Chris Campbell

The Peak and Decline of World Oil and Gas Production

Extrapolating the discovery trend of the past to determine future discovery and production should be straightforward, and the size distribution of the fields should be evident. But the atrociously unreliable nature of public data has given much latitude when it comes to interpreting the status of depletion and the impact of economic and political factors on production. This has allowed two conflicting views of the subject to develop. The first is what may be called the Natural Science Approach, which observes the factors controlling oil accumulation in Nature and applies immutable physical laws to the process of depletion. The second is what may be called the Flat-Earth Approach, in which the resource is deemed to be virtually limitless, with extraction being treated as if it were controlled only by economic, political and technological factors. This paper will endeavor to present the evidence for the Natural Science Approach, addressing the geological constraints; the technical basis of reserve estimatio...

Petroleum and People

The discovery of oil peaked in the 1960s, meaning that the corresponding peak of production is now imminent. The technical evidence is compelling, but the issue is clouded by denial and obfuscation. Peak oil threatens to be a historic discontinuity as the economic growth of the past Century, which was driven by an abundant supply of cheap oil-based energy, gives way to decline. The population of the world, which grew six-fold in parallel with oil, faces decline, probably accompanied by rising migration pressures. Radical new political structures may be needed in a world facing ever deeper resource and environmental constraints.

Introducing a Learner Response System to Pre-Service Education Students: Increasing Student Engagement

Described in this study is a learner response system (clickers) used with first-year undergraduate students in a small group setting. The aim of the project was to address issues faced by us all as we seek to improve class participation, as well as engage students in lectures and tutorials throughout the course. Data collection for this case study incorporated diary entries by the lecturer and student responses to the use of clickers and reflects both the course coordinator’s journey through the process of introducing this new technology and changing students’ responses as they engage with this technology. The article reports on the positive results particularly in relation to increased potential for clickers to be used as a teaching and learning tool. The significance of this study, however, lies in the recognition that pedagogical approaches need to be taken into consideration when planning for effective use of clickers as a tool for engaging students.

Asia Pacific Region

The Region, as herein defined, comprises a number of countries on the southern margin of Asia from Pakistan in the west to Vietnam in the east, as well as Australasia and the Pacific Islands. It excludes China, North Korea and the former Soviet Union, on account of their Communist background. It covers a diverse terrain of 19 million km2, made up of two ancient shield areas, comprising the margins of the Siberian Shield to the north and that of Australia to the south, which are separated by mobile island arcs, largely following tectonic plate boundaries. Various, mainly Tertiary, sedimentary basins flank the shields and mobile belts, and some of them, especially offshore, are prospective for oil and gas.

The depletion of oil

Abstract The trend of previous estimates of the worlds ultimate recovery of oil suggests a figure of 1650 BBO, of which 1438 BBO have been discovered and 978 BBO remain to be produced. Some large reported reserve figures are questioned. Importance is attached to the mid-point of depletion when rising production tends to give way to decline. The share of the worlds supply coming from six Middle East countries is set to continue to rise from its 1986 low of 16% to as much as 50% by 2010, with the likely consequence of higher oil prices and serious political implications. The world is rapidly approaching a turning point when it has to face the consequences of an irreversible decline in oil production.

Aligning pedagogy and technology: A case study using clickers in a first-year university education course

Abstract This paper presents the results of a case study which focuses on lecturers’ use of a learner response system (clickers) with students enrolled in a first-year university education course. Data is drawn from interviews and questionnaires with guest lecturers, including the course coordinator and an author of the paper, who is also the principal lecturer in the course. Within the body of research that links clicker use with positive student engagement, this paper focuses on the lecturers’ experiences in preparing for, and using clickers with their students. The study focused on the research question: How do pedagogical decisions affect the way clickers are used with students in an education course? Taking into account the locatedness of individual lecturers’ pedagogical frameworks, the results of this study indicate a connection between lecturers’ teaching pedagogies, the way these inform their interactions with students and also how they incorporate clickers in their teaching. This paper therefore argues that the objectives of using clickers need to be made explicit in pedagogical dialogues of teaching teams comprised of lecturers and guest lecturers, and clearly linked to the overall pedagogy informing course delivery.

Teacher education students using TPACK in science: a case study

Teacher education is in the grip of change. Due to the new Australian Curriculum, no longer is it possible to plan and implement lessons without considering the inclusion of Information and Communication Technologies. Simply knowing about the latest technology gadgets is not enough. Information literacy is essential in today’s information-rich learning and working environment. Students and teachers must be able to engage with diverse learning technologies efficiently and effectively in the search for the “right information” at the “right time” for the “right purpose”. Key information literacy and inquiry skills have been recognised as vital learning goals by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority and the International Society for Technology in Education and are thus critical in science teacher education. This paper examines the overlap of technology, pedagogy and science content in the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and its affordances for science educators, at the intersection between technology knowledge, science pedagogy (information literacy and inquiry) and science content knowledge. Following an introduction of the TPACK framework for science education, the paper reports the research findings, which illustrate that 90% of pre-service teachers thought the experimental unit improved their understanding of the inquiry process, 88% reported more confidence in their understanding of science concepts and 94% of students reported an increase in their knowledge and confidence of Web 2.0 tools in supporting scientific inquiry in science. The implications of this study are that the online inquiry improved students’ knowledge and confidence in the skills and processes associated with inquiry and in science concepts.

Pedagogies afforded by new technologies: the introduction of iPods in one secondary school

Abstract Mobile technologies such as iPods are making inroads in many aspects of education at St. Columba High School in New South Wales. The potential of many of these devices is being explored in a range of educational environments but there has been minimal research to address the effectiveness of this learning tool from the perspective of the student. St. Columba’s, a co-educational Catholic High School located in the Blue Mountains of Australia, have adopted iPods to replace textbooks for students in Year 8. As a pedagogical approach to learning, the use of iPods can be an advantageous move for secondary schools in light of the Australian government’s education ‘Digital revolution.’ The aim of this study was to investigate the iPod experience for a small group of Year 8 students and their expectations using iPod Touches for learning. The study aimed to gather data on student expectations of their uses. Data for this study was collected from September to December, 2010, with students completing an online questionnaire using their iPod Touch on the Survey Monkey website. Results are positive and show that students are very keen to use the technology for learning purposes and they have some interesting and realistic expectations on how the iPods can be applied in the classroom.

Digital Tool Use and Self-Regulated Strategies in a Bilingual Online Learning Environment

This chapter details the investigation into how Year 9 students experience and negotiate a technology-enhanced learning environment in their bilingual classroom. The study investigated how their translanguaging practices (using both German and English to communicate in bilingual education settings) contribute to the self-regulation of their learning in a scientific open inquiry process. Data for this study were collected via voice recordings, a student-designed questionnaire, and focus group interviews with 22 Year 9 students who studied 18 Biology lessons during 6 weeks and over 2 consecutive years. The study revealed that students’ self-regulatory practices during open inquiry processes developed in specific ways through the exposure to a bilingual classroom setting, for example, by being exposed to unknown terms in German which led students to search for translations and then on to further self-initiated and self-regulated research to find explanations online. Students favored the teacher prepared German language biology content in guided customized simulations using computer software than their own self-initiated practices. The tool use also appeared to be reliant on students’ prior disposition to using such a tool. Thus, the results of this study have implications for the future customization of online learning spaces for high school students and educators in bilingual settings as well as in other fields.

Improving Student Language Learning in Adult Education Through the Use of Mobile Learning: Barriers, Challenges and Ways to Move Forward

Students learning languages, particularly English in the Australasian and Asia Pacific regions, have many ways to engage with mobile devices to assist with their language learning. This chapter reports on the latest teaching tools and identifies one mobile application (app) that can be used, Dragon Dictation, to assist with improving pronunciation. This chapter also presents the results of one pilot study that used Dragon Dictation to support English pronunciation. Results of this study indicate that Dragon Dictation is a useful tool to have available in the classroom context as results suggest that it assist students to improve their English pronunciation. Barriers for learners include difficulties in learning to use mobile devices as well as teachers and students knowing the best apps that are available to assist with English language learning. For teachers, barriers include learning to teach using these apps as well as teaching students how to use them. Fortunately, there are several ways to move forward in using mobile apps for learning, with research suggesting that good professional development of teachers in how to use apps is the best way to improve their teaching in this area as well as their comfortability in teaching students to use them as this will increase pedagogical affordances in this area.