exact mechanics of this kind of catalysis is important. The aim of this work is to look into enzyme catalysis though the lens of macromolecular rate theory (MMRT). MMRT is an idea focused around the heat capacity of an enzyme changing over the course of a reaction. Our hypothesis is that this change in heat capacity is strongly tied to the nature of enzyme catalysis. As such, the focus of this thesis is to determine what a large change in heat capacity at the transition state on the reaction pathway means and why it happens.     
			
From previous work I know that there is a difference in heat capacity when an enzyme is bound to a reaction state compared to a transition state analog. One of the components of this project is to investigate the causes of this difference using all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) and calculations based on the MD trajectories.
			
In the harmonic case, it was found that there was no significant difference between our chosen enzyme in the reaction state and it in a transition state analog; which was possibly either due to insufficient simulation time or higher order anharmonic behavior driving the change in heat capacity. I computed the vibrational frequencies used to test this from the trajectories of a molecular dynamics simulation. 
			
			
In addition, the patterns of how the change in heat capacity evolves with temperature acts similarly to how changes in heat capacity act during phase transitions. These transitions are characterized by long range fluctuations, which I aimed to detect; however, no change in the distance of fluctuations was detected in the harmonic case in the simulations. 
			
Finally, I looked into computing heat capacities for a large system using the variance in energies. Previous attempts at doing this found reasonable values for the change in heat capacity when looking at an enzyme bound to a transition state analog vs bound to the reactant state. However, the absolute values of the heat capacities were an order of magnitude too high for each state. I investigated why this was the case and concluded that it was almost entirely due to not including quantum effects and the fact that interaction energies between the system and the solvent are dynamic.

year: 2020

title: Shifting tectonic plates of key discourses in New Zealand early childhood education policy (1989-2017):  A critical discourse analysis at the dawn of change

authors: Westbrook, Fiona

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
The findings of this thesis imply socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism are constantly competing with one another in the analysed policies that construct New Zealand ECE discourses and, as a consequence, influence practice. This plurality has the potential to hinder one discourse from gaining domination over the others. Their joint consumption's and conflicts appear to periodically lessen and strengthen neoliberalism’s power/knowledges across eras, administrations, policies and paragraphs, as exemplified in the updated curriculum. These findings imply that the ‘drivers’ of power are pivotal, hindering and strengthening these discourses which are both complementary and competing. Additionally, the thesis establishes implications regarding the rich complexities of discourses, which can conceal themselves in other discourses, calling for deeper critical reflection if some power/knowledges are to be reduced.

text: Shifting tectonic plates of key discourses in New Zealand early childhood education policy (1989-2017):  A critical discourse analysis at the dawn of change This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
This thesis analysed the presence of neoliberalism, socialism and te Ao Māori in fundamental policy documents that frame New Zealand early childhood practice. It did so to critically engage with, and thus make sense of, neoliberalism’s application and potential growth in New Zealand early childhood policies from 1989 to 2017. The research additionally focused on the interplay of socialist and te Ao Māori discourses in these texts, in conjunction with neoliberalism. It employed a poststructuralist conceptual framework that utilised Kristeva’s intertextuality and Foucault’s discourse, governmentality, and power/knowledge. The philosophical framework facilitated an appreciation of the early childhood education (ECE) sector and government discourses, via policies that exhibited discursive power, truths, and knowledges. This thesis’ approach was employed through a critical discourse analysis, incorporating Kristeva’s intertextuality, Fairclough’s manifest intertextuality and interdiscursivity, as well as a keyword search. This form of document analysis was selected because it enabled me as the researcher to gain a deeper more developed understanding of the policy texts, eliciting meaning and recognition of the discourses often naturalised within them. 
 
Contrary to the dominant claims in ECE literature concerning contemporary discourse, the analysis did not discover the neoliberal discourse’s predominance within the selected policies and documents, as was expected. The neoliberal discourse did exist within government endorsed texts, such as the foreword of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017b) and Four Year Plan 2016-2020 (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, when the texts came closest to the sector, such as Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 1996; 2017b) and the Licensing Criteria Early Childhood Education and Care (Ministry of Education, 2008), the discourses of socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism, nullified, transformed and modified one another. These findings were exemplified in the updated Te Whāraki (Ministry of Education, 2017b), that limited the neoliberal use of individualism from the original, while also upgrading children’s future potential. ‘Future’ within this text, however, was constructed through a modification of te Ao Māori by absorbing and embodying it in incomplete ways.  
 
The findings of this thesis imply socialism, te Ao Māori and neoliberalism are constantly competing with one another in the analysed policies that construct New Zealand ECE discourses and, as a consequence, influence practice. This plurality has the potential to hinder one discourse from gaining domination over the others. Their joint consumption's and conflicts appear to periodically lessen and strengthen neoliberalism’s power/knowledges across eras, administrations, policies and paragraphs, as exemplified in the updated curriculum. These findings imply that the ‘drivers’ of power are pivotal, hindering and strengthening these discourses which are both complementary and competing. Additionally, the thesis establishes implications regarding the rich complexities of discourses, which can conceal themselves in other discourses, calling for deeper critical reflection if some power/knowledges are to be reduced.

year: 2018