Issue 11. 9 August 2010.pdf - UWA Staff - The University of Western ...

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Tinnitus may be curable continued from page 1 exploding, all cause temporary hearing damage. But even if their hearing returns to normal, a very high proportion of soldiers then develop tinnitus.” The condition varies widely from mild, occasional ringing to a level that can cause distress and greatly affect quality of life, even leading to suicide in some cases. “It can come and go or be constantly present. It can get better or worse or remain stable,” Professor Robertson said. “And people hear different sounds. Beethoven said his tinnitus sounded like wooden carriage wheels going over cobblestones. “It can also be a side effect of some common drugs, including quinine and aspirin.” He said the group’s findings showed that changes in the electrical activity in the nervous system were connected with chemical changes in the brain. “That means that we may be able to use drugs to treat the condition.” The research found there were fewer inhibitory receptors than normal in the part of the brain where increased activity was seen. “The result certainly strengthens the argument that that hyperactivity (and possibly tinnitus) are causally linked to reduced inhibitory process in the brain. These receptors might be useful targets for drugs. “But a lot more work is still needed to see if these results from an animal model apply to humans with tinnitus,” he said. The work was funded by the RNID and the NHMRC. Professor Robertson has been working for 20 years on the general question of how the central nervous system responds to changes in the inner ear. Professor Don Robertson and Research Associate Professor Helmy Mulders (front) with Honours students Nathanael Yates, Chen Ji (visiting student from USTC China), Darryl Vogler, and Christo Bester, with Research Assistant Professor Jenny Rodger (back) Students run businesses from the heart Our students have scored a hat trick in an international business competition with a community focus. For the third successive year, UWA has won the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Australian championship and the team will compete in Los Angeles in October. SIFE was established 35 years ago in the US and UWA has been competing for just six years. Members of the SIFE 2010 team, with Hayden Teo (centre front) holding the shield While the students learn how to set up and run a successful business, the competition is more about how those businesses benefit people in the community. It is not limited to students of commerce. The competition has attracted students from five faculties this year: the Business School, Law, Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, and Engineering Computing and Mathematics. Involvement in SIFE is voluntary and students do not receive credit for their work. Each year new projects are initiated and long-running ones are continued. Several current projects are helping school children. Balancing Your Body’s Business assists children to develop healthy lifestyle habits through a good diet and more physical exercise; Finance for Life helps them to achieve financial literacy, to understand market economics, investing, saving ethical decision-making and, eventually, how to be financially independent; Carbon Futures helps student to understand their consumption of energy, transport and water and assists them to make environmentally sustainable changes. Another long-running project is one which helps small family businesses to understand and review their strategic competencies, to run, present and communicate their business propositions better and so increase longevity and improve operations. continued on page 4 2 UWA NEWS 9 August 2010 the University of Western Australia
photo: Matt Galligan LEFT: Robert Faulkner helps children learn through music BELOW: Grace Oakley’s textbook on early childhood education will be published by Oxford University Press late this year Sing and dance When the University’s new Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) starts next year, it will be front up, hands on and sing out. “This is not the sort of course that can be taught through the lecture theatre and the iPod,” said Assistant Professor Robert Faulkner, who divides his time between the School of Music and the Graduate School of Education. The new course will take between 25 and 30 graduate students. “I would think the ‘boutique’ nature of the course will make it very popular,” he said. A/Professor Faulkner and Associate Professor Grace Oakley are designing the course, along with A/Professor Oakley’s co-ordinator of primary programs, Associate Professor Val Faulkner (no relation to Robert). A/Professor Oakley is an expert in children’s literacy and has published three children’s books. Robert Faulkner was a professional musician, who trained as a singer at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is also a trained teacher and plays piano and clarinet. A/Professor Faulkner went to Iceland to work in community music education and ended up staying there for 20 years. “I became involved in early childhood education when my son was at playschool in Iceland, which is the term they use for early childhood programs, rather than pre-primary or pre-school. “They focus unashamedly on play but their programs are still well structured for learning.” your way to knowledge Unsurprisingly, he sees music as an integral part of early childhood education. “Music is an essential part of the human condition – it’s not optional,” he said. “It’s part of how we learn. It is related to language: music comes before words when mothers and babies communicate. It is fundamental to physical development: rhythm is all-important to learning to walk and, later dancing or marching. And it’s crucial to emotional and social development.” While there is still a central place for literacy and numeracy in early childhood programs, A/Professor Oakley and A/Professor Faulkner agree that as the school age has come down, it is inappropriate to simply push the same system of learning down to children as young as four. Children can learn through play and music, especially singing. “ Music is an essential part of the human condition – it’s not “ optional, it’s part of how we learn. “I was very disillusioned to hear a kindergarten teacher say that she was far too busy to sing in the classroom,” A/Professor Oakley said. “Children can learn about events, places and concepts through song,” A/Professor Faulkner said. “Sometimes in Iceland, we would have half a day when we weren’t allowed to speak. Conversations, instructions, everything had to be sung – it was a wonderful way of learning.” A/Professor Oakley said the new early childhood program would not so much teach music and the arts as use them as a pedagogical tool. “We will be teaching children through the use of arts, music, dance and language,” she said. The new program is one of a suite of Masters degrees in Teaching, which will provide smooth transitions for children between pre-primary and primary school and on to secondary school. Helen House, project manager at the Graduate School of Education, said society accepted that early childhood education was important but the perception of people who worked in the industry was not high. “We will be raising the bar in this course,” she said. “We want high quality people. That’s why we are developing a Masters course for people who already have a degree.” The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 9 August 2010 3
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