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Formative assessment has been long emphasised as a powerful means for enhancing science learning. However, there is still a lack of research to investigate the impacts of formative assessment on both students' motivational beliefs and behaviours in science learning. This study examined such impacts using data from six Western and six East Asian countries/economies in PISA 2015. 96,491 15-year-old students were included. The SEM analysis of overall data showed that (i) formative assessment had both direct effects on students' science learning behaviours and indirect impacts mediated by students' motivational beliefs and (ii) the total effect of teacher feedback on science learning behaviours was greater than adaptive instruction. The comparison between Western and East Asian datasets indicated that (i) the impact of teacher feedback on East Asian students' motivational beliefs was greater than that on their Western counterparts; (ii) the impact of adaptive instruction on Western students' motivational beliefs was greater than that on East Asian counterparts; and (iii) the direct impacts of teacher feedback and adaptive instruction on science learning behaviours were similar for both groups of students. Suggestions were made on how to effectively implement formative assessment to enhance science learning in different cultural contexts.

Science education researchers and curriculum documents have advocated scientific inquiry for more than six decades; however, inconsistent findings concerning its effects on students' learning outcomes have been revealed in recent analyses of large-scale international assessment data (e.g., the Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA]). This has evoked considerable concern given the significant role that inquiry plays in science education. To unpack the complex influence of inquiry on science achievement, this study used the PISA 2015 data from eight Western or East Asian regions to explore the effects of inquiry on students' science achievement and the mediation of attitudes toward science. The results indicated that despite the negative effects that the investigation aspect of inquiry had on science achievement, the explanation aspect of inquiry had positive effects on science achievement for the Western, East Asian, and whole samples. When all of the effects of both the investigation and explanation aspects were integrated, the overall influence of inquiry on students' science achievement was found to be positive for the whole and East Asian samples and slightly negative for the Western sample. This study highlights the necessity of considering different facets of inquiry and different types of effects when investigating the effects of inquiry on science achievement and achieving a better balance between the investigation and explanation processes when implementing inquiry in school classrooms.

A significant body of work problematises the assumption that student evaluations of teaching (SET) actually measure teaching quality. This is concerning, given that SET are increasingly relied upon not only to evaluate candidates for employment (so job acquisition is influenced by flawed data) but also to inform performance metrics for those in employment (so job security is influenced by flawed data). This paper presents qualitative research conducted at a large public university in Australia. The findings suggest that student evaluations of teaching seem to measure conformity with gendered expectations rather than teaching quality, with particularly negative effects for women. The integration of SET into performance management practices within institutions of higher education could be entrenching inequalities amongst university staff that could ultimately disadvantage female academics.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the long-term influence of having a child at risk of different developmental delays (communication, mobility, self-care, relating, learning, coping, or behaving) on parental labor force participation as the child grows. Method: A retrospective cohort was conducted using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children survey, Waves 1–8 covering birth to 15 years of age of children. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to explore the odds ratio of mothers being out of the labor force at different children's ages. Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to identify the 'risk' of mothers returning to the workforce after leaving. All models were adjusted for the mother's age, education attainment, and employment status at time of birth, as well as marital status at the current wave. Results: There were 5,107 records of children, and 266 of them were at risk of any developmental delays at age 4–5 years. This sample represents 243, 026 children born in Australia in 2003/04. After adjusting for potential confounders, mothers of children at risk of each type of developmental delay (except mobility and self-care) had greater odds of being out of, and not returning to the labor force from children aged 2–3 to 14–15 years, when compared to mothers of children who are not at risk of developmental delays. Similar differences were found for fathers but were distinctly small and with narrower fluctuations, compared to mothers. Conclusion: Policies and programs funded by the government are greatly needed to support the mothers of children at risk of developmental delays. Significance: What is already known: Maternal labour force participation has been negatively affected by having a child with chronic health conditions, whereas paternal labour force participation is not significantly influenced. What this paper adds: Having a child at risk of developmental delays negatively influenced maternal and paternal labour force participation, where the influence on fathers was distinctly small and with narrower fluctuations during the 14 to 15 years of follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maternity care is a high‐volume and high‐cost area of health care, which entails various types of service use throughout the course of the pregnancy. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the most common reasons and related costs of health services used by women and babies from pregnancy to 12‐month postbirth. Methods: We used linked administrative data from one state of Australia, which contained all births in Queensland between 01/07/2017 and 30/06/2018. Descriptive analyses were used to identify the 10 most frequent reasons and related costs for accessing inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and Medicare services. These are reported separately for women and babies in different periods. Results: We included 58,394 births in our data set. The results have highlighted that there was relatively uniform use of inpatient, outpatient, and Medicare services by women and babies, with the 10 most common services accounting for more than half of the total services accessed. However, the emergency department service use was more diverse. Medicare services accounted for the greatest volume (79.21%) of service events but only 10.21% of the overall funding, compared with inpatient services, which accounted for less volume (3.62%) but the highest amount of overall funding (75.19%). Conclusion: Study findings provide empirical evidence about the full spectrum of services used by birthing families and their babies, and could assist health providers and managers to understand the services women and infants actually access during pregnancy, birth, and postbirth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Mental ill-health is a common occurrence globally and represents a significant burden of disease. In Australia, the development and improvement of programs that connect individuals earlier in their mental ill-health journey is a national health priority. However, there are current informational gaps on community-based initiatives and their associated mental health outcomes. This review aimed to systematically identify, assess, and analyse studies reporting on community-based outreach interventions for individuals experiencing mental ill-health. Method. A systematic review of the literature was conducted across 6 electronic databases and Google Scholar on 01 November 2021 and 12 June 2022. The National Health and Medical Research Council Evidence Hierarchy was used to assess study quality, and the PAGER framework was used to synthesise and analyse the results of included studies. Results. Eighty-three studies met the inclusion criteria; 51% (n = 42 studies) incorporated digital technology, and 49% (n = 41 studies) involved nonclinical light-touch interventions. Individuals with severe mental ill-health were likely to benefit from targeted interventions, and individuals with mild to moderate symptoms of mental ill-health were likely to benefit from interventions involving high levels of engagement from participants. Conclusion. Results from this review provide an understanding of patterns related to the effectiveness of community-based outreach interventions. Knowledge from this review will inform the implementation of targeted strategies to enhance the proactive provision of mental health services in the community. Standardised outcome measures are needed to strengthen the evidence base for community-based outreach interventions, by enabling researchers and service providers to explore which type of intervention and with what intensity is best suited for participants with varying levels of mental ill-health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant body of work problematises the assumption that student evaluations of teaching (SET) actually measure teaching quality. This is concerning, given that SET are increasingly relied upon not only to evaluate candidates for employment (so job acquisition is influenced by flawed data) but also to inform performance metrics for those in employment (so job security is influenced by flawed data). This paper presents qualitative research conducted at a large public university in Australia. The findings suggest that student evaluations of teaching seem to measure conformity with gendered expectations rather than teaching quality, with particularly negative effects for women. The integration of SET into performance management practices within institutions of higher education could be entrenching inequalities amongst university staff that could ultimately disadvantage female academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel, 1923) is a reef-building serpulid polychaete that has invaded estuaries worldwide, causing environmental and economic harm. Although Australia has long been suggested as a place of origin for the species, this remains unclear. We tested for genetic patterns across the range of F. enigmaticus in southern Australia, predicting that if the species is an Australian native, it would show evidence of (east-west) phylogeographic patterns often observed in native marine species in southern Australia. Unexpectedly, concordant patterns from mitochondrial (Cyt B) sequencing and nuclear marker (iSSR) profiles suggested the presence of at least three genetic groups (putative species), not distributed simply as "east" or "west". Two common (and closely related) groups were present across Australia and were often found together in the same aggregations. A third group was only found in southeast Australia and was morphologically similar to F. uschakovi (Pillai, 1960), a species previously reported from tropical areas. The discovery of multiple cryptic species with overlapping ranges means that more work is needed to resolve whether any of the F. enigmaticus sensu lato group has an Australian origin and to determine how they are related to invasive populations of F. enigmaticus elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Microscopic pyrites with low 34S/32S ratios in ~3.47-Gyr-old sedimentary barites from North Pole, Australia have been interpreted as evidence for microbial sulfate reduction and/or sulfur disproportionation in the early Archean. We show that these microscopic sulfides have similar to slightly less negative Δ33S and slightly more negative Δ36S values compared to the enclosing sulfate crystals. This finding is consistent with a primary mass-independent signature overprinted by biological sulfate reduction, as calibrated by previous experimental laboratory culture studies. However, it is inconsistent with an overprint by abiological sulfate reduction or sulfur disproportionation, as predicted by isotope exchange theory and laboratory culture studies. Thus, our multiple sulfur isotope measurements support the contention that sulfate-reducing microbes had evolved by ~3.47 billion years ago. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Investigates the iron-sulfur systematics and S-isotopic compositions of upper Paleoproterozic carbonaceous shales from the Wollogorang and lower reward formations,McArthur Basin,Northern Australia. Similarity of the rocks iron specifications with that of modern euxinic Black Sea sediments; Level of isotopic composition of sulfides in [sup 34]sulfur; Anoxic bottom-water conditions during shale deposition.

The weakened Asian monsoon event at 9.2 ka has been documented in many proxy-based reconstructions, but its underlying causes are uncertain. In this study, we investigated this event from a regional monsoon perspective by analysing simulations of Holocene transient solar activity forcing using the Community Earth System Model and high-resolution proxies. Our results revealed two separate periods of decreasing precipitation in the western North Pacific (WNP) and South Asian (SA) monsoons from 9.5 to 9.2 ka, each lagging behind two remarkable weakening events (0.38 and 0.21 W m−2) in solar forcing. However, there was no significant change in East Asian summer monsoon precipitation at 9.2 ka based on our experiment. Moisture budget analysis indicated that the dynamic effects term (i.e., anomalous descending motion) figured prominently in decreasing WNP and SA monsoon precipitation. Such a change was affected by an anomalous WNP anticyclone, which was maintained by the 'wind-evaporation-sea surface temperature' feedback during the decay phase of the centennial-scale El Niño-like event. The development of centennial El Niño-like conditions was caused by a reduction in solar irradiance. Reduced solar irradiance induced cooling over northern Australia, generating anomalous zonal sea level pressure gradients and westerlies over the tropical Pacific, ultimately resulting in the development of an El Niño-like pattern. • During abrupt solar decline, the NNU-12 ka experiment simulates drought in South Asian (SA) and Western North Pacific (WNP) monsoon regions. • A reduction in solar irradiance on a centennial scale can cause El Niño-like patterns and an anomalous WNP anticyclone. • WNP anticyclonic anomalies are maintained by the 'wind-evaporation-SST' feedback, delaying precipitation over the WNP and SA monsoon regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]