title: Threshold concepts: Impacts on teaching and learning at tertiary level

authors: Peter, Mira

abstract: This project explored teaching and learning of hard-to-learn threshold concepts in first-year English, an electrical engineering course, leadership courses, and in doctoral writing. The project was envisioned to produce disciplinary case studies that lecturers could use to reflect on and refine their curriculum and pedagogy, thereby contributing to discussion about the relationship between theory and methodology in higher education research (Shay, Ashwin, & Case, 2009).
A team of seven academics investigated lecturers’ awareness and emergent knowledge of threshold concepts and associated pedagogies and how such pedagogies can afford opportunities for learning. As part of this examination the lecturers also explored the role of threshold concept theory in designing curricula and sought to find the commonalities in threshold concepts and their teaching and learning across the four disciplines.
The research highlights new ways of teaching threshold concepts to help students learn concepts that are fundamental to the disciplines they are studying and expand their educational experiences. Given that much of the international research in this field focuses on the identification of threshold concepts and debates their characteristics (Barradell, 2013; Flanagan, 2014; Knight, Callaghan, Baldock, & Meyer, 2013), our exploration of what happens when lecturers use threshold concept theory to re-envision their curriculum and teaching helps to address a gap within the field. By addressing an important theoretical and practical approach the project makes a considerable contribution to teaching and learning at the tertiary level in general and to each discipline in particular.

text: Threshold concepts: Impacts on teaching and learning at tertiary level This project explored teaching and learning of hard-to-learn threshold concepts in first-year English, an electrical engineering course, leadership courses, and in doctoral writing. The project was envisioned to produce disciplinary case studies that lecturers could use to reflect on and refine their curriculum and pedagogy, thereby contributing to discussion about the relationship between theory and methodology in higher education research (Shay, Ashwin, & Case, 2009).
A team of seven academics investigated lecturers’ awareness and emergent knowledge of threshold concepts and associated pedagogies and how such pedagogies can afford opportunities for learning. As part of this examination the lecturers also explored the role of threshold concept theory in designing curricula and sought to find the commonalities in threshold concepts and their teaching and learning across the four disciplines.
The research highlights new ways of teaching threshold concepts to help students learn concepts that are fundamental to the disciplines they are studying and expand their educational experiences. Given that much of the international research in this field focuses on the identification of threshold concepts and debates their characteristics (Barradell, 2013; Flanagan, 2014; Knight, Callaghan, Baldock, & Meyer, 2013), our exploration of what happens when lecturers use threshold concept theory to re-envision their curriculum and teaching helps to address a gap within the field. By addressing an important theoretical and practical approach the project makes a considerable contribution to teaching and learning at the tertiary level in general and to each discipline in particular.

year: 2014

title: The influence of interacting stressors on soft sediment ecosystem function

authors: Mangan, Stephanie

subjects: Turbidity

abstract: Soft sediment intertidal habitats provide valuable ecosystem services to millions of people worldwide yet are under intense anthropogenic pressure. In particular, the intensification of land derived sediment and nutrient delivery has resulted in elevated water column turbidity and nutrient over-enrichment, both of which can diminish ecosystem functionality. Identifying how these stressors interact and influence benthic ecosystems is crucial to understanding the resilience of these valuable habitats and to help manage effectively to prevent shifts towards ecological tipping points. This thesis therefore investigates the response of benthic primary production and biogeochemical cycling to two pervasive stressors; increasing water column turbidity and sediment nutrient enrichment.
Water column turbidity directly restricts the availability of light to microphytobenthos (MPB), a key primary producer in soft sediment intertidal habitats. However, the degree to which turbidity may limit primary production across New Zealand was largely unknown. I recorded light availability at the seafloor over a 9-month period at 22 sites situated within 14 estuaries. Coupled with a global literature compilation of photosynthesis-irradiance curves, the proportion of time MPB were light limited during submergence ranged from a median of 55–100 %. For estuaries close to 100 % light limitation, emerged intertidal areas represent a refuge for MPB production which is vulnerable to sea-level rise. Using hypsometric curves, the intertidal area of my study estuaries was predicted to decrease by 27–94 % under a 1.4 m rise in sea-level. The combination of high light limitation during submergence and large losses of intertidal area will increase vulnerability to the loss of MPB production and the associated ecosystem services, which can push these ecosystems towards tipping points.
Anthropogenic stressors often occur concomitantly, and therefore understanding how differing degrees of water column turbidity may interact with other stressors, such as increasing nutrient enrichment and influence benthic productivity over alternating periods of submergence and emergence were investigated. A field manipulation study was designed to enrich porewaters at three levels for 20 months, at six sites that spanned a gradient in water column turbidity. While nutrient enrichment had no detectable effect on MPB primary production, water column turbidity had a significant influence, explaining up to 40 % of the variability during tidal submergence, followed by temperature and sediment characteristics. In addition, negative net primary production (NPP) and therefore net heterotrophy for the most turbid estuaries during tidal submergence resulted in an increased reliance on production during emerged periods. This study highlights the prominent role of turbidity over porewater nutrient enrichment in moderating MPB production and supports earlier conclusions of the increasing importance of emerged periods to maintain the health and functioning of coastal habitats.
Soft sediment intertidal habitats are not only hot spots for benthic productivity, but they also play a fundamental role in biogeochemical cycling. The influence of increased nutrient availability on nitrogen and carbon cycling was investigated after 15 and 20 months of nitrogen enrichment. This study highlighted the limited capacity for denitrification, a key process in removing bioavailable nitrogen, to mitigate large increases in nitrogen availability, as evidenced through the consistent rates of net denitrification and reductions in the efficiency at which nitrogen was removed. Denitrification rate was most strongly correlated to carbon supply, trophic status and to a lesser extent, macrofaunal diversity. In addition, analysis of factor-ceiling relationships revealed the vulnerability of estuaries to increasing stressor loads. The appearance of significant nonlinearities with increasing nitrogen enrichment suggests alterations to the interactions of intrinsic dynamics and drivers which can fundamentally alter biogeochemical cycling within soft sediments and increase the likelihood of abrupt non-linear shifts.
Overall, the findings of my thesis demonstrate how the health and functioning of coastal ecosystems can be significantly diminished under increasing anthropogenic stress, and that the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems to the loss of ecosystem functionality will change in the future as global scale stressors intensify.

text: The influence of interacting stressors on soft sediment ecosystem function Soft sediment intertidal habitats provide valuable ecosystem services to millions of people worldwide yet are under intense anthropogenic pressure. In particular, the intensification of land derived sediment and nutrient delivery has resulted in elevated water column turbidity and nutrient over-enrichment, both of which can diminish ecosystem functionality. Identifying how these stressors interact and influence benthic ecosystems is crucial to understanding the resilience of these valuable habitats and to help manage effectively to prevent shifts towards ecological tipping points. This thesis therefore investigates the response of benthic primary production and biogeochemical cycling to two pervasive stressors; increasing water column turbidity and sediment nutrient enrichment.
Water column turbidity directly restricts the availability of light to microphytobenthos (MPB), a key primary producer in soft sediment intertidal habitats. However, the degree to which turbidity may limit primary production across New Zealand was largely unknown. I recorded light availability at the seafloor over a 9-month period at 22 sites situated within 14 estuaries. Coupled with a global literature compilation of photosynthesis-irradiance curves, the proportion of time MPB were light limited during submergence ranged from a median of 55–100 %. For estuaries close to 100 % light limitation, emerged intertidal areas represent a refuge for MPB production which is vulnerable to sea-level rise. Using hypsometric curves, the intertidal area of my study estuaries was predicted to decrease by 27–94 % under a 1.4 m rise in sea-level. The combination of high light limitation during submergence and large losses of intertidal area will increase vulnerability to the loss of MPB production and the associated ecosystem services, which can push these ecosystems towards tipping points.
Anthropogenic stressors often occur concomitantly, and therefore understanding how differing degrees of water column turbidity may interact with other stressors, such as increasing nutrient enrichment and influence benthic productivity over alternating periods of submergence and emergence were investigated. A field manipulation study was designed to enrich porewaters at three levels for 20 months, at six sites that spanned a gradient in water column turbidity. While nutrient enrichment had no detectable effect on MPB primary production, water column turbidity had a significant influence, explaining up to 40 % of the variability during tidal submergence, followed by temperature and sediment characteristics. In addition, negative net primary production (NPP) and therefore net heterotrophy for the most turbid estuaries during tidal submergence resulted in an increased reliance on production during emerged periods. This study highlights the prominent role of turbidity over porewater nutrient enrichment in moderating MPB production and supports earlier conclusions of the increasing importance of emerged periods to maintain the health and functioning of coastal habitats.
Soft sediment intertidal habitats are not only hot spots for benthic productivity, but they also play a fundamental role in biogeochemical cycling. The influence of increased nutrient availability on nitrogen and carbon cycling was investigated after 15 and 20 months of nitrogen enrichment. This study highlighted the limited capacity for denitrification, a key process in removing bioavailable nitrogen, to mitigate large increases in nitrogen availability, as evidenced through the consistent rates of net denitrification and reductions in the efficiency at which nitrogen was removed. Denitrification rate was most strongly correlated to carbon supply, trophic status and to a lesser extent, macrofaunal diversity. In addition, analysis of factor-ceiling relationships revealed the vulnerability of estuaries to increasing stressor loads. The appearance of significant nonlinearities with increasing nitrogen enrichment suggests alterations to the interactions of intrinsic dynamics and drivers which can fundamentally alter biogeochemical cycling within soft sediments and increase the likelihood of abrupt non-linear shifts.
Overall, the findings of my thesis demonstrate how the health and functioning of coastal ecosystems can be significantly diminished under increasing anthropogenic stress, and that the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems to the loss of ecosystem functionality will change in the future as global scale stressors intensify.

year: 2021

title: What’s in a title? The use of honorifics in media coverage

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: Maori

abstract: On the 15th August 2006, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu (referred to in this paper as Te Arikinui) passed away at the age of 75 years old after serving the Kingitanga movement for forty years. Her passing heralded the movement of large numbers of people to Turangawaewae marae where she lay in state. Intensive media coverage played a significant role in representing who Te Arikinui was, in profiling the Kingitanga movement and activities associated with the tangi as it progressed from the 15th to the 21st August 2006.  While we may be able to identify a “correct” honorific for Te Arikinui, our findings suggest that its understanding and use by mainstream television news media presenters, reporters and interviewees is a matter influenced by ethnic and cultural politics. The preferred use of titles by Maori and non-Maori sets up a process where representations of Te Ariki are contested. To non-Maori she is a “Dame”. To Maori, she is Te Arikinui. Through further analysis and theorising we will endeavour to further discuss the nature of these politics and the differences between Maori and non-Maori representations of Te Arikinui.

text: What’s in a title? The use of honorifics in media coverage On the 15th August 2006, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu (referred to in this paper as Te Arikinui) passed away at the age of 75 years old after serving the Kingitanga movement for forty years. Her passing heralded the movement of large numbers of people to Turangawaewae marae where she lay in state. Intensive media coverage played a significant role in representing who Te Arikinui was, in profiling the Kingitanga movement and activities associated with the tangi as it progressed from the 15th to the 21st August 2006.  While we may be able to identify a “correct” honorific for Te Arikinui, our findings suggest that its understanding and use by mainstream television news media presenters, reporters and interviewees is a matter influenced by ethnic and cultural politics. The preferred use of titles by Maori and non-Maori sets up a process where representations of Te Ariki are contested. To non-Maori she is a “Dame”. To Maori, she is Te Arikinui. Through further analysis and theorising we will endeavour to further discuss the nature of these politics and the differences between Maori and non-Maori representations of Te Arikinui.

year: 2008