Play for Change: Primary School for Children with Impairments

<p>Within the architecture of education, there is a lack of attention to the needs of children with disability. Globally, one in every ten children have a disability and there are approximately 90,000 aged 0-14 children living in households who have at least one disability in New Zealand. The cohort is one of the most marginalised and excluded group from the society, resulting in an inability to participate in classes leading to fewer opportunities to develop skills, experience and confidence. School designs are designed for children without disability, and many children with disabilities find that classrooms and outdoor environments are ill-suited for their health needs, resulting in low attendance rates, poor peer engagement and limited educational success. This thesis explores the role of architecture in facilitating the education of children with disabilities. Working from research-led design through to design-led research, it examines architecture as an educational tool. Examining classroom spaces, outdoor play and outdoor learning environment for children with disabilities, it questions the purpose of education. In addition, the research aims to desensitise the perceived architectural barriers within primary school that restricts participation for children with disabilities. The architectural design knowledge aims to improve design approaches for inclusivity in school, pedagogy and outdoor play environments. By addressing this issue, it could potentially create more positive and optimistic views and from the wider community, greater disability awareness.</p>

Play for Change: Primary School for Children with Impairments

<p>Within the architecture of education, there is a lack of attention to the needs of children with disability. Globally, one in every ten children have a disability and there are approximately 90,000 aged 0-14 children living in households who have at least one disability in New Zealand. The cohort is one of the most marginalised and excluded group from the society, resulting in an inability to participate in classes leading to fewer opportunities to develop skills, experience and confidence. School designs are designed for children without disability, and many children with disabilities find that classrooms and outdoor environments are ill-suited for their health needs, resulting in low attendance rates, poor peer engagement and limited educational success. This thesis explores the role of architecture in facilitating the education of children with disabilities. Working from research-led design through to design-led research, it examines architecture as an educational tool. Examining classroom spaces, outdoor play and outdoor learning environment for children with disabilities, it questions the purpose of education. In addition, the research aims to desensitise the perceived architectural barriers within primary school that restricts participation for children with disabilities. The architectural design knowledge aims to improve design approaches for inclusivity in school, pedagogy and outdoor play environments. By addressing this issue, it could potentially create more positive and optimistic views and from the wider community, greater disability awareness.</p>

Art and Aging: Use of Social Media for Geriatric Education

Social media as an educational tool for health care learning has untapped potential. Benefits of social media include peer-to-peer engagement, active learning and interprofessional training. Here we explored social media platforms as a vehicle to deliver short, pithy clinical pearls from evidence-based, peer-reviewed manuscripts. Key points from recent medical publications are paired with pre-existing artwork to provide visual reinforcement of the clinical pearl. Dubbed “Art and Aging”, the clinical pearl and artwork combination is posted on different social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, thus allowing for an expansive audience. Different hashtags and tags are used to increase followers and engagement on each platform. Over a 9 months period learner engagement increased by 150% and includes a diverse learner profile. These curated social media platforms show considerable promise for disseminating Geriatrics best practices. As yet, we do not know subject matter retention or whether it changes clinical practices - both questions which are future research objectives.

Exploring interpersonal and environmental factors of autistic adolescents’ peer engagement in integrated education

Autistic students often struggle to engage with peers in integrated education; however, research has largely focused on individual characteristics rather than the interpersonal and environmental factors affecting peer engagement. This mixed-methods study examined longitudinal peer interactions over a school year among 17 adolescents (seven were autistic) in an inclusive school club. The quantitative phase investigated participants’ social behavior rates to identify sessions where each student demonstrated high and low peer engagement compared with their average participation levels. The qualitative phase compared social interactions and contexts between sessions of high and low peer engagement, revealing four themes regarding contextual supports and barriers to autistic peer engagement: (1) peer engagement is a participatory process where a student and their peer(s) navigate mutual understanding, shaped by both student and peer social characteristics, openness, and involvement; (2) student–peer synchronicity, such as shared interests or compatibility of social styles, was essential to autistic peer engagement; (3) peer engagement can be supported by activities facilitating joint engagement and exploration of mutual interests; (4) classroom interventions emphasizing strengths can support peer engagement, while normative behavioral standards without peer education on individual differences and diversity can perpetuate peers’ negative perceptions of autistic difficulties. Lay abstract Peer engagement is essential but often challenging for autistic students in integrated education, especially for adolescents. Although peer engagement is bidirectional and context-dependent, research has largely focused on individual characteristics rather than the interpersonal and environmental factors affecting peer engagement. This mixed-methods study examined peer interactions over a school year among 17 adolescents (seven were autistic) in an inclusive school club at a public middle school in the Northeastern United States. The study began with a quantitative phase identifying sessions in which each student was socially engaged with peers more or less often than usual for them. We then qualitatively compared the social interactions and contexts between sessions where each participant experienced high and low peer engagement. Thematic analysis revealed four themes regarding contextual supports and barriers to autistic peer engagement: (1) peer engagement is a participatory process where a student and their peer(s) navigate mutual understanding, shaped by both student and peer social characteristics, openness, and involvement; (2) student–peer synchronicity, such as shared interests or compatibility of social styles, was essential to autistic peer engagement; (3) peer engagement can be supported by activities facilitating joint engagement and exploration of mutual interests; (4) classroom interventions emphasizing strengths can support peer engagement, while normative behavioral standards without peer education on individual differences and diversity can perpetuate peers’ negative perceptions of autistic difficulties. The findings have implications for better inclusive practice to support autistic social participation by modifying the peer environments, activities, and classroom interventions.

Unresponded Social Initiations in Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: A Naturalistic Observation in an Inclusive School Club

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. Adolescents on the autism spectrum have difficulties initiating social interactions, which affects their peer engagement. This study investigated the characteristics of unresponded social initiation among adolescents on the spectrum and their typically developing peers. We investigated the rated characteristics of unresponded initiations among 12 students (six with autism; sixth to seventh grade) and explored the effects of the student group, peer group, and purpose and type of initiations. Primary Author and Speaker: Yu-Lun Chen Additional Authors and Speakers: Kristie Patten

Asynchronous Delivery of a 400 Level, Partially Peer-Graded, Oral Presentation and Discussion Course in Systems Neuroscience for 60 Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

A 400-level undergraduate oral presentation and discussion course in Systems Neuroscience was delivered asynchronously online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrolled students banked their narrated oral presentations in video format online then engaged in peer evaluation in virtual classrooms through the course website. Student delivered their oral presentation and responded to peer questions at their leisure and convenience, without the stress and anxiety associated with a “live” performance delivery in front of their peers. A remote and asynchronously delivered course facilitated much more peer contact than “live” versions of the course, which included a total of 62 uploaded presentations, 301 video responses uploaded to 1985 questions posed by peers, a total of 1159 feedback questionnaires submitted, 1066 rankings submitted of viewed oral presentations, and 1091 scores submitted evaluating the quality of questions posed by reviewers of oral presentations. A major drawback in the remote, asynchronous deliver was the enormity of peer engagement through the course website portal, which was mostly blind to the instructor because of the inability to effectively cross-index data linked between the student entries in the LEARN course website and the uploaded videos stored within BONGO Video Assignment tool. Nonetheless, a consistent engagement of students, and the positive feedback from enrolled students, indicate that a future version of this oral/written discussion course will be delivered, in part, remotely and asynchronously, even without a mandated delivery of the course by a remote and asynchronous method due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in 2020–2021.

Anti-Oppressive Practice in Harm Reduction

This study interrogates the current neoliberal harm reduction model and examines antioppressive practice within harm reduction through the following research question: how do harm reduction workers in Toronto address structural processes of oppression through their work? Three harm reduction workers participated in one-on-one, semi-structured interviews for this study, and were asked to discuss their understandings and experiences with harm reduction and anti-oppression. Through a phenomenological analysis of participant responses, three themes were developed: participants conceptualize harm reduction beyond personal substance use; facilitate peer engagement and mobilization; and challenge incarceration, policing, and surveillance. These findings indicate that research participants engage in multiple forms of politicized practice that collectively challenge the neoliberal tenet of personal responsibility within harm reduction, as well as the role of the criminal justice system in the lives of people who use drugs. This study concludes with implications for social work practice and research.

Anti-Oppressive Practice in Harm Reduction

This study interrogates the current neoliberal harm reduction model and examines antioppressive practice within harm reduction through the following research question: how do harm reduction workers in Toronto address structural processes of oppression through their work? Three harm reduction workers participated in one-on-one, semi-structured interviews for this study, and were asked to discuss their understandings and experiences with harm reduction and anti-oppression. Through a phenomenological analysis of participant responses, three themes were developed: participants conceptualize harm reduction beyond personal substance use; facilitate peer engagement and mobilization; and challenge incarceration, policing, and surveillance. These findings indicate that research participants engage in multiple forms of politicized practice that collectively challenge the neoliberal tenet of personal responsibility within harm reduction, as well as the role of the criminal justice system in the lives of people who use drugs. This study concludes with implications for social work practice and research.