Griffith University early literacy expert Dr Michelle Neumann welcomes a national early reading screening check announced by Education Minister Simon Birmingham earlier this year.
As part of her research, Dr Neumann developed and validated an Emergent Literacy Assessment app in 2016 which tests alphabet knowledge (letter names and sounds).
She is now extending the app to include other important early literacy skills such as phonological awareness, print concepts, and early writing.
“These early skills are all key predictors of future reading ability,’’ she says.
“Teaching children how to read is a balanced approach and Australian teachers follow the Australian Curriculum’s three main strands of language, literature, and literacy.
“This ensures students are taught cuing systems such as visual knowledge of letters and sounding out words, structural skills such as the way language is written with grammar and punctuation and how to comprehend and make meaning out of the words.”
Dr Neumann believes phonics is a strong component of
Category: Griffith University Feed
Griffith researchers help Sandy Creek farmers improve water quality
Griffith University researchers will work with cane growers on a $700,000 Queensland State Government project to improve water quality in the Sandy Creek catchment.
The Sandy Creek catchment and growers will benefit from the new project which Minister for the Great Barrier Reef Steven Miles said would build on earlier work to investigate and address water quality issues related to pesticide and fertiliser use.
“This project builds on its successful predecessor, engaging with local cane farmers monitoring water quality and working in partnership to document changing farm practices aimed at reducing nutrient and pesticide run-off into Sandy Creek,” Mr Miles said.
Griffith University will work with the Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation in partnership with Mackay Area Productivity Services, Farmacist, and other regional partners on the project.
Professor Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, Director of Griffith Business School’s Social Marketing @ Griffith team, said they would work with different groups of cane growers to document their experience in the project.
“We will
How Australia should react to the Trump tax cuts
By Pascalis Raimondos Professor of Economics, Head of School, Queensland University of Technology &
Sara L. McGaughey Professor of International Business, Griffith University
President Donald Trump has proposed cutting the US corporate tax rate from 35% to 15% and ending the practice of taxing the foreign income of US businesses. Trump may be hoping that such a massive corporate tax cut will result in new investment. Indeed, historical data suggests companies will respond by shifting profits to where the tax is low.
This profit shifting will hurt investment in Australia, as companies move their profits to America rather than reinvesting in Australia. If the tax cut goes ahead, Australia and other countries will have to respond by either cutting taxes as well, or totally reforming the way we tax corporate income.
Alternative ways of taxing corporate income exist. The US Republican Party, for example, recently proposed a “destination-based cash flow tax”. Under this system, companies would be
Why slow progress on female workforce participation?
The Australian delegate to the W20 Summit, Associate Professor Susan Harris-Rimmer, presented the final communique to Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin this week.
She asked Merkel about the pledge made by G20 leaders at the 2014 Brisbane summit to reduce the gap in the labour-force participation rates between men and women by 25% by 2025.
“They said this would bring more than 100 million women into the workforce, increase global growth and reduce poverty and inequality,’’ Professor Harris-Rimmer said.
“Progress has been slow and opaque so what advice does Merkel have?”
Associate Professor Rimmer is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Griffith Law School and an Adjunct Reader in the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University. Her Future Fellow project is called ‘Trading’ Women’s Rights in Transitions: Designing Diplomatic Interventions in Afghanistan and Myanmar.
The W20 is the official G20 dialogue with NGOs, female entrepreneur associations and scientists pushing forward women’s economic
Australia’s new Temporary Visa program may mean changes to the Hospitality Industry
While there may be an air of uncertainty when it comes to the status of Australia’s new temporary visa program following the axing of the 457 Visas, Professor Ruth McPhail of the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing believes the local hospitality industry may see some hardships in some areas, but the situation may increase internal staff development in others.
According to Professor McPhail, the problems of the visa changes comes from attaining those employees with specialised skills that most Australians simply do not have.
“This can occur in areas like Chefs for example,” she said.
“if you’re looking for a highly specialised French-trained chef, there’s going to be limits on the people who have that background and skills. So, this visa will restrict that; you will then be having to find that nationally more complicated than previously where you can make a case and say this is a specialised skill not easily
Singing the best medicine for Parkinson’s sufferers
They say laughter is the best medicine, but researchers at Griffith are looking at whether singing may be able to help improve the lives of Parkinson’s sufferers.
Researchers at the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre are launching a 6-month project to evaluate whether singing can help improve the communication skills and mental outlook of people with Parkinson’s Disease.
They are calling for people with Parkinson’s and their carers to join weekly singing groups at South Bank and North Lakes.
The South Bank singing group will be led by Queensland Conservatorium vocal guru Dr Irene Bartlett, who has mentored star graduates like Dami Im and Katie Noonan.
“There will be movement and we’ll also do breath connection exercises, as many patients suffer from weaker voice production,” she said.
“We’ll make sure that they are singing songs that they enjoy and ask them to share their memories of each piece of music.
“We want to build that sense of community,
Prescribing a dose of resistance exercise for infection and injury
Having your healthcare professional prescribe you a dose of bench presses to ward off an infection or help heal an injury may sound like shonky healthcare but could actually be the advice of the near future, according to Griffith University scientists.
This is the finding from a new study showing that resistance exercise administered at different doses results in unique increases in key white blood cells in the circulation, all of which are either central to immune defence against infection or aid in injury healing.
Published in Immunology Letters, the study collated and analysed the results of 16 previous studies from 1989 to 2016, which investigated participants undertaking a single session of resistance exercise encompassing various exercises.
“We combined the data from all relevant scientific publications, including two of our own original articles, to conduct a stringent systematic analysis of the resistance exercise research,” says Dr Adam Szlezak from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute
Student and dog raise awareness of rare condition
A career in speech pathology or child psychology is the fuel for study for Honours student Erin Condrin from Southport.
The Bachelor of Psychological Science student has just started her first year at Griffith, having coming straight from AB Paterson College, and says she is loving the student life and the chance to study as part of its prestigious Honours College.
“I always love to challenge myself and keep myself busy. The opportunity to join the Griffith Honours College was a goal for me due to the opportunities available for members,” says Erin.
Designed for outstanding Griffith University students, its Honours College provides students with enriching experiences in combination with undergraduate degree studies.
But life isn’t as straightforward for Erin as it is for her fellow students. Erin is a wheelchair user who has the genetic condition Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare condition which affects the connective tissue, primarily the skin, joints and blood vessel
Griffith gives back for World Malaria Day
Do you know when malaria was eliminated from Australia or how many deaths were due to malaria in 2015?
While malaria is not a disease most Australians need to worry about, every day more than 1000 African children die from this devastating disease.
Australia has a long history of contributing to global malaria research efforts and Griffith University researchers are at the forefront of this area.
To acknowledge World Malaria Day this week, our researchers are encouraging the public to think about this disease and “to recognise that we are all a part of the solution”.
As Queensland’s leading malaria research university scientists from the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery (GRIDD) and the Institute for Glycomics are committed to achieving a world without malaria through drug discovery and vaccines.
To help get their message out, GRIDD researchers have put together an online quiz asking people how much they know about malaria.
“Most people don’t know that
After 25 years of trying, why aren’t we environmentally sustainable yet?
In 1992, more than 170 countries came together at the Rio Earth Summit and agreed to pursue sustainable development, protect biological diversity, prevent dangerous interference with climate systems, and conserve forests. But, 25 years later, the natural systems on which humanity relies continue to be degraded.
So why hasn’t the world become much more environmentally sustainable despite decades of international agreements, national policies, state laws and local plans? This is the question that a team of researchers and I have tried to answer in a recent article.
We reviewed 94 studies of how sustainability policies had failed across every continent. These included case studies from both developed and developing countries, and ranged in scope from international to local initiatives.
Consider the following key environmental indicators. Since 1970:
Humanity’s ecological footprint has exceeded the Earth’s capacity and has risen to the point where 1.6 planets would be needed to provide resources sustainably.
The biodiversity index has