title: Assessment information utilisation from learning stories in New Zealand early childhood centres

authors: Fabian, Katalin

subjects: Early childhood assessment

abstract: This research provides an insight into early childhood teachers’ every day, real life experiences for current ECE assessment practices from a bottom up perspective using experienced early childhood teachers as the data source. The research investigated the ways teachers collected data for assessment purposes, the tools they used to document the information, the ways they utilised the assessment data from Learning Stories, and the challenges they were faced with during the process. The study invited participants from different types of centres from different areas of New Zealand. Five highly experienced early childhood teachers participated in the research from kindergartens and privately owned early learning centres. The study, which was grounded in a constructivist-interpretive paradigm, applied a phenomenological approach. The research utilised semi structured interviews as the main data collection method of a phenomenological research.
The findings indicated that assessment information from Learning Stories can be utilised in numerous ways. The study revealed interesting practical ideas of every day assessment practices for the profession. The research highlighted the complexity of the current assessment approach and the sophisticated nature of the Learning Story writing process. Teachers’ high level of data literacy skills, thorough understanding of data collection, documentation and data analysis processes were shown as fundamental factors in an effective assessment practice. The documentation and information sharing about children’s learning and behaviour difficulties through Learning Stories were identified as a problematic area of assessment information utilisation. Teachers’ Learning Story writing competencies and better utilisation of assessment information from Learning Stories for children with special learning needs were suggested to be avenues for further investigation in future research.

text: Assessment information utilisation from learning stories in New Zealand early childhood centres This research provides an insight into early childhood teachers’ every day, real life experiences for current ECE assessment practices from a bottom up perspective using experienced early childhood teachers as the data source. The research investigated the ways teachers collected data for assessment purposes, the tools they used to document the information, the ways they utilised the assessment data from Learning Stories, and the challenges they were faced with during the process. The study invited participants from different types of centres from different areas of New Zealand. Five highly experienced early childhood teachers participated in the research from kindergartens and privately owned early learning centres. The study, which was grounded in a constructivist-interpretive paradigm, applied a phenomenological approach. The research utilised semi structured interviews as the main data collection method of a phenomenological research.
The findings indicated that assessment information from Learning Stories can be utilised in numerous ways. The study revealed interesting practical ideas of every day assessment practices for the profession. The research highlighted the complexity of the current assessment approach and the sophisticated nature of the Learning Story writing process. Teachers’ high level of data literacy skills, thorough understanding of data collection, documentation and data analysis processes were shown as fundamental factors in an effective assessment practice. The documentation and information sharing about children’s learning and behaviour difficulties through Learning Stories were identified as a problematic area of assessment information utilisation. Teachers’ Learning Story writing competencies and better utilisation of assessment information from Learning Stories for children with special learning needs were suggested to be avenues for further investigation in future research.

year: 2021

title: Dairy Effluent Steroidal Hormones Characteristics and Treatment by Anaerobic Digestion (Covered Anaerobic Pond) and Biochar

authors: Rachmani, Asaf

subjects: Dairy effluent treatment system

abstract: Endocrine disrupting compounds such as estrogenic steroid hormones (ESHs) are problematic when present in waterways in terms of both the health of the ecosystem and downstream water treatment. Dairy farms are some of the largest contributors to ESHs in the environment. This study focused on a farm located in the Waikato region, New Zealand, which housed 550, primarily grass-fed dairy cows. The farm included a rotary milking shed, feed pad, sump, covered anaerobic pond and storage pond, with effluent and sludge being applied to land. In this study concentrations of the conjugated and unconjugated ESHs, 17α-estradiol (17α-E2), 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) and estrone (E1), in both dissolved and solid phases of dairy shed effluent, and covered anaerobic pond sludge and effluent, were measured from grab samples over a period of nine months. These were used to investigate seasonal variation and performance of the covered anaerobic pond in removing the ESHs and their conversion from one form into another. Previously published methods of ESH analysis were validated and adapted for ESH analysis in dissolved and solid phases, and a new enzymatic method for conjugate ESH analysis was tested and used. In addition, the effect of dosing the effluent with biochar was examined on ESH removal. A covered anaerobic pond model was developed to examine the efficacy of a dairy farm-based covered anaerobic pond treatment system to settle, transform, absorb and remove ESHs. The model was calibrated utilising ESH measurements and used to examine the effect of biochar addition and operational parameters on ESH removal. 

Overall ESH concentrations in the covered anaerobic pond influent, sludge and effluent were 4,171 ng/L, 93,601 ng/L and 4,346 ng/L respectively. ESH concentrations peaked in dairy shed effluent during April and July, which correlated with the late pregnancy and calving periods on the farm. The mean organic carbon normalised adsorption coefficient (Koc) for ESHs in the samples from the pond treatment system ranged between 3.06 mL/g to 3.78 mL/g, comparable with published values in soil and wastewater sludge. Up to 99% of the total mass of ESHs in the sludge and between 70-80 % in influent and effluent were retained in the solids phase. The predominant ESH in the influent samples was 17α-E2 (2,869 ng/L), but E1 predominated in the sludge (85,414 ng/L) and in the effluent (3,140 ng/L). The dissolved and solid phases of dairy shed effluent contained the highest relative proportions of conjugated ESHs with means of 25.1 % and 3.38 % respectively and corresponding mean concentrations of 113 ng/L and 137 ng/L. In contrast, sludge and effluent samples (dissolved and solid phases) from the covered anaerobic pond contained smaller relative proportions of conjugated ESHs, 0.90 % and 1.21 %, and 7.17 % and 0.43 % respectively and corresponding mean concentrations of 6.65 ng/L and 967 ng/L, and 52.5 ng/L and 19.7 ng/L respectively. These results demonstrate the importance of considering the solid fraction within effluent treatment systems when analysing ESHs, otherwise estrogenic load can be greatly underestimated. The conjugated ESHs were present in both the dissolved and solid phases of all samples collected, indicating that conjugated ESHs are persistent and can pass through anaerobic treatment systems contributing to estrogenic load once applied to pasture, and potentially leach into groundwater or migrate to nearby surface waters. Overall anaerobic treatment of dairy waste decreased the contribution of 17α-E2 and 17-E2 while increasing that of E1, however, 17-E2 was the main contributor to total estrogenicity.

The calibration of the model developed provided a good fit with experimental data with an R2 of 0.98-0.99. Addition of biochar into dairy shed effluent and the model covered anaerobic pond system resulted in an 89 % reduction of free ESHs but had a minimal impact on conjugated ESH. Addition of biochar increased the solid phase ESH concentration by 19 % settling out into the sludge and reducing overall estrogenic load in the effluent. Operational factors such as higher influent flow rates and sludge accumulation negatively impacted the covered anaerobic pond ESH removal performance. Sludge accumulation and short-circuiting caused by infrequent removal and shallow depth of the covered anaerobic pond system resulted in mixing of fresh influent with the upper layer of pond sludge, leading to decreased removal efficiency. To enhance the covered anaerobic pond system's performance, increasing the retention time and reducing sludge carry over by increasing pond volume and depth, resulted in ESH removal increasing to 67.9 % (no biochar) and 73.0 % (with biochar), and estrogenicity reduction improving to 70.4 % (no biochar) and 73.5 % (with biochar).

text: Dairy Effluent Steroidal Hormones Characteristics and Treatment by Anaerobic Digestion (Covered Anaerobic Pond) and Biochar Endocrine disrupting compounds such as estrogenic steroid hormones (ESHs) are problematic when present in waterways in terms of both the health of the ecosystem and downstream water treatment. Dairy farms are some of the largest contributors to ESHs in the environment. This study focused on a farm located in the Waikato region, New Zealand, which housed 550, primarily grass-fed dairy cows. The farm included a rotary milking shed, feed pad, sump, covered anaerobic pond and storage pond, with effluent and sludge being applied to land. In this study concentrations of the conjugated and unconjugated ESHs, 17α-estradiol (17α-E2), 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) and estrone (E1), in both dissolved and solid phases of dairy shed effluent, and covered anaerobic pond sludge and effluent, were measured from grab samples over a period of nine months. These were used to investigate seasonal variation and performance of the covered anaerobic pond in removing the ESHs and their conversion from one form into another. Previously published methods of ESH analysis were validated and adapted for ESH analysis in dissolved and solid phases, and a new enzymatic method for conjugate ESH analysis was tested and used. In addition, the effect of dosing the effluent with biochar was examined on ESH removal. A covered anaerobic pond model was developed to examine the efficacy of a dairy farm-based covered anaerobic pond treatment system to settle, transform, absorb and remove ESHs. The model was calibrated utilising ESH measurements and used to examine the effect of biochar addition and operational parameters on ESH removal. 

Overall ESH concentrations in the covered anaerobic pond influent, sludge and effluent were 4,171 ng/L, 93,601 ng/L and 4,346 ng/L respectively. ESH concentrations peaked in dairy shed effluent during April and July, which correlated with the late pregnancy and calving periods on the farm. The mean organic carbon normalised adsorption coefficient (Koc) for ESHs in the samples from the pond treatment system ranged between 3.06 mL/g to 3.78 mL/g, comparable with published values in soil and wastewater sludge. Up to 99% of the total mass of ESHs in the sludge and between 70-80 % in influent and effluent were retained in the solids phase. The predominant ESH in the influent samples was 17α-E2 (2,869 ng/L), but E1 predominated in the sludge (85,414 ng/L) and in the effluent (3,140 ng/L). The dissolved and solid phases of dairy shed effluent contained the highest relative proportions of conjugated ESHs with means of 25.1 % and 3.38 % respectively and corresponding mean concentrations of 113 ng/L and 137 ng/L. In contrast, sludge and effluent samples (dissolved and solid phases) from the covered anaerobic pond contained smaller relative proportions of conjugated ESHs, 0.90 % and 1.21 %, and 7.17 % and 0.43 % respectively and corresponding mean concentrations of 6.65 ng/L and 967 ng/L, and 52.5 ng/L and 19.7 ng/L respectively. These results demonstrate the importance of considering the solid fraction within effluent treatment systems when analysing ESHs, otherwise estrogenic load can be greatly underestimated. The conjugated ESHs were present in both the dissolved and solid phases of all samples collected, indicating that conjugated ESHs are persistent and can pass through anaerobic treatment systems contributing to estrogenic load once applied to pasture, and potentially leach into groundwater or migrate to nearby surface waters. Overall anaerobic treatment of dairy waste decreased the contribution of 17α-E2 and 17-E2 while increasing that of E1, however, 17-E2 was the main contributor to total estrogenicity.

The calibration of the model developed provided a good fit with experimental data with an R2 of 0.98-0.99. Addition of biochar into dairy shed effluent and the model covered anaerobic pond system resulted in an 89 % reduction of free ESHs but had a minimal impact on conjugated ESH. Addition of biochar increased the solid phase ESH concentration by 19 % settling out into the sludge and reducing overall estrogenic load in the effluent. Operational factors such as higher influent flow rates and sludge accumulation negatively impacted the covered anaerobic pond ESH removal performance. Sludge accumulation and short-circuiting caused by infrequent removal and shallow depth of the covered anaerobic pond system resulted in mixing of fresh influent with the upper layer of pond sludge, leading to decreased removal efficiency. To enhance the covered anaerobic pond system's performance, increasing the retention time and reducing sludge carry over by increasing pond volume and depth, resulted in ESH removal increasing to 67.9 % (no biochar) and 73.0 % (with biochar), and estrogenicity reduction improving to 70.4 % (no biochar) and 73.5 % (with biochar).

year: 2024

title: Adolescent Māori mothers experiences with social support during pregnancy, birth and motherhood and their participation in education

authors: Rawiri, Casey

subjects: social support

abstract: The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of social support in helping
adolescent Māori mothers cope with pregnancy, birth and motherhood, with a
particular emphasis on its role in enabling them to continue at school. The aim of this
research is to understand and make sense of these experiences and to perhaps identify
gaps within an individual's social network. The analysis and methodology of the
research was underpinned by a community psychology framework.
Nine interviews were conducted with young Māori women who had become pregnant
and continued with their pregnancy, all before the age of 20. The in depth interviews
included questions focusing on the young women learning of pregnancy, the
pregnancy, birth, caring for their child and their experiences with education and future
plans.
Negative experiences were usually those which involved unsupportive people.
Positive interactions were those where support, of all types, was offered and useful to
my participants and their children. Education was highlighted as the most effective
way of providing a better life for adolescent mothers and their children.
The research highlights the importance of social support and the continuation of
education. Combining the efforts of positive social networks and social support
services can improve the lives of adolescent Māori mothers and their children.

text: Adolescent Māori mothers experiences with social support during pregnancy, birth and motherhood and their participation in education The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of social support in helping
adolescent Māori mothers cope with pregnancy, birth and motherhood, with a
particular emphasis on its role in enabling them to continue at school. The aim of this
research is to understand and make sense of these experiences and to perhaps identify
gaps within an individual's social network. The analysis and methodology of the
research was underpinned by a community psychology framework.
Nine interviews were conducted with young Māori women who had become pregnant
and continued with their pregnancy, all before the age of 20. The in depth interviews
included questions focusing on the young women learning of pregnancy, the
pregnancy, birth, caring for their child and their experiences with education and future
plans.
Negative experiences were usually those which involved unsupportive people.
Positive interactions were those where support, of all types, was offered and useful to
my participants and their children. Education was highlighted as the most effective
way of providing a better life for adolescent mothers and their children.
The research highlights the importance of social support and the continuation of
education. Combining the efforts of positive social networks and social support
services can improve the lives of adolescent Māori mothers and their children.

year: 2007