title: Investigating the effectiveness of an analogy activity in improving students’ conceptual change for solution chemistry concepts

authors: Çalik, Muammer

subjects: analogy

abstract: This paper reports on an investigation on the use of an analogy activity and seeks to provide evidence of whether the activity enables students to change alternative conceptions towards views more in accord with scientific views for aspects of solution chemistry. We were also interested in how robust any change was and whether these changes in conceptual thinking became embedded in the students’ long-term memory. The study has its theoretical basis in an interpretive paradigm, and used multiple methods to probe the issues in depth. Data collection consisted of two concept test items, one-on-one interviews, and student self-assessment. The sample consisted of 44 Grade 9 students selected from two intact classes (22 each), from Trabzon, Turkey. The interviews were conducted with six students selected because of evidence as to their significant conceptual change in solution chemistry. The research findings revealed statistically significant differences in pre-test and post-test scores, and pre-test and delayed post-test scores (p<0.05), but no differences between post-test and delayed test scores (p>0.05). This suggests that the analogy activity is helpful in enhancing students’ conceptual understanding of solution chemistry, and that these changes may be stored in the students’ long-term memory.

text: Investigating the effectiveness of an analogy activity in improving students’ conceptual change for solution chemistry concepts This paper reports on an investigation on the use of an analogy activity and seeks to provide evidence of whether the activity enables students to change alternative conceptions towards views more in accord with scientific views for aspects of solution chemistry. We were also interested in how robust any change was and whether these changes in conceptual thinking became embedded in the students’ long-term memory. The study has its theoretical basis in an interpretive paradigm, and used multiple methods to probe the issues in depth. Data collection consisted of two concept test items, one-on-one interviews, and student self-assessment. The sample consisted of 44 Grade 9 students selected from two intact classes (22 each), from Trabzon, Turkey. The interviews were conducted with six students selected because of evidence as to their significant conceptual change in solution chemistry. The research findings revealed statistically significant differences in pre-test and post-test scores, and pre-test and delayed post-test scores (p<0.05), but no differences between post-test and delayed test scores (p>0.05). This suggests that the analogy activity is helpful in enhancing students’ conceptual understanding of solution chemistry, and that these changes may be stored in the students’ long-term memory.

year: 2009

title: Sustainability Vs Profitable Dependable Supply: A Case Study of Institutional Constraints on the Adoption of New Sustainable Technology

authors: Given, Tim

subjects: sustainability

abstract: This thesis examines policy tensions arising from the emergence of sustainable technologies and the institutional barriers to their adoption. Its starting point is an analysis of conflict over electricity pricing between Wellington City Council and Wellington Electricity, sparked by Wellington City Council’s proposal to replace all existing street lighting with Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology.  The thesis analyses key policy documents informing the position of Wellington City Council and Wellington Electricity, to identify the ideational and related institutional drivers of this conflict.  The idea of holistic sustainability has been a key driver of policy at the local government level, and the idea of profitable dependable supply informs central government legislation that sets the terms of reference for Wellington Electricity.  The idea of profitable dependable supply is expressed in institutions which constrain flexibility and limit policy options for addressing sustainable energy use.  The intention to embrace change, shown in the concern for integration and future focus on the part of the Wellington City Council, stands in contrast to the focus and constraint of profitable dependable supply which restrains the capacity to engage with change to more efficient and effective technology.  The limitations imposed by existing electricity generation and supply institutions create policy rigidity at a time when more responsive approaches to the challenges of sustainability are needed.

text: Sustainability Vs Profitable Dependable Supply: A Case Study of Institutional Constraints on the Adoption of New Sustainable Technology This thesis examines policy tensions arising from the emergence of sustainable technologies and the institutional barriers to their adoption. Its starting point is an analysis of conflict over electricity pricing between Wellington City Council and Wellington Electricity, sparked by Wellington City Council’s proposal to replace all existing street lighting with Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology.  The thesis analyses key policy documents informing the position of Wellington City Council and Wellington Electricity, to identify the ideational and related institutional drivers of this conflict.  The idea of holistic sustainability has been a key driver of policy at the local government level, and the idea of profitable dependable supply informs central government legislation that sets the terms of reference for Wellington Electricity.  The idea of profitable dependable supply is expressed in institutions which constrain flexibility and limit policy options for addressing sustainable energy use.  The intention to embrace change, shown in the concern for integration and future focus on the part of the Wellington City Council, stands in contrast to the focus and constraint of profitable dependable supply which restrains the capacity to engage with change to more efficient and effective technology.  The limitations imposed by existing electricity generation and supply institutions create policy rigidity at a time when more responsive approaches to the challenges of sustainability are needed.

year: 2016

title: Te Awa Atua, Te Awa Tapu, Te Awa Wahine: An examination of stories, ceremonies and practices regarding menstruation in the pre-colonial Māori world.

authors: Murphy, Ngahuia Aroha Grace

subjects: mana wahine

abstract: This thesis examines Māori cosmological stories, ceremonies, and traditional practices regarding menstruation in pre-colonial Māori society. I use kaupapa Māori and mana wahine as a theoretical and methodological framework, contextualising these stories within Māori cultural paradigms.This is important because menstruation has been framed within deeply misogynist, colonial ideologies in some ethnographic accounts, distorting menstrual rites and practices beyond recognition. These interpretations have been used to inform colonialist narratives of female inferiority in traditional Māori society, attempting to change Native constructs of womanhood. Such narratives have been perpetuated in contemporary literature, reinforcing powerful discourses of menstrual pollution and female inferiority. This thesis is a challenge to such representations. By examining menstrual stories located in Māori cosmologies, and investigating tribal histories, oral literatures, ceremonies and rites, I argue that menstruation was seen as a medium of whakapapa (genealogy) that connected Māori women to our pantheon of atua (supernatural beings). A study of ancient menstrual rites, recorded in tribal songs and chants, reveal that menstrual blood was used for psychic and spiritual protection. These examples unveil striking Indigenous constructs of womanhood that transform colonialist interpretations and radically challenge notions of female inferiority and menstrual pollution. I maintain in this thesis that presenting menstruation and menstrual blood as putrid is a politically motivated act of colonial violence that specifically targets the source of our continuity as Indigenous People, the whare tangata (house of humanity – womb of women). I pose the question ‘if menstrual blood symbolises whakapapa, what does it mean to present it as ‘unclean’ and how do such representations cut across the politics of tino rangatiratanga (autonomy)?’ Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, kōrero (dialogue), and wānanga (series of conversations) with Māori women, including cultural experts, scholars, artists, and mana wahine exponents, I gather a collection of ceremonies, stories, and wisdoms that reclaim Māori spiritualities which celebrate menstruation as divine. Within the context of a colonial history of marginalisation, this work is an activist site of political resistance which takes a step towards re-threading the feminine strands in the spiritual fabric of our world, torn asunder by the ideological imposition of a colonial, Christian male god. I argue, that menstruation is a potent site of decolonisation, cultural reclamation, and resistance toward the perpetuation of colonial hegemony.

text: Te Awa Atua, Te Awa Tapu, Te Awa Wahine: An examination of stories, ceremonies and practices regarding menstruation in the pre-colonial Māori world. This thesis examines Māori cosmological stories, ceremonies, and traditional practices regarding menstruation in pre-colonial Māori society. I use kaupapa Māori and mana wahine as a theoretical and methodological framework, contextualising these stories within Māori cultural paradigms.This is important because menstruation has been framed within deeply misogynist, colonial ideologies in some ethnographic accounts, distorting menstrual rites and practices beyond recognition. These interpretations have been used to inform colonialist narratives of female inferiority in traditional Māori society, attempting to change Native constructs of womanhood. Such narratives have been perpetuated in contemporary literature, reinforcing powerful discourses of menstrual pollution and female inferiority. This thesis is a challenge to such representations. By examining menstrual stories located in Māori cosmologies, and investigating tribal histories, oral literatures, ceremonies and rites, I argue that menstruation was seen as a medium of whakapapa (genealogy) that connected Māori women to our pantheon of atua (supernatural beings). A study of ancient menstrual rites, recorded in tribal songs and chants, reveal that menstrual blood was used for psychic and spiritual protection. These examples unveil striking Indigenous constructs of womanhood that transform colonialist interpretations and radically challenge notions of female inferiority and menstrual pollution. I maintain in this thesis that presenting menstruation and menstrual blood as putrid is a politically motivated act of colonial violence that specifically targets the source of our continuity as Indigenous People, the whare tangata (house of humanity – womb of women). I pose the question ‘if menstrual blood symbolises whakapapa, what does it mean to present it as ‘unclean’ and how do such representations cut across the politics of tino rangatiratanga (autonomy)?’ Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, kōrero (dialogue), and wānanga (series of conversations) with Māori women, including cultural experts, scholars, artists, and mana wahine exponents, I gather a collection of ceremonies, stories, and wisdoms that reclaim Māori spiritualities which celebrate menstruation as divine. Within the context of a colonial history of marginalisation, this work is an activist site of political resistance which takes a step towards re-threading the feminine strands in the spiritual fabric of our world, torn asunder by the ideological imposition of a colonial, Christian male god. I argue, that menstruation is a potent site of decolonisation, cultural reclamation, and resistance toward the perpetuation of colonial hegemony.

year: 2011