It was on a typical Sunday night a couple of years ago that mother-of-three, Simone, noticed that something wasn’t right with her 5-year-old son. As hard as he tried, Hayden couldn’t use his left arm to undress for the bath. Simone had noticed earlier in the week that he was slow and clumsy to get … Read more
Teachers are called to create deeper, more flexible learning opportunities for students to learn at high levels. This often raises questions about how to assess student work, given that student products may range from podcasts to digital storybooks, virtual reality experiences, and published poetry. To complicate things further, personalized products need to be graded equitably, … Read more
If you avoid the perfume counter in department stores or wear a mask while cleaning your home, you’re not alone. They may smell sweet, but fragrances can make a person feel sick. About 1 in 3 people report having health problems when exposed to fragranced products. Those problems include asthma attacks, hay fever, headache, migraine, dizziness, breathing problems, rashes, congestion, nausea and seizures. According … Read more
An estimated 9 million Australians take prescription medicine every day, and many more pop over-the-counter medications such as paracetamol and vitamins. Almost one-quarter of a million people are hospitalised each year due to problems caused by their medication. Medicines play a big role in daily life, so it ‘s crucial they ‘re taken properly and … Read more
Throughout my two decades in education, I have experimented with a variety of approaches to assessment, including projects, models, debates, and traditional assessments. In the past two years I’ve been teaching high school online, and I’ve abandoned traditional tests in favor of more compassionate forms of assessment. My new favorite is the discussion assessment, and … Read more
You only get one pair of eyes. And while people often develop serious eye conditions as they age, or because of illness and injury, there are plenty of things you can do to protect your peepers from unnecessary damage. Here are 5 reasons to give your eyes more love and attention – before it’s too late. … Read more
New notifications of HIV (the Human Immunodeficiency Virus) have — overall — stabilised in recent years. But HIV diagnoses have also increased in some population groups. Australia has made great progress in HIV prevention within the gay community. For example, HIV diagnoses in gay and bisexual men in NSW in the first half of 2017 decreased by 31%. HIV … Read more
II. It’s an extraordinary amount of work to design precise and personalized assessments that illuminate pathways forward for individual students–likely too much for one teacher to do so consistently for every student. This requires rethinking of learning models, or encourages corner-cutting. (Or worse, teacher burnout.) III. Literacy (reading and writing ability) can obscure content knowledge. Further, language … Read more
Most parents of newborn babies have heard that ‘breast is best’. But although 96% of children are breastfed soon after birth, only 15% of mums are still breastfeeding exclusively 5 months later. So, what’s preventing some parents from continuing to breastfeed, and how can they persist with longer-term breastfeeding, if that’s their wish? What the research … Read more
If you are one of the 300,000 Australians who earn their living from the land, you’ll know how difficult and uncertain farming can be. There are health and safety issues, such as working long hours in the sun, or with animals, chemicals and farm machinery. And a drought or severe flooding can affect a farming … Read more