Electricity is taught in junior high school science in Australia and many other countries. While electricity is all around us and one would say that its context and relevance are obvious, students generally do not find learning about electricity engaging. The objective of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of an open inquiry investigation on electrical power intended to engage students. Using design-based research methodology, three trials were run. The evaluation from trial 1 showed that while teachers engaged and were enthusiastic about the investigation, students were less so. The investigation was modified in two ways for trial 2. The first modification was the introduction of two parts, where Part A guided the students and Part B was open inquiry. The second modification was to integrate digital technologies, in the form of a spreadsheet, into the investigation. The power consumption and estimated amount of time an appliance is likely to be used were entered into the spreadsheet to obtain the cost of using a particular appliance. In trial 2, both the teachers and students engaged with the investigation. Trial 3 consolidated the findings of trial 2. The lesson here is that students are prone to follow algorithms without investing adequate mental effort in topics such as electricity, oblivious to the obvious relevance of the topic. Creative ways of engaging students need to be researched. In this study we found that the integration of open inquiry with digital technologies is a viable solution. Whether this approach reaps similar benefits in other topics needs to be investigated.

For nearly two decades, the Australian national project Advancing Science and Engineering through Laboratory Learning (ASELL), has been using an evidence based approach to improve undergraduate experiments. This paper presents the ASELL Students Laboratory Experience (ASLE) survey, administered to 2691 students in five disciplines: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, physics, and pharmacology. The 14 item survey probes students’ perceptions of an experiment, practical or fieldwork. An exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors, ‘experiment-based motivators’ and ‘course-level resources’, and both factors correlate well with ‘overall’ learning experiences. Each survey item was also compared to the ‘overall’ learning experiences of the experiment, revealing the most critical elements of each experiment. The implications of this analysis, for practitioners is that the survey items in the ‘course-level resources’ taper off indicating that after an optimum value, further investment in these aspects do not necessarily influence student perceptions of their learning experiences. On the other hand, the survey items in the ‘experiment-based motivators’ behave differently in that they do not taper off indicating that further investment can influence experiences. How these factors relate to the overall experience suggest they correspond to the well-known two-factor theory of motivation.

Land transport and driving safety is one of the highest risks faced by upstream oil and gas operating companies. APPEA has approached the issue by developing a code of practice for land transport activity that board and member companies have endorsed. This extended abstract reviews the risks of transport activities focusing on the key controls recommended to provide a systematic approach, emphasising driver behaviour. Driver behaviour has been identified as a major contributor to incidents. To improve driver behaviour, a number of Australian companies have introduced In-Vehicle Monitoring Systems (IVMS) during the past few years. There are varied opinions about whether they reduce vehicle incidents; since introduction, results from the IVMS (driving behaviours) are quite interesting especially in remote area operations. The statistics show driver behaviour has improved since installing IVMS. IVMS shows drivers comply more consistently with road rules, and an overall decrease in IVMS triggers (alerts) during the same time has been observed. Like all systems, they are only as good as the people who use them. Without reporting and continual feedback and reinforcement on driver behaviour, installing an IVMS would not have as great an impact or influence on driver behaviour if driver feedback and reinforcement were not also aligned with overall driver management. In addition, IVMS should not be used as a way to catch risk takers, but they should be integrated into a business’s health, safety, and environmental management system (HSEMS). This is to first understand driver behaviour and then to be seen as a tool that can help gradually influence driver behaviour.