Non-threatening Environment Research Articles

“Improving Access to Early Childhood Developmental Surveillance for Children from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Background”

Introduction:Developmental vulnerabilities in pre-school aged children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds with low English proficiency are less likely to be identified through universal developmental surveillance. Barriers include low parental health literacy and low rates of attendance to mainstream child and family health services. Late detection of developmental vulnerabilities can have lifelong impacts on life trajectory.Method:Integrated outreach early childhood developmental surveillance was trialled in South East Sydney by local health services with non-government organisations (NGO) delivering early childhood education and support. NGO staff were trained in Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS), a validated developmental screening tool to explore parental/carer and provider concerns [1]. Families with children identified with developmental concerns by NGO staff were referred to co-located or visiting Child and Family Health Nurses (CFHN), community child health, speech pathology or developmental services for developmental screening, assessment and/or care planning.Results:Integrated health and NGO services improved access to developmental surveillance for CALD families in a non-threatening environment enabled by co-locating CFHN, or through visits by paediatric medical/speech pathology staff to participating playgroups.Conclusions and discussion:Integration supported vulnerable families from CALD backgrounds to access developmental surveillance through child and family health services but required flexibility and adjustments by all involved.

Using Gaming as an Active Teaching Strategy in Nursing Education

Gaming can be an effective active teaching strategy for nursing students. Using gaming, research has shown that nursing students can develop deeper learning of the content. Stress levels are subdued, critical thinking is promoted, nursing students become motivated, and enjoy participation in a nonthreatening environment. Attitudes, values, cultural sensitivity, and caring are just a few areas where gaming can be seen to promote a positive aspect to teaching for the currently technological savvy nursing students.

Use of Video Blogs in Alleviating Public Speaking Anxiety among ESL Learners

Speaking ability is one of the integral language components in English language acquisition. This ability is a challenging one to master for ESL learners, as it involves several linguistic and non-linguistic features in presenting ideas and it is frequently associated with anxiety. Public speaking anxiety is a common issue faced by students learning a second language. Feelings such as stage fright and nervousness could contribute to their anxiety in communicating using the target language. Additionally, the classroom environment, the presence of the instructor and peer pressure could also be factors which pose a threat for students, particularly in public speaking settings. The present study aims to investigate whether public speaking anxiety can be alleviated through the use of online platforms and/ or video blogs. The creation of personal video blogs could potentially help learners by providing a safe and non-threatening learning environment in which to practise their public speaking skills. This study also aims to identify the factors that influence the use of video blogs as a public speaking platform. A mixed-method approach is designed to examine the effects of using video blogs. A set of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were applied to groups of tertiary level ESL learners. Quantitative and qualitative approaches to data analysis were carried out and the results indicate that the use of video blogs does bring significant positive outcomes in reducing public speaking anxiety among ESL learners.

Using a Post-Box Strategy to Elicit & Address Student Misconceptions in Biology

Students often bring to biology classrooms ideas that are not in line with scientific thought. Simply telling students that their ideas are wrong does not always help advance their scientific thinking. This article describes a teaching and learning activity that allows secondary biology teachers to elicit, interpret, and address students' misconceptions in a meaningful way. The activity provides a chance for students to discuss their nascent ideas about biology with their peers in a safe and nonthreatening environment. More importantly, the activity engages students in a process of reconsidering their initial ideas through reasoning about why certain ideas are scientifically correct.

Finding community during coffee breaks.

I had always heard the stereotype: North Americans value independence, and Europeans value togetherness. But I never fully understood it until 2 months ago, when I left my Ph.D. lab in Canada for a 4-month stint in a lab in France. On my first day, Pierre—a Ph.D. student whose desk is across from mine—tapped me on my shoulder and asked: “Coffee?” I nodded and followed him down the hallway to the common room, where other grad students were filing in. One student brewed an espresso for me that was five times stronger than my normal Americano. Milk and sugar were nowhere to be found. So I sat there, gingerly sipping the bitter liquid and trying hard not to reveal my uncultured tastes, while lab chatter filled the air. ![][1] ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER > “It's … helpful to have a venue to share the day-to-day ups and downs of life as a grad student.” I had traveled to France to work on a project with Pierre. We'd cooked up an idea for a collaboration when he was visiting my university, and we were excited to get started. I had no idea going in, though, that I'd also get a lesson in lab culture. Coffee breaks are a ritualistic part of work life here. The chatter sometimes turns to serious scientific topics. But mostly, the meet-ups offer a chance to unwind—to share stories about life inside and outside the lab and to commiserate with people who understand what you're going through. The lighthearted atmosphere and sense of community is a welcome contrast to my life in Canada, where I spent the bulk of my workdays in isolation. I went into the lab each morning with set goals for my day. At lunch, I'd keep my eyes glued to my computer while I shoveled forkfuls of salad into my mouth, trying to power through my to-do list. Our lab held weekly meetings where we'd take turns presenting our latest work and getting feedback from colleagues. But we didn't take daily coffee breaks—or any other kind of communal break. My labmates and I were too busy collecting data and publishing papers. Looking back now, I realize how much we were missing. Researchers need community because good ideas don't just come from reading literature and thinking deep thoughts; it's helpful to bounce ideas off others, particularly in a nonthreatening environment. It's also helpful to have a venue to share the day-to-day ups and downs of life as a grad student. How else are you supposed to know that you're not the only one suffering from challenges such as anxiety and impostor syndrome? I could've used that kind of camaraderie 2 years ago. For 9 months, I struggled to figure out why I couldn't replicate the results of another study. I worried that something was wrong with my protocols, so I stayed up late at night reading papers, combing over their methods. My adviser was supportive, but I didn't want to pester her too much. I was also hesitant to ask my labmates for help because they had their own projects to worry about. Eventually, my supervisor and I decided to switch our focus. At that point, though, I'd spent months feeling that I was failing in some way—that I wasn't smart enough to figure out what was going on, or that I was making novice mistakes that I wasn't even conscious of. Would coffee breaks have solved all my problems? Probably not. But I think sharing my feelings and frustrations with my peers would have helped. They might have had ideas about steps I could take to solve my research dilemma. They might have also opened up about how they, too, suffer from setbacks and feelings of failure. My time in France has taught me that it's important to create space for organic conversations about lab life—failures, incomprehensible data, and personal struggles. In places where that's not the norm, I think grad students should make a point of reaching out to peers, asking them to take coffee breaks or to meet up for lunch—something that I plan to do when I'm back in Canada. The life of a scientist can feel isolating, but it's much less isolating when you're connected to a supportive community. [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

Youth Sport: A Frontier in Education

Children are encouraged to participate in sport (Allender et al, 2006), through the school curriculum and specific dedicated clubs. Such provision can be described as a frontier in education with the role of the facilitator or ‘teacher’ usually being undertaken by a coach. However, the experiences of those in involved in this type of informal learning environment are not well researched or documented. Therefore, the aim of this study is to gain an insight into the experiences of children and stakeholder adults in such a setting. This study analyses and assesses the reality of the learning experience from the perspectives of the key stakeholders, children, coaches and parents through their involvement in a particular youth cricket club. A qualitative approach was deployed, in the form of three separate focus groups for parents (n=5), children (n=10) and coaches (n=3). At thematic analysis was conducted across the data set. The study highlighted a good development and learning environment within this particular youth cricket club and it alludes to a disparity within the wider field of youth sport. All three of the chosen groups, the players, parents and coaches, have aligned successfully to create a supportive, non-threatening environment, to allow the children to learn, develop their confidence, self-esteem and skill. In contrast, all groups highlighted the difference of their experiences of youth football, where a more negative experience was identified, potentially due to the subculture or the stakeholders involved.

Staff experiences of an interprofessional community aphasia group

ABSTRACTBackground: Evidence to guide training and support for aphasia group staff is limited, yet staff are integral to group efficacy.Aim: To explore experiences of staff involved in a 12-week interprofessional community aphasia group for people with severe chronic aphasia and their spouses.Methods & Procedures: A speech-language pathologist, social worker, peer aide with aphasia, and aide staffed the group. Staff participated in semi-structured interviews and Framework Analysis was utilised to interpret the data.Outcomes & Results: A dynamic set of components contributed to the staff program experience. Staff highlighted the importance of a “good team mix”, and discussed elements contributing to and detracting from positive group dynamics and a relaxed and non-threatening environment. Program content and the level of structure and flexibility were considered to have positive impacts for members overall, with further adaptations suggested. Positive impacts for both staff and members contributed to perceived value in the group. Differing staff perspectives regarding therapy and recovery, and group service added an additional layer to staff experiences.Conclusions: The findings reflect the complexity of group service provision, with implications for how to better train and support staff and improve the present model. Further research is needed to understand the staff experiences across different group models.

Leveraging the coffee experience as a tool for engagement with climate change

Purpose This study aims to investigate the potential of the coffee drinking experience as an engagement tool for climate change. Review the current state of the coffee drinking experience, define it and examine links to climate change communication practices. The argument for the coffee drinking experience as a method for engaging the public on climate change is presented. Design/methodology The case study method was used to analyze a small number of existing research on the coffee drinking experience. This method is used to define the coffee drinking experience and identify examples in which it could be leveraged for engaging consumers in climate change. Findings The emotive and multi-sensory aspects of the coffee drinking experience, combined with the informal atmosphere of the coffee houses provide a non-threatening environment for discussing complex ideas. This study finds there is scope for further exploration and research on the coffee drinking experience as a tool for public engagement with climate change. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited in that it is only an initial exploratory study and has not reached the empirical stage yet. It is further limited to the analysis of secondary data. Originality Social science in general and experiential marketing specifically has yet to examine the ability of food or drinking experiences as an engagement tool for climate change.

Eliciting and reconstructing programme theory: An exercise in translating theory into practice

The importance of evaluation to demonstrate the effectiveness of policies, programmes and interventions is widely recognised. Evaluation in the context of public health and healthcare is viewed as a complicated exercise, particularly when dealing with complex interventions involving multiple partners, multiple components and multiple outcomes. Eliciting the programme theory is an important starting point of an evaluation process to enable the link between theory and action to be articulated. This article gives a pragmatic account of the practicalities of working with stakeholders as they embark on a formative evaluation of a complex public health initiative, using a using a theory-based approach. Drawing on the principles of Leeuw’s strategic assessment, we planned a workshop to reflect the four stages of this approach–group formation, assumption surfacing, dialectical debate and synthesis. Stakeholders took part in four activities–Free Listing, Sphere of Influence, Beattie’s Theoretical Framework and Programme Concept Mapping. We found that our elicitation approach was particularly suited to reconstructing the programme theory in a non-threatening and playful environment, bringing about an alignment of programme theories by consensus and reducing anxiety.

The challenge of planning learning opportunities for clinical medicine: a triangulation study in Iran

BackgroundAn essential characteristics of clinical education is the need to learn a large number of practical and communication skills along with theoretical knowledge. It is challenging to design learning opportunities (LOs) for clinical setting. We aimed to determine optimal learning opportunities from the viewpoint of Medical curriculum planners, to determine the gap between the current condition and the optimal condition in medical schools, and to present feasible tactic for clinical learning opportunities.MethodsThis study comprised of three sub-studies and was conducted using triangulation. The first sub-study was performed using the Modified Delphi method with a view to identifying optimal learning opportunities. Data was collected by online focus group discussion and a questionnaire. The second sub-study was conducted with the aim of comparing the current condition and the optimal condition. Data was collected from nine medical schools across Iran using a checklist, available documents, observation, and interview. The third sub-study was conducted using an expert panel comprising of seven curriculum planners of the M.D. program. The goal of this phase was to provide feasible tactic to improve clinical education in medical schools.ResultsIn the first sub-study, the participants determined all items, including student-centered learning, non-threatening learning environment, and record and management system of clinical learning opportunities as implementable learning opportunities with over 70% consensus. However, in the second sub-study, student-centered teaching methods were practiced in 33% of medical schools and the non-threatening learning environment in 67% of the schools, while the record and management system of learning opportunities was not launched in any of the schools. From the viewpoint of the expert panel members, learning opportunities adapted to clinical contents, specification of content-based learning opportunities, and continuous supervision on learners to achieve the expected learning outcomes were among clinical learning opportunities with over 70% consensus.ConclusionsStudent-centered clinical learning practices, together with virtual learning methods, can lead to clinical enhancement. Opportunities such as interactive and participatory practices should gain further consideration. Also assigning responsibility to learners and monitoring them are strategies for enhancement.

Learning styles of Malaysian Generation ‘Y’ healthcare undergraduates

The learning styles of millennial students, also known as Generation 'Y', have been examined in the past to match the teaching style of an educator with the aim of improving behaviors, attitudes, and academic achievements. However, focus on Generation 'Y' healthcare undergraduates from a multi-cultural Asian society, is scarce and fragmented. Therefore, this research aims to identify the learning style preferences of Generation 'Y' undergraduates enrolled in varied healthcare programs at a Malaysian University. A quantitative cross-sectional study design was adopted. Honey and Mumford's Learning Style Questionnaire was used to explore the learning styles. The reflector learning style was most preferred by the Malaysian healthcare undergraduates, and no significant difference was found between the learning styles of the clinical group and the semi-clinical group. Educators should engage Malaysian healthcare undergraduates in a non-threatening environment - Association between learning style and sociodemographic warrants further investigation.

Inquiry-Based IR-Spectroscopy Activity Using iSpartan or Spartan for Introductory-Organic-Chemistry Students

An inquiry-based activity is described in which organic-chemistry students explore how IR radiation impacts functional-group-bond movements. Through the iSpartan and Spartan apps, students calculate the IR spectra for select organic compounds and manipulate the resulting 3D models and IR spectra to visualize bond vibrations. After developing an IR-frequency chart on the basis of these observations, the students analyze spectral data for the presence of functional groups. The results showed that students successfully prepared the chart and analyzed IR-spectral data without previous experience with IR spectroscopy or instructor intervention. Student responses to the inquiry-based learning activity were favorable. This activity was implemented at three academic institutions over a 4 year period and is an attractive approach for students to explore IR spectroscopy in a nonthreatening environment.

Combining Cognitive Rehearsal, Simulation, and Evidence-Based Scripting to Address Incivility.

Nurses have a professional and ethical obligation to foster civility and healthy work environments to protect patient safety. Evidence-based teaching strategies are needed to prepare nursing students to address acts of incivility that threaten patient safety. Incivility in health care must be effectively addressed because the delivery of safe patient care may depend on these vital skills. Cognitive rehearsal (CR) is an evidence-based technique where learners practice addressing workplace incivility in a nonthreatening environment with a skilled facilitator. The author describes the unique combination of CR, simulation, evidence-based scripting, deliberate practice, and debriefing to prepare nursing students to address uncivil encounters. Learners who participated in CR identified benefits using this approach. Combining CR with simulation, evidence-based scripting, repeated dosing through deliberate practice, and skillful debriefing is an effective method to provide nursing students with the skills needed to address incivility, thereby increasing the likelihood of protecting patient safety.

Budget Friendly Simulation for Clinical Nursing Education: Putting It All Together

Clinical simulation in nursing has become increasingly valuable in helping students learn tasks and assessments in a nonthreatening environment. Evaluating student assessments can promote collegiality among faculty. This article focuses on three tips for faculty used by one university to objectively capture a clinical snapshot in a cost-effective manner: 1) write one's own scenarios, 2) create assessment forms using Word, and 3) employ bar scanning with quick response code readers.

DAA-based IIT simulation model enhances the interprofessional collaboration and team efficiency competency of health professionals.

One of the ten recommendations of the commission on education of health professionals for the twenty-first century is the "promotion of interprofessional education that breaks down professional silos while enhancing collaborative relationships in effective teams." Continuously, the increasing prevalence of patients with complex chronic health issues challenges the staff's training strategy of healthcare institution. To ensure patient safety, the collaborative involvement of a team of health professional is necessary to delivery care to patients with complex health conditions and social disadvantage. Integrated interprofessional collaboration and team efficiency (IIT) is a competency that can optimize the multiple professional skills to provide well-coordinated, high-quality, and patient-centered care. IIT-based training is a way to improve team-based care through positive shared learning activities in a nonthreatening environment to respond to patient's needs. The describe, analysis, application (DAA) diamond is a debriefing method that provides different health professionals with valuable learning experiences through communication. Using advocacy-inquiry approach, DAA-based IIT simulation offers an effective platform for training IIT. Including all disciplines in the DAA-based IIT simulation process reinforces the unique role/contribution of each team member and provides a mechanism for the team to talk together for system improvements. Actually, good clinical care requires practitioner's ability to effectively resolve stress and conflict, improve job satisfaction/wellbeing, and enhance quality and safety of patient care. In our institution, regular DAA-based IIT simulation courses were held at various divisions and had been proved to improve the safety and quality of healthcare.

Visualizing Technology

Visualizing Technology Amina Patton (bio) Sociality: The Coloring Book of Technology for Social Manipulation Paolo Cirio Lulu www.lulu.com 316 Pages; Print, $10.88 As someone who remembers playing in front of a computer screen at four-years-old and subsequently working as a designer for over a decade, I am no stranger to technology. And as such, I face a dilemma. On the one hand, I am fascinated by it. While on the other, I fear the power it gives. There are numerous conversations and debates in design circles about ethics as of late and with good reason. The products, tools, and services we design and develop directly impact how information spreads, what we value, and how we engage with each other. The consequences aren't theoretical but are playing out in what we see and what we do. Even though actions such as liking a photo or viewing recommended advertisements are commonplace nowadays, we must not forget that they are designed and patented by tech companies to influence our behaviors. Italian artist Paolo Cirio explores his concerns about technology's impact and sets out to provoke change through his project Sociality. By hacking Google Patents, Cirio and his assistant Andres Chang obtained over 20,000 patents for online platforms, interfaces, algorithms, and devices dating back to 1998. As Cirio puts it, "our sociality is now being owned and traded by private companies without scrutiny" and his work seeks to bring awareness, regulation, and oversight. The project takes the form of a website (www.sociality.today), gallery art installation, direct interventions like putting up posters at MIT, and a coloring book. Of the thousands of patents unearthed, 225 were compiled into a coloring book to invite readers to directly engage with these complex topics in a non-threatening environment. Cirio seeks to use the "cathartic, childlike exercise of coloring to both educate and inform through visually rendered compositions of outlined flowcharts and patent titles." The book is organized into eleven sections per the artist's interpretation of the patent's intent and consequences: discrimination, polarization, control, addiction, deception, manipulation, censorship, targeting, profiling, biometrics, and surveillance. Each patent is labelled with the patent number and the company that owns it. Upon perusing the book, I am struck by an overwhelming amount of outlined all-capitalized letters and technical line art. The nature of the content and language used requires a good amount of mental effort by the reader to make sense of it all despite the simplistic visual approach. The book is filled with a lot of jargon and diagrams, which can be nonsensical due to a lack of labelling and references for the reader to review for more details. There are no footnotes, summaries, or additional context provided. In addition, there are numerous instances of the patent title text and diagrammatic imagery overlapping resulting in readability and legibility challenges. From a visual communication standpoint, I struggle to engage with the content due to these issues. Furthermore, I struggle with the choice of a coloring book as a medium for this type of content in the first place. As the artist mentioned, coloring books are often cathartic tools for stress relief and coping. And yet he chose to fill the book with ineffectively labelled diagrams and overlapping text of tech patents that are framed to have nefarious intent and consequences. As a reader, this type of information did not put me in a childlike state nor was I informed or engaged in the ways I suppose the artist intended. Instead, I found myself frustrated and wondering what these things meant all the while missing the information needed to properly make sense of the imagery in front of me. Thankfully, visiting the accompanying website addressed these issues as I found it much easier to navigate and to determine what actions I needed to take. The patents are tagged for easy sorting by common subjects, like social networking, as well as by the companies that submitted them. Visitors can flag and ban patents by anonymously emailing legislators, politicians, and lawyers. In addition, each patent is linked to the Google Patents entry to allow for...

Shipping Management Simulation Game for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Purpose – This study aims to examine the effects of a simulation board game for teaching and learning shipping management at higher education. A framework of comprehensive shipping operation was developed according to the syllabus of the Shipping Management course in Universiti Utara Malaysia. The course core content in the game covers two main services—liner service and tramp service in the shipping industry. Methodology – A quasi-experimental research design has been adopted to measure the effectiveness of the board game in post-learning. Data were gathered from a sample of 73 undergraduate students who enrolled in Shipping Management course using non-equivalent control group design. The data was analysed using McNemar Test to determine the effect of the students’ achievement. Findings – The findings of this study revealed that using board game in learning activities can contribute to the improvement of students’ knowledge and skill. Further analysis indicated that there were differences in students’ achievement for the tramp services and liner services content. This improvement has boosted their confidence in making decision in solving problem related to the tramp services and liner services knowledge. Significance – The framework for the shipping management board game aims to provide the best learning experience for students when they immerse into solving problems and making decisions in the game. The framework can be used as a benchmark in the practice of game-based learning, particularly by affording students to engage learning by doing. Furthermore, this framework introduces a tangible problem space through the board game, encouraging students to discover knowledge on their own pace in a non-threatening environment.

Ingredients for great sex: Discussing sexual preferences and intimacy

Course: This activity is intended for a course on romantic relationships, communication between intimate partners, or a special topics class where partner communication about sex may be discussed.Objective: The objective is to provide students a non-threatening environment to articulate their conceptualization of sexual pleasure, and to practice communication about sexual pleasure and preferences. Students will also examine challenges and opportunities for communication about sexual pleasure.

Personal Explorations in the Study of Ethnic and Race Relations

Many have discussed the inherent problems in teaching race and ethnic relations courses. Students often come to class with preconceived ideas about their social world, and a range of feelings and experiences including confusion, biases and misconceptions. Therefore, significant barriers to learning exist prior to the first day of class. To address these challenges, I developed a teaching strategy that created a student-centered, non-threatening learning environment where students could thoughtfully discuss and collaborate on group projects covering emotionally charged subjects. In doing so I organized my course, Race and Ethnic Relations, around the students’ use of family histories. This essay includes qualitative data from student projects, and their reflections on the effeciveness of this assignment. Student reflections revealed their relative comfort in holding discussions and presenting information on sensitive and challenging topics.Keywords:Student-centered learning, student collaboration, race and ethnic relations, and ethnic family histories

5.33 Nintendo® Wii™-Based Intervention and Autonomic Arousal in Children With ASD: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Autonomic arousal has been studied in children with ASD compared with typically developing children, showing significant differences. It is hypothesized that children with ASD are unable to learn because of high autonomic arousal and social anxiety associated with a threatening human environment. A nonthreatening virtual environment may cause less arousal and better learning because of lesser social anxiety, translating into an overall improvement in ASD symptoms. This study is the first reported RCT studying the effect of an interactive computer game on autonomic arousal in children with ASD and improvement in ASD symptoms.