Perspectives in Australian Global Education and Geography/Mätauranga Matawhenua

Abstract:  In teaching and learning geography and global education in Australia, understanding a range of perspectives is important because content and practice are inextricably linked. Currently both geography and global education promote a 'perspectives' curricula approach requiring effective implementation of a range of perspectives theories such as positivism, multiculturalism, deep environmentalism, feminism and globalism. This paper outlines the philosophical basis of perspectivism, discusses some of the major perspectives theories and their backgrounds, and describes how they are applied in teaching geography and global education with particular reference to the Australian (principally New South Wales) and New Zealand curricula. It concludes with some comments on the current classroom reality of the 'perspectives' curricula approach.     

Determinants of utilisation of health services by women in rural and urban areas in Ghana

The paper examines the factors that influence the utilisation of health services by women in the rural and urban areas in Ghana. The systematic sampling procedure was used to draw the sample from women aged 18 and above with diverse backgrounds from Ahafo-Ano South district, representing the rural districts and Kumasi metropolis, representing the urban districts. The research instruments used for data collection were the questionnaire and formal interviews. Multiple regression was the main tool for analysis. The research reveals that the key factors that impact significantly on the utilisation of health services by women in the Ahafo-Ano South district are, distance, income and family size (number of children) while for Kumasi metropolis they are education, distance and marital status. Whereas it is clear that distance is a common problem facing women in both rural and urban areas in Ghana in the utilisation of health services, marital status and number of children have emerged as contrasting factors influencing utilisation of health services by women in rural and urban Ghana. Recommendations to improve utilisation include the location of maternal and child health services within easy reach in the rural areas, intensification of family planning education in the rural areas, the empowerment of women through access to formal education and vocational training for income generation activities and the full implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). A model of utilisation of health services by women in the rural and urban areas has emerged.     

高校招生规模、政府投入和学费标准的三维动力学模型及政府调控

近年来，随着中国高等教育招生规模的急剧扩大，高等教育中出现了许多为社会所关注的热点问题，数学建模有助于解决有关的热点问题和引导政府进行宏观调控。作者在适当的假设下，系统地建立了关于高校招生规模、政府生均经费投入与学费标准之间的3个三维非线性微分方程动力学模型。给出每个模型平衡点的稳定性条件，并通过对模型进行极值分析，得到了政府确定高校的招生基数的原则和高校招生规模的估计。其主要结果为政府进行宏观调控决策提供了相应的理论依据。     

《地理信息系统》课程的教学方法改革与探讨

互动式教学方法具有提高课堂教学效果、培养学生创新性思维能力的优点。通过对互动式教学应用现状的分析,结合地理信息系统的学科特征,探讨了互动式教学的内涵、特征和方法,提出了具体的实施方案和步骤,并对教学效果进行了考核评价。地理信息系统互动式教学实践表明,该教学模式能激发学生学习兴趣,有效提高教学效果,应当进一步完善推广。     

Measuring Tsunami Preparedness in Coastal Washington,United States

A survey of over 300 residents and visitors (non-residents) perceptions of tsunami hazards was carried out along the west coast of Washington State during August and September 2001. The study quantified respondents preparedness to deal with tsunami hazards. Despite success in disseminating hazard information, levels of preparedness were recorded at low to moderate levels. This finding is discussed in regard to the way in which people interpret hazard information and its implications for the process of adjustment adoption or preparedness. These data are also used to define strategies for enhancing preparedness. Strategies involve maintaining and enhancing hazard knowledge and risk perception, promoting the development of preparatory intentions, and facilitating the conversion of these intentions into sustained preparedness. A second phase of work began in February 2003, consisting of a series of focus groups which examined beliefs regarding preparedness and warnings, and a school survey. Preliminary findings of this work are presented.     

科教兴国战略中的财政金融政策传导模型

随着市场经济体制的建立，中央政府宏观调控能力的提高，财政金融政策将更好地作用于科技与教育，促进科教兴国战略的实施。市场规律与科技教育规律约束下的财政金融政策利用市场机制传导模型的建立，运用数学模型来阐述了财政金融政策通过市场机制作用于科技教育的机理。     

Women and the access to knowledge and new technologies: The case of Pisa

Emphasis has been given to a number of aspects which characterise technological development in today's economic systems and which have an impact on the working environment and on gender differences. Technological change is leading to a strong divide between knowledge “producers” and “users”. The possibility of access to one or both knowledge systems indicates the extent of women's participation in the economic and spatial transformations brought about by the new technologies. This research aims to analyse the development of new technologies and the presence of the female workforce in the field of new knowledge generation, and also to verify gender-related conditions in learning and using new technologies. In particular, an analysis has been carried out of the empirical case study of Pisa, a point of reference for comparisons with other Italian and European cases. The research focuses on: the examination of women's capabilities in the field of new technologies through the analysis of University training courses; the analysis of women's presence and status among the university staff, especially in science and technology; a detailed survey of female employment in innovative sectors. The results of the research emphasise the gender perspectives of inclusion — as regards the application of technologies — and exclusion — as regards the generation of knowledge — of women in or from new technologies. At the same time, the research stresses the growth of women's roles in this sector during recent years and, by reconstructing life histories, underlines the conditions and difficulties that have been met by women entering these new types of employment. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

高师地理教法课程改革探讨

随着我国基础教育课程改革的全面展开，高师教法课也面临许多新问题。因此，高师教法课改革势在必行。本文认为高师教法课应在教学理念、教学价值观、学生观、教学艺术、教学手段等方面进行相应变革，以适应日益深入的新一轮中小学课程改革。     

Maximising Multi-Stakeholder Participation in Government and Community Volcanic Hazard Management Programs; A Case Study from Savo, Solomon Islands

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods and philosophies were trialed in a volcanic risk management planning and awareness activity for Savo Island, a historically highly destructive volcano in the Solomon Islands. Through a combination of methods we tried to combine the roles of facilitators and educators, and to involve the input of all stakeholders (from community to national government) in the process of volcanic risk management. The PRA approach was an ideal way to address the fundamental differences in outlook, education, needs, and roles of individuals and groups involved or affected. It was also an important catalyst to Savo island- or community-based planning initiatives, which are arguably the most important step toward the preparedness of the 2500 inhabitants of the island for any future destructive volcanic activity. We adapted almost every tenet of the PRA philosophy through inexperience, self-perceived importance and desire to combine both scientific and traditional views for Savo volcanic risk management planning. Nevertheless, what emerged from our experiences was an idea of how fundamentally well suited many PRA approaches are to initiating dialogue within diverse stakeholder groups, and deriving combined scientific/geologic and local/community risk assessments and mitigation action plans. The main challenge remaining includes increasing the involvement or voice of less powerful community members (women, youth, non-landowners) in risk management decision-making in such male-dominated hierarchical societies.     

Excavating geography's hidden spaces

This paper considers alternative ways to approach teaching and researching the history and philosophy of geography. While exploring the geography department as a previously marginalized space in accounts of disciplinary change, three different types of source are identified: first, less formal kinds of documentation; second, material sites; and third, a bodily archive of action, gesture and movement. In combination, these are shown to open up new possibilities for localized, grass–roots versions of geography's pasts and presents.