Australian Catholic University

About: Australian Catholic University is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 2721 authors who have published 10013 publications receiving 215248 citations. The organization is also known as: ACU & ACU National.

Reading for Writing: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Reading Interventions on Writing

Abstract: This meta-analysis examined if students’ writing performance is improved by reading interventions in studies (k = 54 experiments; 5,018 students) where students were taught how to read and studies (k = 36 investigations; 3,060 students) where students’ interaction with words or text was increased through reading or observing others read. Studies included in this review involved true- or quasi-experiments (with pretests) written in English that tested the impact of a reading intervention on the writing performance of students in preschool to Grade 12. Studies were not included if the control condition was a writing intervention, treatment students received writing instruction as part of the reading intervention (unless control students received equivalent writing instruction), control students received a reading intervention (unless treatment students received more reading instruction than controls), study attrition exceeded 20%, less than 10 students were included in any experimental condition, and studen...

Educational Leadership: Key Challenges and Ethical Tensions

Abstract: Educational Leadership is a major research book on contemporary leadership challenges for educational leaders. In this groundbreaking new work, educational leaders in schools, including teachers, are provided with ways of analysing and resolving common but complex leadership challenges. Ethical tensions inherent in these challenges are identified; tools for their analysis presented and explained; and clear and practitioner-focused guidelines for ethical decision making, in the form of ten practical steps, recommended. Included in this discussion is a jargon-free description and explanation of ethical theories and principles. Written by a leading researcher in the field, and recipient of the Australian Council for Educational Leadership Gold Medal for excellence, Educational Leadership: Key Challenges and Ethical Tensions is an important book that provides a practical framework for analysing ethical tensions and presenting, explaining, and applying ethical concepts and theories to real-life situations in practitioner language.

Students’ fraction comparison strategies as a window into robust understanding and possible pointers for instruction

Abstract: As part of individual interviews incorporating whole number and rational number tasks, 323 grade 6 children in Victoria, Australia were asked to nominate the larger of two fractions for eight pairs, giving reasons for their choice. All tasks were expected to be undertaken mentally. The relative difficulty of the pairs was found to be close to that predicted, with the exception of fractions with the same numerators and different denominators, which proved surprisingly difficult. Students who demonstrated the greatest success were likely to use benchmark (transitive) and residual thinking. It is hypothesised that the methods of these successful students could form the basis of instructional approaches which may yield the kind of connected understanding promoted in various curriculum documents and required for the development of proportional reasoning in later years.