Beginning the study of Modern History at the University of Sydney, years ago, I was abruptly made aware of the radical difference between what was then taught in NSW secondary schools as history, and the reality of contemporary historical scholarship. School history, in those days, was taught from the text book. Any sense of differences … Continue reading Digital archives transforming the study of history
Category: Australia
Digital Dawns: Scoping out an idea for 1:1 laptop Project Based Learning
Recently I’ve been struggling with strategies for scaffolding project-based learning (PBL), for providing a clear structure that both students and colleagues could use. Venturing into the task of building laptop wraps was what first started me thinking about the nuts and bolts needed in the new digital PBL class room. After literally tossing and turning … Continue reading Digital Dawns: Scoping out an idea for 1:1 laptop Project Based Learning
Sydney Urban Growth and Decline 2011: Student observations updated
Last November I published the first of these wordles, by way of summarising the language used by my students who had written reports on a field study project conducted earlier in the year. My students completed a field study around the Sydney Harbour foreshore from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay. This was part of a … Continue reading Sydney Urban Growth and Decline 2011: Student observations updated
Continuing mismanagement of #Australia’s #coastal zone: Is there any plan for future sea level rise?
So the problem continues. When I visited Kingscliff near the border of NSW and Queensland, in April this year, I was both intrigued and dismayed at the small disaster in coastal management that was so evident. There was a road to nowhere, in the waterfront park come parking area. Beyond the green mesh barrier was … Continue reading Continuing mismanagement of #Australia’s #coastal zone: Is there any plan for future sea level rise?
Remnants of Sydney’s Once Great Tramway
State Records, NSW. Some Rights Reserved. A chance encounter Cycling along Johnston Creek Annandale yesterday, now a concrete encased storm water drain marking the border between Leichhardt and the City of Sydney, I noticed that the doors to the old tramway sheds lying between the creek and Maxwell St, Glebe, were open. While there's a … Continue reading Remnants of Sydney’s Once Great Tramway
Drug resistant #tuberculosis confronting #Australia’s border security
With the emergence of the concept of a Nation State the world moved beyond tribe and clan, entering a new era in which the notion of the state rested on largely imagined and unsustainable historical constructions. Now in Europe we are witnessing the gradual end to such naive notions but in island nations such as … Continue reading Drug resistant #tuberculosis confronting #Australia’s border security
Lead Paint Protest
About 40 people wearing red took staged colorful protests on Terrigal and Avoca Beaches, this weekend. Protesting against the State Government’s planned sinking of the ex-HMAS Adelaide on April 13 they were highlighting the remaIning problem of lead contamination in the on the ship. According to the No Ship at Avoca group there is between … Continue reading Lead Paint Protest
A small digital initiative in teaching School Certificate Geography
In the hurly burly of media driven assessment of education these days, the general public is often deprived of basic information about some of the success stories in Australian schools. My own state, NSW, in particular has a rigorous and contemporary approach to teaching and learning, combining the best of traditional and contemporary strategies. One … Continue reading A small digital initiative in teaching School Certificate Geography
Floods in Australia: salinity our silent flood
Travelling away from home is apt to allow reflection on the real nature of home and so it was sitting in Ubud several days ago. My view was over what was once an uninterrupted southward sweep of sawah, fringed on it's most distant margins by coconut palms. Such views are an accumulation of thousands of … Continue reading Floods in Australia: salinity our silent flood
New Year #2011 at #Coogee: more on the #coastal zone
Sydney’s coastal rock platforms are a sensitive indicator of coastal zone environmental health. Despite successive waves of settlers pillaging this zone over the past 220 years low tides often reveal startling environmental richness and diversity remaining just beyond the easy grasp of human predators. This summer solstice the full moon brought extremely low tides to … Continue reading New Year #2011 at #Coogee: more on the #coastal zone
Russell Darnley Blog 