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This form of anxiety is not officially recognised. But it’s widely affecting young people

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Climate anxiety is becoming a widespread mental health challenge and experts say young people need more support.

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Thank you! Joe. This is a very inspiring sharing. Jeo's sharing reminded me of the article I searched for last trimester. This article is a literature review that explores the formation mechanism of Eco anxiety and its impact on mental health.

The article points out that ecological anxiety originates from factors such as media influence, threat perception, and feelings of helplessness and powerlessness, leading to cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and decreased daily functioning. The study emphasises that adolescents and young people are particularly vulnerable to the impact, and proposes interventions such as cognitive assessment, media literacy education, and enhancing individual sense of action to effectively alleviate the negative psychological effects of ecological anxiety.

Although it is an academic article, its clear structure and concise language are also friendly to students, making it suitable for students in Year 11 and 12 to quickly understand relevant knowledge and engage in self-reflection.

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Educators have always faced the challenge of how to determine if their students are thinking. Since the 1950s, Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives has been one of the most influential pieces of educational psychology (see Figure 1). However, in an age where teachers may be using AI as tools to assist them in task creation, we need to reconsider how we design teaching for thinking.

Large language models (LLMs) and AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini use Bloom's taxonomy as one of the most significant influences on how critical thinking is defined. In this article, we explore the challenge of integrating AI into teaching, learning and assessment while Bloom's taxonomy is a significant part of its training model.

What is Bloom's taxonomy?

Bloom's taxonomy, a six-category framework of educational goals, has been highly influential for educators for nearly 70 years because it creates a clear structure for learning, is highly versatile across contexts, and facilitates the creation of critical-thinking activities.

It's versatile but is Bloom's accurate?

Criticisms of Bloom's taxonomy have also been around for more than half a century, and many are well known. One of the major issues is that the taxonomy does not capture the complexity of cognitive skills. It can be seen as inaccurate as cognitive processes interrelate with each other rather than building on each other.

To illustrate, let's look at an "understanding" task (see Figure 2): "Define ."

This is a deceptively complex task. Not only would it require a standard understanding of respiration, response to stimuli and reproduction, but it also merits discussion of more spiritual or existential issues. Ecosystems and stars may fit a definition of life. Any definition will be incomplete and debatable. A student would demonstrate high levels of critical thinking and insight if discussing the foundations of our understanding rather than merely explaining our definitions.

The taxonomy has seen revisions over time ( notably by David R. Krahwohl in 2002 ), but these still don't fully capture the interrelated and interdependent nature of thinking processes. Alternatives such as cognitive web models (as proposed by Peter Ellerton and co-authors from the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project in 2022) argue that cognitive skills often require a host of related skills and tasks (see Figure 3), and this may be more useful in designing for learning objectives.

Prompting AI for assistance with teaching thinking

To illustrate, we prompted ChatGPT to create questions that demand increasing amounts of critical thinking on the following task: "Describe the structure of a cell." It responded with:

1. Basic understanding: Describe the basic structure of a cell, including its main components.

2. Comparing cell types: Compare and contrast the structures of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, highlighting their key differences and similarities.

3. Specialised cell structures: Explain how the structure of a plant cell differs from that of an animal cell, emphasising the unique organelles found in each type.

4. Cellular functions: How do the various organelles within a eukaryotic cell contribute to its overall function and survival?

5. Cellular adaptations: Analyse how the structure of cells in different organisms reflects their specialised functions and adaptations to their environments. Provide examples.

6. Theoretical cell modifications: If you were to design a hypothetical cell with a specific function, how would you modify its structure to optimise its performance? Explain your reasoning.

When asked it increased the critical thinking, ChatGPT responded that it incorporated elements of Bloom's taxonomy in designing to promote higher-order thinking, then demonstrated how each question aligned to the taxonomy. Generative AI still "believes" that cognitive skills are hierarchical.

This is a problem for educators in two significant ways.

First, the questions are wildly inconsistent in their level of difficulty. The sixth question (creating) is so challenging that it's likely only a biology expert would be able to answer it. This might be addressed through using better prompting practices, but this leads to the second problem.

When asking AI for greater levels of critical thinking, it struggles to discern among levels. "Comparing and contrasting" is an "analysis" skill, yet ChatGPT has treated this as an "understanding" skill. We'd likely use both, too, further demonstrating that these skills are interrelated rather than hierarchical.

Create AI prompts that widen perspective or engage with ambiguity

The obvious conclusion is that educators need to be careful with their prompting when it comes to using AI as a design tool. More than that, we need to recognise that the AI may create hierarchies (which are potentially inaccurate to boot) whenever prompted for suggestions or during brainstorming.

Educators will need to consider the specific cognitive skill they want to teach or assess (when analysing, do they really mean classifying?), along with the qualities of that thinking (do they care about having coherent classifications or broad classifications, for example).

Consider prompting AI for activities that require broader perspectives or engage with the ambiguities of the issue. "Create an activity that explores the many ways life can be defined" is going to produce greater variety and complexity than asking it to "add critical thinking or difficulty to this question". Given that contemporary critical-thinking pedagogy recognises the interrelatedness of thinking skills as well as the different qualities of thinking, it's essential that we exercise care when designing critical-thinking tasks.

Luke Zaphir and Dale Hansen are learning designers in the Institute of Teaching and Learning Innovation at the University of Queensland.
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The trouble with Bloom's taxonomy in an age of AI

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When using large language models to create learning tasks, educators should be careful with their prompts if the LLM relies on Bloom's taxonomy as a supporting dataset. Luke Zaphir and Dale Hansen break down the issues

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Wally Lewis hopes $12.5m CTE funding will reduce ‘fear’ associated with condition

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The King of rugby league has been living with the probable brain injury for several years. Now he hopes a new federally-funded program will raise awareness and reduce risks.

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Fiona Pepper and Michele Weekes for This Working Life

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Nearly half of the staff at this agency are neurodivergent. The CEO says there are real benefits for her bottom line

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Heather Hardy: The former world champion left behind by boxing

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Heather Hardy tells BBC Sport how she is adapting to life outside of boxing after the former world champion was left with a life-threatening injury.

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The consequences of head impacts | Michael Buckland | TEDxKatoomba

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Concussions and head trauma remain threats to high school football

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Chronic traumatic encephalopathy - Symptoms and causes

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The Science of CTE | Concussion Legacy Foundation Australia

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Learn about the science behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy CTE and the effects repetitive head trauma has on vital parts and functions of the brain.

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New three-week stand-down for concussion in kids’ sport

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Brain hat

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California university to expand student minds with new psychedelic studies course

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California Institute of Integral Studies, located in San Francisco, will welcome its first undergrad class this August

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A "slip, slap, slop"-style preventative campaign is needed for dementia, as new research shows cases of the disease could be delayed with no added cost, a leading doctor has told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

In the speech titled "Hope Beckons", Prof Henry Brodaty, a co-director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at the University of New South Wales, said there was much more Australia could be doing to help prevent dementia in its ageing population by addressing risk factors that can be managed, such as poor diet.

Australia has a "very proud record of prevention" when it comes to health, such as the "slip slap slop" and "life be in it" campaigns, as well as smoking reduction and heart health awareness, Brodaty said.

"But we don't have an awareness in our community we can do the same thing for dementia, where half the risk factors for dementia is caused by environmentally modifiable factors that we can all do something about.

"We all have the power to do more exercise, to keep our brains active, keep socially connected. We can monitor and treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol. We can compensate for hearing loss. We can try to avoid obesity. We can reduce the risk of diabetes and head injury. We can live in environments free of air pollution. We can not smoke and avoid excess alcohol."

Brodaty told the press club "We need the slip, slop, slap of brain health now."
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The National Dementia Action Plan 2023-2034 was released, but $166m in funding is too little for what Australia needs, he said. "Where are the navigators to guide patients and families after a diagnosis? Think about breast cancer ... We can do this too in dementia, and it can be cost neutral," Brodaty said.

A study on which Brodaty was senior author, published on Wednesday in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease, found that CHeBA's internet-based dementia prevention program tailored to an individual's risk profile shows cost-effectiveness for improving cognition and reducing dementia risk.

Prof Henry Brodaty addresses the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Between 2018 and 2021, the trial followed 6,104 Australians aged 55 to 77 without dementia but who carried at least two modifiable dementia risk factors such as being overweight or suffering from anxiety. CHeBA's "Maintain Your Brain" online program had coaching modules for four of these factors: physical activity, nutrition, cognitive training, and depression or anxiety.

Half of the participants were assigned to the online program, where they were allocated between two to four of the modules depending on their dementia risk profile, while the other half of participants in the trial (the control group) were given access to curated but freely available information sheets regarding dementia risk reduction.

After three years, the researchers analysed thedifferences in costs for both the direct healthcare that participants received and the program costs, and the effectiveness (cognitive outcomes and dementia risk) between the two groups.

They found the participants who received the online coaching showed significant improvements in cognitive performance and greater reductions in dementia risk compared with those who received general health information alone.

The difference was highly significant, which would have a "major effect" at a population level, delaying the onset of dementia, Brodaty said. "Every year that we can delay the onset of dementia reduces the prevalence of dementia by 10% because it pushes the disease to later in life."

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They also found there was no significant difference in cost per person over the trial period because those who participated in the program used fewer healthcare resources which offsets the cost of delivering it.

The researchers noted that the online program would become cheaper per person in future because some research and development costs had already been borne.

The researchers also acknowledged limitations within the study: the participants were primarily Caucasian, better educated than average and had a higher socioeconomic status than the general population. They also noted risk-reduction practices may reap greater benefits in higher-risk populations.

As the study, they said, considered short-term measures of effectiveness only, "the true long-term cost savings will only be known if the sample is followed long enough to identify whether cases of incident dementia are prevented".

Prof Scott Ayton, a director in dementia research at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, who was not involved in the research, said "evidence accumulated over the past decade indicates that lifestyle and risk factor-targeted prevention strategies can meaningfully lessen dementia risk".

"The large Maintain Your Brain trial stands as a leading exemplar, showing that straightforward, cost-effective, risk-factor targeted interventions can delay onset or reduce overall risk without adding pressure to the health budget," Ayton said.

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'Slip, slop, slap for brain health': Australia needs a major prevention campaign for dementia, doctor says

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Prof Henry Brodaty of UNSW says managing risk factors such as diet and anxiety is a cost-effective way of curbing the disease

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Reversing Alzheimer's damage: Two cancer drugs demonstrate surprising power

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In an exciting breakthrough, researchers have identified cancer drugs that might reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease in the brain. By analyzing gene expression in brain cells, they discovered that some FDA-approved cancer medications could reverse damage caused by Alzheimer's.

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Most Likely to Succeed FULL DOCUMENTARY | Human Interest Documentaries | The Dock

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The stomach’s turn: elucidating the gut–brain axis - Nature Mental Health

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Philosophers and scientists have debated for centuries about how cognition and emotions are produced and the causal roles the body and brain serve. The advent of more sophisticated models of gut–brain axis communication have contributed substantially to the understanding of these key pathways and have identified functional differences associated with depression and anxiety. New work highlights the potential importance of stomach–brain coupling in interpreting interoceptive states in mental health conditions.

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This Aboriginal pedagogy framework is expressed as eight interconnected pedagogies involving narrative-driven learning, visualised learning processes, hands-on/reflective techniques, use of symbols/metaphors, land-based learning, indirect/synergistic logic, modelled/scaffolded genre mastery, and connectedness to community. But these can change in different settings.

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This Aboriginal pedagogy framework is expressed as eight interconnected pedagogies involving narrative-driven learning, visualised learning processes, hands-on/reflective techniques, use of symbols/metaphors, land-based learning, indirect/synergistic logic, modelled/scaffolded genre mastery, and connectedness to community. But these can change in different settings.

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Songlines: the Indigenous memory code - ABC listen

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Like oral cultures around the world, Indigenous Australians use cues from the landscape to recall and pass on important knowledge, cultural values and wisdom.

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Songlines are the Aboriginal walking routes that crossed the country, linking important sites and locations. Before colonisation they were maintained by regular use, burning off and clearing.

The term 'Songline' describes the features and directions of travel that were included in a song that had to be sung and memorised for the traveller to know the route to their destination. Certain Songlines were referred to as 'Dreaming Pathways' because of the tracks forged by Creator Spirits during the Dreaming. These special Songlines have specific ancestral stories attached to them.

Image Source: Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the sky.
Markers for the journey

Songlines contain information about the land and how the traveller should respectfully make their trip. This includes the types of food were safe to eat, places to be avoided and the boundaries of each Mob's Country that the traveller could pass through.

Songlines also describe features and landmarks that the traveller should look out for so they knew that they are going in the right direction. A well-known marker is the scar-tree near the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen. This scar-tree is called 'Yingabeal' ( Yinga meaning sing or song and beal being the Wurundjeri name for a redgum). Yingabeal marks the point where five different Songline routes meet and come together. Other examples of 'signposts' or 'markers' include rock formations, bends in rivers, or trees with naturally forming spirals, twists or arches.

The 'Yingabeal' scar-tree marks the point where five different Songline routes meet and come together. Physical markers like 'Yingabeal' allowed the traveller to know where they were in their journey.

Image Source: Sonia Hankova. Yingabeal Heidi Scar Tree (reproduced with permission)
A Cultural Passport

One example of a Songline is the 3,500km travel route that connected the central desert region with the eastern coast of the country (modern day Byron Bay). This particular travel route allowed the desert communities to visit the ocean where they could witness how dolphins were used by the people to heard fish. Similarly people from the coastal communities were able to travel and visit the culturally important sites of Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Songlines also act as a 'Cultural Passport' when travelling through the country of another Mob. The verses that relate to a particular region, can be sung in the local language so that the people living there know that travellers are passing through in a respectful manner.

Image Source: Uluru, helicopter view. Wikipedia.
The Songlines of today

When the British invaded, the colonists used Aboriginal Songlines for their horse drawn vehicles because a path had already been cleared. Over time and continued use, these traditional routes evolved to become cart-tracks, then gravelled paths, to finally the bitumen covered roads we see today. Examples of roads in Melbourne that were once used as Aboriginal Songlines include the Napean Highway, Dandenong Road, Plenty Road, Heidelberg Road, Geelong Road and Ballarat Road, just to name a few.

One of the great tragedies of colonisation was the eradication and white-washing of the carefully curated use of Country by Aboriginal people. Songlines were diminished as mere 'animal tracks' or 'natural clearings' when in truth they were so much more.

Songlines are the singing celebration of Country, a cultural passport when walking on the lands of neighbouring Nations and a way to acknowledge the great Creator Spirits and their footprints in the land.

Sources & Further Reading

NITV Documentaries on Songlines

To view these, a free SBS OnDemand account is required. These videos will expire after a period of time.

Songlines: Wurray. Wurray is a Dreamtime character. He is one of our "makers". He's a traveller with an open mind and an open heart to the land.

Songlines: Tjawa Tjawa. The "Tjawa Tjawa" songline is about a group of women who came from around Roebourne in the Pilbara and travelled, in some cases underground, all the way through to Kiwikurra in the Great Sandy Desert.

Songlines: Bulunu Milkarri. This Manikay is sung traditionally by Djambarrpunu Clan. Milkarri is a sorrow Manikay (songline), is sung by women from this clan to cry about a longing for Ngurruyurrtjurr (homeland/clan).

Songlines: Njambi. Following the spiritual, legal and economic significance of Njambi (stone spear), senior custodian Roy Wuynjumbi Ashley shares an all encompassing story of identity, culture and law.

Songlines: Goorrandalng, Damari and Guyala, Naji, Wardbukarra. The Songlines on Screen initiative presents films that show Aboriginal people's ongoing connection to land and culture as told throughout time by the way of creation songs

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material. To listen to our Acknowledgement of Country, click here.

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Songlines are the Aboriginal walking routes that crossed the country, linking important sites and locations. Before colonisation they were maintained by regular use, burning off and clearing. The term 'Songline' describes the features and directions of travel that were included in a song that had to be sung and memorised for the traveller to know the route to their destination.

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Our Wellbeing Our Way: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing

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Climate Change and Mental Health Equality

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Climate Change and Mental Health Equality

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Conversations in tonight's seminar around incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture in curriculum and lessons reminded me of this paper. This was an interesting resource on the connection between caring for country, climate change and mental health equality. There's also a social and emotional wellbeing figure on page 19 that others might find useful.