Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Biotechnology Study and teaching Victoria'

Agriculture, industry and medicine are being altered by new biological technologies. Today's students are the citizens who will make decisions about associated ethical issues. They need to have the knowledge that will enable them to make informed choices. Hence biotechnology has an important place in science education. The aims of the research were to: 1/describe the state of biotechnology teaching in NSW; 2/determine whether teachers in NSW do not teach biotechnology because they do not have the necessary knowledge and experience; 3/identify other reasons why NSW teachers choose not to teach biotechnology; 4/describe problems encountered in teaching biotechnology in NSW; 5/suggest ways in which the problems encountered in the teaching of biotechnology can be overcome. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used in a complementary way to investigate these aims. In a sample of teachers surveyed, many reported that they chose not to teach biotechnology because they did not have adequate knowledge and experience. Other obstacles were identified. These were: 1/ the difficulty of the subject matter; 2/ the lack of practical work; 3/ lack of a program for biotechnology in junior science. The results of this trial suggested that a biotechnology unit should be developed in collaboration with the teacher and that time needs to be made available for school based program development.
Master of Education (Hons)

Biotechnology is one of the most rapidly growing industries of the 21st Century and governments worldwide have invested significant funds to support research and development in this area. The belief that the commercialisation of biotechnology will offer significant social and economic benefits to the communities investing in this industry, however, is not a universally accepted view. Surveys of attitudes towards biotechnology in a number of countries have indicated that there are widespread concerns about the risks presented by the industry and the application of biotechnology products (Smith, 2001). These public concerns have resulted in a stronger focus being placed on the mechanisms by which biotechnology is communicated with non-scientists (Gregory, 2003).ln particular, improving the level of scientists' participation in public engagement has been afforded high priority (FASTS, 1999). Yet despite increasing calls for scientists to become more involved in this area, the perception that scientists are unwilling or unable to communicate persists (Stocklmayer, Gore, & Bryant, 2001). In response, the provision of quality science communication training for scientists and science students has been recommended (Royal Society, 2006b). This training should provide a fundamental support for improving scientists' ability to act as civic scientists by engaging with the public. Using an Australian biotechnology degree program as a case study, this doctoral study examines how biotechnology education at the tertiary university level prepares science graduates for a civic science role. Qualitative and quantitative data were generated from 343 questionnaires and 36 interviews of key stakeholders in the chosen biotechnology program, including undergraduate and doctoral students, lecturers, postgraduate supervisors, and early-career biotechnologists recently graduated from the program. Additional interview data were also obtained from 10 science communicators and science communication lecturers.

The aim of the research is to investigate factors that may explain success in elementary computer programming at the tertiary level. The first phase of the research included the identification of possible explanatory factors through a literature review, a survey of students studying introductory computing, a focus-group session with teachers of computer programming and interviews with programming students. The second phase of the research that was called the main study, involved testing the identified factors. Two different groups of programming students - one group majoring in business computing and another majoring in computer science - completed a survey questionnaire. The findings of the research are as follows. Gender is of little significance for business students but there is an adverse gender penalty for females in computer science. Secondary school assessment is inversely related to outcomes in business computing but directly influences outcomes in the first programming unit in the computer science course. As in prior research, previous knowledge and experience were demonstrated to matter, A range of other variables was found to be of little importance. The research suggests that different problem-solving techniques might be relevant in business compared with those of use in computer science.

Fifty years ago there were no stored-program electronic computers in the world. Even thirty years ago a computer was something that few organisations could afford, and few people could use. Suddenly, in the 1960s and 70s, everything changed and computers began to become accessible. Today* the need for education in Business Computing is generally acknowledged, with each of Victoria's seven universities offering courses of this type. What happened to promote the extremely rapid adoption of such courses is the subject of this thesis. I will argue that although Computer Science began in Australia's universities of the 1950s, courses in Business Computing commenced in the 1960s due to the requirement of the Commonwealth Government for computing professionals to fulfil its growing administrative needs. The Commonwealth developed Programmer-in-Training courses were later devolved to the new Colleges of Advanced Education. The movement of several key figures from the Commonwealth Public Service to take up positions in Victorian CAEs was significant, and the courses they subsequently developed became the model for many future courses in Business Computing. The reluctance of the universities to become involved in what they saw as little more than vocational training, opened the way for the CAEs to develop this curriculum area.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg March 2015
This research was motivated by the necessity for Biotechnology education in the General Education and Training (GET) phase as biotechnology influences our daily lives in almost every way. Our human population is continually increasing and there is a need for increased food security to sustain the larger population. Hence technological advancement in the medical, agricultural and commercial sectors are taking place every day. Therefore, biotechnology education is necessary at an early age in order for learners to make an informed decision about the different products that are available in the market. This qualitative study aimed to identify the knowledge of and attitude towards biotechnology among grade 9 learners. This study was conducted in two South African schools in the Gauteng province. A total of 360 learners participated in the study and 25 learners from each school were selected as the sample for the study. Data was gathered using a questionnaire which consisted of closed ended and open ended questions based on knowledge and attitudes. The data analysis was essentially qualitative as it involved interpretation of the learners’ response in order to gain further understanding and insight. However, part of the questionnaire i.e. question 2 was quantitative. The data analysis revealed that grade 9 learners do indeed have knowledge about biotechnology. However, some of the knowledge they have, has many misconceptions i.e. in terms of genetic modification, inserting or removing genes and this largely due to a lack of formal teaching, as it is not a requirement in the grade 9 Natural Science curriculum. This information is useful for teachers teaching Natural Science and for teachers teaching Life Sciences to grade 10, 11 and 12, as well as curriculum developers.

Open Innovation (OI) is a new paradigm in innovation suitable for organisations characterised by Research and Development (R&D), and for organisations that are global and operating in high- technology industries. Although exceedingly relevant to Australian businesses due to the location challenge faced by Australia, to date OI is only sparsely researched in the Australian context. The majority of research published on OI is in the European or American context. This qualitative case study therefore, investigated OI in the Victorian Biotechnology Industry, which meets the characteristics of organisations suitable for OI. The aim of this research is to understand the micro-foundations of OI and its implications from individual managers’ perspective in Biotechnology organisations; and to explore how organisations and individuals can manage these implications. The results of this study show how the implications of OI can be managed at an individual level and also at, the organisational level without heavy investment or major changes. Applying the lens of Knowledge Based Theory of the firm, this research examines the perspectives of various stakeholders on OI in the Biotechnology industry. This research explored individual managers’ interpretation of the OI phenomenon based on their overall experience of OI in their organisations. The interpretivist paradigm enabled an understanding into the reality of the phenomenon as seen by the practitioners of OI. It allowed the Researcher to search for patterns of meaning while describing meanings that the managers assigned to OI; their view of the implications of being open for innovation, and examining how OI was managed in their organisations. The data for this study was collected based on the considerations of theoretical saturation which was achieved from eight Biotechnology organisations in the state of Victoria in Australia. A total of twenty interviews were conducted with ten participants from the eight Biotechnology organisations. In addition, for triangulation, six interviews with five participants from: a Contract Research Organisation (CRO), a premier Australian Research Institute (RI), and an Industry Body (IB) for the Biotechnology industry were conducted. By including a variety of stakeholders from the industry this research is able to present a holistic picture of OI in the Victorian Biotechnology industry. Although a small sample, saturation of information was reached from the rich data that emanated from the semi-structured interviews, analysis of documents collected, and from information posted on websites. The data set was so rich that issues of validity and reliability were easily justified from the analysed data. Literature on OI has suggested that one of the implications of OI is that it requires considerable changes in the policies, processes and systems of organisations. The findings of this research suggest that the nature of the Biotechnology industry is such that it is knowledge intensive, participates in R&D, is technology based, and adopts OI without much effort in change management. OI was viewed as ingrained in the nature of scientific work and not an entirely novel phenomenon within the Biotechnology industry in Victoria. The Biotechnology firms investigated did not have to incorporate any major changes to realise OI, nor required implementing any specific systems, processes or procedures for the management of OI. Consequently, the changes experienced by individuals in these organisations for OI were minimal. The findings of this research, vary from earlier studies on OI in the American and European context that suggest that there are considerable implications due to the ‘not-invented-here’ syndrome. This research instead suggests that there are other implications that need more attention. For the Biotechnology organisations in this research OI promoted greater learning, improved staff morale and more team work. OI also required individuals to balance diverse stakeholder demands, learn better time management and communication, be more open to change as well as overcome ego, fear and distrust while attempting to form external partnerships. Additionally, these research findings suggest that entrepreneurial thinking, team work and cross-disciplinary knowledge are major enablers for OI in organisations. The findings on the implications of OI in terms of the benefits and challenges highlight the dichotomy of saving time and money due to OI while also facing the challenge of risking time and money when working with external partners. To realise the benefits of OI these organisations had to harness the advantages of opposing forces such as: revealing and being open, efficiency and innovation, hierarchy and networks, teamwork and individual accountability, maintaining cost control and ensuring quality, as well as a centralised vision with decentralised autonomy. For individuals in the Biotechnology organisations this meant dealing with these paradoxes. The findings highlight that at an individual level OI can lead to a struggle to manage timelines and resource constraints while striving for quality; learning to balance between disclosure and discretion when interacting with external partners; retrieving internal knowledge while gaining new knowledge; working collaboratively internally and externally while being individually responsible. The findings of this study suggest that OI increasingly requires knowledge exchange while contending with dualities and paradox at both individual and organisational level. Importantly this research highlights that Organisational Fluidity and Agility enables balancing and managing these dualities and paradox. The characteristics of Organisational Fluidity and Agility such as: porous boundaries, fluidity in processes and systems, resource mobility and temporary project teams are useful for OI as determined from the Biotechnology organisations. As these organisations were also Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are generally known to be responsive and flexible, it is deemed that the overall agility and fluidity of these organisations further provided on-going support for OI. This research confirms that OI was facilitated in these Biotechnology SMEs due to their Organisational Fluidity and Agility at an individual and organisational level. At the individual level, Organisational Fluidity and Agility was supported through the use of flexible processes, systems, roles and responsibilities. This allowed employees to better handle the dual demands placed on their time, knowledge and skills for OI. The contribution this study makes is that OI is closely linked to Organisational Agility and Fluidity, both at the individual and organisational levels. Organisations do not necessarily need to undergo major transformation to gain the benefits of OI. The characteristics of agile and flexible organisations (such as: porous boundaries, fluidity in processes & systems, resource mobility and temporary project teams) appear to facilitate OI in the Biotechnology industry. At the individual level, individuals in Biotechnology SMEs are orientated towards collaboration (internally and externally) due to their scientific training and overall nature of knowledge intensive drug development process. Additionally, the small size and resource constraints of these Biotechnology organisations is the reason for individuals to adopt a more collaborative attitude towards innovation to stay ahead of competition. However, these findings are from one industry compromising of SMEs. Future research is required to explore these findings in other industries.

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
自然科學教育學系碩士班
94
Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the cognition and teaching perspective towards biotechnology issues of elementary science teacher in Taipei. This study utilizes “The Cognition and Teaching Perspective towards Biotechnology Issues” questionnaire developed by researcher, complete with built- up validity of content and the reliability of internal quality (valued at 0.80), aided by semi-structure interviews on teaching perspective. The results are summarized as follows: 1.With averaged test score of pre-service and in-service science teachers below 60, it demonstrates insufficiency regarding cognition of biotechnology issues. 2.As for variable on elementary science teacher background: (1) There is a significant difference regarding level of education. However, gender, science teaching experience or seniority doesn’t seem to suggest much of a difference. (2) On subject background, teacher with background in Molecular Biology is bound to have more cognition. 3.On teaching perspective, the opinion of in-service elementary science teachers includes : (1) Biotechnology issues should be incorporated into Natural Science instruction. (2) Everyday life stands as the best learning opportunity. (3) Mass media is the primary source of information. (4)“Small-group Co-operative Learning” has been the predominant favor on teaching strategy. (5) Evaluation is primarily based on written or oral reports. 4.Difficulty confronted by Elementary science teachers includes: (1) Insufficient teaching hours and difficulty in collecting teaching materials. (2) The lacking of biotechnology knowledge and relevant teaching skills would adversely impact the confidence as well as the willingness of teacher. Finally, recommendations are as follows: 1.Enlist the help of experts on biology and science education in developing lower-class teaching material of biotechnology issues. 2.Incorporate biotechnology issues into elementary school curriculum. This will boost the willingness to teach and relieve teachers’ workload. 3.Provide biotechnology courses in pre-service teacher training institution, to reinforce their cognition of related issues. Key words: Biotechnology Issues, Cognition Test, and Teaching Perspective

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2013
Biotechnology as a science has become increasingly more important because of what it has to offer in various fields. These include the development of medicines for human and animal health; improved crop agriculture for enhancing food security; and environmental sustainability, all of which are of the utmost importance, not only globally, but also in southern Africa. Through a participatory and collaborative process of biotechnology capacity development at the Universities of Namibia (UNAM) and the Witwatersrand (WITS) in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, it was identified that science curricula need to take cognizance of ‘worldview’ and the impact this may have in the context of teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential barriers, or factors contributing, to learning in the two southern African universities in the context of the biotechnology curriculum. The study focused on how African epistemologies should be taken into consideration to facilitate capacity development in biotechnology at the tertiary education level, and in so doing, facilitate the development of a culturally sensitive, generic biotechnology curriculum which reaches across both literal and cultural borders and is relevant to these countries. The methodology of phenomenography was used in this case study and it resulted in two categories of description that formed the outcome space of the experience of biotechnology. These categories of description included a theoretical and practical perspective and a worldview perspective. This study has confirmed that worldview differences can lead to barriers to learning in biotechnology. Furthermore, theoretical and practical concepts included in the curriculum need to be carefully considered to make the curriculum responsive to African needs in order to provide for epistemological access, and so that the inherent cross-cultural experience between the learners’ life-world and biotechnology is recognized. The value of this study is affirmation that formulation, development, teaching and learning of a biotechnology curriculum should be regarded as an ‘African product’, where worldview and the theoretical and practical perspectives are carefully considered to provide a qualification to make a difference for capacity development in southern Africa. (339 words)

This study traces how the National Curriculum Statement-Further Education and Training (NCS-FET) Life Sciences Policy is constructed and translated as it circulates across the Department of Education (DoE), schools and industry nodes. Actor Network Theory (ANT) (Latour, 2005) guides the theoretical framework and methodology of this study. ANT is a useful tool for showing the negotiations that characterise patterns of curriculum change in terms of how policy gets constructed, how practice gets performed, the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values (SKAV) constituted in practice, and whether there is an interface in terms of policy construction and SKAV constitution. From an ANT perspective curriculum policy change is a matter of practice co-performed by sociality and materiality, these being interwoven and entangled in practice. The trajectory of the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy is traced during the practice of mediation of policy, implementation of policy and mediation of workplace learning. The topography of this study is underpinned by the transformatory agenda attached to curricula policy reform in South Africa. Agency has been granted by the democratically elected government to structures such as the DoE, schools and industry to promote human resource development and overcome the skills shortage via the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy (DoE, 2003) and the National Biotechnology Strategy Policy (DST, 2001). There are divergences between these two documents as to the type of biotechnology that can be used as leverage for human resources development. The controversy lies in the notion of wanting to broaden access to biotechnology by having it included in the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy, while wanting to promote third-generation biotechnology. Furthermore, contradictions are illuminated in the constitution of the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy: it espouses constructivist principles and has a social transformative agenda, but its construction is guided by behaviourist and cognitivist principles. iv Employing the analytical tools offered by ANT (Latour, 1993, 2005; Callon, Law & Rip, 1986), the network tracing activity reveals that policy construction and SKAV development involve more than the action of a single human actor. This means that humans are not entirely in control of practice (Sorenson, 2007). Practice is performed by a series of shifting relations between elements of “sociality” and “materiality” (Mulchay, 2007). The network tracing activity elucidates that curriculum policy is an emergent effect of the interface, a dynamic point that arises from translations in the network. While there is an interface in respect of policy construction and SKAV constitution across the nodes of the study, the emergent effect of curriculum reform has pointed to the slippage between what was intended (via the policy as stated in the Government Gazette) and what was actually experienced in practice.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2010.

Despite the vast research on the effects of acceleration programs on student achievement there is little quantitative confirmation of the benefits of these programs and there is no research that investigates the effects of acceleration on students’ VCE Mathematics study scores.
This research attempts to fill this gap by considering four years of data provided by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) relating to achievement in mathematics. Acceleration in this study means the completion of the Year 12Mathematical Methods study during Year 11. The data constitutes experimental data for content acceleration and the results of students from schools without such acceleration programs provide the corresponding control data. However, the acceleration decision is not taken randomly by schools, so this data is only quasi-experimental in nature. The measures of mathematical achievement (Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics study scores) are carefully audited, and are accepted as reliable and valid by the Victorian education system. Controlling for individual characteristics such as gender and prior knowledge, and allowing for moderation effects due to school sector (Government, Catholic and Independent) and school class setting (single-sex or coeducational), the effects of content acceleration are measured using multi-level modelling.
This study examines the effects of acceleration on the VCE Mathematics study scores of students who completed both Mathematical Methods (Units 3&4) and Specialist Mathematics (Units 3&4) in Victoria, over a four-year period (2001-2004). On average this involved 5341 students from 341 schools in each year with 829 students included in a content accelerated program.
The results suggest that content acceleration is beneficial, especially for students with higher prior knowledge scores. The quasi-experimental nature of the data means that a causal relationship between acceleration and students’ mathematical performance can be claimed. In particular, this study showed that the effect of acceleration on students’ Mathematical Methods (the Year 12 study taken in Year 11 by accelerated students) study score was not significant. However, the effect of acceleration on students’ Specialist Mathematics study scores was significant. Accelerated students performed, on average,2.7 points higher (on a 50 point scale) than equal ability age-peers who were not accelerated. Interestingly, for accelerated students who scored in the top 2% for their General Achievement Test, in the mathematics, science and technology component, their Specialist Mathematics study scores were on average, almost 5 points higher (on a 50point scale) than their equal ability age-peers. The statistical control of other factors means that these results can also be generalised to other states, other countries and, probably, to other subjects.

Communication skills are essential to the practice of medicine, and are now included in most medical curricula. Training in communication skills requires an experiential approach to teaching and assessment that focuses on mastery of performance. Simulated patients were introduced to the Communication Skills course for third year medical students at The University of Melbourne in 1995. This thesis describes the evaluation from the first two years of their use, and is set within the body of literature regarding this innovative educational method. The fundamental research question was: Did the introduction of simulated patients represent an improvement and enrichment in the teaching of communication skills to third year medical students? A qualitative evaluation was undertaken by focus groups with students, tutors and simulated patients, and by student questionnaire. (For complete abstract open document)