title: More than talk and writing: Exploring the multimodal nature of classroom interactions

authors: Cowie, Bronwen

abstract: One goal of the Classroom InSiTE project (Cowie, Moreland, Jones, & Otrel-Cass, 2008)1 was to enhance classroom interactions as part of teacher assessment for learning. Research and development for assessment for learning has tended to focus on the role of talk and the role of written feedback. Less attention has been paid to the other modes that people use in everyday communication such as the role of gesture, drawing, visual images, and action. Students, more now than ever before, live in a multimodal world: websites, mobile technologies and even books and magazines are sites of “complex hybrids and fusions of visual and verbal meaning making resources” (Lemke, 2004, p. 42). Research evidence is accumulating as to the key role for diagrams, pictures, and other nonlinguistic representations in illuminating curriculum content, and supporting the achievement of diverse learners (Alton-Lee, 2003).
Classroom studies in science and technology education are only just beginning to explore how teachers and students use multiple modes to develop and express ideas and skills. In science education, for example, Kress, Jewitt, Ogborn, and Tsatsarelius (2001) provide a detailed account of how a science teacher used gestures, drawings, science diagrams, a three-dimensional model, and images to demonstrate to students the circulation of blood. In this article we provide evidence from the InSiTE study that effective teacher–student interaction utilises multiple modes to express ideas and enhance student learning.

text: More than talk and writing: Exploring the multimodal nature of classroom interactions One goal of the Classroom InSiTE project (Cowie, Moreland, Jones, & Otrel-Cass, 2008)1 was to enhance classroom interactions as part of teacher assessment for learning. Research and development for assessment for learning has tended to focus on the role of talk and the role of written feedback. Less attention has been paid to the other modes that people use in everyday communication such as the role of gesture, drawing, visual images, and action. Students, more now than ever before, live in a multimodal world: websites, mobile technologies and even books and magazines are sites of “complex hybrids and fusions of visual and verbal meaning making resources” (Lemke, 2004, p. 42). Research evidence is accumulating as to the key role for diagrams, pictures, and other nonlinguistic representations in illuminating curriculum content, and supporting the achievement of diverse learners (Alton-Lee, 2003).
Classroom studies in science and technology education are only just beginning to explore how teachers and students use multiple modes to develop and express ideas and skills. In science education, for example, Kress, Jewitt, Ogborn, and Tsatsarelius (2001) provide a detailed account of how a science teacher used gestures, drawings, science diagrams, a three-dimensional model, and images to demonstrate to students the circulation of blood. In this article we provide evidence from the InSiTE study that effective teacher–student interaction utilises multiple modes to express ideas and enhance student learning.

year: 2008

title: Cost and Performance Comparison of a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Plant and a Bardenpho Plant for Wastewater Treatment

authors: Rachmani, Asaf

abstract: Rotorua District Council constructed a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system to work in parallel with the existing Bardenpho system, to improve the overall capacity and removal efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant. The aim of this research was to examine and compare the performance of the MBR and the Bardenpho systems, as well as the operating costs and the net present value. The MBR showed a higher removal rate of TKN, TSS, COD, DRP and organic nitrogen than the Bardenpho system, with average removal efficiencies of 94.52%, 99.05%, 94.04%, 67.43% and 92.75% respectively. These removal rates were shown to be 0.62%, 15.47%, 8.51%, 5.72% and14.74 % better than the Bardenpho system. Furthermore, the MBR removal rate remained stable over a range of flows, while the Bardenpho removal rate fluctuated with a change in flow. The total energy consumption of the treated wastewater in the MBR and the Bardenpho systems were 0.53 kWh/m3 and 0.25 kWh/m3 respectively. Major contributors to the total operational costs were the disposal cost of sludge, the cost of ethanol and aeration. In the MBR, the cost percentage of sludge disposal was 22.11%, and the total aeration cost was 20.25%, while the cost of disposal of sludge was 45.15% and aeration 7.22% in the Bardenpho. The capital cost to construct the MBR and the Bardenpho systems was calculated to be similar when the cost of land is not taken into account, however, the size of the Bardenpho required to treat the same volume of wastewater is found to be 2.2 times bigger than a MBR system. It was concluded that from a cost point of view, the Bardenpho system is more economical; however, the low cost of running the Bardenpho comes with lower removal efficiencies in comparison to the MBR.

text: Cost and Performance Comparison of a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Plant and a Bardenpho Plant for Wastewater Treatment Rotorua District Council constructed a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system to work in parallel with the existing Bardenpho system, to improve the overall capacity and removal efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant. The aim of this research was to examine and compare the performance of the MBR and the Bardenpho systems, as well as the operating costs and the net present value. The MBR showed a higher removal rate of TKN, TSS, COD, DRP and organic nitrogen than the Bardenpho system, with average removal efficiencies of 94.52%, 99.05%, 94.04%, 67.43% and 92.75% respectively. These removal rates were shown to be 0.62%, 15.47%, 8.51%, 5.72% and14.74 % better than the Bardenpho system. Furthermore, the MBR removal rate remained stable over a range of flows, while the Bardenpho removal rate fluctuated with a change in flow. The total energy consumption of the treated wastewater in the MBR and the Bardenpho systems were 0.53 kWh/m3 and 0.25 kWh/m3 respectively. Major contributors to the total operational costs were the disposal cost of sludge, the cost of ethanol and aeration. In the MBR, the cost percentage of sludge disposal was 22.11%, and the total aeration cost was 20.25%, while the cost of disposal of sludge was 45.15% and aeration 7.22% in the Bardenpho. The capital cost to construct the MBR and the Bardenpho systems was calculated to be similar when the cost of land is not taken into account, however, the size of the Bardenpho required to treat the same volume of wastewater is found to be 2.2 times bigger than a MBR system. It was concluded that from a cost point of view, the Bardenpho system is more economical; however, the low cost of running the Bardenpho comes with lower removal efficiencies in comparison to the MBR.

year: 2013

title: Proposing an indigenous power of veto in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Te Aho, Linda

abstract: Tom Fookes was an architect of New Zealand's Resource Management Act passed in 1991 (RMA). When interviewed about his life's work, Tom responded that he had sought to create a 'fair, integrated consideration of the decisions and policy to do with the social, economic and environmental conditions of our people'. I am told that he worked hard to provide a fair opportunity for all people to have a voice in decisions that affect them and places they care about. Processes were included in the RMA to allow this to occur, with particular provisions for a distinctive Maori voice. Because of these provisions, and the Act's lodestar of sustainable resource management, the RMA was promoted as one of the 'world's finest national environmental policies'.

text: Proposing an indigenous power of veto in Aotearoa New Zealand Tom Fookes was an architect of New Zealand's Resource Management Act passed in 1991 (RMA). When interviewed about his life's work, Tom responded that he had sought to create a 'fair, integrated consideration of the decisions and policy to do with the social, economic and environmental conditions of our people'. I am told that he worked hard to provide a fair opportunity for all people to have a voice in decisions that affect them and places they care about. Processes were included in the RMA to allow this to occur, with particular provisions for a distinctive Maori voice. Because of these provisions, and the Act's lodestar of sustainable resource management, the RMA was promoted as one of the 'world's finest national environmental policies'.

year: 2015