WorldWideScience

Sample records for in-class concept questions

  1. Teacher's Questions in Reading Classes

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    Zuliati Rohmah

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: The present paper discusses an English teacher's questions in Reading classes at MAN Malang III. Types of questions, functions of teacher's questions, question levels and the strategies applied by the teacher were put as the research problems. Non-participant observa­tion was applied to collect the data with the researcher as the main in­strument aided by field-notes and a tape recorder. It was found that the distribution of the questions did not allow the students to talk longer and to think more analytically. Meanwhile, the strategies applied by the teacher helped the students to respond to the questions previously unanswered. The teacher is suggested to produce more open and refer­ential question as well as inference and evaluation questions as to give more chances for the students to think aloud more.

  2. Improving large class performance and engagement through student-generated question banks.

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    Hancock, Dale; Hare, Nicole; Denny, Paul; Denyer, Gareth

    2018-03-12

    Disciplines such as Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which involve concepts not included in the high-school curriculum, are very challenging for many first year university students. These subjects are particularly difficult for students accustomed to surface learning strategies involving memorization and recall of facts, as a deeper understanding of the relationship between concepts is needed for successful transfer to related areas and subsequent study. In this article, we explore an activity in a very large first year Molecular Biology course, in which students create multiple-choice questions related to targeted learning outcomes, and then answer and evaluate one another's questions. This activity encompasses elements of both self- and peer-assessment and the generative tasks of creating questions and producing written feedback may contribute to a deeper understanding of the material. We make use of a free online platform to facilitate all aspects of the process and analyze the effect of student engagement with the task on overall course performance. When compared to previous semester's cohorts, we observe a pronounced improvement in class performance on exam questions targeting similar concepts to the student-generated questions. In addition, those students that engage to a greater extent with the activity perform significantly better on the targeted exam questions than those who are less active, yet all students perform similarly on a set of isolated control questions appearing on the same exam. © 2018 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2018. © 2018 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  3. Provocative questions in parochial sex education classes: higher incidence in younger students.

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    Moreno, Megan; Breuner, Cora C; Lozano, Paula

    2008-10-01

    Recent data show US adolescents are engaging in sexual activity at earlier ages; however, little is known about young teens' sexual attitudes and behaviors. Examining teens' questions in sex education classes may provide insight into these attitudes and behaviors. Quasi cohort study Parochial middle school sex education classes 5(th) through 8(th) graders Students' anonymous written questions submitted at the outset of sex education classes between 2003 and 2005. Questions were classified into topic categories. Three additional variables were then coded for each question. Ethics/guidance questions included requests for advice or value judgments. Prohibited questions included the topics homosexuality, abortion, masturbation, and contraception. "Red flag" questions were those that suggested consideration of or engagement in sexual behavior. Among 473 questions submitted by 410 students, the most popular topics for 5(th)/6(th) graders were pregnancy and puberty, and for 7(th)/8(th) graders puberty and menstruation. 41 questions (8.6%) were prohibited. 29 questions (6.2%) asked about ethics/guidance. 18 questions (3.81%) were coded as red flag questions. A chi-square analysis showed that 5(th)/6(th) graders asked more questions in the ethics/guidance (8.3% versus 3.64%) and red flag question categories (5.53% versus 1.82%) (P < 0.05) than 7(th)/8(th) graders. Although provocative questions represent a minority of these middle students' queries, these requests suggest the urgency of providing appropriate guidance to young teens, given the risks of early sexual activity. The role of school education programs, physicians and parents in addressing questions of this sort should be considered.

  4. Debate on class issue in contemporary sociology

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    Antonić Slobodan

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The contemporary debate on class issue within the sociology in English speaking countries focuses on two questions. The first question is whether the crisis of the Marxist class analysis, which arose as a consequence of weakening of class identity and class behavior, is at the same time a sign of crisis of sociological class conception. There are American, British and Australian sociologists whose answer to this question is affirmative. However, others have been claiming that the Marxist class analysis could be replaced by the Weberian concept of stratification. The second question in this debate is on the exploratory importance of class for sociological analysis. Some sociologists have been claiming that its explanatory capacity is exhausted. However, there are others who argue that classes remain one of the most important tools a modern sociologist has. Finally, this paper points to the third way of saving the class analysis. It is about focusing on collective identity and collective action of the members of "developed" professions, as a kind of "small" classes or "proto-classes".

  5. Using Pre-Assessment and In-Class Questions to Change Student Understanding of Molecular Movements

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    Jia Shi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Understanding how different types of molecules move through cell membranes is a fundamental part of cell biology. To identify and address student misconceptions surrounding molecular movement through cell membranes, we surveyed student understanding on this topic using pre-class questions, in-class clicker questions, and subsequent exam questions in a large introductory biology course. Common misconceptions identified in student responses to the pre-class assessment questions were used to generate distractors for clicker questions. Two-tier diagnostic clicker questions were used to probe incoming common student misconceptions (first tier and their reasoning (second tier. Two subsequent lectures with assessment clicker questions were used to help students construct a new framework to understand molecular movement through cell membranes. Comparison of pre-assessment and post-assessment (exam performance showed dramatic improvement in students’ understanding of molecular movement: student answers to exam questions were 74.6% correct with correct reasoning while only 1.3% of the student answers were correct with correct reasoning on the pre-class assessment. Our results show that students’ conceptual understanding of molecular movement through cell membranes progressively increases through discussions of a series of clicker questions and suggest that this clicker-based teaching strategy was highly effective in correcting common student misconceptions on this topic.

  6. Social-class differences in self-concept clarity and their implications for well-being.

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    Na, Jinkyung; Chan, Micaela Y; Lodi-Smith, Jennifer; Park, Denise C

    2018-06-01

    A consistent/stable sense of the self is more valued in middle-class contexts than working-class contexts; hence, we predicted that middle-class individuals would have higher self-concept clarity than working-class individuals. It is further expected that self-concept clarity would be more important to one's well-being among middle-class individuals than among working-class individuals. Supporting these predictions, self-concept clarity was positively associated with higher social class. Moreover, although self-concept clarity was associated with higher life satisfaction and better mental health, the association significantly attenuated among working-class individuals. In addition, self-concept clarity was not associated with physical health and its association with physical health did not interact with social class.

  7. [Differences between proposals for implementation of the social class concept in epidemiological studies

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    Solla

    1996-07-01

    This article compares different proposals for the implementation of the concept of social class and analyzes the alternatives used in each proposal, considering previous epidemiological studies on this issue and the potential of such a concept as a central category in studies on social determination in the health/disease process. Seven basic differences were identified, pertaining to the following aspects: class structure; research objective; the social class concept as a reference; the decision as to which individual has his/her occupational activity taken as defining the family's social class; the class status of the unemployed, housewives, and the retired; class status of students; and criteria for distinguishing between the "bourgeoisie", "petty bourgeoisie", "new petty bourgeoisie", and "proletariat" and whether there is a specific flow in certain population groups. Given the observed differences and underlying theoretical models, this study discusses problems related to the fact that the use of a specific concept of social class can have various implementation models.

  8. The class inclusion question: a case study in applying pragmatics to the experimental study of cognition.

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    Politzer, Guy

    2016-01-01

    For more than 70 years, Piaget's class-inclusion task (given, e.g., five asters and three tulips, the child is asked whether "there are more asters or more flowers") has been the object of experimental investigation. Inclusion is of considerable importance for cognitive science as it is a key concept for logical operations and knowledge representation. It is shown that the question can be characterised by a kind of privative ambiguity which is at the source of the younger children's answer, "more asters". A relevance-theoretic explanation of children's interpretation of the question and of the subsequent responses is expounded. This account can explain the effect of all the factors that are known to influence performance (e.g., role of collections, counting, typicality, qualification, syntax, etc.), a review of which is presented. It is further tested experimentally. The development of performance is explained on the basis of the way children disambiguate the question. This study exemplifies the two ways in which pragmatic analysis is pertinent to the study of children's (as well as adults') reasoning and judgement, namely in explaining and predicting participants' comprehension of the statements and questions, and in taking into account attribution processes that occur in the experimental setting.

  9. Using a Virtual Class to Demonstrate Computer-Mediated Group Dynamics Concepts

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    Franz, Timothy M.; Vicker, Lauren A.

    2010-01-01

    We report about an active learning demonstration designed to use a virtual class to present computer-mediated group communication course concepts to show that students can learn about these concepts in a virtual class. We designated 1 class period as a virtual rather than face-to-face class, when class members "attended" virtually using…

  10. Using Mobile Devices to Facilitate Student Questioning in a Large Undergraduate Science Class

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    Crompton, Helen; Burgin, Stephen R.; De Paor, Declan G.; Gregory, Kristen

    2018-01-01

    Asking scientific questions is the first practice of science and engineering listed in the Next Generation Science Standards. However, getting students to ask unsolicited questions in a large class can be difficult. In this qualitative study, undergraduate students sent SMS text messages to the instructor who received them on his mobile phone and…

  11. Some questions about the concept of enhancement

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    Camino Cañón Loyes

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In the eighties, the question of the moral legitimacy of enhancement related to therapy emerged. In order to approach the issue at the present, the author gives the concept: Bodily Intervention Practices (BIP, characterised by five parameters: M or the material involved in the transformation, TC or the available technoscience, A or the current conceptions regarding the natural and the artificial, N or the concept of human nature culturally shared and E or the ethical evaluations appealed to justify the transformation. The ontological level is indicated as necessary in order to understand the present debate the existing differences in moral criteria. The concept of human nature as a normative reference is in crisis and its absence leaves a vacuum which makes the need for deliberation with the aim of reaching common normative criteria urgent.

  12. Perspectives from the Avian Phylogenomics Project: Questions that Can Be Answered with Sequencing All Genomes of a Vertebrate Class.

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    Jarvis, Erich D

    2016-01-01

    The rapid pace of advances in genome technology, with concomitant reductions in cost, makes it feasible that one day in our lifetime we will have available extant genomes of entire classes of species, including vertebrates. I recently helped cocoordinate the large-scale Avian Phylogenomics Project, which collected and sequenced genomes of 48 bird species representing most currently classified orders to address a range of questions in phylogenomics and comparative genomics. The consortium was able to answer questions not previously possible with just a few genomes. This success spurred on the creation of a project to sequence the genomes of at least one individual of all extant ∼10,500 bird species. The initiation of this project has led us to consider what questions now impossible to answer could be answered with all genomes, and could drive new questions now unimaginable. These include the generation of a highly resolved family tree of extant species, genome-wide association studies across species to identify genetic substrates of many complex traits, redefinition of species and the species concept, reconstruction of the genomes of common ancestors, and generation of new computational tools to address these questions. Here I present visions for the future by posing and answering questions regarding what scientists could potentially do with available genomes of an entire vertebrate class.

  13. Political economy of agrarian change: Some key concepts and questions

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    H Bernstein

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper draws on lectures given in recent years at the China Agricultural University, on author’s book Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change [1] and on a recent article [3]. The author supplied as few references as possible to very large literature in English on agrarian change both historical and contemporary; there is an ample bibliography in [1], which is expanded in [2-5]. The paper outlines in schematic fashion some key concepts in the political economy of agrarian change with special reference to capitalism historically and today; some key questions posed by the political economy of agrarian change, and how it seeks to investigate and answer them; two sets of more specific questions about agrarian transition to capitalism and agrarian change within capitalism (internal to the countryside, bringing in rural-urban interconnections, pointing towards the place of agriculture within larger ‘national’ economies, and concerning the character and effects of the capitalist world economy. With the aid of the last group of questions, the author discusses three themes, which they are deployed to investigate: the agrarian origins of capitalism, the distinction between farming and agriculture generated by capitalism, and the fate(s of peasant farmers in the modern world of capitalism. The author believes that one cannot conceive the emergence and functioning of agriculture in modern capitalism without the centrality and configurations of new sets of dynamics linking agriculture and industry, and the rural and urban, and the local, national and global. The three themes all feed into the fourth and final theme, that of investigating the fate(s of the peasantry in capitalism today, which resonates longstanding debates of the ‘disappearance’ or ‘persistence’ of the peasantry, albeit now in the conditions of contemporary ‘globalization’. The author does not deny some of the critique of the contemporary globalization, or at least its effects

  14. Concept mapping improves academic performance in problem solving questions in biochemistry subject.

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    Baig, Mukhtiar; Tariq, Saba; Rehman, Rehana; Ali, Sobia; Gazzaz, Zohair J

    2016-01-01

    To assess the effectiveness of concept mapping (CM) on the academic performance of medical students' in problem-solving as well as in declarative knowledge questions and their perception regarding CM. The present analytical and questionnaire-based study was carried out at Bahria University Medical and Dental College (BUMDC), Karachi, Pakistan. In this analytical study, students were assessed with problem-solving questions (A-type MCQs), and declarative knowledge questions (short essay questions), and 50% of the questions were from the topics learned by CM. Students also filled a 10-item, 3-point Likert scale questionnaire about their perception regarding the effectiveness of the CM approach, and two open-ended questions were also asked. There was a significant difference in the marks obtained in those problem-solving questions, which were learned by CM as compared to those topics which were taught by the traditional lectures (pacademic performance in problem solving but not in declarative knowledge questions. Students' perception about the effectiveness of CM was overwhelmingly positive.

  15. The Concept of Ideology in Analysis of Fundamental Questions in Science Education

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    Säther, Jostein

    The use of the concept of `ideology' in interpretation of science education curricula, textbooks and various practises is reviewed, and examples are given by referring to Norwegian curricula and textbooks. The term is proposed to be used in a broad sense about any kind of action-oriented theory based on a system of ideas, or any attempt to approach politics in the light of a system of ideas. Politics in this context is about shaping of education, and is related to forces (i.e., hypothetical impacts of idea systems) which may legitimise, change, or criticise social practices. The focus is (although not in every case) on the hidden, unconscious and critical aspects. The notion ideological aspects is proposed to be related to metaphysical-ontological, epistemological and axiological claims and connotations. Examples of educational issues concerning e.g., aims, compartmentalisation, integration, and fundamentally different ideas about truth, learning and man are mentioned. Searching for a single and unifying concept for the discussing of all of science education's fundamental questions seems however in vain. Therefore a wide range of concepts seems necessary to deepen our understanding of ``the fundamental questions''.

  16. Properties of mathematical objects (Goedel on classes, properties and concepts)

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    Materna, Pavel

    2007-01-01

    In terms of a sufficiently fine-grained theory we should distinguish between classes, properties and concepts. Since properties are best modeled as a kind of non-trivial intensions while mathematical objects are never non-trivial intensions we should not speak about properties of mathematical objects. When we do use the term property in mathematics (as Goedel did) we either mean classes, or the more fine-grained entities to be called concepts. In the latter case concepts have to be defined so that various distinct concepts could identify one and the same object. The notion of construction in transparent intensional logic makes it possible to construe concepts as abstract procedures. At the same time we have to distinguish between this notion and the notion of construction in constructivist systems: the former - unlike the latter - are objective and, therefore, acceptable for a realist

  17. Diagnosing Students’ conception on atomic structure using open ended questions

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    Fitriza, Z.; Gazali, F.

    2018-05-01

    This study aims to diagnose students’ conception on atomic structure concepts using open ended questions. For this reason, a 7 items of assay test was administered to 135 senior high school students from different schools in West Sumatera. The data were collected using a an open ended test which is covering the concept used in the topic Atomic Structure. The open ended test of students’ conceptual was developed to identify the alternative conceptions that student might have regarding the concepts in Atomic Structure, to measure the level of students’ conceptions, and the way of students’ thinking concerning the concepts. The results showed that students find difficulties about some concepts of Atomic structure such as atom, atomic model, electron configuration, period and group.The result of this study illuminated the concepts to be underlined in developing teaching and learning approach concerning the topic of Atomic Structure.

  18. Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Evaluate the Cognitive Levels of Master Class Textbook's Questions

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    Assaly, Ibtihal R.; Smadi, Oqlah M.

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed at evaluating the cognitive levels of the questions following the reading texts of Master Class textbook. A checklist based on Bloom's Taxonomy was the instrument used to categorize the cognitive levels of these questions. The researchers used proper statistics to rank the cognitive levels of the comprehension questions. The…

  19. Contextual Categorisation of Academics’ Conceptions of Teaching

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    Scott Daniel

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Despite large-class research-based instructional strategies being firmly established in the literature, traditional teacher-centred lecturing remains the norm. This is particularly the case in physics, where Physics Education Research (PER has blossomed as a discipline in its own right over the last few decades, but research-based strategies are not widely implemented. This variation in practice is underpinned by variations in beliefs and understandings about teaching. Studies investigating the spectrum of conceptions of teaching held by teachers and, in particular, academics have almost uniformly identified a single dimension from teacher-centred to student-centred. These studies have used a phenomenographic approach to capture the variety of conceptions of teaching, but have excluded contextual issues like class size. Research Question: How does class size affect academics’ conceptions of teaching? Method: This study used an online survey to compare and contrast respondents’ experiences of small and large classes, and in particular lectures. The survey was promoted to Australian university academics from a range of disciplines, predominantly science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM. Responses to the sets of small-class questions were analysed independently from the sets of equivalent large-class questions. For each respondent their small-class responses were categorised, where possible, as either being student-centred or teacher-centred, and likewise, independently, for their large-class responses. Results: In total, 107 survey responses were received. Of these, 51 had the sets of both their large- and small-class responses unambiguously categorised. Five of these were student-centred regardless of class size, and 17 of these were teacher-centred regardless of class size. All of the remaining 29 responses were teacher-centred in large classes, but student-centred in small classes. Conversely, none of the

  20. Student performance on conceptual questions: Does instruction matter?

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    Heron, Paula R. L.

    2013-01-01

    As part of the tutorial component of introductory calculus-based physics at the University of Washington, students take weekly pretests that consist of conceptual questions. Pretests are so named because they precede each tutorial, but they are frequently administered after lecture instruction. Many variables associated with class composition and prior instruction (if any) could, in principle, affect student performance on these questions. Nonetheless, the results are often found to be "essentially the same" in all classes. With data available from a large number of classes, it is possible to characterize the typical variation quantitatively. In this paper three questions for which we have accumulated thousands of responses, from dozens of classes representing different conditions with respect to the textbook in use, the amount of prior instruction, etc., serve as examples. For each question, we examine the variation in student performance across all classes. We also compare subsets categorized according to the amount of relevant prior instruction each class had received. A preliminary analysis suggests that the variation in performance is essentially random. No statistically significant difference is observed between results obtained before relevant instruction begins and after it has been completed. The results provide evidence that exposure to concepts in lecture and textbook is not sufficient to ensure an improvement in performance on questions that require qualitative reasoning.

  1. Rumo a uma nova conceituação histórica da classe trabalhadora mundial Towards a new historical conceptualization of the world working class

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    Marcel van der Linden

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Este artigo apresenta uma discussão historiográfica sobre o conceito de classe trabalhadora levando em conta as diversas experiências históricas desde o século XIX. A questão a ser enfocada nas páginas seguintes é como podemos visualizar um novo conceito da classe trabalhadora levando em conta as contribuições oferecidas por Breman, Gooptu, Linebaugh e outros. A fim de encontrar uma resposta a essa questão, o artigo realiza uma crítica construtiva do conceito de classe trabalhadora em Marx.This article presents an historiographical discussion about the working class concept, dealing with the historical experiences since XIX century . The question addressed in the following pages is what a new concept of the working class might look like that would take into account the insights offered by Breman, Gooptu, Linebaugh and others. In order to find an answer to this question, it starts off with a constructive critique of Marx' concept of the working class.

  2. Water-energy-food nexus: concepts, questions and methodologies

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    Li, Y.; Chen, X.; Ding, W.; Zhang, C.; Fu, G.

    2017-12-01

    The term of water-energy -food nexus has gained increasing attention in the research and policy making communities as the security of water, energy and food becomes severe under changing environment. Ignorance of their closely interlinkages accompanied by their availability and service may result in unforeseeable, adverse consequences. This paper comprehensively reviews the state-of-the-art in the field of water-energy-food, with a focus on concepts, research questions and methodologies. First, two types of nexus definition are compared and discussed to understand the essence of nexus research issues. Then, three kinds of nexus research questions are presented, including internal relationship analysis, external impact analysis, and evaluation of the nexus system. Five nexus modelling approaches are discussed in terms of their advantages, disadvantages and application, with an aim to identify research gaps in current nexus methods. Finally, future research areas and challenges are discussed, including system boundary, data uncertainty and modelling, underlying mechanism of nexus issues and system performance evaluation. This study helps bring research efforts together to address the challenging questions in the nexus and develop the consensus on building resilient water, energy and food systems.

  3. Secondary Students' Stable and Unstable Optics Conceptions Using Contextualized Questions

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    Chu, Hye-Eun; Treagust, David F.

    2014-01-01

    This study focuses on elucidating and explaining reasons for the stability of and interrelationships between students' conceptions about "Light Propagation" and "Visibility of Objects" using contextualized questions across 3 years of secondary schooling from Years 7 to 9. In a large-scale quantitative study involving 1,233…

  4. Analyzing false positives of four questions in the Force Concept Inventory

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    Yasuda, Jun-ichiro; Mae, Naohiro; Hull, Michael M.; Taniguchi, Masa-aki

    2018-06-01

    In this study, we analyze the systematic error from false positives of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). We compare the systematic errors of question 6 (Q.6), Q.7, and Q.16, for which clearly erroneous reasoning has been found, with Q.5, for which clearly erroneous reasoning has not been found. We determine whether or not a correct response to a given FCI question is a false positive using subquestions. In addition to the 30 original questions, subquestions were introduced for Q.5, Q.6, Q.7, and Q.16. This modified version of the FCI was administered to 1145 university students in Japan from 2015 to 2017. In this paper, we discuss our finding that the systematic errors of Q.6, Q.7, and Q.16 are much larger than that of Q.5 for students with mid-level FCI scores. Furthermore, we find that, averaged over the data sample, the sum of the false positives from Q.5, Q.6, Q.7, and Q.16 is about 10% of the FCI score of a midlevel student.

  5. Augmented and virtual reality in the media: Questioning the concept of 'immersive' journalism

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    Krstić Aleksandra

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article questions and analyzes the concept of 'immersive' journalism, which has emerged from advanced technologies of augmented and virtual reality and which has already been changing the role of the media, journalism and audiences' experiences. Developed and applied in media and tech companies in the Western countries, this form of journalism represents one of the growing business models used by companies oriented towards improving and developing social networks, mobile platforms and multimedia online portals. Immersion of the audience into journalistic stories, which are upgraded by AR and VR technologies, represents the key change of our understanding, analyzing and representing the reality, and at the same time brings into question ethical and professional journalistic standards. Built on the growing body of academic scholarship and contemporary research in the field, this article critically examines the concept 'immersive' journalism and looks into relevant aspects of its theoretical foundations and practical implementation in the media industry and the university education of journalists.

  6. In-Class Incentives that Encourage Students to Take Concept Assessments Seriously

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    Smith, Michelle; Thomas, Katie; Dunham, Maitreya

    2012-01-01

    Pre/post concept assessment testing is becoming increasingly common in college courses. Instructors use different approaches to give assessments, but few studies have examined how administration differences affect results. Here, we ask if administering a posttest on the final exam differs from administering it on the last day of class with extra…

  7. Negotiating the Inquiry Question: A Comparison of Whole Class and Small Group Strategies in Grade Five Science Classrooms

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    Cavagnetto, Andy R.; Hand, Brian; Norton-Meier, Lori

    2011-03-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of two strategies for negotiating the question for exploration during science inquiry on student achievement and teachers' perceptions. The study is set in the context of the Science Writing Heuristic. The first strategy (small group) consisted of each group of four students negotiating a question for inquiry with the teacher while the second strategy (whole class) consisted of the entire class negotiating a single question for inquiry with the teacher. The study utilized a mixed-method approach. A quasi-experimental repeated measures design was used to determine the effect of strategy on student achievement and semi-structured teacher interviews were used to probe the question of teacher perceptions of the two strategies. Teacher observations were conducted using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to check for variation in implementation of the two strategies. Iowa Test of Basic Skills Science (ITBSS) (2005 and 2006) and teacher/researcher developed unit exams (pre and post) were used as student achievement measures. No statistically significant differences were found among students in the two treatment groups on the ITBSS or unit exams. RTOP observations suggest that teacher implementation was consistent across the two treatment strategies. Teachers disclosed personal preferences for the two strategies, indicating the whole class treatment was easier to manage (at least at the beginning of the school year) as students gained experience with science inquiry and the associated increased responsibility. Possible mechanisms linking the two strategies, negotiated questions, and student outcomes are discussed.

  8. Student Academic Self-Concept and Perception of Classroom Environment in Single-Sex and Coeducational Middle Grades Mathematics Classes

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    Kombe, Dennis; Che, S. Megan; Carter, Traci L.; Bridges, William

    2016-01-01

    In this article, we present findings from a study that investigated the relationship between all-girls classes, all-boys classes, and coeducational classes on student mathematics self-concept and student perception of classroom environment. Further, we compared responses of girls in all-girls classes to girls in coeducational classes and responses…

  9. Questioning the Questions

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    Tienken, Christopher H.; Goldberg, Stephanie; DiRocco, Dominic

    2010-01-01

    Historical accounts of questioning used in the education process trace back to Socrates. One of the best examples of his use of questioning is found in Plato's "The Republic." Socrates used a series of strategic questions to help his student Glaucon come to understand the concept of justice. Socrates purposefully posed a series of…

  10. Relativity Concept Inventory: Development, Analysis, and Results

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    Aslanides, J. S.; Savage, C. M.

    2013-01-01

    We report on a concept inventory for special relativity: the development process, data analysis methods, and results from an introductory relativity class. The Relativity Concept Inventory tests understanding of relativistic concepts. An unusual feature is confidence testing for each question. This can provide additional information; for example,…

  11. Operationalizing Max Weber's probability concept of class situation: the concept of social class.

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    Smith, Ken

    2007-03-01

    In this essay I take seriously Max Weber's astonishingly neglected claim that class situation may be defined, not in categorial terms, but probabilistically. I then apply this idea to another equally neglected claim made by Weber that the boundaries of social classes may be determined by the degree of social mobility within such classes. Taking these two ideas together I develop the idea of a non-categorial boundary 'surface' between classes and of a social class 'corridor' made up of all those people who are still to be found within the boundaries of the social class into which they were born. I call social mobility within a social class 'intra-class social mobility' and social mobility between classes 'inter-class social mobility'. I also claim that this distinction resolves the dispute between those sociologists who claim that late industrial societies are still highly class bound and those who think that this is no longer the case. Both schools are right I think, but one is referring to a high degree of intra-class social mobility and the other to an equally high degree of inter-class mobility. Finally I claim that this essay provides sociology with only one example among many other possible applications of how probability theory might usefully be used to overcome boundary problems generally in sociology.

  12. Use of Constructed-Response Questions to Support Learning of Cell Biology during Lectures

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    Foong May Yeong

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The use of class-response systems such as the Clickers to promote active-learning during lectures has been wide-spread. However, the often-used MCQ format in class activities as well as in assessments for large classes might lower students’ expectations and attitudes towards learning. Here, I describe my experience converting MCQs to constructed-response questions for in-class learning activities by removing cues from the MCQs. From the responses submitted, students seemed capable of providing answers without the need for cues. Using class-response systems such as Socrative for such constructed-response questions could be useful to challenge students to express their ideas in their own words. Moreover, by constructing their own answers, mis-conceptions could be revealed and corrected in a timely manner.

  13. Setting the question for inquiry: The effects of whole class vs small group on student achievement in elementary science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavagnetto, Andy Roy

    This study was conducted to determine the effects of two different student-centered approaches to setting the question for inquiry. The first approach (whole class) consisted of students setting a single question for inquiry after which students worked in small groups during an investigation phase of the activity with all groups exploring the same question. The second approach (small group) consisted of each group of students setting a question resulting in numerous questions being explored per class. A mixed method quasi-experimental design was utilized. Two grade five teachers from a small rural school district in the Midwestern United States participated, each teaching two sections of science (approximately 25 students per section). Results indicate three major findings. Instructional approach (whole class vs. small group) did not effect student achievement in science or language arts. Observational data indicated the actions and skills teachers utilized to implement the approaches were similar. Specifically, the pedagogical skills of dialogical interaction (which was found to be influenced by teacher level of control of learning and teacher content knowledge) and effective rather than efficient use of time were identified as key factors in teachers' progression toward a student-centered, teacher-managed instructional approach. Unit exams along with qualitative and quantitative teacher observation data indicated that these factors do have an impact on student achievement. Specifically increased dialogical interaction in the forms of greater student voice, and increased cognitive demands placed on students by embedding and emphasizing science argument within the student inquiry corresponded to positive gains in student achievement. Additionally, teacher's perception of student abilities was also found to influence professional growth. Finally, allowing students to set the questions for inquiry and design the experiments impact the classroom environment as teacher

  14. Questioning the Universe concepts in physics

    CERN Document Server

    Sadoff, Ahren

    2008-01-01

    UNITS AND POWERS OF TEN PHYSICS AND ITS METHODOLOGY  What Is Physics? Methodology The First Scientist Why Do You Believe? Back to the Questions How Do We Answer theQuestions? The Need to BeQuantitative Theories Models AestheticJudgments  MOTION Relating the Variables of Motion Graphs of One-Dimensional Motion Constant Speed Constant Acceleration Two-Dimensional Motion FORCES The Fundamental Forces A Specific Force Law: Newtonian Gravity Weight How Does Force Affect Motion? Newton's SecondLaw Newton, the Apple, and the Moon Combining Two Laws The Mass of the Earth Newton's Firs

  15. Understanding Class in Contemporary Societies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harrits, Gitte Sommer

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, I argue that claims about the death of class and the coming of the classless society are premature. Such claims are seldom genuinely empirical, and the theoretical argument often refers to a simple and therefore easily dismissible concept of class. By rejecting the concept of class...... altogether, sociological theory runs the risk of loosing the capacity for analysing stratification and vertical differentiation of power and freedom, which in late modernity seem to be a of continuing importance. Hence, I argue that although class analysis faces a number of serious challenges, it is possible...... to reinvent class analysis. The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu in many ways introduces an appropriate paradigm, and the paper therefore critically discusses Bourdieu's concept of class. Since the "Bourdieuan" class concept is primarily epistemological, i.e. a research strategy more than a theory, empirical...

  16. In the Shadow of Celebrity? World-Class University Policies and Public Value in Higher Education

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cremonini, Leon; Westerheijden, Donald F.; Benneworth, Paul Stephen; Dauncey, Hugh

    2014-01-01

    The growing popularity of the concept of world-class universities raises the question of whether investing in such universities is a worthwhile use of public resources. Does concentrating public resources on the most excellent universities improve the overall quality of a higher education system,

  17. Learning Gains from a Recurring "Teach and Question" Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, E G; Baek, D; Meiling, J; Morris, C; Nelson, N; Rice, N S; Rose, S; Stockdale, P

    2018-06-01

    Providing students with one-on-one interaction with instructors is a big challenge in large courses. One solution is to have students interact with their peers during class. Reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) is a more involved interaction that requires peers to alternate the roles of "teacher" and "student." Theoretically, advantages for peer tutoring include the verbalization and questioning of information and the scaffolded exploration of material through social and cognitive interaction. Studies on RPT vary in their execution, but most require elaborate planning and take up valuable class time. We tested the effectiveness of a "teach and question" (TQ) assignment that required student pairs to engage in RPT regularly outside class. A quasi-experimental design was implemented: one section of a general biology course completed TQ assignments, while another section completed a substitute assignment requiring individuals to review course material. The TQ section outperformed the other section by ∼6% on exams. Session recordings were coded to investigate correlation between TQ quality and student performance. Asking more questions was the characteristic that best predicted exam performance, and this was more predictive than most aspects of the course. We propose the TQ as an easy assignment to implement with large performance gains.

  18. An active-learning assignment requiring pharmacy students to write medicinal chemistry examination questions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolluru, Srikanth

    2012-08-10

    To implement and assess the effectiveness of an assignment requiring doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students to write examination questions for the medicinal chemistry sections of a pharmacotherapeutics course. Students were divided into groups of 5-6 and given detailed instructions and grading rubrics for writing multiple-choice examination questions on medicinal chemistry topics. The compiled student-written questions for each examination were provided to the entire class as a study aid. Approximately 5% of the student-written questions were used in course examinations. Student appreciation of and performance in the medicinal chemistry portion of the course was significantly better than that of the previous year's class. Also, students' responses on a qualitative survey instrument indicated that the assignment provided students' guidance on which concepts to focus on, helped them retain knowledge better, and fostered personal exploration of the content, which led to better performance on examinations. Adding an active-learning assignment in which students write examination questions for the medicinal chemistry portion of a pharmacotherapeutics course was an effective means of increasing students engagement in the class and knowledge of the course material.

  19. A framework for laboratory pre-work based on the concepts, tools and techniques questioning method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huntula, J; Sharma, M D; Johnston, I; Chitaree, R

    2011-01-01

    Learning in the laboratory is different from learning in other contexts because students have to engage with various aspects of the practice of science. They have to use many skills and knowledge in parallel-not only to understand the concepts of physics but also to use the tools and analyse the data. The question arises, how to best guide students' learning in the laboratory. This study is about creating and using questions with a specifically designed framework to aid learning in the laboratory. The concepts, tools and techniques questioning (CTTQ) method was initially designed and used at Mahidol University, Thailand, and was subsequently extended to laboratory pre-work at the University of Sydney. The CTTQ method was implemented in Sydney with 190 first-year students. Three pre-work exercises on a series of electrical experiments were created based on the CTTQ method. The pre-works were completed individually and submitted before the experiment started. Analysed pre-work, surveys and interviews were used to evaluate the pre-work questions in this study. The results indicated that the CTTQ method was successful and the flow in the experiments was better than that in the previous year. At the same time students had difficulty with the last experiment in the sequence and with techniques.

  20. Clicker Score Trajectories and Concept Inventory Scores as Predictors for Early Warning Systems for Large STEM Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Un Jung; Sbeglia, Gena C.; Ha, Minsu; Finch, Stephen J.; Nehm, Ross H.

    2015-12-01

    Increasing the retention of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors has recently emerged as a national priority in undergraduate education. Since poor performance in large introductory science and math courses is one significant factor in STEM dropout, early detection of struggling students is needed. Technology-supported "early warning systems" (EWSs) are being developed to meet these needs. Our study explores the utility of two commonly collected data sources—pre-course concept inventory scores and longitudinal clicker scores—for use in EWS, specifically, in determining the time points at which robust predictions of student success can first be established. The pre-course diagnostic assessments, administered to 287 students, included two concept inventories and one attitude assessment. Clicker question scores were also obtained for each of the 37 class sessions. Additionally, student characteristics (sex, ethnicity, and English facility) were gathered in a survey. Our analyses revealed that all variables were predictive of final grades. The correlation of the first 3 weeks of clicker scores with final grades was 0.53, suggesting that this set of variables could be used in an EWS starting at the third week. We also used group-based trajectory models to assess whether trajectory patterns were homogeneous in the class. The trajectory analysis identified three distinct clicker performance patterns that were also significant predictors of final grade. Trajectory analyses of clicker scores, student characteristics, and pre-course diagnostic assessment appear to be valuable data sources for EWS, although further studies in a diversity of instructional contexts are warranted.

  1. Creative class as the leading group of modern society

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Y. Sakalo

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available In the article one of the modern approaches to the social structure of the society is considered. The creative class is determined as the main driving force and as a leading social class of modern society. The author studies the history of the concept of creative class, and R. Florida’s concept in particular, and determines its characteristics and peculiarities. The influence of the creative class on the society, on its transformation processes, and the system of social values is analyzed. The role of creative class in developing creative and innovative economy of the post­industrial society era is found out. The author considers the relationship between the creative class and the other social classes of modern society. The essence of the concept of creativity is defined, and one of the most important problems of the modern era that is a constant conflict between creativity and organization is examined. The comparative historical analysis of the so­called «institutional»/ «industrial» and «creative»/ «post­industrial» era is made. The role of the creative class in developing and social changing the modern American society is studied. The questions of forming and developing creative class in modern Ukrainian society are analyzed, and the peculiarities and problems of this process are figured out. The need of state support for forming national creative class, for its strengthening and growth is emphasized.

  2. Conceptual Mobility and Entrenchment in Introductory Geoscience Courses: New Questions Regarding Physics' and Chemistry's Role in Learning Earth Science Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Steven W.; Libarkin, Julie C.

    2016-01-01

    Nationwide pre- and posttesting of introductory courses with the Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI) shows little gain for many of its questions. Analysis of more than 3,500 tests shows that 22 of the 73 GCI questions had gains of <0.03, and nearly half of these focused on basic physics and chemistry. We also discovered through an assessment of…

  3. A passage retrieval method based on probabilistic information retrieval model and UMLS concepts in biomedical question answering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarrouti, Mourad; Ouatik El Alaoui, Said

    2017-04-01

    Passage retrieval, the identification of top-ranked passages that may contain the answer for a given biomedical question, is a crucial component for any biomedical question answering (QA) system. Passage retrieval in open-domain QA is a longstanding challenge widely studied over the last decades. However, it still requires further efforts in biomedical QA. In this paper, we present a new biomedical passage retrieval method based on Stanford CoreNLP sentence/passage length, probabilistic information retrieval (IR) model and UMLS concepts. In the proposed method, we first use our document retrieval system based on PubMed search engine and UMLS similarity to retrieve relevant documents to a given biomedical question. We then take the abstracts from the retrieved documents and use Stanford CoreNLP for sentence splitter to make a set of sentences, i.e., candidate passages. Using stemmed words and UMLS concepts as features for the BM25 model, we finally compute the similarity scores between the biomedical question and each of the candidate passages and keep the N top-ranked ones. Experimental evaluations performed on large standard datasets, provided by the BioASQ challenge, show that the proposed method achieves good performances compared with the current state-of-the-art methods. The proposed method significantly outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods by an average of 6.84% in terms of mean average precision (MAP). We have proposed an efficient passage retrieval method which can be used to retrieve relevant passages in biomedical QA systems with high mean average precision. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Construction and reconstruction concept in mathematics instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mumu, Jeinne; Charitas Indra Prahmana, Rully; Tanujaya, Benidiktus

    2017-12-01

    The purpose of this paper is to describe two learning activities undertaken by lecturers, so that students can understand a mathematical concept. The mathematical concept studied in this research is the Vector Space in Linear Algebra instruction. Classroom Action Research used as a research method with pre-service mathematics teacher at University of Papua as the research subject. Student participants are divided into two parallel classes, 24 students in regular class, and remedial class consist of 18 students. Both approaches, construct and reconstruction concept, are implemented on both classes. The result shows that concept construction can only be done in regular class while in remedial class, learning with concept construction approach is not able to increase students' understanding on the concept taught. Understanding the concept of a student in a remedial class can only be carried out using the concept reconstruction approach.

  5. A Test of the Reciprocal-Effects Model of Academic Achievement and Academic Self-Concept in Regular Classes and Special Classes for the Gifted

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preckel, Franzis; Schmidt, Isabelle; Stumpf, Eva; Motschenbacher, Monika; Vogl, Katharina; Schneider, Wolfgang

    2017-01-01

    According to the reciprocal-effects model (REM), prior academic self-concept (ASC) has a positive effect on subsequent achievement beyond what can be explained in terms of prior achievement and vice versa. The present study investigated the REM for students studying in special classes for the gifted compared to students studying in regular…

  6. Promoting an active form of learning out-of-class via answering online "study questions" leads to higher than expected exam scores in General Biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibson, Susan I

    2015-01-01

    A rising need for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has fueled interest in improving teaching within STEM disciplines. Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of active learning approaches on student learning outcomes. However, many of these studies have been conducted in experimental, rather than real-life class, settings. In addition, most of these studies have focused on in-class active learning exercises. This study tested the effects of answering questions outside of class on exam performance for General Biology students at the University of Minnesota. An online database of 1,020 multiple-choice questions covering material from the first half of the course was generated. Students in seven course sections (with an average of ∼265 students per section) were given unlimited access to the online study questions. These students made extensive use of the online questions, with students answering an average of 1,323 questions covering material from the half of the semester for which the questions were available. After students answered a set of questions, they were shown the correct answers for those questions. More specific feedback describing how to arrive at the correct answer was provided for the 73% of the questions for which the correct answers were not deemed to be self-explanatory. The extent to which access to the online study questions improved student learning outcomes was assessed by comparing the performance on exam questions of students in the seven course sections with access to the online study questions with the performance of students in course sections without access to the online study questions. Student performance was analyzed for a total of 89 different exams questions that were not included in the study questions, but that covered the same material covered by the study questions. Each of these 89 questions was used on one to five exams given to students in course sections that had access to the

  7. The Relationship Between Self-concept with Assertiveness in Class X Students Kesatrian 2 Senior High School Semarang

    OpenAIRE

    Pusparani, Anindyta; Masykur, Achmad Mujab

    2014-01-01

    Assertiveness is important for teenagers, that allows teens to put themselves and perform the strategic, directed, controlled and steady activities, so teens can avoid the negative behavior. Assertiveness is consist of by several factors, one of which is influenced by self-esteem. A person with a positive self-esteem has a positive self-concept. This study aims to empirically examine the relationship of self-concept with assertiveness in class X Kesatrian 2 Semarang High School. The sample...

  8. Research in education and concepts of knowledge: the production of knowledge in question

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Almeida, Natalia Regina

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available In the field of knowledge in education, discussion about the treatment given to its definition as a field, investigative object and different possibilities theoretical-methodological, epistemological, was frequent in the last decades of the twentieth century. In this perspective, the aspects that relate to the process of construction and production of research in the field of education and knowledge of different theoretical and methodological possibilities deserve more theoretical and conceptual investment. Thus, this paper, from the literature, aims to present a brief discussion of the different conceptions of knowledge in the construction of research in the field of knowledge in education and two theoretical and methodological positions the practice of educational research. As a final consideration, the intention of this article is not to exhaust the issue in question, for there are many issues that permeate the practice of educational research.

  9. Social class and prosocial behavior: current evidence, caveats, and questions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piff, Paul K; Robinson, Angela R

    2017-12-01

    This review synthesizes research on social class and prosocial behavior. Individuals of lower social class display increased attention to others and greater sensitivity to others' welfare compared to individuals of higher social class, who exhibit more self-oriented patterns of social cognition. As a result, lower-class individuals are more likely to engage in other-beneficial prosocial behavior, whereas higher-class individuals are more prone to engage in self-beneficial behavior. Although the extant evidence indicates that higher social class standing may tend to undermine prosocial impulses, we propose that the effects of social class on prosocial behavior may also depend on three crucial factors: motivation, identity, and inequality. We discuss how and why these factors may moderate class differences in prosociality and offer promising lines of inquiry for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Class in disguise

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Faber, Stine Thidemann; Prieur, Annick

    This paper asks how class can have importance in one of the worlds’ most equal societies: Denmark. The answer is that class here appears in disguised forms. The field under study is a city, Aalborg, in the midst of transition from a stronghold of industrialism to a post industrial economy. The pa....... The paper also raises questions about how sociological discourses may contribute to the veiling of class....

  11. Smart Growth for a Sustainable Urban Environment - Concepts and Practice in US and China (CLASS PRESENTATION)

    Science.gov (United States)

    This is an invited seminar to a class of undergraduate and graduate students at DAAP of the University of Cincinnati. It provides students the concepts and trends in smart growth and sustainable urban development in U.S. and China. The materials are drawn from my research and m...

  12. CURBSIDE CONSULTATION IN KNEE ARTHROPLASTY: 49 CLINICAL QUESTIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Craig J. Della Vale

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available A user- friendly reference for decision making in complicated cases of knee arthroplasty desingned in a question and answers format composed of articles containing current concepts and preferences of experts in total knee replacement surgery, enhanced by several images, diagrams and references and written in the form of a casual advice by Craig J. Della Vale, MD. and his collaborators. PURPOSE By this practical reference of knee arthroplasty, the editor and the contributors have aimed providing straightforward and brief answers, evidence-based advices, their preference and opinions containing current concepts for unanswered questions about complicated cases in total knee replacement surgery which are often controversial and not addressed clearly in traditional knee arthroplasty references. FEATURES There are 49 subjects each written by a different expert designed in 4 sections in a question and answers format including several images and diagrams and also essential references at the end of each article. In the first section preoperative questions is subjected including indications, unicompartmental osteoarthritis of the knee, patient with vascular problems, donating blood, bilateral arthroplasty, patellar resurfacing, range of motion, bearing surface, contraindications, teaching class for patients prior surgery. The second section is about intraoperative questions including skin incision, patella femoral maltracking, femoral component rotation, tibial component rotation, lateral release, femoral component sizing, flexion instability, varus deformity, and valgus deformity, tightness in extension, iatrogenic MCL injury, antibiotic-loaded cement, and perioperative pain. The third section subjects postoperative questions including wound drainage, preventing tromboembolic events, vascular complications, foot drop, manipulation under anesthesia, patella fractures, supracondylar femur fractures, acute extensor mechanism disruptions. In the fourth

  13. Improving Student Question Classification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heiner, Cecily; Zachary, Joseph L.

    2009-01-01

    Students in introductory programming classes often articulate their questions and information needs incompletely. Consequently, the automatic classification of student questions to provide automated tutorial responses is a challenging problem. This paper analyzes 411 questions from an introductory Java programming course by reducing the natural…

  14. Relativity concept inventory: Development, analysis, and results

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. S. Aslanides

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available We report on a concept inventory for special relativity: the development process, data analysis methods, and results from an introductory relativity class. The Relativity Concept Inventory tests understanding of relativistic concepts. An unusual feature is confidence testing for each question. This can provide additional information; for example, high confidence correlated with incorrect answers suggests a misconception. A novel aspect of our data analysis is the use of Monte Carlo simulations to determine the significance of correlations. This approach is particularly useful for small sample sizes, such as ours. Our results show a gender bias that was not present in course assessment, similar to that reported for the Force Concept Inventory.

  15. Questioning the Concept of ‘New Terrorism’

    OpenAIRE

    Spencer, Alexander

    2006-01-01

    Many scholars, government analysts and politicians point out that since the mid 1990s ‘terrorism’ has changed into an inherently new form with new characteristics. They have articulated the concept of ‘new terrorism”, which involves different actors, motivations, aims, tactics and actions, compared to the ‘old’ concept of terrorism used in the mid twentieth century. However, do the established characteristics of terrorism today justify the concept of ‘new terrorism’? The aim of this paper is ...

  16. Making the Introductory Meteorology Class Relevant in a Minority Serving Community College

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchese, P. J.; Tremberger, G.; Bluestone, C.

    2008-12-01

    Queensborough Community College (QCC), a constituent campus of the City University of New York (CUNY), has modified the introductory Meteorology Class lecture and lab to include active learning activities and discovery based learning. The modules were developed at QCC and other 4 year colleges and designed to introduce basic physical concepts important in meteorology. The modules consisted of either interactive lecture demonstrations or discovery-based activities. The discovery based activities are intended to have students become familiar with scientific investigation. Students engage in formulating hypotheses, developing and carrying out experiments, and analyzing scientific data. These activities differ from traditional lab experiments in that they avoid "cookbook" procedures and emphasize having the students learn about physical concepts by applying the scientific method. During the interactive lecture demonstrations the instructor describes an experiment/phenomenon that is to be demonstrated in class. Students discuss the phenomenon based on their experiences and make a prediction about the outcome. The class then runs the experiment, makes observations, and compares the expected results to the actual outcome. As a result of these activities students in the introductory Meteorology class scored higher in exams questions measuring conceptual understanding, as well as factual knowledge. Lower scoring students demonstrated the greatest benefit, while the better students had little (or no) changes. All students also had higher self-efficacy scores after the intervention, compared to an unmodified class.

  17. Parametri, Variabili e altro: Un ripensamento su come questi concetti sono presentati in classe (Variable Parameters and Other Issues: A Review of How These Concepts Are Presented in Class).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiarugi, Ivana; And Others

    1995-01-01

    This paper considers the problem of variables, in particular parameters, analyzes how these concepts are presented in textbooks, comments on paradigms of exercises in which parameters intervene, and points out difficulties encountered by students. Discusses results of teacher interviews concerning their dealing with parameters in class.…

  18. When being a girl matters less: accessibility of gender-related self-knowledge in single-sex and coeducational classes and its impact on students' physics-related self-concept of ability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kessels, Ursula; Hannover, Bettina

    2008-06-01

    Establishing or preserving single-sex schooling has been widely discussed as a way of bringing more girls into the natural sciences. We test the assumption that the beneficial effects of single-sex education on girls' self-concept of ability in masculine subjects such as physics are due to the lower accessibility of gender-related self-knowledge in single-sex classes. N=401 eighth-graders (mean age 14.0 years) from coeducational comprehensive schools. Random assignment of students to single-sex vs. coeducational physics classes throughout the eighth grade. At the end of the year, students' physics-related self-concept of ability was measured using a questionnaire. In a subsample of N=134 students, the accessibility of gender-related self-knowledge during physics classes was assessed by measuring latencies and endorsement of sex-typed trait adjectives. Girls from single-sex physics classes reported a better physics-related self-concept of ability than girls from coeducational classes, while boys' self-concept of ability did not vary according to class composition. For both boys and girls, gender-related self-knowledge was less accessible in single-sex classes than in mixed-sex classes. To the extent that girls' feminine self-knowledge was relatively less accessible than their masculine self-knowledge, their physics-related self-concept of ability improved at the end of the school year. By revealing the importance of the differential accessibility of gender-related self-knowledge in single- and mixed-sex settings, our study clarifies why single-sex schooling helps adolescents to gain a better self-concept of ability in school subjects that are considered inappropriate for their own sex.

  19. 3. THE NATIONAL ACADEMIC UNCONSCIOUS IN QUESTION. HISTORY OF CONCEPTS, HISTORICAL SEMANTICS, CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF LEXICAL USAGE WITHIN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olivier Christin

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available A few years ago, together with Franz Schultheis, of the University of Saint-Gallen and coordinator of the social sciences network ESSE, we chose to study the international circulation of the categories and concepts that are in use in European social sciences. With the publication of the Dictionnaire des concepts  nomades (“Dictionary of nomadic concepts”, that includes only a small number of quite lengthy entries, what we tried to propose were not ready-made solutions, or vademecums for the comparative academic, but a series of questions, or rather the means to ask crucial questions for anyone who practises history, political science, history of economic ideas, or comparative sociology. We did so with two considerations in mind: one political, and the other academic, both of which I will evoke in turn in this paper.

  20. Large Observatory for x-ray Timing (LOFT-P): a Probe-class mission concept study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.; Ray, Paul S.; Chakrabarty, Deepto; Feroci, Marco; Alvarez, Laura; Baysinger, Michael; Becker, Chris; Bozzo, Enrico; Brandt, Soren; Carson, Billy; Chapman, Jack; Dominguez, Alexandra; Fabisinski, Leo; Gangl, Bert; Garcia, Jay; Griffith, Christopher; Hernanz, Margarita; Hickman, Robert; Hopkins, Randall; Hui, Michelle; Ingram, Luster; Jenke, Peter; Korpela, Seppo; Maccarone, Tom; Michalska, Malgorzata; Pohl, Martin; Santangelo, Andrea; Schanne, Stephane; Schnell, Andrew; Stella, Luigi; van der Klis, Michiel; Watts, Anna; Winter, Berend; Zane, Silvia

    2016-07-01

    LOFT-P is a mission concept for a NASA Astrophysics Probe-Class (matter? What are the effects of strong gravity on matter spiraling into black holes? It would be optimized for sub-millisecond timing of bright Galactic X-ray sources including X-ray bursters, black hole binaries, and magnetars to study phenomena at the natural timescales of neutron star surfaces and black hole event horizons and to measure mass and spin of black holes. These measurements are synergistic to imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy instruments, addressing much smaller distance scales than are possible without very long baseline X-ray interferometry, and using complementary techniques to address the geometry and dynamics of emission regions. LOFT-P would have an effective area of >6 m2, > 10x that of the highly successful Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). A sky monitor (2-50 keV) acts as a trigger for pointed observations, providing high duty cycle, high time resolution monitoring of the X-ray sky with 20 times the sensitivity of the RXTE All-Sky Monitor, enabling multi-wavelength and multimessenger studies. A probe-class mission concept would employ lightweight collimator technology and large-area solid-state detectors, segmented into pixels or strips, technologies which have been recently greatly advanced during the ESA M3 Phase A study of LOFT. Given the large community interested in LOFT (>800 supporters*, the scientific productivity of this mission is expected to be very high, similar to or greater than RXTE ( 2000 refereed publications). We describe the results of a study, recently completed by the MSFC Advanced Concepts Office, that demonstrates that such a mission is feasible within a NASA probe-class mission budget.

  1. Implementation of STEAM Education to Improve Mastery Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liliawati, W.; Rusnayati, H.; Purwanto; Aristantia, G.

    2018-01-01

    Science Technology Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM) is an integration of art into Science Technology Engineering, Mathematics (STEM). Connecting art to science makes learning more effective and innovative. This study aims to determine the increase in mastery of the concept of high school students after the application of STEAM education in learning with the theme of Water and Us. The research method used is one group Pretest-posttest design with students of class VII (n = 37) junior high school. The instrument used in the form of question of mastery of concepts in the form of multiple choices amounted to 20 questions and observation sheet of learning implementation. The results of the study show that there is an increase in conceptualization on the theme of Water and Us which is categorized as medium (=0, 46) after the application of the STEAM approach. The conclusion obtained that by applying STEAM approach in learning can improve the mastery of concept

  2. Class and Politics in Denmark: Are Both Old and New Politics Structured by Class?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harrits, Gitte Sommer; Prieur, Annick; Rosenlund, Lennart

    2010-01-01

    The trend within studies of voting and political attitudes has been to give less attention to class as a structuring dimension and more to post-material values. The basic argument of this article is that this is a false opposition: The adherence to different sets of values is related to social...... background, although in complex ways, which can only be discovered with a multidimensional conception of what class is. This conception may be found in Pierre Bourdieu's analytical approach, which we here apply in an analysis of survey data from a Danish city, Aalborg. Data from a survey of political...... the constructed space of attitudes to a set of indicators based on a two-dimensional conception of social class. On the basis of this analysis the article concludes that the political landscape appears as highly structured by the two principles of social differentiation from Bourdieu’s class model: volume...

  3. A concept in flux: questioning accountability in the context of global health cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruen, Carlos; Brugha, Ruairí; Kageni, Angela; Wafula, Francis

    2014-12-09

    Accountability in global health is a commonly invoked though less commonly questioned concept. Critically reflecting on the concept and how it is put into practice, this paper focuses on the who, what, how, and where of accountability, mapping its defining features and considering them with respect to real-world circumstances. Changing dynamics in global health cooperation - such as the emergence of new health public-private partnerships and the formal inclusion of non-state actors in policy making processes - provides the backdrop to this discussion. Accountability is frequently reduced to one set of actors holding another to account. Changes in the global health landscape and in relations between actors have however made the practice of accountability more complex and contested. Currently undergoing a reframing process, participation and transparency have become core elements of a new accountability agenda alongside evaluation and redress or enforcement mechanisms. However, while accountability is about holding actors responsible for their actions, the mechanisms through which this might be done vary substantially and are far from politically neutral.Accountability in global health cooperation involves multipolar relationships between a large number of stakeholders with varying degrees of power and influence, where not all interests are realised in that relationship. Moreover, accountability differs across finance, programme and governance subfields, where each has its own set of policy processes, institutional structures, accountability relations and power asymmetries to contend with. With reference to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, this paper contributes to discussions on accountability by mapping out key elements of the concept and how it is put into practice, where different types of accountability battle for recognition and legitimacy. In mapping some defining features, accountability in global health cooperation is shown to be

  4. Children’s questions as a base of teaching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavlović Branka S.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers interrelationships between children’s questions and teaching and learning in the light of experimental studies on the role and aim of children’s questions in Nature and Society teaching in the third grade of primary school. The experiment comprising two parallel groups was carried out on the sample of 150 respondents from two primary schools in Šabac during the second term of the academic year 2002/2003. The present paper involves a portion of the results obtained for the type of questions children asked during teaching process as classified by independent observers; average distribution of some types of questions; qualitative analysis of discussions conducted with children after two classes where identical teaching content was presented in groups E and K; qualitative analysis of two interviews conducted with teachers after those classes in groups E and K; observers’ general impression of classes in groups E and K. The results showed that teaching based on children’s questions encourages children’s proactive attitude towards learning and leads to its higher cognitive efficiency and that children express a high degree of satisfaction by participating in thus organized work during classes and preference of atmosphere present in the classroom during such classes compared to the atmosphere during classes managed in a traditional way. Communication between children and between teacher and children is less formal, more relaxed and dynamic, which all produces motivational effects on children makes them more engaged in learning during teaching whose base is in their questions and not in teaching managed by teacher’s questions.

  5. Asking a Great Question: A Librarian Teaches Questioning Skills to First-Year Medical Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Nancy E

    2015-01-01

    In a single one-hour session, first-year medical students were taught a framework for differentiating between lower-order questions that lead to knowledge of facts and higher-order questions that lead to integration of concepts and deeper learning, thereby preparing them for problem-based learning (PBL). Students generated lists of questions in response to an assertion prompt and categorized them according to Bloom's Taxonomy. These data were analyzed in addition to data from the course exam, which asked them to formulate a higher-level question in response to a prompt. Categorizing questions according to Bloom's Taxonomy was a more difficult task for students than was formulating higher-order questions. Students reported that the skills that they learned were used in subsequent PBL sessions to formulate higher-order learning objectives that integrated new and previously-learned concepts.

  6. Implementing ILDs and Assessment in Small-enrollment, Calculus-based Physics Classes -- Lessons, Observations and Open Questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason-McCaffrey, Deborah

    2011-04-01

    At Salem State, we offer a Physics minor, but most of our teaching load is support courses for other science majors and a lab sequence which satisfies the University's core education requirement. In three years of using assessments and ILDs in small-enrollment calculus-based Physics classes, there has been a significant implementation learning curve, there are encouraging results, a few cautions, and still some open questions to report. ILDs can be highly effective teaching tools. They do require significant advance preparation as well as a safe environment for student participation. Motivating students to do their best on assessment pre- and post-tests can also be difficult. Strategies for motivating assessment performance, experiments using clickers to encourage participation in ILDs, and modifying and developing home-grown ILDs are discussed.

  7. Comparison between Two Assessment Methods; Modified Essay Questions and Multiple Choice Questions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Assadi S.N.* MD

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Aims Using the best assessment methods is an important factor in educational development of health students. Modified essay questions and multiple choice questions are two prevalent methods of assessing the students. The aim of this study was to compare two methods of modified essay questions and multiple choice questions in occupational health engineering and work laws courses. Materials & Methods This semi-experimental study was performed during 2013 to 2014 on occupational health students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The class of occupational health and work laws course in 2013 was considered as group A and the class of 2014 as group B. Each group had 50 students.The group A students were assessed by modified essay questions method and the group B by multiple choice questions method.Data were analyzed in SPSS 16 software by paired T test and odd’s ratio. Findings The mean grade of occupational health and work laws course was 18.68±0.91 in group A (modified essay questions and was 18.78±0.86 in group B (multiple choice questions which was not significantly different (t=-0.41; p=0.684. The mean grade of chemical chapter (p<0.001 in occupational health engineering and harmful work law (p<0.001 and other (p=0.015 chapters in work laws were significantly different between two groups. Conclusion Modified essay questions and multiple choice questions methods have nearly the same student assessing value for the occupational health engineering and work laws course.

  8. asking questions for higher order thinking in visual literacy

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Numerous factors such as socio-economic back- ground of .... questions should comprise 40% low-order questions (Knowledge), 40% middle-order questions ... The data obtained from the class participants comprise details of a two-step tea-.

  9. America in Perspective: Yesterday's Questions and Today's Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danzer, Gerald A.

    In 1780, a prize was established in France for the best answer to the question; "Was the discovery of America a blessing or a curse to mankind?" This question and its only response from an individual living in America, constitute the basis of a high school history class unit. The background of the question and the content are developed,…

  10. Using Figure and Concept Knowledge in Geometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yavuz Karpuz

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we aim to investigate how students build interaction between concepts and figure in geometry. For this purpose we developed two type data collection tool. First one called shapely is formed eight open ended question which has concepts and figure. Second one called shapeless is formed eight open ended question which has only concepts. To prepare this data collection tools’ difficulty level we took two math teachers’ opinions. Developed data collection tools were applied 120 students at 9th grade and 11th grade in Trabzon Gazi Anatolian High School. First of all we applied shapeless questions. One month later we applied shapely questions. We investigated students’ answer and the data showed that students more succeed in shapely questions than shapeless questions. We concluded that the difficulty of solving shapeless question result from students didn’t manage to draw figure representing concept knowledge or draw wrong figure, figure drawn by students can’t fulfıl generalizability condition and students who have little knowledge of concept in geometry is under the influence of prototype figure.Key Words:    Figural concepts theory, geometrical reasoning, geometry teaching

  11. The Effects of Advance Organizers and Within-Text Questions on the Learning of a Taxonomy of Concepts. Technical Report No. 357.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernard, Michael E.

    This study, presented in three parts, investigated the effects of a group of single-concept instructional variables on the learning at an advanced level of attainment of taxonomy of behavior management concepts. The effects of presenting advance organizers and inserting within-text questions was also examined. The influence of the single-concept…

  12. Some concepts of favorability for world-class-type uranium deposits in the northeastern United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adler, H.H.

    1981-03-01

    An account is given of concepts of favorability of geologic environments in the eastern United States for uranium deposits of several major types existing elsewhere in the world. The purpose is to convey some initial ideas about the interrelationships of the geology of the eastern United States and the geologic settings of certain of these world-class deposits. The study and report include consideration of uranium deposits other than those generally manifesting the geologic, geochemical and genetic characteristics associated with the conventional sandstone-type ores of the western United States

  13. Some concepts of favorability for world-class-type uranium deposits in the northeastern United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adler, H.H.

    1981-03-01

    An account is given of concepts of favorability of geologic environments in the eastern United States for uranium deposits of several major types existing elsewhere in the world. The purpose is to convey some initial ideas about the interrelationships of the geology of the eastern United States and the geologic settings of certain of these world-class deposits. The study and report include consideration of uranium deposits other than those generally manifesting the geologic, geochemical and genetic characteristics associated with the conventional sandstone-type ores of the western United States.

  14. Research and Teaching: Correlations between Students' Written Responses to Lecture-Tutorial Questions and Their Understandings of Key Astrophysics Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckenrode, Jeffrey; Prather, Edward E.; Wallace, Colin S.

    2016-01-01

    This article reports on an investigation into the correlations between students' understandings of introductory astronomy concepts and the correctness and coherency of their written responses to targeted Lecture-Tutorial questions.

  15. The Concept Mastery in the Perspective of Gender of Junior High School Students on Eclipse Theme in Multiple Intelligences-based of Integrated Earth and Space Science Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liliawati, W.; Utama, J. A.; Mursydah, L. S.

    2017-03-01

    The purpose of this study is to identify gender-based concept mastery differences of junior high school students after the implementation of multiple intelligences-based integrated earth and space science learning. Pretest-posttest group design was employed to two different classes at one of junior high school on eclipse theme in Tasikmalaya West Java: one class for boys (14 students) and one class of girls (18 students). The two-class received same treatment. The instrument of concepts mastery used in this study was open-ended eight essay questions. Reliability test result of this instrument was 0.9 (category: high) while for validity test results were high and very high category. We used instruments of multiple intelligences identification and learning activity observation sheet for our analysis. The results showed that normalized N-gain of concept mastery for boys and girls were improved, respectively 0.39 and 0.65. Concept mastery for both classes differs significantly. The dominant multiple intelligences for boys were in kinesthetic while girls dominated in the rest of multiple intelligences. Therefor we concluded that the concept mastery was influenced by gender and student’s multiple intelligences. Based on this finding we suggested to considering the factor of gender and students’ multiple intelligences given in the learning activity.

  16. New verifiable stationarity concepts for a class of mathematical programs with disjunctive constraints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benko, Matúš; Gfrerer, Helmut

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we consider a sufficiently broad class of non-linear mathematical programs with disjunctive constraints, which, e.g. include mathematical programs with complemetarity/vanishing constraints. We present an extension of the concept of [Formula: see text]-stationarity which can be easily combined with the well-known notion of M-stationarity to obtain the stronger property of so-called [Formula: see text]-stationarity. We show how the property of [Formula: see text]-stationarity (and thus also of M-stationarity) can be efficiently verified for the considered problem class by computing [Formula: see text]-stationary solutions of a certain quadratic program. We consider further the situation that the point which is to be tested for [Formula: see text]-stationarity, is not known exactly, but is approximated by some convergent sequence, as it is usually the case when applying some numerical method.

  17. Class and comparison: subjective social location and lay experiences of constraint and mobility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irwin, Sarah

    2015-06-01

    Lay perceptions and experiences of social location have been commonly framed with reference to social class. However, complex responses to, and ambivalence over, class categories have raised interesting analytic questions relating to how sociological concepts are operationalized in empirical research. For example, prior researchers have argued that processes of class dis-identification signify moral unease with the nature of classed inequalities, yet dis-identification may also in part reflect a poor fit between 'social class' as a category and the ways in which people accord meaning to, and evaluate, their related experiences of socio-economic inequality. Differently framed questions about social comparison, aligned more closely with people's own terms of reference, offer an interesting alternative avenue for exploring subjective experiences of inequality. This paper explores some of these questions through an analysis of new empirical data, generated in the context of recession. In the analysis reported here, class identification was common. Nevertheless, whether or not people self identified in class terms, class relevant issues were perceived and described in highly diverse ways, and lay views on class revealed it to be a very aggregated as well as multifaceted construct. It is argued that it enables a particular, not general, perspective on social comparison. The paper therefore goes on to examine how study participants compared themselves with familiar others, identified by themselves. The evidence illuminates social positioning in terms of constraint, agency and (for some) movement, and offers insight into very diverse experiences of inequality, through the comparisons that people made. Their comparisons are situated, and pragmatic, accounts of the material contexts in which people live their lives. Linked evaluations are circumscribed and strongly tied to these proximate material contexts.The paper draws out implications for theorizing lay perspectives on

  18. Are They Climbing the Pyramid? Rating Student-Generated Questions in a Game Design Project / Grimpent-ils la pyramide? Évaluation des questions produites par les étudiants dans un projet de conception de jeux

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason Paul Siko

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Researchers have examined the use of homemade PowerPoint games as an instructional technique to improve learning outcomes. However, test data have shown no significant difference in performance between high school chemistry students who created games and students who did not (Siko, Barbour, & Toker, 2011. One of the justifications for the use of the games is that students will, with practice, write higher-order questions when constructing the games. Two subject matter experts rated over 2,500 questions from games created by students in an environmental chemistry class through thematic analysis using Bloom’s taxonomy as a coding scheme. The students wrote primarily recall questions, and students who created games on two occasions did not write more questions than students who only created games once. This suggests that changes to the question-writing aspect of the game project may be necessary in order to see improvements in achievement when compared to control groups. Les chercheurs ont étudié l’usage de jeux PowerPoint maison en tant que technique pédagogique visant à améliorer les résultats d'apprentissage. Les données des tests n'ont toutefois révélé aucune différence significative quant au niveau de performance des étudiants du secondaire en chimie ayant créé des jeux et celui des étudiants n’en ayant pas conçus (Siko, Barbour, et Toker, 2011. L’utilisation des jeux est notamment justifiée par l’idée que, pratique aidant, les étudiants écrivent des questions plus complexes lorsqu’ils élaborent des jeux. Au moyen d’une analyse thématique utilisant la taxonomie de Bloom comme système de codification, deux experts chimistes ont évalué plus de 2500 questions provenant de jeux conçus par des étudiants d’une classe de chimie environnementale. Les étudiants ont rédigé principalement des questions faisant appel à la mémoire, et les étudiants ayant créé des jeux à deux reprises n’ont pas produit

  19. QUALITY IN WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slavko Arsovski

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The World Class Manufacturing (WCM is a contemporary concept that is applied by the world leaders in the business. In this concept, one of the nine pillars is directly related to the quality and the other eight are related to it indirectly. That is why is very important to investigate relations between this concept and concept of model of quality. In the end of this paper are appointed the examples of best practice.

  20. Correspondence Between Physical Self-Concept and Participation in, and Fitness Change After, Biweekly Body Conditioning Classes in Sedentary Women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aasa, Ulrika; Paulin, Johan; Madison, Guy

    2017-02-01

    Aasa, U, Paulin, J, and Madison, G. Correspondence between physical self-concept and participation in, and fitness change after, biweekly body conditioning classes in sedentary women. J Strength Cond Res 31(2): 451-461, 2017-The aims of the study were (a) to investigate the effects of participation in low impact body conditioning classes on physical fitness in sedentary women at different ages and (b) to examine the correspondence between physical self-concept and participation in, and fitness change after, the participation. Ninety-two sedentary women (mean age 44.2 years) participated in 11 weeks of biweekly classes that included cardiovascular, strength, core, endurance, and mobility exercises, all performed in synchrony with music. Cardiorespiratory fitness, maximal lifting strength, mobility, and balance tests were performed before and after the exercise period and the short-form of the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ-S) was completed. Zero-order Spearman correlation analyses showed that women who rated the PSDQ-S dimension sport competence higher participated in a larger number of sessions (rs = 0.24, p = 0.040). At posttests, all participants had increased their balance, the participants aged 20-34 years had increased their lifting strength, and the participants aged 35-65 years had increased their cardiorespiratory fitness and mobility. Most PSDQ-S dimensions did not affect performance change, but the perception of being physically active was related to increased cardiovascular fitness. We conclude that women with a sedentary lifestyle who wish to increase their physical capacity benefit from music exercise and that inquiries about perceived sport competence and physical activity can improve recommendations made by strength and conditioning professionals.

  1. A Statistical Analysis of Student Questions in a Cell Biology Laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keeling, Elena L.; Polacek, Kelly M.; Ingram, Ella L.

    2009-01-01

    Asking questions is an essential component of the practice of science, but question-asking skills are often underemphasized in science education. In this study, we examined questions written by students as they prepared for laboratory exercises in a senior-level cell biology class. Our goals were to discover 1) what types of questions students…

  2. "Blogging" about course concepts: using technology for reflective journaling in a communications class.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouldin, Alicia S; Holmes, Erin R; Fortenberry, Michael L

    2006-08-15

    Web log technology was applied to a reflective journaling exercise in a communication course during the second-professional year at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, to encourage students to reflect on course concepts and apply them to the environment outside the classroom, and to assess their communication performance. Two Web log entries per week were required for full credit. Web logs were evaluated at three points during the term. At the end of the course, students evaluated the assignment using a 2-page survey instrument. The assignment contributed to student learning and increased awareness level for approximately 40% of the class. Students had few complaints about the logistics of the assignment. The Web log technology was a useful tool for reflective journaling in this communications course. Future versions of the assignment will benefit from student feedback from this initial experience.

  3. Student teachers’ mathematical questioning and courage in metaphorical thinking learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendriana, H.; Hidayat, W.; Ristiana, M. G.

    2018-01-01

    This study was designed in the form of experiments with control group design and post-test only which aimed to examine the role of metaphorical thinking learning in the mathematical questioning ability of student teachers based on the level of mathematical courage. The population of this study was student teachers of mathematics education study program in West Java Province, while the sample of this study was 152 student teachers which were set purposively and then randomly to be included in the experimental class and control class. Based on the results and discussion, it was concluded that: (a) the mathematical questioning ability of student teachers who received Metaphorical Thinking learning was better than those who received conventional learning seen from mathematical courage level; (b) learning and mathematical courage level factors affected the achievement of student teachers’ mathematical questioning ability. In addition, there was no interaction effect between learning and mathematical courage level (high, medium, and low) simultaneously in developing student teachers’ mathematical questioning ability; (c) achievement of mastering mathematical questioning ability of student teacher was still not well achieved on indicator of problem posing in the form of non-routine question and open question.

  4. An effective self-assessment based on concept map extraction from test-sheet for personalized learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liew, Keng-Hou; Lin, Yu-Shih; Chang, Yi-Chun; Chu, Chih-Ping

    2013-12-01

    Examination is a traditional way to assess learners' learning status, progress and performance after a learning activity. Except the test grade, a test sheet hides some implicit information such as test concepts, their relationships, importance, and prerequisite. The implicit information can be extracted and constructed a concept map for considering (1) the test concepts covered in the same question means these test concepts have strong relationships, and (2) questions in the same test sheet means the test concepts are relative. Concept map has been successfully employed in many researches to help instructors and learners organize relationships among concepts. However, concept map construction depends on experts who need to take effort and time for the organization of the domain knowledge. In addition, the previous researches regarding to automatic concept map construction are limited to consider all learners of a class, which have not considered personalized learning. To cope with this problem, this paper proposes a new approach to automatically extract and construct concept map based on implicit information in a test sheet. Furthermore, the proposed approach also can help learner for self-assessment and self-diagnosis. Finally, an example is given to depict the effectiveness of proposed approach.

  5. Conceptual question response times in Peer Instruction classrooms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kelly Miller

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Classroom response systems are widely used in interactive teaching environments as a way to engage students by asking them questions. Previous research on the time taken by students to respond to conceptual questions has yielded insights on how students think and change conceptions. We measure the amount of time students take to respond to in-class, conceptual questions [ConcepTests (CTs] in two introductory physics courses taught using Peer Instruction and use item response theory to determine the difficulty of the CTs. We examine response time differences between correct and incorrect answers both before and after the peer discussion for CTs of varying difficulty. We also determine the relationship between response time and student performance on a standardized test of incoming physics knowledge, precourse self-efficacy, and gender. Our data reveal three results of interest. First, response time for correct answers is significantly faster than for incorrect answers, both before and after peer discussion, especially for easy CTs. Second, students with greater incoming physics knowledge and higher self-efficacy respond faster in both rounds. Third, there is no gender difference in response rate after controlling for incoming physics knowledge scores, although males register significantly more attempts before committing to a final answer than do female students. These results provide insight into effective CT pacing during Peer Instruction. In particular, in order to maintain a pace that keeps everyone engaged, students should not be given too much time to respond. When around 80% of the answers are in, the ratio of correct to incorrect responses rapidly approaches levels indicating random guessing and instructors should close the poll.

  6. Some Big Questions about Design in Educational Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbons, Andrew S.

    2016-01-01

    This article asks five questions that lead us to the foundations of design practice in educational technology. Design processes structure time, space, place, activity, role, goal, and resource. For educational technology to advance in its understanding of design practice, it must question whether we have clear conceptions of how abstract…

  7. Class, Culture and Politics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harrits, Gitte Sommer

    2013-01-01

    Even though contemporary discussions of class have moved forward towards recognizing a multidimensional concept of class, empirical analyses tend to focus on cultural practices in a rather narrow sense, that is, as practices of cultural consumption or practices of education. As a result......, discussions within political sociology have not yet utilized the merits of a multidimensional conception of class. In light of this, the article suggests a comprehensive Bourdieusian framework for class analysis, integrating culture as both a structural phenomenon co-constitutive of class and as symbolic...... practice. Further, the article explores this theoretical framework in a multiple correspondence analysis of a Danish survey, demonstrating how class and political practices are indeed homologous. However, the analysis also points at several elements of field autonomy, and the concluding discussion...

  8. Instance-Based Question Answering

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-12-01

    cluster-based query expan- sion, learning answering strategies, machine learning in NLP To my wife Monica Abstract During recent years, question...process is typically tedious and involves expertise in crafting and implement- ing these models (e.g. rule-based), utilizing NLP resources, and...questions. For languages that use capitalization (e.g. not Chinese or Arabic ) for named entities, IBQA can make use of NE classing (e.g. “Bob Marley

  9. Questioning Strategies of Literature Teachers among Grade 8 Filipino Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena M. Ocbian

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Questioning is a useful and relevant tool to facilitate classroom discussion in a literature class. This study identified the levels of questions teachers use in their literature class, determined the different question strategies they utilized and proposed activities to enhance the questioning strategies of literature teachers. Video analysis was the main instrument used. These videos were provided during the conduct of class observations by the researchers. There were eight respondents in the study selected through total enumeration. They are teachers from Gubat Cluster of secondary schools of Sorsogon Province. To identify the levels of questions and questioning strategies, question tally form and percentage were used. Results revealed that knowledge was the most used level of questions followed by comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The most used question technique is the participation, followed by proving, sequencing, wait time, balance and student questions. It was recommended that literature teachers vary their level of questions when discussing literary pieces. They may utilize different question techniques to develop critical thinking skills of their students. The use of the proposed activities may enhance the questioning strategies of literature teachers. Likewise, school heads and program supervisors may utilize video analysis technique as a mode for classroom observation.

  10. Annotating Logical Forms for EHR Questions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Kirk; Demner-Fushman, Dina

    2016-05-01

    This paper discusses the creation of a semantically annotated corpus of questions about patient data in electronic health records (EHRs). The goal is to provide the training data necessary for semantic parsers to automatically convert EHR questions into a structured query. A layered annotation strategy is used which mirrors a typical natural language processing (NLP) pipeline. First, questions are syntactically analyzed to identify multi-part questions. Second, medical concepts are recognized and normalized to a clinical ontology. Finally, logical forms are created using a lambda calculus representation. We use a corpus of 446 questions asking for patient-specific information. From these, 468 specific questions are found containing 259 unique medical concepts and requiring 53 unique predicates to represent the logical forms. We further present detailed characteristics of the corpus, including inter-annotator agreement results, and describe the challenges automatic NLP systems will face on this task.

  11. A Data-driven Concept Schema for Defining Clinical Research Data Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hruby, Gregory W.; Hoxha, Julia; Ravichandran, Praveen Chandar; Mendonça, Eneida A.; Hanauer, David A; Weng, Chunhua

    2016-01-01

    OBJECTIVES The Patient, Intervention, Control/Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) framework is an effective technique for framing a clinical question. We aim to develop the counterpart of PICO to structure clinical research data needs. METHODS We use a data-driven approach to abstracting key concepts representing clinical research data needs by adapting and extending an expert-derived framework originally developed for defining cancer research data needs. We annotated clinical trial eligibility criteria, EHR data request logs, and data queries to electronic health records (EHR), to extract and harmonize concept classes representing clinical research data needs. We evaluated the class coverage, class preservation from the original framework, schema generalizability, schema understandability, and schema structural correctness through a semi-structured interview with eight multidisciplinary domain experts. We iteratively refined the schema based on the evaluations. RESULTS Our data-driven schema preserved 68% of the 63 classes from the original framework and covered 88% (73/82) of the classes proposed by evaluators. Class coverage for participants of different backgrounds ranged from 60% to 100% with a median value of 95% agreement among the individual evaluators. The schema was found understandable and structurally sound. CONCLUSIONS Our proposed schema may serve as the counterpart to PICO for improving the research data needs communication between researchers and informaticians. PMID:27185504

  12. Learning Designs using Flipped Classroom Instruction | Conception d’apprentissage à l’aide de l’instruction en classe inversée

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amber Danielle Mazur

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The flipped classroom is an instructional model that leverages technology-enhanced instruction outside of class time in order to maximize student engagement and learning during class time. As part of an action research study, the authors synthesize reflections about three learning designs and how the flipped classroom model can support teaching, learning and assessment through: (1 guided collaborative discussion, (2 tabletop white boarding and (3 the development of augmented reality auras. Principles for teaching effectiveness are used as a lens to guide the reflection on the benefits and challenges with each of the learning designs. Findings suggest that flipped classroom models that emphasize collaborative learning, group work and accessibility can enable and support inquiry-based learning. Recommendations are provided for educators interested in designing learning using a flipped classroom instructional model, as well as suggestions for future action research agendas. La classe inversée est un modèle pédagogique qui met à profit l’apprentissage hors des heures en classe et qui est rehaussé par la technologie pour maximiser l’engagement et l’apprentissage des apprenants en classe. Dans le cadre de cette étude de recherche-action, les auteurs résument les réflexions sur la façon dont le modèle de la classe inversée peut appuyer l’enseignement, l’apprentissage et l’évaluation par la mise en œuvre de trois conceptions d’apprentissage par investigation : 1 discussion collaborative guidée, 2 tableau blanc de table et 3 développement d’auras en réalité augmentée. Les principes d’enseignement de l’efficacité sont utilisés comme optique guidant la réflexion sur les avantages et les défis de chacune des conceptions d’apprentissage. Les conclusions suggèrent que les modèles de classes inversées qui mettent l’accent sur l’apprentissage collaboratif, le travail en groupe et l’accessibilité peuvent

  13. THE EXPLICIT COMPREHENSION-STRATEGY INSTRUCTION: QUESTION-ANSWER RELATIONSHIP VS SELF-QUESTIONING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lalu Thohir

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This study was aimed at examining and comparing the effectiveness of the Question-Answer Relationship (QAR and Self-Questioning (SQ strategies in improving the reading ability of the undergraduate students. This study was a quasi-experimental study in which two out of three classes of the third semester students at English department of Mataram University were selected randomly to receive either QAR strategy or SQ strategy instructions for ten weekly meetings. The findings of pre- and posttest with multiple-choice questions revealed that both comprehension strategies were effective in improving the undergraduate students‘ reading ability. The findings from the posttest with multiple-choice questions indicated the students who received SQ strategy instruction scored significantly higher than those students who received QAR strategy instruction. On the other hand, the students who received QAR strategy instruction scored slightly higher than those students who received SQ strategy instruction in the posttest with open-ended questions.

  14. A Virtual Class Calculus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ernst, Erik; Ostermann, Klaus; Cook, William Randall

    2006-01-01

    Virtual classes are class-valued attributes of objects. Like virtual methods, virtual classes are defined in an object's class and may be redefined within subclasses. They resemble inner classes, which are also defined within a class, but virtual classes are accessed through object instances...... model for virtual classes has been a long-standing open question. This paper presents a virtual class calculus, vc, that captures the essence of virtual classes in these full-fledged programming languages. The key contributions of the paper are a formalization of the dynamic and static semantics of vc...

  15. Ask Me a Question: How Teachers Use Inquiry in a Classroom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Susan

    2001-01-01

    Teacher use questioning techniques to evaluate students' learning, check class work and homework, review and summarize lessons, and motivate students to pay attention, learn, develop thinking skills, and investigate independently. Teachers often overestimate the value of such questions. Asking thought-provoking questions and waiting for answers…

  16. Concept Maps in Introductory Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witmer, Jeffrey A.

    2016-01-01

    Concept maps are tools for organizing thoughts on the main ideas in a course. I present an example of a concept map that was created through the work of students in an introductory class and discuss major topics in statistics and relationships among them.

  17. Intellectually disabled students’ conceptions concerning the earth and heavenly bodies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Engin Baysen

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Learning scientific concepts are crucial for both normally achieving and intellectually disabled students attending inclusion classes. This research study aimed to reveal intellectually disabled students’ conceptions and thinkings utilizing data of interviews and drawings concerning the earth and heavenly bodies and comparing them with the findings belonging to those showing normal mental achievement. Thirty intellectually disabled students (19 boys and 11 girls participated to this research. They were questioned individually using clinical interview technique. Intellectually disabled students have main similarities to those of normally achieving concerning the phenomenon. All the students participating in the present research study do have misconceptions concerning the phenomenon. Their thinking approaches (tendencies and the way they are affected by certain context while constructing their conceptions is similar to those of normally achieving. They used their concepts consistently and showed theory-like mental constructions.

  18. Can Reading Questions Foster Active Learning? A Study of Six College Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koontz, T. M.; Plank, K. M.

    2011-01-01

    Many instructors strive to encourage student reading outside of class and active learning in class. One pedagogical tool, structured reading questions, can help do both. Using examples from question sets across six courses, the authors illustrate how reading questions can help students achieve the six active-learning principles described by…

  19. Development and Testing of the Solar System Concept Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornstein, Seth D.; Prather, E. E.; English, T. R.; Desch, S. M.; Keller, J. M.; Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars CATS

    2011-01-01

    Trying to assess if our students really understand the ideas we present in class can be difficult. Concept inventories are research-validated assessment tools that can provide us with data to better understand whether we are successful in the classroom. The idea for the Solar System Concept Inventory (SSCI) was born after realizing that no concept inventory currently available covered details regarding the formation and evolution of our solar system. Topics were selected by having faculty identify the key concepts they address when teaching about the solar system and interviewing students in order to identify common naive ideas and reasoning difficulties relating to these key topics. Beginning in fall of 2008, a national multi-institutional field test began which would eventually involve nearly 2500 students and 17 instructors from 10 different institutions. After each round of testing, a group of instructors from multiple institutions around the country worked together to analyze the data and revise or eliminate underperforming questions. Each question was examined using a combination of point biserial, percent correct on the pre-test, and item difficulty to determine if the question was properly differentiating student understanding while also ensuring the question was not too easy or too hard. In this talk, I will present an overall outline of the development of the SSCI as well as the final testing results. The final version of the SSCI can be found at http://casa.colorado.edu/ hornstei/ssci/. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS). Any findings expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

  20. Class 1 devices case studies in medical devices design

    CERN Document Server

    Ogrodnik, Peter J

    2014-01-01

    The Case Studies in Medical Devices Design series consists of practical, applied case studies relating to medical device design in industry. These titles complement Ogrodnik's Medical Device Design and will assist engineers with applying the theory in practice. The case studies presented directly relate to Class I, Class IIa, Class IIb and Class III medical devices. Designers and companies who wish to extend their knowledge in a specific discipline related to their respective class of operation will find any or all of these titles a great addition to their library. Class 1 Devices is a companion text to Medical Devices Design: Innovation from Concept to Market. The intention of this book, and its sister books in the series, is to support the concepts presented in Medical Devices Design through case studies. In the context of this book the case studies consider Class I (EU) and 510(k) exempt (FDA) . This book covers classifications, the conceptual and embodiment phase, plus design from idea to PDS. These title...

  1. Looking for Synergy with Momentum in Main Asset Classes

    OpenAIRE

    Lukas Macijauskas; Dimitrios I. Maditinos

    2014-01-01

    As during turbulent market conditions correlations between main asset-classes falter, classical asset management concepts seem unreliable. This problem stimulates search for non-discretionary asset allocation methods. The aim of the paper is to test weather the concept of Momentum phenomena could be used as a stand alone investment strategy using all main asset classes. The study is based on exploring historical prices of various asset classes; statistical data analysis method is used. Result...

  2. Power dynamics and questioning in elementary science lessons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reinsvold, Lori Ann

    Discourse interactions between a teacher and students in an inquiry-based fourth-grade science classroom were analyzed to investigate how power dynamics and questioning strategies within elementary science lessons help support students in building their science understanding. Five inquiry-based classroom sessions were observed; verbal interactions were audio- and video-recorded. Research data consisted of observation transcripts, teacher interviews, student work, and instructional materials. Analyses were conducted on the frequencies of utterances, participation roles, power categories, and questioning categories. Results revealed that when students used more frequent power, (a) no significant differences were noted between frequencies of teacher and student talk, (b) the teacher posed more questions than did the students, and (c) students explained what they knew and asked questions to clarify their understanding. When the teacher used more frequent power, she asked questions to provide students opportunities to negotiate investigative processes and explain what they knew and how they knew it. Evidence of student understanding of the science concepts was found in how students used subject matter to discuss what they knew and how they knew it. Pre-service and in-service teachers should be encouraged to consider how their use of power and questioning strategies can engage students to reflect on how they build understanding of science concepts. Teachers can use Professional Learning Communities to reflect on how their practice engages students. Future research should be employed to observe classrooms across an entire school year to determine how power and questioning dynamics flow among students and teachers and change over time. Research can also be used to understand the influence of gender and culture on power and questioning dynamics in classroom settings.

  3. Effect of lecture instruction on student performance on qualitative questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heron, Paula R. L.

    2015-06-01

    The impact of lecture instruction on student conceptual understanding in physics has been the subject of research for several decades. Most studies have reported disappointingly small improvements in student performance on conceptual questions despite direct instruction on the relevant topics. These results have spurred a number of attempts to improve learning in physics courses through new curricula and instructional techniques. This paper contributes to the research base through a retrospective analysis of 20 randomly selected qualitative questions on topics in kinematics, dynamics, electrostatics, waves, and physical optics that have been given in introductory calculus-based physics at the University of Washington over a period of 15 years. In some classes, questions were administered after relevant lecture instruction had been completed; in others, it had yet to begin. Simple statistical tests indicate that the average performance of the "after lecture" classes was significantly better than that of the "before lecture" classes for 11 questions, significantly worse for two questions, and indistinguishable for the remaining seven. However, the classes had not been randomly assigned to be tested before or after lecture instruction. Multiple linear regression was therefore conducted with variables (such as class size) that could plausibly lead to systematic differences in performance and thus obscure (or artificially enhance) the effect of lecture instruction. The regression models support the results of the simple tests for all but four questions. In those cases, the effect of lecture instruction was reduced to a nonsignificant level, or increased to a significant, negative level when other variables were considered. Thus the results provide robust evidence that instruction in lecture can increase student ability to give correct answers to conceptual questions but does not necessarily do so; in some cases it can even lead to a decrease.

  4. Reframing "The Italian": Questions of Audience Address in Early Cinema.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keil, Charlie

    1990-01-01

    Analyzes "The Italian" (1915), an early "immigrant" film, examining its problematic relation to questions of working-class and middle-class audience composition. Shows how this film reveals that the creation of narratives suitable for diverse audiences requires continuous readjustment of an adequate mode of address. (MM)

  5. “Blogging” About Course Concepts: Using Technology for Reflective Journaling in a Communications Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouldin, Alicia S.; Holmes, Erin R.; Fortenberry, Michael L.

    2006-01-01

    Objective Web log technology was applied to a reflective journaling exercise in a communication course during the second-professional year at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, to encourage students to reflect on course concepts and apply them to the environment outside the classroom, and to assess their communication performance. Design Two Web log entries per week were required for full credit. Web logs were evaluated at three points during the term. At the end of the course, students evaluated the assignment using a 2-page survey instrument. Assessment The assignment contributed to student learning and increased awareness level for approximately 40% of the class. Students had few complaints about the logistics of the assignment. Conclusion The Web log technology was a useful tool for reflective journaling in this communications course. Future versions of the assignment will benefit from student feedback from this initial experience. PMID:17136203

  6. Developing diverse learners’ conceptions of information literacy through different tools and spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheila Webber

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The poster will portray three activities that the presenter has used to stimulate students in the Department of Information Studies to develop their ideas about information literacy. Each of the activities encourages learners to construct their own personal understanding of information literacy by considering various conceptions and perspectives (rather than trying to impose a “one size fits all people” view of information literacy. The first two activities were used with a class of 80 taught postgraduate students; a class with students with a variety of first degree subjects and from many countries around the world (e.g. about a third of the class is Chinese. The first activity series made use both of a Virtual Learning Environment, WebCT, and face to face discussion. The presenter used 10 conceptions of information literacy discovered through research (Webber et al., 2005: each conception was set up as a thread on a WebCT discussion board and students were asked to choose (outside class time the conception they identified with most, by posting to the relevant thread. The most “popular” conception turned out to be information literacy as “Becoming confident, autonomous learners and critical thinkers”. Students provided thoughtful comments, including some which referenced their own cultural/ national backgrounds. In a subsequent class, the “results” were discussed with the class, and students also discussed whether educators and information professionals needed to do anything differently to help people develop the student’s chosen conception of information literacy. - The second activity consisted of a seminar and a poster display. Students were set the task of producing posters that showed “What information literacy means to my future career”, with each group consisting of 3-6 students. In the first week the groups discussed the focus for their posters and drafted ideas. By the next week each group produced an A0 sized

  7. Imbalanced Class Learning in Epigenetics

    OpenAIRE

    Haque, M. Muksitul; Skinner, Michael K.; Holder, Lawrence B.

    2014-01-01

    In machine learning, one of the important criteria for higher classification accuracy is a balanced dataset. Datasets with a large ratio between minority and majority classes face hindrance in learning using any classifier. Datasets having a magnitude difference in number of instances between the target concept result in an imbalanced class distribution. Such datasets can range from biological data, sensor data, medical diagnostics, or any other domain where labeling any instances of the mino...

  8. Climate Change: reflections to support this discussion in Physics classes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agenor Pina Pina

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available The subject of Climate Changes is an everyday issue in our lives, due to media network information. Many questions about this theme are presented and discussed in a large sort of massive communication media. Despite this situation, we have to say that many of these issues are open subjects for the international scientific community, without a common sense about the causes and consequences of climate changes. In this context, Physics offers theoretical concepts and a way of modeling nature to produce some knowledge about this subject mainly because it is a basic science. From this point of view, the issue of climate changes can be considered a specially useful subject to illustrate these physical concepts by Physics teachers, to motivate students or to elaborate new educational proposals. In order to provide some tools to teach this subject in High School Physics classes, this paper offers two perspectives: to point out some physical considerations about this theme and to discuss a few uncertainties and controversies related to climate changes. In a specific way we will present some considerations about the energy balance in the Sun-Earth system, the greenhouse effect and the concept of the mean temperature of the Earth.

  9. Improving student learning and views of physics in a large enrollment introductory physics class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salehzadeh Einabad, Omid

    Introductory physics courses often serve as gatekeepers for many scientific and engineering programs and, increasingly, colleges are relying on large, lecture formats for these courses. Many students, however, leave having learned very little physics and with poor views of the subject. In interactive engagement (IE), classroom activities encourage students to engage with each other and with physics concepts and to be actively involved in their own learning. These methods have been shown to be effective in introductory physics classes with small group recitations. This study examined student learning and views of physics in a large enrollment course that included IE methods with no separate, small-group recitations. In this study, a large, lecture-based course included activities that had students explaining their reasoning both verbally and in writing, revise their ideas about physics concepts, and apply their reasoning to various problems. The questions addressed were: (a) What do students learn about physics concepts and how does student learning in this course compare to that reported in the literature for students in a traditional course?, (b) Do students' views of physics change and how do students' views of physics compare to that reported in the literature for students in a traditional course?, and (c) Which of the instructional strategies contribute to student learning in this course? Data included: pre-post administration of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), classroom exams during the term, pre-post administration of the Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey (CLASS), and student work, interviews, and open-ended surveys. The average normalized gain (=0.32) on the FCI falls within the medium-gain range as reported in the physics education literature, even though the average pre-test score was very low (30%) and this was the instructor's first implementation of IE methods. Students' views of physics remained relatively unchanged by instruction

  10. A Touch of...Class!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Netten, Joan W., Ed.

    1984-01-01

    A collection of ideas for class activities in elementary and secondary language classes includes a vocabulary review exercise and games of memory, counting, vocabulary, flashcard tic-tac-toe, dice, trashcans, questioning, and spelling. Some are designed specifically for French. (MSE)

  11. Integrating Six Sigma Concepts in an MBA Quality Management Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinstein, Larry B.; Petrick, Joseph; Castellano, Joseph; Vokurka, Robert J.

    2008-01-01

    Instructors face enormous challenges in presenting effective instruction on concepts and tools of quality management. Most textbooks focus on presenting individual concepts or tools and fail to address complex issues confronted in real-world problem-solving situations. The supplementary use of cases does not help students to understand the dynamic…

  12. Classes of Heart Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Introduction Types of Heart Failure Classes of Heart Failure Heart Failure in Children Advanced Heart Failure • Causes and ... and Advanced HF • Tools and Resources • Personal Stories Heart Failure Questions to Ask Your Doctor Use these questions ...

  13. Imagining class : A study into material social class position, subjective identification, and voting behavior across Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D'Hooge, L.; Achterberg, P.H.J.; Reeskens, T.

    2018-01-01

    The traditional approach to class voting has largely ignored the question whether material class positions coincide with subjective class identification. Following Sosnaud et al. (2013), this study evaluates party preferences when Europeans’ material and subjective social class do not coincide.

  14. Modernity, cosmopolitanism, and the emergence of middle classes in Tonga

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Besnier, N.

    2009-01-01

    The formation of social classes in Pacific Islands societies and in their diasporas continues to raise theoretical questions about the nature of social classes and their relationship to prior forms of social organization. In Tonga, middle classes both reproduce aspects of the older rank-based system

  15. The Flipped Classroom in Emergency Medicine Using Online Videos with Interpolated Questions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Emily; Claudius, Ilene; Tabatabai, Ramin; Kearl, Liza; Behar, Solomon; Jhun, Paul

    2016-09-01

    Utilizing the flipped classroom is an opportunity for a more engaged classroom session. This educational approach is theorized to improve learner engagement and retention and allows for more complex learning during class. No studies to date have been conducted in the postgraduate medical education setting investigating the effects of interactive, interpolated questions in preclassroom online video material. We created a flipped classroom for core pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) topics using recorded online video lectures for preclassroom material and interactive simulations for the in-classroom session. Lectures were filmed and edited to include integrated questions on an online platform called Zaption. One-half of the residents viewed the lectures uninterrupted (Group A) and the remainder (Group B) viewed with integrated questions (2-6 per 5-15-min segment). Residents were expected to view the lectures prior to in-class time (total viewing time of approximately 2½ h). The 2½-h in-class session included four simulation and three procedure stations, with six PEM faculty available for higher-level management discussion throughout the stations. Total educational time of home preparation and in-class time was approximately 5 h. Residents performed better on the posttest as compared to the pretest, and their satisfaction was high with this educational innovation. In 2014, performance on the posttest between the two groups was similar. However, in 2015, the group with integrated questions performed better on the posttest. An online format combined with face-to-face interaction is an effective educational model for teaching core PEM topics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Higher Education and Class: Production or Reproduction?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sotiris, Panagiotis

    2013-01-01

    This article deals with questions relating to the role of education and especially Higher Education in the reproduction of class division in society. Social classes and how they are formed and reproduced has always been one of the greatest challenges for Marxism and social theory in general. The questions regarding the role of education, and…

  17. 222 questions about the energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrachina Gomez, M.; Cerrolaza Asenjo, J.A.; Garcia Alonso, J.M.; Iranzo Martin, J.E.; Lopez Perez, B.; Minguez Perres, E.; Minguez Torres, E.; Pascualena Cambra, M.T.; Poza Galiano, A. de la; Secades Ariz, I.

    1993-01-01

    The book presents with an easy language, questions about energy. The main topics are: - Energy and energy sources - Energy and society - The energy in the world - Basic concepts of Nuclear Physics - Basic concepts of radiological protection - Electric power - Nuclear Fuel cycle - Environmental impact - Radioactive wastes management - The risk in the electricity production - Standardization of Nuclear Safety - Economic aspects of electricity generation - Energy and Spanish economy

  18. Imbalanced class learning in epigenetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haque, M Muksitul; Skinner, Michael K; Holder, Lawrence B

    2014-07-01

    In machine learning, one of the important criteria for higher classification accuracy is a balanced dataset. Datasets with a large ratio between minority and majority classes face hindrance in learning using any classifier. Datasets having a magnitude difference in number of instances between the target concept result in an imbalanced class distribution. Such datasets can range from biological data, sensor data, medical diagnostics, or any other domain where labeling any instances of the minority class can be time-consuming or costly or the data may not be easily available. The current study investigates a number of imbalanced class algorithms for solving the imbalanced class distribution present in epigenetic datasets. Epigenetic (DNA methylation) datasets inherently come with few differentially DNA methylated regions (DMR) and with a higher number of non-DMR sites. For this class imbalance problem, a number of algorithms are compared, including the TAN+AdaBoost algorithm. Experiments performed on four epigenetic datasets and several known datasets show that an imbalanced dataset can have similar accuracy as a regular learner on a balanced dataset.

  19. Reflective discourse techniques: From in-class discussions to out-of-classroom problem solving

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wampler, Wendi; Demaree, Dedra; Gilbert, Dennis

    2013-01-01

    Instructors often give prompts that encourage students to articulate their beliefs and conceptions, as well as encourage students to understand the thoughts of their peers. This reflective discourse is used in a calculus-based introductory physics class at Lane Community College, where the instructor explicitly has discourse goals integrated into his course structure. We investigate whether students utilize this discourse when solving problems outside of the classroom context. We interviewed groups of students after the end of spring term, 2012. The students were asked to solve open-ended problems, with analysis focused on whether students applied this reflective discourse. Students were asked a series of follow-up questions to reflect upon their experiences in the course.

  20. Music in Preschool Class: A Quantitative Study of Factors That Determine the Extent of Music in Daily Work in Swedish Preschool Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehrlin, Anna; Tivenius, Olle

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this article is to highlight what opportunities a six year old in preschool class in Sweden might have for participating in and being inspired by music. We ask the following question: What factors determine how music teaching is conceived and carried out in preschool class? The present study is quantitative in character, and data were…

  1. Computer self-efficacy - is there a gender gap in tertiary level introductory computing classes?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirley Gibbs

    Full Text Available This paper explores the relationship between introductory computing students, self-efficacy, and gender. Since the use of computers has become more common there has been speculation that the confidence and ability to use them differs between genders. Self-efficacy is an important and useful concept used to describe how a student may perceive their own ability or confidence in using and learning new technology. A survey of students in an introductory computing class has been completed intermittently since the late 1990\\'s. Although some questions have been adapted to meet the changing technology the aim of the survey has remain unchanged. In this study self-efficacy is measured using two self-rating questions. Students are asked to rate their confidence using a computer and also asked to give their perception of their computing knowledge. This paper examines these two aspects of a person\\'s computer self-efficacy in order to identify any differences that may occur between genders in two introductory computing classes, one in 1999 and the other in 2012. Results from the 1999 survey are compared with those from the survey completed in 2012 and investigated to ascertain if the perception that males were more likely to display higher computer self-efficacy levels than their female classmates does or did exist in a class of this type. Results indicate that while overall there has been a general increase in self-efficacy levels in 2012 compared with 1999, there is no significant gender gap.

  2. Piloting a Geoscience Literacy Exam for Assessing Students' Understanding of Earth, Climate, Atmospheric and Ocean Science Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steer, D. N.; Iverson, E. A.; Manduca, C. A.

    2013-12-01

    This research seeks to develop valid and reliable questions that faculty can use to assess geoscience literacy across the curriculum. We are particularly interested on effects of curricula developed to teach Earth, Climate, Atmospheric, and Ocean Science concepts in the context of societal issues across the disciplines. This effort is part of the InTeGrate project designed to create a population of college graduates who are poised to use geoscience knowledge in developing solutions to current and future environmental and resource challenges. Details concerning the project are found at http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html. The Geoscience Literacy Exam (GLE) under development presently includes 90 questions. Each big idea from each literacy document can be probed using one or more of three independent questions: 1) a single answer, multiple choice question aimed at basic understanding or application of key concepts, 2) a multiple correct answer, multiple choice question targeting the analyzing to analysis levels and 3) a short essay question that tests analysis or evaluation cognitive levels. We anticipate multiple-choice scores and the detail and sophistication of essay responses will increase as students engage with the curriculum. As part of the field testing of InTeGrate curricula, faculty collected student responses from classes that involved over 700 students. These responses included eight pre- and post-test multiple-choice questions that covered various concepts across the four literacies. Discrimination indices calculated from the data suggest that the eight tested questions provide a valid measure of literacy within the scope of the concepts covered. Student normalized gains across an academic term with limited InTeGrate exposure (typically two or fewer weeks of InTeGrate curriculum out of 14 weeks) were found to average 16% gain. A small set of control data (250 students in classes from one institution where no InTeGrate curricula were used) was

  3. The use of astronomy questions as an instrument to detect student's misconceptions regarding physics concepts at high school level by using CRI (Certainty of Response Index) as identification methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Utami, D. N.; Wulandari, H. R. T.

    2016-11-01

    The aim of this research is to detect misconceptions in the concept of physics at high school level by using astronomy questions as a testing instrument. Misconception is defined as a thought or an idea that is different from what has been agreed by experts who are reliable in the field, and it is believed to interfere with the acquisition of new understanding and integration of new knowledge or skills. While lack of concept or knowledge can be corrected with the next instruction and learning, students who have misconceptions have to “unlearn” their misconception before learning a correct one. Therefore, the ability to differentiate between these two things becomes crucial. CRI is one of the methods that can identify efficiently, between misconceptions and lack of knowledge that occur in the students. This research used quantitative- descriptive method with ex-post-facto research approach. An instrument used for the test is astronomy questions that require an understanding of physics concepts to solve the problem. By using astronomy questions, it is expected to raise a better understanding such that a concept can be viewed from various fields of science. Based on test results, misconceptions are found on several topics of physics. This test also revealed that student's ability to analyse a problem is still quite low.

  4. Class Attendance and Performance in Principles of Economics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohn, Elchanan; Johnson, Eric

    2006-01-01

    A sample of 347 students, enrolled in principles of economics classes during the period 1997-2001, is used to examine the relation between class attendance and student performance on examinations. Among the questions examined are: Is attendance related to performance, with and without controls for other factors? Do only substantial levels of…

  5. The Question of Rhetoric in Nietzsche and Arendt

    OpenAIRE

    Tsushima, Michiko

    2003-01-01

    When we think of the question of rhetoric, we cannot ignore a historical shift that took place in the conception of rhetoric. This shift is most evident in Nietzsche's thought. In the classical tradition, ...

  6. Concepts and Relations in Neurally Inspired In Situ Concept-Based Computing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Velde, Frank

    2016-01-01

    In situ concept-based computing is based on the notion that conceptual representations in the human brain are "in situ." In this way, they are grounded in perception and action. Examples are neuronal assemblies, whose connection structures develop over time and are distributed over different brain areas. In situ concepts representations cannot be copied or duplicated because that will disrupt their connection structure, and thus the meaning of these concepts. Higher-level cognitive processes, as found in language and reasoning, can be performed with in situ concepts by embedding them in specialized neurally inspired "blackboards." The interactions between the in situ concepts and the blackboards form the basis for in situ concept computing architectures. In these architectures, memory (concepts) and processing are interwoven, in contrast with the separation between memory and processing found in Von Neumann architectures. Because the further development of Von Neumann computing (more, faster, yet power limited) is questionable, in situ concept computing might be an alternative for concept-based computing. In situ concept computing will be illustrated with a recently developed BABI reasoning task. Neurorobotics can play an important role in the development of in situ concept computing because of the development of in situ concept representations derived in scenarios as needed for reasoning tasks. Neurorobotics would also benefit from power limited and in situ concept computing.

  7. The Interdisciplinarity in the Students' Questions in Science Classes of the Elementary School: Contributions of Discursive Textual Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maurivan Güntzel Ramos

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the analysis of 342 questions on the theme "Water", proposed by 114 students from three elementary schools in the South region of Brazil, in order to identify interdisciplinary articulations associated with complex thinking present in these questions. The research sought to answer the following question: What revelations can emerge from the analysis of student's questions about a specific topic of study, such as "Water", in relation to interdisciplinarity and complex thinking? From the discursive textual analysis of the questions, two categories emerged: disciplinary questions; and interdisciplinary questions. The examination of the content of the categories enabled the writing of metatexts that reveal that in the text of most of the students' questions, is present a complex mode of thinking and interdisciplinary relationships, since 77.8% of the questions belong to second category. This can be an indication to teachers of how to initiate pedagogical actions, whose focus is interdisciplinarity.

  8. Towards a Virtual Teaching Assistant to Answer Questions Asked by Students in Introductory Computer Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heiner, Cecily

    2009-01-01

    Students in introductory programming classes often articulate their questions and information needs incompletely. Consequently, the automatic classification of student questions to provide automated tutorial responses is a challenging problem. This dissertation analyzes 411 questions from an introductory Java programming course by reducing the…

  9. Development of a Meiosis Concept Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalas, Pamela; O'Neill, Angie; Pollock, Carol; Birol, Gulnur

    2013-01-01

    We have designed, developed, and validated a 17-question Meiosis Concept Inventory (Meiosis CI) to diagnose student misconceptions on meiosis, which is a fundamental concept in genetics. We targeted large introductory biology and genetics courses and used published methodology for question development, which included the validation of questions by…

  10. Citizenship education in Lebanon: An introduction into students’ concepts and learning experiences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bassel Akar

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Lebanon continues to use citizenship education as a tool for social cohesion in its post-conflict sectarian society. Recently, teachers from previous studies (Akar, 2006 have raised certain issues concerning the challenges of teaching citizenship in Lebanon’s National and Civic Education classrooms. This initial study in Lebanon explores some of the challenges that students face when learning citizenship within their classroom by investigating their concepts of citizenship in addition to their learning experiences. Thirty-one students from two year-11 classrooms in different schools participated. During a 45-minute class lesson, I administered a survey pack collecting quantitative and qualitative data. This pack included a diamond ranking exercise, open-ended questions and a 15-minute class discussion at the end of class. Evidence showed that these students value active and dynamic behaviours based on humanistic and democratic principles. They also demonstrated a strong sense of national identity with little or no reference to a global one. Finally, the findings showed that traditional methods of learning such as memorization and the paradoxical climate of learning democratic civic behaviours in a society of internal conflicts further challenged their learning experiences.

  11. Classroom Voting Questions to Stimulate Discussions in Precalculus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cline, Kelly; Zullo, Holly; Huckaby, David A.; Storm, Christopher; Stewart, Ann

    2018-01-01

    Classroom voting can be an effective way to stimulate student discussions. In this pedagogy, the instructor poses a multiple-choice question to the class, and then allows a few minutes for consideration and small-group discussion before students vote, either with clickers, cell phones, or a non-electronic method. After the vote the instructor…

  12. Consumer Education in Any Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wingo, Rosetta F.

    1977-01-01

    Examples are offered of how the classroom teacher can blend consumer education into typewriting, business English, business math, and other classes by intentionally focusing on principles and concepts or by including it incidentally when the opportunity arises. (TA)

  13. The theory of social classes Maurice Halbwachs

    OpenAIRE

    L. V. Kozlova

    2014-01-01

    The article considers the basic thesis of Maurice Halbwachs’s theory of social classes outlined in the “Social classes and morphology” (1942): the concept of class is revealed as the object of collective representation, the main characteristics of classes, the criteria for its selection and conditions for classes formation are analyzed.

  14. The question of caution in professional medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Godard, O.

    2006-01-01

    Contrived in Europe to tackle the environment protection policies and management of natural resources, the principle of caution has seen since 1990 its interest developed towards the fields of food safety and public health. The importance and the relevance of questions have lead the national institute of research and safety to constitute a working group to explore the problems and the potentialities that could be linked to the explicit introduction of this principle and this in the field of the prevention of professional risks. This work tackles several aspects of the question of caution in professional medium such history, concepts, evolution...as well as cases judged exemplary ones. (N.C.)

  15. Questions raised by the concept of nuclear damage in the ambit of the nuclear Conventions with particular regard to the German viewpoint

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steinkemper, H.

    1985-01-01

    An important consequence of the amendment of the Paris Convention and the Brussels Supplementary Convention by the Protocols of 16 November 1982 is the replacement of the European Monetary Agreement unit of account by the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Right. The increase by a factor of 2.5 of the maximum amounts under the Brussels Convention is also an essential aspect of the revision. The question of damage covered by the nuclear third party liability regime was not affected by the 1982 amendments. This is why the author considers it appropriate to examine in further detail a number of important questions in this field. The paper deals with the following aspects: the scope and limits of the concept of nuclear damage; the right to be indemnified for disamenities and costs arising from evacuation and prevention measures; and the problem of the nuclear link of causality for damage likely to be attributed also to non-nuclear causes. (NEA) [fr

  16. Subaltern Classes, Class Struggles and Hegemony : a Gramscian Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivete Simionatto

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This article sought to revive the concept of subaltern classes and their relation with other categories, particularly the State, civil society and hegemony in the thinking of Antonio Gramsci, as a support for contemporary class struggles. It also analyzes the relations between subaltern classes, common sense and ideology, as well as the forms of “overcoming” conceptualized by Gramsci, through the culture and philosophy of praxis. The paper revives the discussion of the subaltern classes, based on the original Gramscian formulation in the realm of Marxism, through the dialectic interaction between structure and superstructure, economy and politics. In addition to the conceptual revival, it indicates some elements that can support the discussion of the forms of subalternity found in contemporary reality and the possibilities for strengthening the struggles of these class layers, above all in moments of strong demobilization of popular participation.

  17. Coming to see objects of knowledge: Guiding student conceptualization through teacher embodied instruction in a robotics programming class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwah, Helen

    This thesis explores the questions of how a teacher guides students to see concepts, and the role of gesture and gesture viewpoints in mediating the process of guidance. To examine these questions, two sociocultural theoretical frameworks--Radford's cultural-semiotic theory of knowledge objectification (e.g., 2003), and Goldman's Points of Viewing theory (e.g., 2007)--were applied to conduct a microanalytic, explanatory case study of the instructional activity of an exemplary teacher and his students in a middle school robotics programming class. According to Radford, students acquire concepts as they draw upon semiotic resources such as language and gesture to generalize and objectify initially concrete perceptions and actions. I applied Radford's framework to explain the mediations that a teacher might enact in guiding students to objectify and see concepts. Furthermore, I focused on gesture as semiotic means because of emergent research on gesture's role in communicating the visuospatial imagery that underlies math/ scientific concepts. I extended the view of gestures to the viewpoints constructed in gesture, and applied Goldman's theory to explain how perspectives might be actively constructed and shared in the process of guiding student conceptualization. Data was collected over a semester through participant observation, field notes, teacher and student interviews, and reviews of artifacts. Multimodal microanalyses were conducted on video data from eight class sessions. The findings provide confirmations and some disconfirmations about the applicability of Radford's and Goldman's theories for explaining a teacher's process of guiding student conceptualization. Notably, some of Radford's notions about de-contextualization and symbolic generalizations were not confirmed. Overall, the findings are summarized through three themes including, grounding, and perceptual organizers as two ways that gesture and other means served to both index and identify action

  18. PEER INTERACTION IN CLASSES WHICH USE THE CONCEPT OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Violeta ARNAUDOVA

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available We have evaluated a social status of the pupils individually, especially the status of the pupils with developmental disabilities. The sample is convenient and includes 55 pupils from two classes at the age of 9-10 and 13-14 from the regular elementary school “Dimo Hadzi-Dimov”. Children with physical disabilities and anorexic problems are included in both classes. The research has been carried out using socio-metric procedure, applying three socio-metric criteria and both limited and unlimited choices.

  19. Class teacher’s gender culture

    OpenAIRE

    GOGOL-SAVRIY M.V.

    2012-01-01

    The article considers the gender approach in the professional culture of a class teacher. The nature, levels and sublevels of class teacher’s gender culture development are defined. Taking into consideration the concepts of leading researchers, the essence of components of class teacher’s gender culture is discovered according to the levels of its development as professional and educational activity. Proceeding from the results of the diagnostics of class teachers’ gender culture at comprehen...

  20. Mappings on Neutrosophic Soft Classes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shawkat Alkhazaleh

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In 1995 Smarandache introduced the concept of neutrosophic set which is a mathematical tool for handling problems involving imprecise, indeterminacy and inconsistent data. In 2013 Maji introduced the concept of neutrosophic soft set theory as a general mathematical tool for dealing with uncertainty. In this paper we define the notion of a mapping on classes where the neutrosophic soft classes are collections of neutrosophic soft set. We also define and study the properties of neutrosophic soft images and neutrosophic soft inverse images of neutrosophic soft sets.

  1. A statistical analysis of student questions in a cell biology laboratory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keeling, Elena L; Polacek, Kelly M; Ingram, Ella L

    2009-01-01

    Asking questions is an essential component of the practice of science, but question-asking skills are often underemphasized in science education. In this study, we examined questions written by students as they prepared for laboratory exercises in a senior-level cell biology class. Our goals were to discover 1) what types of questions students asked about laboratory activities, 2) whether the types or quality of questions changed over time, and 3) whether the quality of questions or degree of improvement was related to academic performance. We found a majority of questions were about laboratory outcomes or seeking additional descriptive information about organisms or processes to be studied. Few questions earned the highest possible ranking, which required demonstration of extended thought, integration of information, and/or hypotheses and future experiments, although a majority of students asked such a question at least once. We found no correlation between types of student questions or improvement in questions and final grades. Only a small improvement in overall question quality was seen despite considerable practice at writing questions about science. Our results suggest that improving students' ability to generate higher-order questions may require specific pedagogical intervention.

  2. How Are Questions That Students Ask in High Level Mathematics Classes Linked to General Giftedness?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leikin, Roza; Koichu, Boris; Berman, Avi; Dinur, Sariga

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents a part of a larger study, in which we asked "How are learning and teaching of mathematics at high level linked to students' general giftedness?" We consider asking questions, especially student-generated questions, as indicators of quality of instructional interactions. In the part of the study presented in this…

  3. Virtual classes: a powerful mechanism in object-oriented programming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Ole Lehrmann; Møller-Pedersen, Birger

    1989-01-01

    The notions of class, subclass and virtual procedure are fairly well understood and recognized as some of the key concepts in object-oriented programming. The possibility of modifying a virtual procedure in a subclass is a powerful technique for specializing the general properties of the superclass....... In most object-oriented languages, the attributes of an object may be references to objects and (virtual) procedures. In Simula and BETA it is also possible to have class attributes. The power of class attributes has not yet been widely recognized. In BETA a class may also have virtual class attributes...

  4. The Investigation of Chemistry Questions Asked in Free Boarding and Scholarship Examination for High School Level in the Context of Algorithmic and Conceptual Question Type

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayşegül DERMAN

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available To conduct of the education programs, the most important resource is considered that textbooks but in national assesment tests, chemistry questions prepared according to chemistry curriculum they may be considered reflections of curriculum. The purpose of this study is to review the 140 chemistry questions “algoritmic or conceptual”, asked in “Free Boarding and Scholarship Examination”for 9,10,11 classes between 1998 and 2015 years. The study is a descriptive study. In data analysis, within the scope of the document analysis, qualitative research method was used. Crosstabs and Kappa statistic was used. The findings of this study revealed that the questions asked in “Free Boarding and Scholarship Examination”are 80% conceptual, 20% algorithmic in total. The distribution of question types according to the years indicates that most of questions are consisted of conceptual question types. By the findings are associated with the relevant literature and national chemistry curriculum, inferences and implications for conceptual chemistry teaching and learning have been made

  5. Challenges in Understanding Photosynthesis in a University Introductory Biosciences Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Södervik, Ilona; Virtanen, Viivi; Mikkilä-Erdmann, Mirjamaija

    2015-01-01

    University students' understanding of photosynthesis was examined in a large introductory biosciences class. The focus of this study was to first examine the conceptions of photosynthesis among students in class and then to investigate how a certain type of text could enhance students' understanding of photosynthesis. The study was based on pre-…

  6. Quietly Does It: Questioning assumptions about class, sustainability and consumption

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Smith, J.; Kostelecký, Tomáš; Jehlička, P.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 67, č. 10 (2015), s. 223-232 ISSN 0016-7185 Institutional support: RVO:68378025 Keywords : Sustainability * Ethical consumption * Class Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography Impact factor: 2.397, year: 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.03.017

  7. Improving students’ understanding of mathematical concept using maple

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ningsih, Y. L.; Paradesa, R.

    2018-01-01

    This study aimed to improve students’ understanding of mathematical concept ability through implementation of using Maple in learning and expository learning. This study used a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The sample on this study was 61 students in the second semester of Mathematics Education of Universitas PGRI Palembang, South Sumatera in academic year 2016/2017. The sample was divided into two classes, one class as the experiment class who using Maple in learning and the other class as a control class who received expository learning. Data were collective through the test of mathematical initial ability and mathematical concept understanding ability. Data were analyzed by t-test and two ways ANOVA. The results of this study showed (1) the improvement of students’ mathematical concept understanding ability who using Maple in learning is better than those who using expository learning; (2) there is no interaction between learning model and students’ mathematical initial ability toward the improvement of students’ understanding of mathematical concept ability.

  8. Question Formation and Focus Construction in Owo: A Yoruba Dialect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boluwaji Oshodi

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Question formation and focusing are two transformational processes attested in Standard Yorùbá both of which have been extensively discussed in previous studies. However, very little is known about these concepts in Owo (Owò̩̩̀ a south-East Yoruba (Yorùbá dialect. This study examines the concept of questions and focusing in Owo ̩̩̀̀dialect with a comparison of the processes in Standard Yorùbá. The study revealed some differences as well as similarities in the two processes in Owo ̩̩̀̀and standard Yorùbá. Just like in Standard Yorùbá, question markers in Owo ̩̩̀̀normally occur in sentence initial and final positions. However, the question marker de ̩̀constantly appears sentence medially before and before verbs in certain constructions. Furthermore, while the focus marker in Yorùbá normally occurs immediately after the focused item with a stable form, the focus marker in Owo ̩̩̀̀usually occurs at the sentence final position as a reduplicated form of the last syllable of the final item. Also, a pronoun which indicates number and agreement usually occurs immediately after the focused item in Owò̩̩̀. Finally, just like in Yorùbá, there is a syntactic relationship between question and focusing in Owo ̩̩̀̀dialect.

  9. Productive whole-class discussions: A qualitative analysis of peer leader behaviors in general chemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckart, Teresa Mcclain

    The intention of this research was to describe behaviors and characteristics of General Chemistry I peer leaders using a pedagogical reform method referred to as Peer-led Guided Inquiry (PLGI), and to discuss the ways in which these peer leaders created productive whole-class discussions. This reform technique engaged students to work on guided inquiry activities while working cooperatively in small groups, led by undergraduate peer leaders. These sessions were video recorded and transcribed. The data was evaluated using grounded theory methods of analysis. This study examined the dialog between students and peer leaders, paying specific attention to question types and observed patterns of interactions. The research took shape by examining the kinds of questions asked by peer leaders and the purposes these questions served. In addition to looking at questions, different kinds of behaviors displayed by peer leaders during their small group sessions were also observed. A close examination of peer leader questions and behaviors aided in developing an answer to the overall research question regarding what factors are associated with productive whole-class discussions. Five major categories of peer leader behaviors evolved from the data and provided a means to compare and contrast productive whole-class discussions. While no category single-handedly determined if a discussion was good or bad, there was a tendency for peer leaders who exhibited positive traits in at least three of the following categories to have consistently better whole-class discussions: Procedural Practices, Supervisory Qualities, Questioning Techniques, Feedback/Responses, and Interpersonal Skills. Furthermore, each of the major categories is tied directly to Interpersonal, Communication, and Leadership skills and their interactions with each other. This study also addressed applications that each of these categories has on instructional practices and their need in peer leader training. In addition

  10. Fifty important research questions in microbial ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antwis, Rachael E; Griffiths, Sarah M; Harrison, Xavier A; Aranega-Bou, Paz; Arce, Andres; Bettridge, Aimee S; Brailsford, Francesca L; de Menezes, Alexandre; Devaynes, Andrew; Forbes, Kristian M; Fry, Ellen L; Goodhead, Ian; Haskell, Erin; Heys, Chloe; James, Chloe; Johnston, Sarah R; Lewis, Gillian R; Lewis, Zenobia; Macey, Michael C; McCarthy, Alan; McDonald, James E; Mejia-Florez, Nasmille L; O'Brien, David; Orland, Chloé; Pautasso, Marco; Reid, William D K; Robinson, Heather A; Wilson, Kenneth; Sutherland, William J

    2017-05-01

    Microbial ecology provides insights into the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities underpinning every ecosystem on Earth. Microbial communities can now be investigated in unprecedented detail, although there is still a wealth of open questions to be tackled. Here we identify 50 research questions of fundamental importance to the science or application of microbial ecology, with the intention of summarising the field and bringing focus to new research avenues. Questions are categorised into seven themes: host-microbiome interactions; health and infectious diseases; human health and food security; microbial ecology in a changing world; environmental processes; functional diversity; and evolutionary processes. Many questions recognise that microbes provide an extraordinary array of functional diversity that can be harnessed to solve real-world problems. Our limited knowledge of spatial and temporal variation in microbial diversity and function is also reflected, as is the need to integrate micro- and macro-ecological concepts, and knowledge derived from studies with humans and other diverse organisms. Although not exhaustive, the questions presented are intended to stimulate discussion and provide focus for researchers, funders and policy makers, informing the future research agenda in microbial ecology. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  11. A child's question in school as an expression of active attitude towards the environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavlović Branka S.

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper discusses the importance and role of a child's question in school and developing of children and adolescents' active attitude towards social environment. Emphasis is placed on the importance of a child's question for developing civic participation in social community. Considerations start from 'humanocentric' strategy of social development, oriented primarily to local community and man as a focal point of development, his potentials being in the focus of all development interests. Potentially, school as a part of local and broader social community has very large but in reality a modest role in developing civic conscious and participation. The paper points to some causes for such state-of-the-arts but also to some possibilities of improving school's role, without in-depth reforms, by introducing changes in methods of work and attitudes towards child's spontaneous questions and curiosity as a development phenomenon. Let us remind you of the improperly used classes of a class head teacher or students' class community. As a part of a school system development strategy, it is also necessary to stimulate more active attitude of school towards social reality. One of the ways of integrating school into social community is to nurture culture of asking questions in school as an educational institution and then through all institutions of social life.

  12. IDENTITIES AND CONCEPTIONS OF BORDER AREA POPULATIONS IN EAST-CENTRAL AND SOUTH-EAST EUROPE – THEMATIC ASPECTS AND QUESTIONS OF AN ACTUAL RESEARCH FIELD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilfried HELLER

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available This article will be structured as follows: Firstly, it will be described what is to be understood by the term ‘identity’. After that, this article will explore the significance of the topic ‘identities of population’ regarding the political, social, economic and cultural developments in the border areas of East-Central and South-East Europe. Because identities are not essentially but constructed phenomena, the next chapter will deal with the role of conceptions of the border area populations for the building of identity. The then following remarks on categories of border areas shall suggest that a great variety of border areas needs to be considered if one is occupied with the subject of this article. From these explanations the article’s relation to application will be derived, and groups of questions as well as detailed questions will be developed.

  13. Environmental Studies - Class Notes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canipe, Stephen L.

    This document consists of four units (chapters) focusing on evolution (chapter I), civilization of man (chapter II), ecological concepts (chapter III), and limnological concepts (Chapter IV). Each chapter contains "text material" on the topic indicated. In addition: (1) a list of key vocabulary words, questions, reading list, and…

  14. Best practice strategies for effective use of questions as a teaching tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tofade, Toyin; Elsner, Jamie; Haines, Stuart T

    2013-09-12

    Questions have long been used as a teaching tool by teachers and preceptors to assess students' knowledge, promote comprehension, and stimulate critical thinking. Well-crafted questions lead to new insights, generate discussion, and promote the comprehensive exploration of subject matter. Poorly constructed questions can stifle learning by creating confusion, intimidating students, and limiting creative thinking. Teachers most often ask lower-order, convergent questions that rely on students' factual recall of prior knowledge rather than asking higher-order, divergent questions that promote deep thinking, requiring students to analyze and evaluate concepts. This review summarizes the taxonomy of questions, provides strategies for formulating effective questions, and explores practical considerations to enhance student engagement and promote critical thinking. These concepts can be applied in the classroom and in experiential learning environments.

  15. Practical Application of Fundamental Concepts in Exercise Physiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramsbottom R.; Kinch, R. F. T.; Morris, M. G.; Dennis, A. M.

    2007-01-01

    The collection of primary data in laboratory classes enhances undergraduate practical and critical thinking skills. The present article describes the use of a lecture program, running in parallel with a series of linked practical classes, that emphasizes classical or standard concepts in exercise physiology. The academic and practical program ran…

  16. Student Engagement with a Flipped Classroom Teaching Design Affects Pharmacology Examination Performance in a Manner Dependent on Question Type

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naidu, Som; Yuriev, Elizabeth; Short, Jennifer L.; McLaughlin, Jacqueline E.; Larson, Ian C.

    2017-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the relationship between student engagement with the key elements of a flipped classroom approach (preparation and attendance), their attitudes to learning, including strategy development, and their performance on two types of examination questions (knowledge recall and providing rational predictions when faced with novel scenarios). Methods. This study correlated student engagement with the flipped classroom and student disposition to learning with student ability to solve novel scenarios in examinations. Results. Students who both prepared for and attended classes performed significantly better on examination questions that required analysis of novel scenarios compared to students who did not prepare and missed classes. However, there was no difference for both groups of students on examination questions that required knowledge and comprehension. Student motivation and use of strategies correlated with higher examination scores on questions requiring novel scenario analysis. Conclusion. There is a synergistic relationship between class preparation and attendance. The combination of preparation and attendance was positively correlated to assessment type; the relationship was apparent for questions requiring students to solve novel problems but not for questions requiring knowledge or comprehension. PMID:29302082

  17. Student Engagement with a Flipped Classroom Teaching Design Affects Pharmacology Examination Performance in a Manner Dependent on Question Type.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Paul J; Naidu, Som; Yuriev, Elizabeth; Short, Jennifer L; McLaughlin, Jacqueline E; Larson, Ian C

    2017-11-01

    Objective: To investigate the relationship between student engagement with the key elements of a flipped classroom approach (preparation and attendance), their attitudes to learning, including strategy development, and their performance on two types of examination questions (knowledge recall and providing rational predictions when faced with novel scenarios). Methods. This study correlated student engagement with the flipped classroom and student disposition to learning with student ability to solve novel scenarios in examinations. Results. Students who both prepared for and attended classes performed significantly better on examination questions that required analysis of novel scenarios compared to students who did not prepare and missed classes. However, there was no difference for both groups of students on examination questions that required knowledge and comprehension. Student motivation and use of strategies correlated with higher examination scores on questions requiring novel scenario analysis. Conclusion. There is a synergistic relationship between class preparation and attendance. The combination of preparation and attendance was positively correlated to assessment type; the relationship was apparent for questions requiring students to solve novel problems but not for questions requiring knowledge or comprehension.

  18. World class manufacturing in metallurgical enterprise

    OpenAIRE

    B. Gajdzik

    2013-01-01

    World Class Manufacturing (WCM) assumes increase of efficiency of the company by elimination of all the losses, wastage and dangers of safety. In ArcelorMittal the concept of WCM is implemented in particular enterprises within the capital group. In this publication the activities conducted in some of those enterprises are described.

  19. Effects of Training on the Concepts of Water Level and Horizontality in the Classroom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinstein, Melissa Starbuck

    This experiment was designed to see if classroom instruction in the concept of water level and horizontality can improve students' knowledge of these concepts. The sample consisted of a kindergarten and a second grade class from one school and a first grade class from another school. Each class was divided into three groups. The first group was…

  20. Young people, drinking and social class

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kolind, Torsten

    2011-01-01

    Analytical concepts such as 'bounded consumption' or 'controlled loss of control' have been applied to characterise contemporary youth intoxication. This article argues that this kind of cultural diagnosis benefits from being related to a focus on differences in social class. It is shown that in ......Analytical concepts such as 'bounded consumption' or 'controlled loss of control' have been applied to characterise contemporary youth intoxication. This article argues that this kind of cultural diagnosis benefits from being related to a focus on differences in social class. It is shown...... people to construct social class-related identities: mainstream youngsters continually confirm their taken-for-granted normality, and mainstream breakers resist the mainstream hegemonic (school) culture which usually defies them. In conclusion, bounded consumption, corresponding with contemporary ideals...

  1. Finding Connections: Using Accounting Concepts in a Career Planning Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Michelle

    2013-01-01

    In higher education, the most common challenge for students is the ability to find a connection between one subject that they have learned and another subject. Thus, students' learning becomes compartmentalized and piecemeal. For instance, accounting students may find attending a drawing class boring and a waste of time. Science students may…

  2. Effect of Learning Think-Pair-Share Think through the combined pattern Empowerment Question on Metacognitive Skills, Creative Thinking, Understanding Concepts IPA and retention as well as Social Attitudes Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maryanti Ekoningtyas

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Pengaruh Pembelajaran Think-Pair-Share dipadu Pola Pemberdayaan Berpikir melalui Pertanyaan terhadap Keterampilan Metakognitif, Berpikir Kreatif, Pemahaman Konsep IPA dan Retensinya serta Sikap Sosial Siswa Abstract: cooperative learning is a teaching strategy to raise awareness of student thinking, solve problems together by integrating and applying skills and knowledge, empowering metacognitive learning development, a means to teach social skills students need to live and work together. This study aims to determine the effect pattern combined PBMP TPS learning strategy against metacognitive skills, creative thinking skills, understanding of concepts, understanding of the concept of retention, and social attitudes of students. This study used a quasi-experimental approach (quasi experimental to design non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design. Analysis of data normality test and homogeneity test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA. The study population is class VIII SMPN 1 Pasuruan learning year 2012/2013. Samples were selected at random to determine the experimental class and control class. Results of the study are: (1 no influence on the strategy of metacognitive skills, creative thinking skills, understanding of concepts, and social attitudes among the students who were given a learning strategy with the given TPS PBMP multistrategi learning, (2 there is an influence on the retention of understanding of the concept among students TPS given PBMP learning strategy with a given learning multistrategi. The increase occurred in the class and the class multistrategi PBMP TPS. Key Words: TPS, PBMP, metacognitive skills, creative thinking, understanding of concepts, understanding of the concept of retention, social attitudes Abstrak: Strategi pembelajaran kooperatif merupakan pembelajaran untuk menumbuhkan kesadaran berpikir siswa, menyelesaikan masalah secara bersama dengan mengintegrasikan serta mengaplikasikan kemampuan dan pengetahuan

  3. Improvement in Student Data Analysis Skills after Out-of-Class Assignments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristen Lee Williams Walton

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The ability to understand and interpret data is a critical aspect of scientific thinking.  However, although data analysis is often a focus in biology majors classes, many textbooks for allied health majors classes are primarily content-driven and do not include substantial amounts of experimental data in the form of graphs and figures.  In a lower-division allied health majors microbiology class, students were exposed to data from primary journal articles as take-home assignments and their data analysis skills were assessed in a pre-/posttest format.  Students were given 3 assignments that included data analysis questions.  Assignments ranged from case studies that included a figure from a journal article to reading a short journal article and answering questions about multiple figures or tables.  Data were represented as line or bar graphs, gel photographs, and flow charts.  The pre- and posttest was designed incorporating the same types of figures to assess whether the assignments resulted in any improvement in data analysis skills.  The mean class score showed a small but significant improvement from the pretest to the posttest across three semesters of testing.  Scores on individual questions testing accurate conclusions and predictions improved the most.  This supports the conclusion that a relatively small number of out-of-class assignments through the semester resulted in a significant improvement in data analysis abilities in this population of students.

  4. 501 reading comprehension questions

    CERN Document Server

    2014-01-01

    This updated edition offers the most extensive and varied practice for all types of questions students might face on standardized and in-class tests. With this guide, students will learn to develop expert reading strategies, understand how to read faster and with greater comprehension, overcome reading anxiety, and increase appreciation of reading for pleasure. This book's step-by-step approach provides graduated coverage that moves from the basics to more advanced reading.

  5. Middle Class Youth: Myth or Reality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    U V Goliusova

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Many researches both in Russia and abroad are concerned with the question of whether middle class exists in Russia and, if so, what its distinctive features are. The problem of particular interest is the sources of recruiting to that social group. One of its source clusters is youth. The article considers main traits of middle class youth, their self-identification and their perception of Russian middle class.

  6. Girls' and Boys' Academic Self-Concept in Science in Single-Sex and Coeducational Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simpson, Amber; Che, S. Megan; Bridges, William C., Jr.

    2016-01-01

    Recently, single-sex classes within public coeducational schools have proliferated across the USA; yet, we still know little about whether and how single-sex science classes influence adolescents' attitude and affect toward science. This exploratory study expands upon our current understanding by investigating the extent in which female and male…

  7. Input, Output, and Negotiation of Meaning in Spanish Conversation Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rondon-Pari, Graziela

    2014-01-01

    This research study is based on the analysis of speech in three Spanish conversation classes. Research questions are: What is the ratio of English and Spanish spoken in class? Is classroom speech more predominant in students or the instructor? And, are teachers' beliefs in regards to the use of English and Spanish consistent with their classroom…

  8. Making the middle classes on shifting ground? Residential status, performativity and middle-class subjectivities in contemporary London.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, Michaela; Jackson, Emma

    2017-06-01

    This paper argues that shifts in access to housing - both in relation to rental and ownership - disrupt middle-class reproduction in ways that fundamentally influence class formation. While property ownership has had a long association with middle-class identities, status and distinction, an increasingly competitive rental market alongside inflated property prices has impacted on expectations and anxieties over housing futures. In this paper, we consider two key questions: (1) What happens to middle-class identities under the conditions of this wider structural change? (2) How do the middle classes variously manoeuvre within this? Drawing on empirical research conducted in London, we demonstrate that becoming an owner-occupier may be fractured along lines of class but also along the axes of age, wealth and timing, particularly as this relates to the housing market. It builds on understandings of residential status and place as central to the formation of class, orienting this around the recognition of both people and place as mutable, emphasizing that changing economic and social processes generate new class positionalities and strategies for class reproduction. We argue that these processes are writ large in practices of belonging and claims to place, with wider repercussions within the urban landscape. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

  9. Managerial Skills Teaching: Ten Questions and Answers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McEnrue, Mary Pat

    2002-01-01

    Presents considerations for design and delivery of management skills courses as sets of questions in three categories: (1) preteaching (understanding and teaching skills, teacher qualities); (2) class (skills learning, learning barriers, cultural elements, learning assessment); and application/evaluation (lifelong learning, course evaluation,…

  10. Effectiveness and student perceptions of an active learning activity using a headline news story to enhance in-class learning of cell cycle regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dirks-Naylor, Amie J

    2016-06-01

    An active learning activity was used to engage students and enhance in-class learning of cell cycle regulation in a PharmD level integrated biological sciences course. The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness and perception of the in-class activity. After completion of a lecture on the topic of cell cycle regulation, students completed a 10-question multiple-choice quiz before and after engaging in the activity. The activity involved reading of a headline news article published by ScienceDaily.com entitled "One Gene Lost Equals One limb Regained." The name of the gene was deleted from the article and, thus, the end goal of the activity was to determine the gene of interest by the description in the story. The activity included compiling a list of all potential gene candidates before sufficient information was given to identify the gene of interest (p21). A survey was completed to determine student perceptions of the activity. Quiz scores improved by an average of 20% after the activity (40.1 ± 1.95 vs. 59.9 ± 2.14,Pactivity, found the news article interesting, and believed that the activity improved their understanding of cell cycle regulation. The majority of students agreed that the in-class activity piqued their interest for learning the subject matter and also agreed that if they understand a concept during class, they are more likely to want to study that concept outside of class. In conclusion, the activity improved in-class understanding and enhanced interest in cell cycle regulation. Copyright © 2016 The American Physiological Society.

  11. Effect of therapeutic class on counseling in community pharmacies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vainio, Kirsti K; Airaksinen, Marja S A; Hyykky, Tarja T; Enlund, K Hannes

    2002-05-01

    To assess the effect and importance of the therapeutic class of a drug as a determinant for verbal counseling by community pharmacists. Direct external observations (n = 1431) of pharmacist-customer interactions at the point of delivery of prescription medicines were conducted in 7 community pharmacies in Finland. Trained observers noted whether the pharmacist provided information on directions for use, mode of action, and adverse effects. To examine factors associated with counseling, a multiple logistic regression analysis was constructed, with the dependent variable being counseling of any of the 3 observed topics. In addition to therapeutic class, other independent variables were the pharmacy; pharmacist's age, gender, and degree; and the customer's age, gender, previous use of medicine, and question asking. Provision of counseling differed significantly according to therapeutic classes. Counseling on any of the 3 observed topics was most likely to be provided for customers with antibiotics (80%) and least likely for customers with gynecologic preparations (18%). Differences between therapeutic classes remained statistically significant when the effects of the other variables were controlled for. Other significant predictors for any verbal counseling were the pharmacy, customer's previous use of the medicine, and question asking. Therapeutic class is an important variable that should be included in further studies and considered when comparing studies on patient counseling in community pharmacies.

  12. The Embodiment of Class in the Croatian VET School System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doolan, Karin; Lukic, Natalija; Bukovic, Nikola

    2016-01-01

    This article engages with the notion that schools embody social class in their structures and practices. We draw on Bourdieu's critical concept of "field" to describe the larger landscape of Croatian secondary schooling: a stratified system whose routes serve, and have served, to reinforce the maintenance of class (under)privilege. We…

  13. World class manufacturing in metallurgical enterprise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Gajdzik

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available World Class Manufacturing (WCM assumes increase of efficiency of the company by elimination of all the losses, wastage and dangers of safety. In ArcelorMittal the concept of WCM is implemented in particular enterprises within the capital group. In this publication the activities conducted in some of those enterprises are described.

  14. Software extension and integration with type classes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lämmel, Ralf; Ostermann, Klaus

    2006-01-01

    expressiveness, by using the language concept of \\emph{type classes}, as it is available in the functional programming language Haskell. A detailed comparison with related work shows that type classes provide a powerful framework in which solutions to known software extension and integration problems can...... be provided. We also pinpoint several limitations of type classes in this context....

  15. Comparison of integrated testlet and constructed-response question formats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aaron D. Slepkov

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Constructed-response (CR questions are a mainstay of introductory physics textbooks and exams. However, because of the time, cost, and scoring reliability constraints associated with this format, CR questions are being increasingly replaced by multiple-choice (MC questions in formal exams. The integrated testlet (IT is a recently developed question structure designed to provide a proxy of the pedagogical advantages of CR questions while procedurally functioning as set of MC questions. ITs utilize an answer-until-correct response format that provides immediate confirmatory or corrective feedback, and they thus allow not only for the granting of partial credit in cases of initially incorrect reasoning, but, furthermore, the ability to build cumulative question structures. Here, we report on a study that directly compares the functionality of ITs and CR questions in introductory physics exams. To do this, CR questions were converted to concept-equivalent ITs, and both sets of questions were deployed in midterm and final exams. We find that both question types provide adequate discrimination between stronger and weaker students, with CR questions discriminating slightly better than the ITs. There is some indication that any difference in discriminatory power may result from the baseline score for guessing that is inherent in MC testing. Meanwhile, an analysis of interrater scoring of the CR questions raises serious concerns about the reliability of the granting of partial credit when this traditional assessment technique is used in a realistic (but nonoptimized setting. Furthermore, we show evidence that partial credit is granted in a valid manner in the ITs. Thus, together with consideration of the vastly reduced costs of administering IT-based examinations compared to CR-based examinations, our findings indicate that ITs are viable replacements for CR questions in formal examinations where it is desirable both to assess concept integration and to

  16. Managing Active Learning Processes in Large First Year Physics Classes: The Advantages of an Integrated Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael J. Drinkwater

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Turning lectures into interactive, student-led question and answer sessions is known to increase learning, but enabling interaction in a large class seems aninsurmountable task. This can discourage adoption of this new approach – who has time to individualize responses, address questions from over 200 students and encourage active participation in class? An approach adopted by a teaching team in large first-year classes at a research-intensive university appears to provide a means to do so. We describe the implementation of active learning strategies in a large first-year undergraduate physics unit of study, replacing traditional, content-heavy lectures with an integrated approach to question-driven learning. A key feature of our approach is that it facilitates intensive in-class discussions by requiring students to engage in preparatory reading and answer short written quizzes before every class. The lecturer uses software to rapidly analyze the student responses and identify the main issues faced by the students before the start of each class. We report the success of the integration of student preparation with this analysis and feedback framework, and the impact on the in-class discussions. We also address some of the difficulties commonly experienced by staff preparing for active learning classes.

  17. The 'Sentinel Node' Concept: More Questions Raised than Answers Provided?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlag

    1998-01-01

    -guided detection of the sentinel node. At present, a multitude of studies are conducted in a variety of tumors and sites, aiming at further refinements of the technique or at clinical evaluation in comparison with established lympadenectomy. The results may well change many aspects of our operative strategy in the near future. However, assuming a technically optimized procedure, will this solve the underlying tumor biological and clinical problem with respect to the necessity and efficacy of a regional lymph node dissection in node-positive cases? This is not the case; moreover, there are additional questions raised and left unanswered so far. Without any doubt, the rate of unnecessary diagnostic lymph node dissections can be considerably reduced as soon as the sentinel node concept is sufficiently validated for general use outside clinical trials. This would be a clear step forward. It is undetermined, however, how far a cancer patient with a positive sentinel node-thus already proven lymphatic metastases-would still profit from a more or less extensive lymph node dissection. It might be sufficient to use the staging information obtained through the sentinel node's status alone to decide upon adjuvant therapies. A further aspect arises from the possibility for investigating this single and supposedly most representative lymph node in far more detail than it would be possible for the large number of nodes previously sampled in conventional lymphatic dissections. This more extensive work-up may include serial sectioning, immunological and molecular techniques to enhance the sensitivity for micrometastases detection. However, very little is known about the true prognostic significance of such conventionally occult micrometastases, and even less experience exists as to the value of adjuvant therapies in those cases. Thus, while the sentinel node procedure will probably enable a more precise though less invasive lymphatic staging of malignant disease, it raises a number of important

  18. Development of the Solar System Concept Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornstein, S.; Prather, E.

    2009-12-01

    Concept inventories can provide useful insight into students’ understanding of key physical concepts. Knowing what your students have learned during a course is a valuable tool for improving your own teaching. Unfortunately, current astronomy concept inventories are not suitable for an introductory solar system course because they either cover too broad of a range of topics (e.g. Astronomy Diagnostic Test) or are too narrowly focused (e.g. Greenhouse Effect Concept Inventory, Lunar Phase Concept Inventory). We have developed the Solar System Concept Inventory (SSCI) to cover those topics commonly taught in an introductory solar system course. The topics included on the SSCI were selected by having faculty identify the key concepts they address when teaching about the solar system. SSCI topics include formation mechanisms, planetary interiors, atmospheric effects, and small solar system bodies. Student interviews were conducted to identify common naive ideas and reasoning difficulties relating to these key topics. The SSCI has been through two semesters of national, multi-institutional field-testing, involving over 1500 students. After the first semester of testing, question statistics were used to flag ineffective questions and flagged questions were revised or eliminated. We will present an overall outline of the SSCI development as well as our question-flagging criteria and question analyses from the latest round of field-testing. We would like to thank the NSF for funding under Grant No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS) Program.

  19. Photographs and Classroom Response Systems in Middle School Astronomy Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hyunju; Feldman, Allan

    2015-01-01

    In spite of being readily available, photographs have played a minor and passive role in science classes. In our study, we present an active way of using photographs in classroom discussions with the use of a classroom response system (CRS) in middle school astronomy classes to teach the concepts of day-night and seasonal change. In this new…

  20. Advances in sliding mode control concept, theory and implementation

    CERN Document Server

    Janardhanan, S; Spurgeon, Sarah

    2013-01-01

    The sliding mode control paradigm has become a mature technique for the design of robust controllers for a wide class of systems including nonlinear, uncertain and time-delayed systems. This book is a collection of plenary and invited talks delivered at the 12th IEEE International Workshop on Variable Structure System held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India in January 2012. After the workshop, these researchers were invited to develop book chapters for this edited collection in order to reflect the latest results and open research questions in the area. The contributed chapters have been organized by the editors to reflect the various themes of sliding mode control which are the current areas of theoretical research and applications focus; namely articulation of the fundamental underpinning theory of the sliding mode design paradigm, sliding modes for decentralized system representations, control of time-delay systems, the higher order sliding mode concept, results applicable to nonlinear an...

  1. Explicit Knowledge-based Reasoning for Visual Question Answering

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Peng; Wu, Qi; Shen, Chunhua; Hengel, Anton van den; Dick, Anthony

    2015-01-01

    We describe a method for visual question answering which is capable of reasoning about contents of an image on the basis of information extracted from a large-scale knowledge base. The method not only answers natural language questions using concepts not contained in the image, but can provide an explanation of the reasoning by which it developed its answer. The method is capable of answering far more complex questions than the predominant long short-term memory-based approach, and outperform...

  2. Changing University Students’ Alternative Conceptions of Optics by Active Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zalkida Hadžibegović

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Active learning is individual and group participation in effective activities such as in-class observing, writing, experimenting, discussion, solving problems, and talking about to-be-learned topics. Some instructors believe that active learning is impossible, or at least extremely difficult to achieve in large lecture sessions. Nevertheless, the truly impressive implementation results of theSCALE-UP learning environment suggest that such beliefs are false (Beichner et al., 2000. In this study, we present a design of an active learning environment with positive effect on students. The design is based on the following elements: (1 helping students to learn from interactive lecture experiment; (2 guiding students to use justified explanation and prediction after observing and exploring a phenomenon; (3 developing a conceptual question sequencedesigned for use in an interactive lecture with students answering questions in worksheets by writing and drawing; (4 evaluating students’ conceptual change and gains by questions related to light reflection, refraction, and image formation in an exam held a week after the active learning session. Data were collected from 95 science freshmen with different secondary school backgrounds. They participated in geometrical optics classes organized for collecting research results during and after only one active learning session.The results have showed that around 60% of the students changed their initial alternative conceptions of vision and of image formation. It was also found that a large group of university students is likely to be engaged in active learning, shifting from a passive role they usually play during teacher’s lectures.

  3. Friction force experimental approach in High School Physics classes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Aurélio Alvarenga Monteiro

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7941.2012v29n3p1121 In this paper we propose and describe the performance of an experimental activity to address the concept of friction in High School Physics practical classes. We use a low-cost and simple construction device that enables the determination of the coefficient of static friction between two materials through three different procedures. The results were coherent, with small percentage deviation, which gives reliability to the activity and can stimulate discussions in class. The activity also allows greater contextualization of concepts that are usually discussed only theoretically, requiring a higher abstraction level of the students. This can stimulate discussions and greater interaction between teacher and students.

  4. Does Question Structure Affect Exam Performance in the Geosciences?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, E. A.; D'Arcy, M. K.; Craig, L.; Streule, M. J.; Passmore, E.; Irving, J. C. E.

    2015-12-01

    The jump to university level exams can be challenging for some students, often resulting in poor marks, which may be detrimental to their confidence and ultimately affect their overall degree class. Previous studies have found that question structure can have a strong impact on the performance of students in college level exams (see Gibson et al., 2015, for a discussion of its impact on physics undergraduates). Here, we investigate the effect of question structure on the exam results of geology and geophysics undergraduate students. Specifically, we analyse the performance of students in questions that have a 'scaffolded' framework and compare them to their performance in open-ended questions and coursework. We also investigate if observed differences in exam performance are correlated with the educational background and gender of students, amongst other factors. It is important for all students to be able to access their degree courses, no matter what their backgrounds may be. Broadening participation in the geosciences relies on removing systematic barriers to achievement. Therefore we recommend that exams are either structured with scaffolding in questions at lower levels, or students are explicitly prepared for this transition. We also recommend that longitudinal studies of exam performance are conducted within individual departments, and this work outlines one approach to analysing performance data.

  5. Question Asking in the Science Classroom: Teacher Attitudes and Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eshach, Haim; Dor-Ziderman, Yair; Yefroimsky, Yana

    2014-02-01

    Despite the wide agreement among educators that classroom learning and teaching processes can gain much from student and teacher questions, their potential is not fully utilized. Adopting the view that reporting both teachers' (of varying age groups) views and actual classroom practices is necessary for obtaining a more complete view of the phenomena at hand, the present study closely examines both cognitive and affective domains of: (a) teachers' views (via interviews) concerning: (1) importance and roles of teacher and student questions, (2) teacher responses, and (3) planning and teacher training; and (b) teachers' actual practices (via classroom observations) concerning: (1) number and (2) level of teacher and student questions, as well as (3) teachers' responses to questions. The data were collected from 3 elementary, 3 middle, and 3 high school science teachers and their respective classroom students. The findings lay out a wide view of classroom questioning and teachers' responses, and relate what actually occurs in classes to teachers' stated views. Some of the study's main conclusions are that a gap exists between how science researchers and teachers view the role of teacher questions: the former highlight the cognitive domain, while the latter emphasize the affective domain.

  6. Pushing the Limit: A Class Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odafe, Victor U.

    2012-01-01

    Instructors are constantly struggling to help students understand mathematical concepts as well as the relevance of mathematics to the real world. In calculus, students possess misconceptions of the limit concept. "Pushing the Limit" refers to a semester-long calculus class project that required students to read about, interview calculus…

  7. Trained Inquiry Skills on Heat and Temperature Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasanah, U.; Hamidah, I.; Utari, S.

    2017-09-01

    Inquiry skills are skills that aperson needs in developing concepts, but the results of the study suggest that these skills haven’t yet been trained along with the development of concepts in science feeding, found the difficulties of students in building the concept scientifically. Therefore, this study aims to find ways that are effective in training inquiry skills trough Levels of Inquiry (LoI) learning. Experimental research with one group pretest-postest design, using non-random sampling samples in one of vocational high school in Cimahi obtained purposively 33 students of X class. The research using the inquiry skills test instrument in the form of 15questions multiple choice with reliability in very high category. The result of data processing by using the normalized gain value obtained an illustration that the ways developed in the LoI are considered effective trained inquiry skills in the middle category. Some of the ways LoI learning are considered effective in communicating aspects through discovery learning, predicting trough interactive demonstration, hypotheses through inquiry lesson, and interpreting data through inquiry lab, but the implementation of LoI learning in this study hasn’t found a way that is seen as effective for trespassing aspects of designing an experiment.

  8. Question-Answer Activities in Synchronous Virtual Classrooms in Terms of Interest and Usefulness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melike Aydemir

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Instructors generally convey their face to face habits to synchronous virtual classrooms, but these face to face strategies do not work in these environments. In this sense, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of question type and answer format used in synchronous class implementations on perceived interest and usefulness. To do this, questions were asked in different ways and answers were requested in different formats in synchronous virtual sessions. The participants consisted of 28 postgraduate students registered in an online criminal justice program at a university located in the North-East part of Turkey. Data was collected in the context of a Research Methods in Security Sciences course during 2012–2013 fall semester. Results showed effects of question type on learner interest, while answer format has an effect on usefulness of online activities. In conclusion, to increase interest in synchronous virtual classrooms by asking questions, instead of closed-ended questions, open-ended questions which everybody can answer should be preferred.

  9. TA Mentorship in Lecture significantly enhances students' learning in mechanics in large introductory physics classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, K.; Caglar, Mehmet

    2011-10-01

    Lab is an important component of students' learning in a traditional lecture-lab setting of introductory physics courses. Using standard mechanics concepts and baseline surveys as well as independent classroom observations, the effects of TA mentorship in Lecture on students' learning of physics concepts and problem-solving skills among different student subgroups taught by other TAs and lecturers using different level of student interactive engagement in classes have been analyzed. Our data indicate that in lecture training of TA promotes lecture/lab synergism in improvement students' learning of mechanics in large introductory physics classes.

  10. 100 commonly asked questions in math class answers that promote mathematical understanding, grades 6-12

    CERN Document Server

    Posamentier, Alfred S (Steven); Germain-Williams, Terri L (Lynn); Paris, Elaine S; Lehmann, Ingmar H (Horst)

    2013-01-01

    100 ways to get students hooked on math! That one question got you stumped? Or maybe you have the answer, but it's not all that compelling. Al Posamentier and his coauthors to the rescue with this handy reference containing fun answers to students'100 most frequently asked math questions. Even if you already have the answers, Al's explanations are certain to keep kids hooked. The big benefits? You'll discover high-interest ways to Teach to the Common Core's math content standards Promote inquiry and process in mathematical thinking Build procedural skills and conceptual understanding Encourage

  11. Work and vulnerability: the social question on Robert Castel’s thought

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabrício Maciel

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The article emphasizes the centrality of the concept of work in the thought of the French sociologist Robert Castel. Despite being best known in Brazil for his concepts of social question and social disaffiliation, the concept of work is crucial in the articulation of the author's thought, notably in his latest writing. The article is divided into four parts. First, it provides a general introduction to the work of Castel. Then, it demonstrates how work can be considered the main social question of contemporary global capitalism. Following, it resumes the relationship between work and social vulnerability. The study concludes by pointing out the importance of understanding work as the main contemporary social issue.

  12. Biology Question Generation from a Semantic Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lishan

    Science instructors need questions for use in exams, homework assignments, class discussions, reviews, and other instructional activities. Textbooks never have enough questions, so instructors must find them from other sources or generate their own questions. In order to supply instructors with biology questions, a semantic network approach was developed for generating open response biology questions. The generated questions were compared to professional authorized questions. To boost students' learning experience, adaptive selection was built on the generated questions. Bayesian Knowledge Tracing was used as embedded assessment of the student's current competence so that a suitable question could be selected based on the student's previous performance. A between-subjects experiment with 42 participants was performed, where half of the participants studied with adaptive selected questions and the rest studied with mal-adaptive order of questions. Both groups significantly improved their test scores, and the participants in adaptive group registered larger learning gains than participants in the control group. To explore the possibility of generating rich instructional feedback for machine-generated questions, a question-paragraph mapping task was identified. Given a set of questions and a list of paragraphs for a textbook, the goal of the task was to map the related paragraphs to each question. An algorithm was developed whose performance was comparable to human annotators. A multiple-choice question with high quality distractors (incorrect answers) can be pedagogically valuable as well as being much easier to grade than open-response questions. Thus, an algorithm was developed to generate good distractors for multiple-choice questions. The machine-generated multiple-choice questions were compared to human-generated questions in terms of three measures: question difficulty, question discrimination and distractor usefulness. By recruiting 200 participants from

  13. An Investigation of Mathematical Knowledge Related to Mathematics Teachers' Basic Concepts in Sets Unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nurullah YAZICI

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This research was conducted in order to examine the subject matter of Mathematics teachers in the context of "Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching" (MKT model of "Basic Concepts in Sets" which is the first topic of the 9th class "Sets". The study group, which is one of the qualitative research methods, used the case study design, constitutes 5 mathematics teachers who work in different education levels (primary and secondary education in the academic year of 2015-2016. Open-ended questions and semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher were used for data collection. A descriptive analysis technique was used to analyze the data obtained through interviews. While analyzing the data, teacher and student textbooks, which were prepared by the Ministry of National Education for the purpose of teaching in 2015-2016 academic year, were taken as a reference. According to the research findings, it was determined that the teachers had deficiencies in the subject field of "Basic Concepts in the Sets" and had superficial knowledge rather than in depth knowledge.

  14. Visualization: A Tool for Enhancing Students' Concept Images of Basic Object-Oriented Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cetin, Ibrahim

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was twofold: to investigate students' concept images about class, object, and their relationship and to help them enhance their learning of these notions with a visualization tool. Fifty-six second-year university students participated in the study. To investigate his/her concept images, the researcher developed a survey…

  15. Understanding Mathematic Concept in Relation and Function Method through Active Learning Type Group to Group Distributed LKS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kudri, F.; Rahmi, R.; Haryono, Y.

    2018-04-01

    This research is motivated by the lack of understanding of mathematical concepts students and teachers have not familiarize students discussed in groups. This researchaims to determine whether an understanding of mathematical concepts junior class VIII SMPN 2 in Ranah Batahan Kabupaten Pasaman Barat by applying active learning strategy group to group types with LKS better than conventional learning. The type of research is experimental the design of randomized trials on the subject. The population in the study were all students VIII SMPN 2 Ranah Batahan Kabupaten Pasaman Barat in year 2012/2013 which consists of our class room experiment to determine the grade and control class with do nerandomly, so that classes VIII1 elected as a experiment class and class VIII4 as a control class. The instruments used in the test empirically understanding mathematical concepts are shaped by the essay with rt=0,82 greater than rt=0,468 means reliable tests used. The data analysis technique used is the test with the help of MINITAB. Based on the results of the data analisis known that both of the sample are normal and homogenity in real rate α = 0,05, so the hypothesis of this research is received. So, it can be concluded students’ understanding mathematical concept applied the active Group to Group learning strategy with LKS is better than the students’ understanding mathematical concept with Conventional Learning.

  16. Just-in-time classifiers for recurrent concepts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alippi, Cesare; Boracchi, Giacomo; Roveri, Manuel

    2013-04-01

    Just-in-time (JIT) classifiers operate in evolving environments by classifying instances and reacting to concept drift. In stationary conditions, a JIT classifier improves its accuracy over time by exploiting additional supervised information coming from the field. In nonstationary conditions, however, the classifier reacts as soon as concept drift is detected; the current classification setup is discarded and a suitable one activated to keep the accuracy high. We present a novel generation of JIT classifiers able to deal with recurrent concept drift by means of a practical formalization of the concept representation and the definition of a set of operators working on such representations. The concept-drift detection activity, which is crucial in promptly reacting to changes exactly when needed, is advanced by considering change-detection tests monitoring both inputs and classes distributions.

  17. Potential Cislunar and Interplanetary Proving Ground Excursion Trajectory Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGuire, Melissa L.; Strange, Nathan J.; Burke, Laura M.; MacDonald, Mark A.; McElrath, Timothy P.; Landau, Damon F.; Lantoine, Gregory; Hack, Kurt J.; Lopez, Pedro

    2016-01-01

    NASA has been investigating potential translunar excursion concepts to take place in the 2020s that would be used to test and demonstrate long duration life support and other systems needed for eventual Mars missions in the 2030s. These potential trajectory concepts could be conducted in the proving ground, a region of cislunar and near-Earth interplanetary space where international space agencies could cooperate to develop the technologies needed for interplanetary spaceflight. Enabled by high power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technologies, the excursion trajectory concepts studied are grouped into three classes of increasing distance from the Earth and increasing technical difficulty: the first class of excursion trajectory concepts would represent a 90-120 day round trip trajectory with abort to Earth options throughout the entire length, the second class would be a 180-210 day round trip trajectory with periods in which aborts would not be available, and the third would be a 300-400 day round trip trajectory without aborts for most of the length of the trip. This paper provides a top-level summary of the trajectory and mission design of representative example missions of these three classes of excursion trajectory concepts.

  18. Static Members of Classes in C#

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian LUPASC

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The C# language is object-oriented, which is why the declared member data must be part of a class. Thus, there is no possibility to declare certain variables that can be accessed from anywhere within the application, as it happens, for example, with global variables at the C language level. Making this work in C# is possible through static members of the class. Declaring a class implies defining some of its member data that later receive values when creating each object. A static member of the class can be interpreted as belonging only to the class, not to the objects subsequently created, which means that for the non-static data, there are as many children as there were objects created, while for the static ones there is only one copy, regardless of the number of created objects. In this regard, this paper presents the main aspects that characterize these abstract concepts of object oriented programming in general and C# language in particular, detailing how to develop an application that includes both static and non-static members. At the same time, particularities in the mirror for the two types of data, restrictions on use and potential limitations are presented.

  19. Classes in Themselves and for Themselves: The Practice of Monitorial Education for Different Social Classes in Sweden, 1820-1843

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larsson, Esbjörn

    2016-01-01

    This article investigates the monitorial system of education in Sweden between 1820 and 1843. In contrast to previous research, which has emphasised monitorial education as a method for disciplining poor children, this article compares the use of the method in schools for the working classes and in academic schools. Using concepts such as…

  20. Individual differences in the production of word classes in eight specific language-impaired preschoolers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Normand, M T; Chevrie-Muller, C

    1991-01-01

    The production of word classes in eight 53-62-month-old specific language-impaired (SLI) children was described and compared with that of 30 normal 24-33-month-old children in the same play situation. SLI subjects and nonimpaired children were selected within specified mean length of utterance ranges (low MLU versus high MLU). Production of word classes by subjects was evaluated in order to determine (1) whether SLI children showed a similar or a different word-class profile among themselves and when compared with non-impaired children and (2) whether MLU related to word classes would be useful as a single clinical index in assessment of language acquisition. Results showed that scores of SLI children in production of word classes reflect important individual differences among subjects. In the high-MLU sample, all SLI children produced each word class relatively within the same range as the nonimpaired group. In the low-MLU sample two SLI children were very different in their word-class profile and individual differences were further confirmed by a discriminant function analysis. Correlations between MLU and word classes were significant in nonimpaired children for all variables except Questions and Onomatopoeia and were only significant in SLI children for Verbs, Prepositions, and Personal Pronouns. Such findings contribute support to the view that there is "deviant" pattern of language in SLI children and once again questions whether MLU is one of the best discriminating indicators to use in the clinical assessment of language organization.

  1. Multiple-Choice Exams: An Obstacle for Higher-Level Thinking in Introductory Science Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.

    2012-01-01

    Learning science requires higher-level (critical) thinking skills that need to be practiced in science classes. This study tested the effect of exam format on critical-thinking skills. Multiple-choice (MC) testing is common in introductory science courses, and students in these classes tend to associate memorization with MC questions and may not see the need to modify their study strategies for critical thinking, because the MC exam format has not changed. To test the effect of exam format, I used two sections of an introductory biology class. One section was assessed with exams in the traditional MC format, the other section was assessed with both MC and constructed-response (CR) questions. The mixed exam format was correlated with significantly more cognitively active study behaviors and a significantly better performance on the cumulative final exam (after accounting for grade point average and gender). There was also less gender-bias in the CR answers. This suggests that the MC-only exam format indeed hinders critical thinking in introductory science classes. Introducing CR questions encouraged students to learn more and to be better critical thinkers and reduced gender bias. However, student resistance increased as students adjusted their perceptions of their own critical-thinking abilities. PMID:22949426

  2. Model answers for Yes/No questions from EFL students in public senior high schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Wayan Dirgeyasa

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to find out the typical categories of answers to Yes/No questions most used by students at selected Public Senior High Schools in Medan, Indonesia. These schools were classified into top favorite, medium favorite and non-favorite schools. Through a stratified clustered random sampling technique, six schools were chosen consisting of two schools from each classification. A number of 40 students were chosen from three class X, three class XI and three class XII at each of the six chosen schools, making a total sample of 720 students with 360 sets of dialogue scripts. Data was collected through documentation-recording dialogues. The data was transcribed and analyzed by descriptive analysis. The results of the research showed that: 1 the categories of the students’ answers to the Yes/No questions were distributed variously in terms of the six models. However, the distribution of the answers was not proportionally equal amongst all the models, 2 the dominant distribution of the answers was the third model with the formula Yes/No+additional information such as confirming, supporting, etc., reaching 37% of the total answers, whilst the least common models were the sixth and fourth categories respectively, which had 1% and 3% of the answers respectively, and finally 3 there was no significant difference in the distribution of the students’ answers in terms of the class of school whether top favorite, medium favorite or non-favorite. In conclusion, the ways to answer Yes/No questions need to be developed amongst students by their teachers by teaching and learning using natural, real life-like situations and in contextual ways.

  3. Exploring Gender Biases in a General Methods Class.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, Robert J.; Obenchain, Kathryn M.

    1999-01-01

    Describes how students in a general secondary methods course responded to a gender-neutral exam question by consistently assuming that the student in the hypothetical scenario was male. Describes the follow-up class discussion, noting students' assumptions, defensive responses, subconscious decision making, and awareness/nonawareness of their own…

  4. Interpretation of basic concepts in theories of human motor abilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petrović Adam

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The basic aim of this research is to point to the possible language, logical and knowledge problems in interpretation and understanding of basic concepts in theories of motor abilities (TMA. Such manner of review is not directed only to 'mere understanding', it can lead to a new growth of scientific knowledge. Accordingly, the research question is set, i.e. the research issue: Is there a language, logical and knowledge agreement between basic concepts in the theories of human motor abilities? The answer to the set question direct that a more complete agreement between the basic concepts in the theories of human motor abilities should be searched in a scientific dialog between researchers of various beliefs.

  5. Inductive class representation and its central role in pattern recognition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goldfarb, L. [Univ. of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick (Canada)

    1996-12-31

    The definition of inductive learning (IL) based on the new concept of inductive class representation (ICR) is given. The ICR, in addition to the ability to recognize a noise-corrupted object from the class, must also provide the means to generate every element in the resulting approximation of the class, i.e., the emphasis is on the generative capability of the ICR. Thus, the IL problem absorbs the main difficulties associated with a satisfactory formulation of the pattern recognition problem. This formulation of the IL problem appeared gradually as a result of the development of a fundamentally new formal model of IL--evolving transformation system (ETS) model. The model with striking clarity suggests that IL is the basic process which produces all the necessary {open_quotes}structures{close_quotes} for the recognition process, which is built directly on top of it. Based on the training set, the IL process, constructs optimal discriminatory (symbolic) weighted {open_quotes}features{close_quotes} which induce the corresponding optimal (symbolic) distance measure. The distance measure is a generalization of the weighted Levenshtein, or edit, distance defined on strings over a finite alphabet. The ETS model has emerged as a result of an attempt to unify two basic, but inadequate, approaches to pattern recognition: the classical vector space based and the syntactic approaches. ETS also elucidates with remarkable clarity the nature of the interrelationships between the corresponding symbolic and numeric mechanisms, in which the symbolic mechanisms play a more fundamental part. The model, in fact, suggests the first formal definition of the symbolic mathematical structure and also suggests a fundamentally different, more satisfactory, way of introducing the concept of fuzziness. The importance of the ICR concept to semiotics and semantics should become apparent as soon as one fully realizes that it represents the class and specifies the semantics of the class.

  6. MHC class II molecules regulate growth in human T cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, M; Odum, Niels; Bendtzen, K

    1994-01-01

    MHC-class-II-positive T cells are found in tissues involved in autoimmune disorders. Stimulation of class II molecules by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) or bacterial superantigens induces protein tyrosine phosphorylation through activation of protein tyrosine kinases in T cells, and class II signals...... lines tested. Only one of three CD4+, CD45RAhigh, ROhigh T cells responded to class II costimulation. There was no correlation between T cell responsiveness to class II and the cytokine production profile of the T cell in question. Thus, T cell lines producing interferon (IFN)-gamma but not IL-4 (TH1...... modulate several T cell responses. Here, we studied further the role of class II molecules in the regulation of T cell growth. Costimulation of class II molecules by immobilized HLA-DR mAb significantly enhanced interleukin (IL)-2-supported T cell growth of the majority of CD4+, CD45RAlow, ROhigh T cell...

  7. Questionable Word Choice in Scientific Writing in Orthopedic Surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Casey M. O`Connor

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Given the strong influence of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors on musculoskeletal symptoms andlimitations it’s important that both scientific and lay writing use the most positive, hopeful, and adaptive words andconcepts consistent with medical evidence. The use of words that might reinforce misconceptions about preferencesensitiveconditions (particularly those associated with age could increase symptoms and limitations and might alsodistract patients from the treatment preferences they would select when informed and at ease.Methods: We reviewed 100 consecutive papers published in 2014 and 2015 in 6 orthopedic surgery scientific journals.We counted the number and proportion of journal articles with questionable use of one or more of the following words:tear, aggressive, required, and fail. For each word, we counted the rate of misuse per journal and the number of specificterms misused per article per journalResults: Eighty percent of all orthopedic scientific articles reviewed had questionable use of at least one term. Tearwas most questionably used with respect to rotator cuff pathology. The words fail and require were the most commonquestionably used terms overall.Conclusion: The use of questionable words and concepts is common in scientific writing in orthopedic surgery. It’sworth considering whether traditional ways or referring to musculoskeletal illness merit rephrasing.

  8. Cooperative learning in third graders' jigsaw groups for mathematics and science with and without questioning training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souvignier, Elmar; Kronenberger, Julia

    2007-12-01

    There is much support for using cooperative methods, since important instructional aspects, such as elaboration of new information, can easily be realized by methods like 'jigsaw'. However, the impact of providing students with additional help like a questioning training and potential limitations of the method concerning the (minimum) age of the students have rarely been investigated. The study investigated the effects of cooperative methods at elementary school level. Three conditions of instruction were compared: jigsaw, jigsaw with a supplementary questioning training and teacher-guided instruction. Nine third grade classes from three schools with 208 students participated in the study. In each school, all the three instructional conditions were realized in three different classes. All classes studied three units on geometry and one unit on astronomy using the assigned instructional method. Each learning unit comprised six lessons. For each unit, an achievement test was administered as pre-test, post-test and delayed test. In the math units, no differences between the three conditions could be detected. In the astronomy unit, students benefited more from teacher-guided instruction. Differential analyses revealed that 'experts' learned more than students in teacher-guided instruction, whereas 'novices' were outperformed by the students in the control classes. Even third graders used the jigsaw method with satisfactory learning results. The modest impact of the questioning training and the low learning gains of the cooperative classes in the astronomy unit as well as high discrepancies between learning outcomes of experts and novices show that explicit instruction of explaining skills in combination with well-structured material are key issues in using the jigsaw method with younger students.

  9. Main Features in the Concept of Digital Bildung

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tække, Jesper; Paulsen, Michael

    The question of this paper is how we can understand the concept of Bildung in the time of digital media seen from a Klafkian perspective. It draws on Klafki (2014) by extrapolating what he suggest is the main features of Bildung, answering six questions: how can education 1. Foster persons who can......, bringing about different levels of what we from a Klafkian perspective call Digital Bildung. (2) We relate the Klafkian concept of Bildung to an action research experiment called Socio Media Education (SME). In this research project we have worked together with teachers in an upper secondary school...... features of Bildung are then discussed in regard to digital media. We do this by relating the Klafkian concept of Bildung to (1) a general theory about how schools seem to respond to the new digital challenges and possibilities. Our main point is that these responses can be divided into three waves...

  10. Using Targeted Active-Learning Exercises and Diagnostic Question Clusters to Improve Students' Understanding of Carbon Cycling in Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Welch, Nicole Turrill

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and organic carbon-containing compounds in biological systems. These results helped us identify specific active-learning exercises that would be responsive to students' existing knowledge. The effects of the active-learning interventions were then examined through analysis of students' pre- and postinstruction responses on the DQCs. The biology and non–biology majors participating in this study attended a range of institutions and the instructors varied in their use of active learning; one lecture-only comparison class was included. Changes in pre- to postinstruction scores on the DQCs showed that an instructor's teaching method had a highly significant effect on student reasoning following course instruction, especially for questions pertaining to cellular-level, carbon-transforming processes. We conclude that using targeted in-class activities had a beneficial effect on student learning regardless of major or class size, and argue that using diagnostic questions to identify effective learning activities is a valuable strategy for promoting learning, as gains from lecture-only classes were minimal. PMID:22383618

  11. Using targeted active-learning exercises and diagnostic question clusters to improve students' understanding of carbon cycling in ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Welch, Nicole Turrill

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and organic carbon-containing compounds in biological systems. These results helped us identify specific active-learning exercises that would be responsive to students' existing knowledge. The effects of the active-learning interventions were then examined through analysis of students' pre- and postinstruction responses on the DQCs. The biology and non-biology majors participating in this study attended a range of institutions and the instructors varied in their use of active learning; one lecture-only comparison class was included. Changes in pre- to postinstruction scores on the DQCs showed that an instructor's teaching method had a highly significant effect on student reasoning following course instruction, especially for questions pertaining to cellular-level, carbon-transforming processes. We conclude that using targeted in-class activities had a beneficial effect on student learning regardless of major or class size, and argue that using diagnostic questions to identify effective learning activities is a valuable strategy for promoting learning, as gains from lecture-only classes were minimal.

  12. Active Learning with Monty Hall in a Game Theory Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brokaw, Alan J.; Merz, Thomas E.

    2004-01-01

    The authors describe a game that students can play on the first day of a game theory class. The game introduces the 4 essential elements of any game and is designed so that its sequel, also played on the first day of class, has students playing the well-known Monty Hall game, which raises the question: Should you switch doors? By implementing a…

  13. Using Eight Key Questions as an Inquiry-Based Framework for Ethical Reasoning Issues in a General Education Earth Systems and Climate Change Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, E. A.; Ball, T. C.

    2014-12-01

    An important objective in general education geoscience courses is to help students evaluate social and ethical issues based upon scientific knowledge. It can be difficult for instructors trained in the physical sciences to design effective ways of including ethical issues in large lecture courses where whole-class discussions are not practical. The Quality Enhancement Plan for James Madison University, "The Madison Collaborative: Ethical Reasoning in Action," (http://www.jmu.edu/mc/index.shtml) has identified eight key questions to be used as a framework for developing ethical reasoning exercises and evaluating student learning. These eight questions are represented by the acronym FOR CLEAR and are represented by the concepts of Fairness, Outcomes, Responsibilities, Character, Liberty, Empathy, Authority, and Rights. In this study, we use the eight key questions as an inquiry-based framework for addressing ethical issues in a 100-student general education Earth systems and climate change course. Ethical reasoning exercises are presented throughout the course and range from questions of personal behavior to issues regarding potential future generations and global natural resources. In the first few exercises, key questions are identified for the students and calibrated responses are provided as examples. By the end of the semester, students are expected to identify key questions themselves and justify their own ethical and scientific reasoning. Evaluation rubrics are customized to this scaffolding approach to the exercises. Student feedback and course data will be presented to encourage discussion of this and other approaches to explicitly incorporating ethical reasoning in general education geoscience courses.

  14. HISTORICAL-CRITICAL PEDAGOGY, CLASS STRUGGLE AND SCHOOL EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dermeval Saviani

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available After introducing the approach of the relationship between education and class struggle in today's society, this article deals with the meaning of the concept of violence pointing out the current condition of a world ruled by violence that finds justification in the fascism, defined as the metaphysics of the violence. Next it approaches the problem of the eradication of the violence in the social praxis in the perspectives of the Christian Personalism (metaphysics of the non-violence, Existentialism (subjective conception of the violence and of the Marxism (objective conception of the violence and of the nonviolence. Based on those analyses it makes evident, in the conclusion, the relationship between class struggle and school education in the historical—critical perspective.

  15. Large-scale Assessment Yields Evidence of Minimal Use of Reasoning Skills in Traditionally Taught Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thacker, Beth

    2017-01-01

    Large-scale assessment data from Texas Tech University yielded evidence that most students taught traditionally in large lecture classes with online homework and predominantly multiple choice question exams, when asked to answer free-response (FR) questions, did not support their answers with logical arguments grounded in physics concepts. In addition to a lack of conceptual understanding, incorrect and partially correct answers lacked evidence of the ability to apply even lower level reasoning skills in order to solve a problem. Correct answers, however, did show evidence of at least lower level thinking skills as coded using a rubric based on Bloom's taxonomy. With the introduction of evidence-based instruction into the labs and recitations of the large courses and in a small, completely laboratory-based, hands-on course, the percentage of correct answers with correct explanations increased. The FR format, unlike other assessment formats, allowed assessment of both conceptual understanding and the application of thinking skills, clearly pointing out weaknesses not revealed by other assessment instruments, and providing data on skills beyond conceptual understanding for course and program assessment. Supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Challenge grant #1RC1GM090897-01.

  16. Using Classroom Response Technology to Create an Active Learning Environment in Marketing Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muncy, James A.; Eastman, Jacqueline K.

    2012-01-01

    Classroom response systems (CRS), also called student/audience response systems or clickers, have been used by business instructors, particularly in larger classes, to allow instructors to ask students questions in class and have their responses immediately tabulated and reported electronically. While clickers have typically been used to measure…

  17. The creation in question: a brief cartography of a theoretical course

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tais Rodrigues Dassoler

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available This article is the result of discussions produced during a theoretical course aboutcreativity in advertising. Instead of teaching how to create, the proposal of the course was to question what characterizes creation. Departing from this question, the route of a theoretical cartography is presented, trough the deconstruction of the idea of creation, the advertising device is shown in its creative demands. Mobilizing different theoretical perspectives, the text approaches creativity’s myth when problematizes the concept of authorship and presents creation as becomings produced by the very advertising device.

  18. Brasil: nova classe média ou novas formas de superexploração da classe trabalhadora? Brazil: new middle class or new ways of overexploiting the working class?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mathias Seibel Luce

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Com base na categoria da superexploração da força de trabalho, formulada no âmbito da teoria marxista da dependência, apresentamos uma crítica à tese de que o Brasil estaria se tornando 'país de classe média' e sustentamos que um contingente substancial dentre o que vem sendo nomeado de 'nova classe média' consiste, na verdade, de trabalhadores - e suas famílias - vivendo em condições de superexploração. O texto encontra-se dividido em três seções. Na primeira, questionamos os pressupostos básicos da tese Brasil, país de classe média. Na segunda, expomos os fundamentos da categoria da superexploração e demonstramos seu incremento nas relações de produção do capitalismo brasileiro na década de 2000. Na terceira, demonstramos como o acesso da população trabalhadora ao consumo de bens duráveis no período recente, antes que a ascensão de uma suposta 'nova classe média', configura uma forma renovada de superexploração. Por fim, salientamos os nexos entre as condições de trabalho, saúde e direitos da classe trabalhadora no Brasil e as tendências do capitalismo mundial, questionando o falso dilema neoliberalismo e neodesenvolvimentismo no debate atual e colocando a real disjuntiva do ponto de vista da emancipação da classe trabalhadora em relação ao poder despótico do capital.Based on the workforce overexploitation category, formulated in the context of the Marxist Theory of Dependence, we critique the thesis that Brazil is becoming 'a middle class nation' and state that a substantial contingent of what has been named the 'new middle class' is, in fact, one of workers - and their families - living in overexploitation conditions. The article is divided into three sections. In the first, we questioned the basic assumptions of the 'Brazil, a middle class nation' thesis. In the second, we explain the fundamentals of the overexploitation category and show how it increased in Brazilian capitalism production

  19. Guiding Questions for Data Analysis, by Reports

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wake County Public School System, 2015

    2015-01-01

    This document, which is provided by the Data and Accountability Department staff at Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), is to be used as a resource to help guide the review of student data. This document provides examples of questions to consider when reviewing frequently accessed reports located in Case21, Quickr, EVAAS®, mClass®, or…

  20. The Effects of Student Question-Generation with Online Prompts on Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Fu-Yun; Pan, Kuan-Jung

    2014-01-01

    The focus of this study was to investigate the effects of student-question generation with online prompts on student academic achievement, question-generation performance, learning satisfaction and learning anxiety. This study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. Two classes of eighth grade students (N = 64) from one middle school…

  1. Questioning in Tongan Science Classrooms: A Pilot Study to Identify Current Practice, Barriers and Facilitators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bay, Jacquie L.; Fohoko, Fehi; La'Akulu, Mumui; Leota, Ofa; Pulotu, Lesieli; Tu'Ipuloto, Sina; Tutoe, Salesi; Tovo, Oliveti; Vekoso, Ana; Pouvalu, Emeli H.

    2016-01-01

    Questioning is central to the development of scientific and health literacies. In exploring this concept, Tongan science teachers hypothesized that their ability to use and encourage questioning presented challenges in the context of Tongan social and cultural norms. This study set out to develop a peer-to-peer protocol to enable teachers to…

  2. Can We Feel Physics Concepts?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Yucheng

    2010-01-01

    There are many ways to improve students' understanding of physics concepts. This article focused on drawing students' attention with picture-embedded questions. Pictures give students a direct impression or feeling about the corresponding concepts, which really makes a difference. However, the effects are limited. Some physics concepts are…

  3. Teaching self-concept and self-esteem in a clinical communications course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medina, Melissa S

    2006-10-15

    Effective interpersonal communication skills are needed for pharmacists to deliver patient-centered care. To achieve this outcome with pharmacists, communication skills are emphasized in pharmacy school in required coursework, such as a clinical communication course. One important concept to include in communication coursework is content on perceptions because perceptions influence communication interactions. Specific emphasis should include a focus on self-perceptions and self-concept, because related empirical literature demonstrates that accurate academic self-concepts predict academic success. These results were extrapolated to a pharmacy clinical communications course where a lecture and laboratory series was designed to emphasize self-concept and facilitate communication skills improvement. The instructional design of this series promoted the advancement of students' communication skills by using communication inventories, self-reflection activities, peer and class discussion, and lecture content. Class discussions, self-reflections, and baseline, and follow-up counseling activities throughout the semester provided evidence of improvements.

  4. Teaching Self-concept and Self-esteem in a Clinical Communications Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-01-01

    Effective interpersonal communication skills are needed for pharmacists to deliver patient-centered care. To achieve this outcome with pharmacists, communication skills are emphasized in pharmacy school in required coursework, such as a clinical communication course. One important concept to include in communication coursework is content on perceptions because perceptions influence communication interactions. Specific emphasis should include a focus on self-perceptions and self-concept, because related empirical literature demonstrates that accurate academic self-concepts predict academic success. These results were extrapolated to a pharmacy clinical communications course where a lecture and laboratory series was designed to emphasize self-concept and facilitate communication skills improvement. The instructional design of this series promoted the advancement of students’ communication skills by using communication inventories, self-reflection activities, peer and class discussion, and lecture content. Class discussions, self-reflections, and baseline, and follow-up counseling activities throughout the semester provided evidence of improvements. PMID:17149428

  5. Introduction to Concepts in Artificial Neural Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niebur, Dagmar

    1995-01-01

    This introduction to artificial neural networks summarizes some basic concepts of computational neuroscience and the resulting models of artificial neurons. The terminology of biological and artificial neurons, biological and machine learning and neural processing is introduced. The concepts of supervised and unsupervised learning are explained with examples from the power system area. Finally, a taxonomy of different types of neurons and different classes of artificial neural networks is presented.

  6. Competence-Based Education and Training– about Frequently Asked Questions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mulder, M.

    2012-01-01

    This article follows the author's previous piece on practical guidelines for the development of comprehensive competence-based education and training (Mulder, 2012). It is about the questions that have been and are still frequently asked in presentations, workshops and classes about the introduction

  7. Children’s and Adolescents’ Snacking: Interplay between the Individual and the School Class

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helge eGiese

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective: In schools, perceived norms of classmates facilitate but can also inhibit unhealthy food intake in children and adolescents. However, the role of actual class behaviors and attitudes is less established. Thus, the present study examined classmates’ actual eating behavior and food preferences in relation to actual food intake. In addition, it tested whether these normative effects are facilitated by corresponding individual and class food preferences or a positive social self-concept.Methods: The food preferences, social self-concept, and unhealthy snacking frequency of 734 Finnish, 829 German, and 555 Romanian children and adolescents (aged 8-19 from 127 school-classes were assessed.Results: Multilevel analysis at individual and class level showed that classmates shared similar snacking habits (14.7% variance. Moreover, the unhealthy food preference of a school-class was associated with its collective snacking (χ²(1 = 54.67, p < .001, PRV = .32. This effect was facilitated by individual, unhealthy food preferences (χ²(1 = 16.72, p < .001, PRV = .57 and a positive social self-concept (χ²(1 = 5.91, p = .015, PRV = .12.Conclusions: Actual class norms are related to children’s and adolescents’ eating, but their impact depends on individual differences in preferences and social self-concept.

  8. Understanding Bitcoins: Facts and Questions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Saboia de Albuquerque

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work is to do a research challenge about the digital currency named Bitcoins, as well as exploit the general concept behind digital currencies and cryptocurrencies, and enumerate some of its current criticism and problems. Such currencies usage and public knowledge is increasing hastily on the last few months, and many questions arise with its popularity.

  9. Using the Typewriter for Learning: Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clayton, Dean

    1977-01-01

    Research studies conducted with typewriting students have consistently shown that concepts can be learned in typewriting classes with no appreciable loss of typewriting skill by students. This article discusses three stages of typewriting instruction and how concept learning can be incorporated into each stage. (HD)

  10. ADOLESCENTS’ SELF-CONCEPT AND SOCIAL STATUS IN THEIR SCHOOL CLASS AND PEER CLIQUE

    OpenAIRE

    Ļevina, Jeļena

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to investigate the relations between multiple aspects of adolescents’ self-concept and various dimensions of their social status in the classroom and in the peer clique. It was found that there was a positive relationship (1) between physical abilities selfconcept and social preference, perceived popularity, and social dominance; (2) between physical appearance self-concept and perceived popularity and social dominance; (3) between oppositesex ...

  11. Teaching micro skills Through Communicative Activities in EFL Classes in Albania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marsela HARIZAJ

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available In English language teaching and learning, an essential role is played by grammar and vocabulary. The main question stated in the study lays on how grammar is taught in our English classes, inductively or deductively? In EFL classes, it is thought that grammar is not particularly special, but studies show that teaching it communicatively enables student to improve communicative ability in foreign language. This paper focuses on: How grammar and vocabulary are taught? What is their importance in language learning? What kind of strategies and activities may be used to facilitate teaching in English classes? What is the perception of students about communicative activities used in class? This paper is based on theoretical analysis and practical analyses. When the purpose of learning is to achieve communication, skills and microskills are learned in meaningful contexts.

  12. Probing the Question Order Effect While Developing a Chemistry Concept Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Undersander, Molly A.; Lund, Travis J.; Langdon, Laurie S.; Stains, Marilyne

    2017-01-01

    The design of assessment tools is critical to accurately evaluate students' understanding of chemistry. Although extensive research has been conducted on various aspects of assessment tool design, few studies in chemistry have focused on the impact of the order in which questions are presented to students on the measurement of students'…

  13. Environmental radiation protection. The new ICRP concept

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaps, C.; Lorenz, B.

    2013-01-01

    Protection of the environment regarding radiation protection was so far reduced to the concept: if man is protected the environment is protected well enough. This was derived from the radiosensitivity curve, according to which highly developed organisms are more sensible to radiation than less highly developed. ICRP publication 103 put this simple concept in question. Even before, ICRP set up a committee to discuss this theme. End of 2012 ICRP released a new concept of environmental protection regarding different exposure situations and brought it up for discussion in the internet. This concept is based on Reference Animals and Plants (RAPs) and analogous to the concept of the protection for man. The exposure for representative organisms regarding ionizing radiation shall be estimated and compared with Derived Consideration Reference Levels (DCRLs). If the DCRLs are reached or exceeded there is a need to react. This concept raises several questions. (orig.)

  14. Can we share questions? Performance of questions from different question banks in a single medical school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Adrian; Nicholls, Anthony; Ricketts, Chris; Coombes, Lee

    2010-01-01

    To use progress testing, a large bank of questions is required, particularly when planning to deliver tests over a long period of time. The questions need not only to be of good quality but also balanced in subject coverage across the curriculum to allow appropriate sampling. Hence as well as creating its own questions, an institution could share questions. Both methods allow ownership and structuring of the test appropriate to the educational requirements of the institution. Peninsula Medical School (PMS) has developed a mechanism to validate questions written in house. That mechanism can be adapted to utilise questions from an International question bank International Digital Electronic Access Library (IDEAL) and another UK-based question bank Universities Medical Assessment Partnership (UMAP). These questions have been used in our progress tests and analysed for relative performance. Data are presented to show that questions from differing sources can have comparable performance in a progress testing format. There are difficulties in transferring questions from one institution to another. These include problems of curricula and cultural differences. Whilst many of these difficulties exist, our experience suggests that it only requires a relatively small amount of work to adapt questions from external question banks for effective use. The longitudinal aspect of progress testing (albeit summatively) may allow more flexibility in question usage than single high stakes exams.

  15. Identifying and Investigating Difficult Concepts in Engineering Mechanics and Electric Circuits. Research Brief

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streveler, Ruth; Geist, Monica; Ammerman, Ravel; Sulzbach, Candace; Miller, Ronald; Olds, Barbara; Nelson, Mary

    2007-01-01

    This study extends ongoing work to identify difficult concepts in thermal and transport science and measure students' understanding of those concepts via a concept inventory. Two research questions provided the focal point: "What important concepts in electric circuits and engineering mechanics do students find difficult to learn?" and…

  16. Imagining class: A study into material social class position, subjective identification, and voting behavior across Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Hooge, Lorenzo; Achterberg, Peter; Reeskens, Tim

    2018-02-01

    The traditional approach to class voting has largely ignored the question whether material class positions coincide with subjective class identification. Following Sosnaud et al. (2013), this study evaluates party preferences when Europeans' material and subjective social class do not coincide. Seminal studies on voting behavior have suggested that members of lower classes are more likely to vote for the economic left and cultural right and that higher classes demonstrate the opposite pattern. Yet, these studies have on the one hand overlooked the possibility that there is a mismatch between the material class people can be classified in and the class they think they are part of, and on the other hand the consequences of this discordant class identification on voting behavior. Analyzing the 2009 wave of the European Elections Study, we find that the majority of the Europeans discordantly identify with the middle class, whereas only a minority of the lower and higher classes concordantly identify with their material social class. Further, material class only seems to predict economic voting behavior when it coincides with subjective class; for instance, individuals who have an inflated class identification are more likely to vote for the economic left, even when they materially can be classified as middle or high class. We conclude this paper with a discussion on scholarly debates concerning class and politics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Deep Question Answering for protein annotation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gobeill, Julien; Gaudinat, Arnaud; Pasche, Emilie; Vishnyakova, Dina; Gaudet, Pascale; Bairoch, Amos; Ruch, Patrick

    2015-01-01

    Biomedical professionals have access to a huge amount of literature, but when they use a search engine, they often have to deal with too many documents to efficiently find the appropriate information in a reasonable time. In this perspective, question-answering (QA) engines are designed to display answers, which were automatically extracted from the retrieved documents. Standard QA engines in literature process a user question, then retrieve relevant documents and finally extract some possible answers out of these documents using various named-entity recognition processes. In our study, we try to answer complex genomics questions, which can be adequately answered only using Gene Ontology (GO) concepts. Such complex answers cannot be found using state-of-the-art dictionary- and redundancy-based QA engines. We compare the effectiveness of two dictionary-based classifiers for extracting correct GO answers from a large set of 100 retrieved abstracts per question. In the same way, we also investigate the power of GOCat, a GO supervised classifier. GOCat exploits the GOA database to propose GO concepts that were annotated by curators for similar abstracts. This approach is called deep QA, as it adds an original classification step, and exploits curated biological data to infer answers, which are not explicitly mentioned in the retrieved documents. We show that for complex answers such as protein functional descriptions, the redundancy phenomenon has a limited effect. Similarly usual dictionary-based approaches are relatively ineffective. In contrast, we demonstrate how existing curated data, beyond information extraction, can be exploited by a supervised classifier, such as GOCat, to massively improve both the quantity and the quality of the answers with a +100% improvement for both recall and precision. Database URL: http://eagl.unige.ch/DeepQA4PA/. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  18. Do Persian Native Speakers Prosodically Mark Wh-in-situ Questions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiamizadeh, Zohreh; Caspers, Johanneke; Schiller, Niels O

    2018-02-01

    It has been shown that prosody contributes to the contrast between declarativity and interrogativity, notably in interrogative utterances lacking lexico-syntactic features of interrogativity. Accordingly, it may be proposed that prosody plays a role in marking wh-in-situ questions in which the interrogativity feature (the wh-phrase) does not move to sentence-initial position, as, for example, in Persian. This paper examines whether prosody distinguishes Persian wh-in-situ questions from declaratives in the absence of the interrogativity feature in the sentence-initial position. To answer this question, a production experiment was designed in which wh-questions and declaratives were elicited from Persian native speakers. On the basis of the results of previous studies, we hypothesize that prosodic features mark wh-in-situ questions as opposed to declaratives at both the local (pre- and post-wh part) and global level (complete sentence). The results of the current study confirm our hypothesis that prosodic correlates mark the pre-wh part as well as the complete sentence in wh-in-situ questions. The results support theoretical concepts such as the frequency code, the universal dichotomous association between relaxation and declarativity on the one hand and tension and interrogativity on the other, the relation between prosody and pragmatics, and the relation between prosody and encoding and decoding of sentence type.

  19. The effect of an outdoor setting on the transfer of earth science concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmons, Jerry Marvin

    The ability of students to transfer concepts learned in school to future learning and employment settings is critical to their academic and career success. Concept transfer can best be studied by defining it as a process rather than an isolated event. Preparation for future learning (PFL) is a process definition of transfer which recognizes the student's ability to draw from past experiences, make assumptions, and generate potential questions and strategies for problem resolution. The purpose of this study was to use the PFL definition of concept transfer to examine whether a knowledge-rich outdoor setting better prepares students for future learning of science concepts than the classroom setting alone does. The research hypothesis was that sixth-grade students experiencing a geology-rich outdoor setting would be better prepared to learn advanced earth science concepts than students experiencing classroom learning only. A quasi-experimental research design was used for this study on two non-equivalent, self-contained sixth-grade rural public school classes. After a pretest was given on prior geology knowledge, the outdoor treatment group was taken on a geology-rich field excursion which introduced them to the concepts of mineral formation and mining. The indoor treatment group received exposure to the same concepts in the classroom setting via color slides and identification of mineral specimens. Subsequently, both groups received direct instruction on advanced concepts about mineral formation and mining. They were then given a posttest, which presented the students with a problem-solving scenario and questions related to concepts covered in the direct instruction. A t-test done on pretest data revealed that the indoor treatment group had previously learned classroom geology material significantly better than the outdoor treatment group had. Therefore an analysis of covariance was performed on posttest data which showed that the outdoor treatment group was better

  20. Student-generated questions during chemistry lectures: Patterns, self-appraisals, and relations with motivational beliefs and achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergey, Bradley W.

    Self-generated questions are a central mechanism for learning, yet students' questions are often infrequent during classroom instruction. As a result, little is known about the nature of student questioning during typical instructional contexts such as listening to a lecture, including the extent and nature of student-generated questions, how students evaluate their questions, and the relations among questions, motivations, and achievement. This study examined the questions undergraduate students (N = 103) generated during 8 lectures in an introductory chemistry course. Students recorded and appraised their question in daily question logs and reported lecture-specific self-efficacy beliefs. Self-efficacy, personal interest, goal orientations, and other motivational self-beliefs were measured before and after the unit. Primary analyses included testing path models, multiple regressions, and latent class analyses. Overall, results indicated that several characteristics of student questioning during lectures were significantly related to various motivations and achievement. Higher end-of-class self-efficacy was associated with fewer procedural questions and more questions that reflected smaller knowledge deficits. Lower exam scores were associated with questions reflecting broader knowledge deficits and students' appraisals that their questions had less value for others than for themselves. Individual goal orientations collectively and positively predicted question appraisals. The questions students generated and their relations with motivational variables and achievement are discussed in light of the learning task and academic context.

  1. On a class of quantum Langevin equations and the question of approach to equilibrium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maassen, J.D.M.

    1982-01-01

    This thesis is concerned with a very simple 'open' quantum system, i.e. being in contact with the outer world. It is asked whether the motion of this system shows frictional behaviour in that it tends to thermal equilibrium. A partial positive answer is given to this question, more precisely, to the question if the solution of the quantum mechanical Langevin equation that describes the Lamb-model (a harmonic oscillator damped by coupling with a string), approaches an equilibrium state. In two sections, the classical and quantum Langevin equations are treated analogously. (Auth.)

  2. A Chemistry Concept Reasoning Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cloonan, Carrie A.; Hutchinson, John S.

    2011-01-01

    A Chemistry Concept Reasoning Test was created and validated providing an easy-to-use tool for measuring conceptual understanding and critical scientific thinking of general chemistry models and theories. The test is designed to measure concept understanding comparable to that found in free-response questions requiring explanations over…

  3. On the placement of practice questions during study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinstein, Yana; Nunes, Ludmila D; Karpicke, Jeffrey D

    2016-03-01

    Retrieval practice improves retention of information on later tests. A question remains: When should retrieval occur during learning-interspersed throughout study or at the end of each study period? In a lab experiment, an online experiment, and a classroom study, we aimed to determine the ideal placement (interspersed vs. at-the-end) of retrieval practice questions. In the lab experiment, 64 subjects viewed slides about APA style and answered short-answer practice questions about the content or restudied the slides (restudy condition). The practice questions either appeared 1 every 1-2 slides (interspersed condition), or all at the end of the presentation (at-the-end condition). One week later, subjects returned and answered the same questions on a final test. In the online experiment, 175 subjects completed the same procedure. In the classroom study, 62 undergraduate students took quizzes as part of class lectures. Short-answer practice questions appeared either throughout the lectures (interspersed condition) or at the end of the lectures (at-the-end condition). Nineteen days after the last quiz, students were given a surprise final test. Results from the 3 experiments converge in demonstrating an advantage for interspersing practice questions on the initial tests, but an absence of this advantage on the final test. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. THE DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS USED IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Khatib Bayanuddin

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This research discusses about an analysis of the directive speech acts used in english speaking class at the third semester of english speaking class of english study program of IAIN STS Jambi. The aims of this research are to describe the types of directive speech acts and politeness strategies that found in English speaking class. This research used descriptive qualitative method. This method used to describe clearly about the types and politeness strategies of directive speech acts based on the data in English speaking class. The result showed that in English speaking class that there are some types and politeness strategies of directive speech acts, such as: requestives, questions, requirements, prohibitives, permissives, and advisores as types, as well as on-record indirect strategies (prediction statement, strong obligation statement, possibility statement, weaker obligation statement, volitional statement, direct strategies (imperative, performative, and nonsentential strategies as politeness strategies. The achievement of this research are hoped can be additional knowledge about linguistics study, especially in directive speech acts and can be developed for future researches. Key words: directive speech acts, types, politeness strategies.

  5. Measuring Learning Outcomes in Library Instruction

    OpenAIRE

    Connor, Elizabeth

    2010-01-01

    The author uses clicker technology to incorporate polling and multiple choice question techniques into library instruction classes. Clickers can be used to give a keener understanding of how many students grasp the concepts presented in a specific class session. Typically, a student that aces a definition-type question will fail to answer an application-type question correctly. Immediate, electronic feedback helps to calibrate teaching approaches and gather data about learning outcomes. Th...

  6. Green Fluorescent Protein Purification as a Didactic Tool During Practical Classes For Undergraduates Students of UFAM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.A.Q.A Faria

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: The Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP, originated from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria has broadly applicability for cellular and molecular biology research. Its spectral characteristics make it practical  to be detect by UV-A (black light lamp during the purification procedure. Moreover, this approach implementation during a practical class allows the exploring of fluorescence features. OBJETIVES: the purpose of this investigation was to teach the concepts and principles of protein purification during a practical class using recombinant GFP protein. MATERIAL E METHODS: Transformed E. coli JM110 expressing GFP were resuspended in buffer solution (Tris-HCl 20 mM pH 8.0, 150 mM NaCl, 5 mM EDTA, 20% (NH42SO4 following the sonication step. The lysate was submitted to the purification through hydrophobic interaction chromatography column (HIC. After analysis of chromatogram, some collected fractions were quantified by Bradford assay and evaluated by SDS-PAGE. Besides that, the GFP presences were measured at an excitation wavelength of 488 nm on a spectrofluorimeter. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Before the experiments, the students were encouraged to explore the biochemistry characteristics of GFP, assessing protein data banks and published articles. These guided questions conducted to discussion of the purification strategy choosen. The GFP purification enabled the visual observation of chromatography principles necessary for the theory assimilation. During the chromatography running, we used a UV-A lamp which allowed a greatly exploration of concepts beyond this technique such as the sample injection, the GFP column retention, and the elution step. The chromatogram obtaneid were analysed and correlated to the collected fractions. Our next step was the efficiency analysis generated by the GFP measurement, total protein quantification and the analytical method SDS-PAGE. CONCLUSION: Collectively, we observed in this class the clear development

  7. Question popularity analysis and prediction in community question answering services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ting; Zhang, Wei-Nan; Cao, Liujuan; Zhang, Yu

    2014-01-01

    With the blooming of online social media applications, Community Question Answering (CQA) services have become one of the most important online resources for information and knowledge seekers. A large number of high quality question and answer pairs have been accumulated, which allow users to not only share their knowledge with others, but also interact with each other. Accordingly, volumes of efforts have been taken to explore the questions and answers retrieval in CQA services so as to help users to finding the similar questions or the right answers. However, to our knowledge, less attention has been paid so far to question popularity in CQA. Question popularity can reflect the attention and interest of users. Hence, predicting question popularity can better capture the users' interest so as to improve the users' experience. Meanwhile, it can also promote the development of the community. In this paper, we investigate the problem of predicting question popularity in CQA. We first explore the factors that have impact on question popularity by employing statistical analysis. We then propose a supervised machine learning approach to model these factors for question popularity prediction. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can effectively distinguish the popular questions from unpopular ones in the Yahoo! Answers question and answer repository.

  8. Interference between electric and magnetic concepts in introductory physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas M. Scaife

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available We investigate student confusion of concepts of electric and magnetic force. At various times during a traditional university-level course, we administered a series of simple questions about the direction of force on a charged particle moving through either an electric or a magnetic field. We find that after electric force instruction but before magnetic force instruction most students answer electric force questions correctly, and we replicate well-known results that many students incorrectly answer that magnetic forces are in the same direction as the magnetic field. After magnetic force instruction, most students answer magnetic force questions correctly, but surprisingly many students incorrectly answer that electric forces are perpendicular to electric fields, as would happen if a student confused electric forces with magnetic forces. As a further indication of interference between electric and magnetic concepts, we also find that students’ responses depend on whether electric or magnetic force questions are posed first, and this effect depends on whether electric or magnetic force was most recently taught.

  9. Process of Argumentation in High School Biology Class: A Qualitative Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramli, M.; Rakhmawati, E.; Hendarto, P.; Winarni

    2017-02-01

    Argumentation skill can be nurtured by designing a lesson in which students are provided with the opportunity to argue. This research aims to analyse argumentation process in biology class. The participants were students of three biology classes from different high schools in Surakarta Indonesia. One of the classroom was taught by a student teacher, and the rest were instructed by the assigned teachers. Through a classroom observation, oral activities were noted, audio-recorded and video-taped. Coding was done based on the existence of claiming-reasoning-evidence (CRE) process by McNeill and Krajcik. Data was analysed qualitatively focusing on the role of teachers to initiate questioning to support argumentation process. The lesson design of three were also analysed. The result shows that pedagogical skill of teachers to support argumentation process, such as skill to ask, answer, and respond to students’ question and statements need to be trained intensively. Most of the argumentation found were only claiming, without reasoning and evidence. Teachers have to change the routine of mostly posing open-ended questions to students, and giving directly a correct answer to students’ questions. Knowledge and skills to encourage student to follow inquiry-based learning have to be acquired by teachers.

  10. Stability of latent class segments over time

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mueller, Simone

    2011-01-01

    Dynamic stability, as the degree to which identified segments at a given time remain unchanged over time in terms of number, size and profile, is a desirable segment property which has received limited attention so far. This study addresses the question to what degree latent classes identified from...... logit model suggests significant changes in the price sensitivity and the utility from environmental claims between both experimental waves. A pooled scale adjusted latent class model is estimated jointly over both waves and the relative size of latent classes is compared across waves, resulting...... in significant differences in the size of two out of seven classes. These differences can largely be accounted for by the changes on the aggregated level. The relative size of latent classes is correlated at 0.52, suggesting a fair robustness. An ex-post characterisation of latent classes by behavioural...

  11. Who perceives they are smarter? Exploring the influence of student characteristics on student academic self-concept in physiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Katelyn M; Krieg, Anna; Brownell, Sara E

    2018-06-01

    Academic self-concept is one's perception of his or her ability in an academic domain and is formed by comparing oneself to other students. As college biology classrooms transition from lecturing to active learning, students interact more with each other and are likely comparing themselves more to other students in the class. Student characteristics can impact students' academic self-concept; however, this has been unexplored in the context of undergraduate biology. In this study, we explored whether student characteristics can affect academic self-concept in the context of an active learning college physiology course. Using a survey, students self-reported how smart they perceived themselves to be in the context of physiology relative to the whole class and relative to their groupmate, the student with whom they worked most closely in class. Using linear regression, we found that men and native English speakers had significantly higher academic self-concept relative to the whole class compared with women and nonnative English speakers. Using logistic regression, we found that men had significantly higher academic self-concept relative to their groupmate compared with women. Using constant comparison methods, we identified nine factors that students reported influenced how they determined whether they were more or less smart than their groupmate. Finally, we found that students were more likely to report participating more than their groupmate if they had a higher academic self-concept. These findings suggest that student characteristics can influence students' academic self-concept, which in turn may influence their participation in small-group discussion and their academic achievement in active learning classes.

  12. Elementary school teachers' techniques of responding to student questions regarding sexuality issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, James H; Dake, Joseph A; Kirchofer, Gregg; Telljohann, Susan K

    2003-01-01

    Fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school teachers' (n = 277) techniques of responding to students' human sexuality-related questions were assessed. Few teachers (34%) reported receiving formal training in sexuality education. The most commonly asked student questions dealt with STDs, puberty, homosexuality, pregnancy, and abortion. Teachers' willingness to answer sexually-related questions in front of the class varied (73% to 14%) by content of the question. There were no questions on the questionnaire in which more than one in five teachers would choose not to answer. The most common questions the teachers identified they would not respond to dealt with topics such as abortion, masturbation, homosexuality, and issues about the male genitals. Finally, none of the questions was perceived by more than one in eight of the teachers as questions they would not be allowed to answer.

  13. Tracing down the historical development of the legal concept of the right to know one’s origins Has ‘to know or not to know’ ever been the legal question?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blauwhoff, Richard J.

    2008-01-01

    This article aims to contribute to the identification and understanding of the main legal questions surrounding the delineation of the material scope of the right to know one’s origins or genetic descent as a legal concept and a procedurally enforceable right. With that dual purpose in mind, a

  14. Instructed Concept Appropriation and L2 Pragmatic Development in the Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Compernolle, Rémi A.; Henery, Ashlie

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we investigate the integration of concept-based pragmatics instruction, grounded in Vygotskian sociocultural psychology, in an intact second-semester French class (n = 13) over the course of an academic term. Our focus is on learners' appropriation of the concepts of self-presentation, social distance, and power with respect…

  15. The Class Size Question: A Study at Different Levels of Analysis. ACER Research Monograph No. 26.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larkin, Anthony I.; Keeves, John P.

    The purpose of this investigation was to examine the ways in which class size affected other facets of the educational environment of the classroom. The study focused on the commonly found positive relationship between class size and achievement. The most plausible explanation of the evidence seems to involve the effects of grouping more able…

  16. Social class, power, and selfishness: when and why upper and lower class individuals behave unethically.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubois, David; Rucker, Derek D; Galinsky, Adam D

    2015-03-01

    Are the rich more unethical than the poor? To answer this question, the current research introduces a key conceptual distinction between selfish and unethical behavior. Based on this distinction, the current article offers 2 novel findings that illuminate the relationship between social class and unethical behavior. First, the effects of social class on unethical behavior are not invariant; rather, the effects of social class are moderated by whether unethical behavior benefits the self or others. Replicating past work, social class positively predicted unethical behavior; however, this relationship was only observed when that behavior was self-beneficial. When unethical behavior was performed to benefit others, social class negatively predicted unethical behavior; lower class individuals were more likely than upper class individuals to engage in unethical behavior. Overall, social class predicts people's tendency to behave selfishly, rather than predicting unethical behavior per se. Second, individuals' sense of power drove the effects of social class on unethical behavior. Evidence for this relationship was provided in three forms. First, income, but not education level, predicted unethical behavior. Second, feelings of power mediated the effect of social class on unethical behavior, but feelings of status did not. Third, two distinct manipulations of power produced the same moderation by self-versus-other beneficiary as was found with social class. The current theoretical framework and data both synthesize and help to explain a range of findings in the social class and power literatures. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  17. Young children's impressionable use of teleology: the influence of question wording and questioned topic on teleological explanations for natural phenomena

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halls, Jonathan Grant; Ainsworth, Shaaron Elizabeth; Oliver, Mary Collette

    2018-05-01

    There is a significant body of research on children's preconceptions concerning scientific concepts and the impact this has upon their science education. One active issue concerns the extent to which young children's explanations for the existence of natural kinds rely on a teleological rationale: for example, rain is for watering the grass, or tigers' stripes are for camouflage. It has been argued that this teleological tendency hampers children's ability to learn about causality in the natural world. This paper investigates two factors (question wording and topic) which it is argued have led to a misestimation of children's teleological tendencies within the area natural phenomena: i.e. those that are time-constrained, natural events or process such as snow, clouds or night. Sixty-six (5-8 years old) children took part in a repeated-measures experiment, answering both open and leading questions across 10 topics of natural phenomena. The findings indicate that children's teleological reasoning may have been overestimated as open-question forms significantly reduced their tendency to answer teleologically. Moreover, the concept of teleology is more nuanced than often suggested. Consequently, young children may be more able to learn about causal explanations for the existence of natural phenomena than the literature implies.

  18. HLA class Ib in pregnancy and pregnancy-related disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Persson, Gry; Melsted, Wenna Nascimento; Nilsson, Line Lynge; Hviid, Thomas Vauvert F

    2017-08-01

    The HLA class Ib genes, HLA-E, HLA-F, and HLA-G, were discovered long after the classical HLA class Ia genes. The elucidation of their functions had a modest beginning. However, their basic functions and involvement in pathophysiology and a range of diseases are now emerging. Although results from a range of studies support the functional roles for the HLA class Ib molecules in adult life, especially HLA-G and HLA-F have most intensively been, and were also primarily, studied in relation to reproduction and pregnancy. The expression of HLA class Ib proteins at the feto-maternal interface in the placenta seems to be important for the maternal acceptance of the semi-allogenic fetus. In contrast to the functions of HLA class Ia, HLA-G possesses immune-modulatory and tolerogenic functions. Here, we review an accumulating amount of data describing the functions of HLA class Ib molecules in relation to fertility, reproduction, and pregnancy, and a possible role for these molecules in certain pregnancy complications, such as implantation failure, recurrent spontaneous abortions, and pre-eclampsia. The results from different kinds of studies point toward a role for HLA class Ib, especially HLA-G, throughout the reproductive cycle from conception to the birth weight of the child.

  19. Powerful Concepts in Global Health Comment on “Knowledge, Moral Claims and the Exercise of Power in Global Health”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eivind Engebretsen

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we emphasize the importance of questioning the global validity of significant concepts underpinning global health policy. This implies questioning the concept of global health as such and accepting that there is no global definition of the global. Further, we draw attention to ‘quality’ and ‘empowerment’ as examples of world-forming concepts. These concepts are exemplary for the gentle and quiet forms of power that underpin our reasoning within global health.

  20. Ethno beauty: practices of beautification among urban muslim middle-class women in Surabaya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Listyani, RH; Sadewo, FX S.; Legowo, M.

    2018-01-01

    This research examines practices of beautification by urban middle-class Muslim women using an ethnomethodology approach. Several theories are employed in this research including the theory of consumption (leisure class), sociology of body, middle-class theory and the concept of modern Islam. Results indicate that the beautiful concept according to Muslim middle-class urban women is white skin without stains, face without wrinkles, nose sharp, eyelashes and thick eyebrows and red lips. To be said to be beautiful, they took various efforts through beauty treatment, diet, fashion and dress up. In this study also revealed that their goal to self-care is pride and recognition in front of other fellow female friends and to happy partner (husband). This shows that the consumption through the body (fashions, diets, make up) and consumption around the body (beauty treatments) represent symbolic and material ways of positioning themselves within contemporary society - thus becoming ‘visible’. The implications of this research are this study is expected to contribute information and enrich the repertoire of social science especially sociology also for the development of research on body and beauty.

  1. The big questions in science the quest to solve the great unknowns

    CERN Document Server

    Birch, Hayley; Stuart, Colin

    2016-01-01

    What are the great scientific questions of our modern age and why don't we know the answers? The Big Questions in Science takes on the most fascinating and pressing mysteries we have yet to crack and explains how tantalizingly close science is to solving them (or how frustratingly out of reach they remain). Some, such as "Can we live forever? and "What makes us human? " are eternal questions; others, such as "How do we solve the population problem? " and "How do we get more energy from the sun? " are essential to our future survival. Written by experienced science writers, adept at translating the complicated concepts of "hard science" into an engaging and insightful discussion for the general reader, The Big Questions in Science grapples with 20 hot topics across the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy and computer science to ignite the inquistitive scientist in all of us.

  2. Ethnicity, class, and civil war

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hechter, Michael Norman; Siroky, David

    2016-01-01

    of political instability. These two types of conflict result from distinct principles of group solidarity – ethnicity and class – and since each individual is simultaneously a member of an ethnic group (or many such groups) and a particular class, these two principles vary in the degree to which......Why are some countries prone to ethno-nationalist conflict, whereas others are plagued by class conflict? This is a question that has seldom been raised and rarely been examined empirically. This paper presents a social-structural theory to account for the variable incidence of these two forms......-group inequalities are high, and within-group inequalities low, ethnicity should be the dominant principle of group solidarity and serve as the primary basis of group conflict. By contrast, in countries where between-group inequalities are low, and within-group inequalities high, class is more likely to serve...

  3. Concepts first: A course with improved educational outcomes and parity for underrepresented minority groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, D. J.

    2017-08-01

    Two active learning physics courses were taught and compared. The "concepts first" course was organized to teach only concepts in the first part of the class, the ultimate goal being to increase students' problem-solving abilities much later in the class. The other course was taught in the same quarter by the same instructor using the same curricular materials, but covered material in the standard (chapter-by-chapter) order. After accounting for incoming student characteristics, students from the concepts-first course scored significantly better in two outcome measures: their grade on the final exam and the grade received in their subsequent physics course. Moreover, in the concepts-first class course, students from groups underrepresented in physics had final exam scores and class grades that were indistinguishable from other students. Finally, students who took at least one concepts-first course in introductory physics were found to have significantly higher rates of graduation with a STEM major than students from this cohort who did not.

  4. [The construction of life profiles by social class in Chile].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, C

    1989-11-01

    The author develops a series of life profiles for men and women living in the Greater Santiago area of Chile over the past 25 years. These profiles, which are based on the concept of life expectancy at birth, illustrate the length of time individuals take to go through such life cycle stages as education, employment, unemployment, and retirement. The concept is used to analyze changes in the life profile over time and how these differ by class. (SUMMARY IN ENG)

  5. USING QUESTION GENERATING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION FOR THE THIRD SEMESTER STUDENTS AT ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM OF MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF BENGKULU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Washlurachim Safitri Safitri

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this research was to find out Using Question Generating Technique Toward Students Reading Comprehension At The Third Semester Students At English Study Program Of Muhammadiyah University Of Bengkulu. The design of this research was Quasi experimental research. The subject of this research is students at the third semester of English study program. They were A class  that consist of 20 students and D class that consist of 20 students. In collecting data, the researcher used some steps; firstly the students were given a pre-test before the researcher applied Question Generating Technique. Then, the researcher did the treatment for three meetings to the experimental class, after that the researcher did post test to both classes. The last, the researcher analyzed the result of reading test by using criteria for the assessment. The final step was the researcher discussed and concluded the data. The result of this research showed that the tobt was  4,880. Whereas, the degree of freedom of post-test is 68, means that the ttable was 2.021. Based on the scores gained, it shows that tobt is higher than ttable (9,911>4,880. There is a significant difference between the post-test mean of the experimental and control class. The result also showed that the students’ comprehension in reading was significantly. In conclusion, the Question Generating Technique had been successfully gave positive effect to the students’ reading comprehension particularly in reading subject in English study program of University Muhammadiyah of Bengkulu.  Key Words : Question Generating Technique, Reading comprehension,

  6. The power of language used in class

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitrović Milica

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with the analysis of the language used in class by: (1 indicating the relevance of this type of analysis in the context of current research questions about the relations between language and education, (2 the analysis of the selected school classes and (3 by presenting methodological characteristics and possible research achievements of this form of analysis. Class language is here seen as one of school languages, and an item for the analysis of teaching and authentic evaluative information about education. Our research comprised the analyses of six classes in Belgrade elementary schools. The aim of the research was to identify and describe the language of the selected classes and to analyse the obtained information in the view of furthering language learning and learning by the use of language. Selected were three lessons in the first and three in the final classes, and planned so that pupils could be the main speakers (lesson repetition and elaboration. The analyses of the teaching contents were done, and the results showed that, compared to pupils, teachers do a major part of talking, that pupils usually give one word or short answers, that they communicate within uniform speech models and have no opportunity to develop a sense of ownership of the language of the lesson which is a precondition for further language learning and using language for school learning. The results also indicate certain contradictions in the identified language practice, which we deem important for further systematic research of language use and learning in our schools.

  7. A Study on the Determination of Power Supply Class for HVAC System in KJRR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hagtae; Kim, Minjin; Suh, Yong-Suk; Kim, Jun-Yeon; Chae, Hee-Taek

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to propose an appropriate electrical class, power supply class, and operation logic for the major equipment of the HVAC system such as a Confinement Isolation Damper (CID), Fission Molybdenum Isolation Damper (FID), Air Handling Unit (AHU), Air Cleaning Unit (ACU), and Contaminated Air Purification System (CAPS) in light of their functional requirements and importance. The classification for the overall HVAC system of the KJRR is a safety class NNS, Non-Seismic category, quality class S, and electrical class Non-1E. Exceptionally, the CID and FID are safety class 3, seismic category I, and quality class Q. The electrical class for the major equipment of the HVAC system should be determined considering the operation concept during Loss of Normal Electric Power (LOEP) regardless of the safety class. In this paper, the electrical and power supply class is determined and the operation logic is proposed for the major equipment of the HVAC system for the KJRR such as the CID, FID, CAPS, ACU, and AHU. The electrical class Non-1E is determined to implement a fail closed for the enhancement of safety. The power supply class is based on the functional requirements of each equipment. The CID, FID, CAPS, and ACU are Class III, but the AHU is Class IV by reflecting the importance and electrical load. After the recovery of the power supply, there is a difference in the operation concept for the HVAC system between the reactor building and fission molybdenum production building depending on the operator's residence time. The CID and CAPS are operated manually through procedures for checking the accident status, and the FID and ACU are operated automatically without special procedures

  8. A Study on the Determination of Power Supply Class for HVAC System in KJRR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Hagtae; Kim, Minjin; Suh, Yong-Suk; Kim, Jun-Yeon; Chae, Hee-Taek [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-05-15

    The purpose of this paper is to propose an appropriate electrical class, power supply class, and operation logic for the major equipment of the HVAC system such as a Confinement Isolation Damper (CID), Fission Molybdenum Isolation Damper (FID), Air Handling Unit (AHU), Air Cleaning Unit (ACU), and Contaminated Air Purification System (CAPS) in light of their functional requirements and importance. The classification for the overall HVAC system of the KJRR is a safety class NNS, Non-Seismic category, quality class S, and electrical class Non-1E. Exceptionally, the CID and FID are safety class 3, seismic category I, and quality class Q. The electrical class for the major equipment of the HVAC system should be determined considering the operation concept during Loss of Normal Electric Power (LOEP) regardless of the safety class. In this paper, the electrical and power supply class is determined and the operation logic is proposed for the major equipment of the HVAC system for the KJRR such as the CID, FID, CAPS, ACU, and AHU. The electrical class Non-1E is determined to implement a fail closed for the enhancement of safety. The power supply class is based on the functional requirements of each equipment. The CID, FID, CAPS, and ACU are Class III, but the AHU is Class IV by reflecting the importance and electrical load. After the recovery of the power supply, there is a difference in the operation concept for the HVAC system between the reactor building and fission molybdenum production building depending on the operator's residence time. The CID and CAPS are operated manually through procedures for checking the accident status, and the FID and ACU are operated automatically without special procedures.

  9. Comparison of Megawatt-Class Permanent Magnet Wind Turbine Generator Concepts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henriksen, Matthew Lee; Jensen, Bogi Bech

    2012-01-01

    the differences in cost, efficiency, and mass of each drivetrain solution, and these are in turn related to the cost of energy. Based on the initial criteria of the study, the results favor geared concepts over direct-drive. The effects of varying several parameters are then explored in order to see what changes...... in availability, cost of structural mass, and OPEX would make the direct-drive concept favorable. It is concluded that if the cost of structural mass can be controlled, and availability/ OPEX advantages of around 2% and 40% respectively can be achieved, the cost of energy comparison may begin to favor directdrive...

  10. Competence-Based Education and Training--About Frequently Asked Questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulder, Martin

    2012-01-01

    This article follows the author's previous piece on practical guidelines for the development of comprehensive competence-based education and training (Mulder, 2012). It is about the questions that have been and are still frequently asked in presentations, workshops and classes about the introduction of competence-based education. Here, the author…

  11. Competency-Based Blended Learning: Flipping Professional Practice Classes to Enhance Competence Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark Ragg

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available In the past decade, health and human service educational programs have transitioned to competence-based outcomes to enhance the quality of graduating professionals. While such outcomes are a critical step in ensuring professional quality, they require curricular and pedagogical adjustments that do not fit easily within university environments. Technology has eased many problems of fit through the development of hybrid and flipped courses that allow on-campus time to be better focused on developing professional skills. This study explored the question: Can flipped delivery improve competence-based outcomes in social work practice classes? The study assessed pedagogical adjustments that integrated competence-based learning principles with flipped classroom delivery. Principles of organizing the class to maximize competence development are explored and illustrated. Improved competence development and student satisfaction were demonstrated in three flipped practice courses with a combined sample size of 269 Bachelor of Social Work (BSW and Masters of Social Work (MSW students. Researchers concluded that using flipped-classroom methods enhanced the students’ capacity to apply concepts and develop skills. In particular, the ability to receive and process feedback on applied skills was improved.

  12. Effects of Re-Using a Conceptual Examination Question in Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Manjula D.; Sefton, Ian M.; Cole, Martyn; Whymark, Aaron; Millar, Rosemary M.; Smith, Andrew

    2005-12-01

    We report on a study of what happened when we recycled a conceptual examination question in a first-year university physics course. The question, which was used for three consecutive years, asked about an astronaut's experience of weighing in an orbiting space-craft. Our original intention was to use a phenomenographic approach to look for differences in students' descriptive answers. Having done that, we decided to add a study of the marks that were awarded to those answers. The first time that the question was re-used, the distribution of answers amongst our phenomenographic categories showed a decrease in the common conception that gravity is zero in the satellite and an increase in explanations in terms of free fall. When the question was re-used a second time, that difference was maintained but it was not significantly increased. The distribution of marks for the question was different over the three years in a way that appears to be unrelated to differences in students' conceptual understandings. Differences in the distribution of marks are more likely to be related to differences in marking procedures. We conclude that studies like this one have the potential to contribute to improvements in university assessment procedures. In particular we propose that phenomenographic analysis could be used in the design of marking schemes.

  13. Class and Gender in Prime-Time Television Entertainment: Observations from a Socialist Feminist Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steeves, H. Leslie; Smith, Marilyn Crafton

    1987-01-01

    Assesses representations of women in television entertainment programs from a socialist feminist perspective. Elaborates on socialist feminist theory, presents concepts for an analysis of both class and gender oppression, and argues that most socialist feminist cultural studies do not address these categories adequately. Uses these concepts to…

  14. Molyneux's Question: A Window on Crossmodal Interplay in Blindness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valeria Occelli

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available In 1688, the Irish scientist William Molyneux sent a letter to the philosopher John Locke in which he asked whether a man who had been born blind and whose experience of the world was based on senses other than vision, would be able to distinguish and name a globe and a cube by sight alone, once he had been enabled to see. This issue immediately raised considerable interest amongst philosophers, who, for centuries, have continued to speculate about how this issue might be resolved. More recently, the possibility of corrective surgery for people born with congenital cataracts, has offered a valuable opportunity to explore this topic experimentally. A discussion of how Molyneux’s question has been addressed over the centuries, allows us to investigate a number of intellectual challenges, involving a variety of fields, ranging from philosophy, psychology and the cognitive sciences, to neuroscience. For instance, Molyenux’s question raises the question of whether sensory experience is specific to each sensory modality, or rather supramodal, and if a transfer of knowledge across modalities can be established. Molyneux’s question is also relevant to the discussion of whether, how and to what extent a concept of space can be developed by blind people. More generally, it concerns the idea of how conceptual knowledge is acquired and processed when vision is lacking. The present paper aims to provide an overview of all the issues raised by Molyenux’s question.

  15. Integrating collaborative concept mapping in case based learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfredo Tifi

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Different significance of collaborative concept mapping and collaborative argumentation in Case Based Learning are discussed and compared in the different perspectives of answering focus questions, of fostering reflective thinking skills and in managing uncertainty in problem solving in a scaffolded environment. Marked differences are pointed out between the way concepts are used in constructing concept maps and the way meanings are adopted in case based learning through guided argumentation activities. Shared concept maps should be given different scopes, as for example a as an advance organizer in preparing a background system of concepts that will undergo transformation while accompanying the inquiry activities on case studies or problems; b together with narratives, to enhance awareness of the situated epistemologies that are being entailed in choosing certain concepts during more complex case studies, and c after-learning construction of a holistic vision of the whole domain by means of the most inclusive concepts, while scaffoldedcollaborative writing of narratives and arguments in describing-treating cases could better serve as a source of situated-inspired tools to create-refine meanings for particular concepts.

  16. Successful Delivery of Twin Pregnancy in Class U3b/C2/V1 Uterus by Bilateral Caesarean Section after Spontaneous Conception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasmine El-Masry

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A case of a 19-year-old female with class U3b/C2/V1 uterus conceived a twin pregnancy with a fetus in each horn after spontaneous conception. She referred to our department with presentation of premature rupture of membranes, with a history of cesarean delivery of a single full term living fetus a year and a half before this delivery. Examination revealed two completely separate uterine horns with a fetus in each horn, two distinct externally rounded cervices, and a single vagina with a short nonobstructing vaginal septum in the upper part of the vagina. And as the appropriate mode of delivery is still unclear, each case should be managed as the condition requires, and in our case urgent bilateral caesarean sections were performed.

  17. First-Year and Non-First-Year Student Expectations Regarding In-Class and Out-of-Class Learning Activities in Introductory Biology †

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Tanya L.; Brazeal, Kathleen R.; Couch, Brian A.

    2017-01-01

    National calls for teaching transformation build on a constructivist learning theory and propose that students learn by actively engaging in course activities and interacting with other students. While interactive pedagogies can improve learning, they also have the potential to challenge traditional norms regarding class participation and learning strategies. To better understand the potential openness of students to interactive teaching practices, we administered a survey during the first week of two sections of an introductory biology course to characterize how students envisioned spending time during class as well as what activities they expected to complete outside of class during non-exam weeks and in preparation for exams. Additionally, we sought to test the hypothesis that the expectations of first-year students differed from those of non-first-year students. Analyses of closed-ended and open-ended questions revealed that students held a wide range of expectations and that most students expressed expectations consistent with some degree of transformed teaching. Furthermore, first-year students expected more active learning in class, more out-of-class coursework during non-exam weeks, and more social learning strategies than non-first-year students. We discuss how instructor awareness of incoming student expectations might be used to promote success in introductory science courses. PMID:28512514

  18. Gossip Revisited: A Game for Concept Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Barbara

    1989-01-01

    Describes a class activity based on the game of "Gossip" in which a group of students paraphrases a major concept in an instructional unit, then passes only the paraphrase to the next group. Notes that this activity encourages critical thinking and helps review and summarize key lesson concepts. (RS)

  19. A Quantum Chemistry Concept Inventory for Physical Chemistry Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dick-Perez, Marilu; Luxford, Cynthia J.; Windus, Theresa L.; Holme, Thomas

    2016-01-01

    A 14-item, multiple-choice diagnostic assessment tool, the quantum chemistry concept inventory or QCCI, is presented. Items were developed based on published student misconceptions and content coverage and then piloted and used in advanced physical chemistry undergraduate courses. In addition to the instrument itself, data from both a pretest,…

  20. The comparative effect of individually-generated vs. collaboratively-generated computer-based concept mapping on science concept learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, So Young

    Using a quasi-experimental design, the researcher investigated the comparative effects of individually-generated and collaboratively-generated computer-based concept mapping on middle school science concept learning. Qualitative data were analyzed to explain quantitative findings. One hundred sixty-one students (74 boys and 87 girls) in eight, seventh grade science classes at a middle school in Southeast Texas completed the entire study. Using prior science performance scores to assure equivalence of student achievement across groups, the researcher assigned the teacher's classes to one of the three experimental groups. The independent variable, group, consisted of three levels: 40 students in a control group, 59 students trained to individually generate concept maps on computers, and 62 students trained to collaboratively generate concept maps on computers. The dependent variables were science concept learning as demonstrated by comprehension test scores, and quality of concept maps created by students in experimental groups as demonstrated by rubric scores. Students in the experimental groups received concept mapping training and used their newly acquired concept mapping skills to individually or collaboratively construct computer-based concept maps during study time. The control group, the individually-generated concept mapping group, and the collaboratively-generated concept mapping group had equivalent learning experiences for 50 minutes during five days, excepting that students in a control group worked independently without concept mapping activities, students in the individual group worked individually to construct concept maps, and students in the collaborative group worked collaboratively to construct concept maps during their study time. Both collaboratively and individually generated computer-based concept mapping had a positive effect on seventh grade middle school science concept learning but neither strategy was more effective than the other. However

  1. Daily online testing in large classes: boosting college performance while reducing achievement gaps.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James W Pennebaker

    Full Text Available An in-class computer-based system, that included daily online testing, was introduced to two large university classes. We examined subsequent improvements in academic performance and reductions in the achievement gaps between lower- and upper-middle class students in academic performance. Students (N = 901 brought laptop computers to classes and took daily quizzes that provided immediate and personalized feedback. Student performance was compared with the same data for traditional classes taught previously by the same instructors (N = 935. Exam performance was approximately half a letter grade above previous semesters, based on comparisons of identical questions asked from earlier years. Students in the experimental classes performed better in other classes, both in the semester they took the course and in subsequent semester classes. The new system resulted in a 50% reduction in the achievement gap as measured by grades among students of different social classes. These findings suggest that frequent consequential quizzing should be used routinely in large lecture courses to improve performance in class and in other concurrent and subsequent courses.

  2. The Positive Effect of Realia in EFL Classes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emine Bala

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available There are many ways generated by the linguists to teach the language items in EFL classroom; however, bringing ̳realia‘ into the classroom is one of the most effective ways to create an enjoyable class atmosphere and acquire the target language efficiently. Especially, low-level students may suffer from obtaining what teacher presents because they have no chance to synthesize what they learn in the class with real life situations. Using real objects and materials gives students opportunity to experience real life in the class atmosphere and this may facilitate and accelerate their learning process. Accordingly, using visuals stimulates students to maintain studying on the language because practicing the topic with visuals assists students to get involved in more powerful learning. This study illustrates an investigation based on a 20-question exam paper whether getting support from realia augments the students‘ success in the examination or not. Two elementary-level EFL classes took part in this project. Looking at the results, the students who were taught with realia showed more success compared to the others who were not taught with visuals during teaching.

  3. Developmental regression in autism: research and conceptual questions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina Lampreia

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The subject of developmental regression in autism has gained importance and a growing number of studies have been conducted in recent years. It is a major issue indicating that there is not a unique form of autism onset. However the phenomenon itself and the concept of regression have been the subject of some debate: there is no consensus on the existence of regression, as there is no consensus on its definition. The aim of this paper is to review the research literature in this area and to introduce some conceptual questions about its existence and its definition.

  4. Middle school students' learning of mechanics concepts through engagement in different sequences of physical and virtual experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Sarah; Gnesdilow, Dana; Puntambekar, Sadhana; Kim, Jee-Seon

    2017-08-01

    Physical and virtual experimentation are thought to have different affordances for supporting students' learning. Research investigating the use of physical and virtual experiments to support students' learning has identified a variety of, sometimes conflicting, outcomes. Unanswered questions remain about how physical and virtual experiments may impact students' learning and for which contexts and content areas they may be most effective. Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined eighth grade students' (N = 100) learning of physics concepts related to pulleys depending on the sequence of physical and virtual labs they engaged in. Five classes of students were assigned to either the: physical first condition (PF) (n = 55), where students performed a physical pulley experiment and then performed the same experiment virtually, or virtual first condition (VF) (n = 45), with the opposite sequence. Repeated measures ANOVA's were conducted to examine how physical and virtual labs impacted students' learning of specific physics concepts. While we did not find clear-cut support that one sequence was better, we did find evidence that participating in virtual experiments may be more beneficial for learning certain physics concepts, such as work and mechanical advantage. Our findings support the idea that if time or physical materials are limited, using virtual experiments may help students understand work and mechanical advantage.

  5. Graded Multiple Choice Questions: Rewarding Understanding and Preventing Plagiarism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denyer, G. S.; Hancock, D.

    2002-08-01

    This paper describes an easily implemented method that allows the generation and analysis of graded multiple-choice examinations. The technique, which uses standard functions in user-end software (Microsoft Excel 5+), can also produce several different versions of an examination that can be employed to prevent the reward of plagarism. The manuscript also discusses the advantages of having a graded marking system for the elimination of ambiguities, use in multi-step calculation questions, and questions that require extrapolation or reasoning. The advantages of the scrambling strategy, which maintains the same question order, is discussed with reference to student equity. The system provides a non-confrontational mechanism for dealing with cheating in large-class multiple-choice examinations, as well as providing a reward for problem solving over surface learning.

  6. Class ranking of secondary schools in the North West province of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-11-14

    Nov 14, 2016 ... The country is facing a number of national problems in various socio-economic .... The class-ranking concept that is proposed in this paper stems from the ..... Solving the linear programming model (in equations (18) to (21)) by ...

  7. Exploring physics concepts among novice teachers through CMAP tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suprapto, N.; Suliyanah; Prahani, B. K.; Jauhariyah, M. N. R.; Admoko, S.

    2018-03-01

    Concept maps are graphical tools for organising, elaborating and representing knowledge. Through Cmap tools software, it can be explored the understanding and the hierarchical structuring of physics concepts among novice teachers. The software helps physics teachers indicated a physics context, focus questions, parking lots, cross-links, branching, hierarchy, and propositions. By using an exploratory quantitative study, a total 13-concept maps with different physics topics created by novice physics teachers were analysed. The main differences of scoring between lecturer and peer-teachers’ scoring were also illustrated. The study offered some implications, especially for physics educators to determine the hierarchical structure of the physics concepts, to construct a physics focus question, and to see how a concept in one domain of knowledge represented on the map is related to a concept in another domain shown on the map.

  8. VQABQ: Visual Question Answering by Basic Questions

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Jia-Hong

    2017-03-19

    Taking an image and question as the input of our method, it can output the text-based answer of the query question about the given image, so called Visual Question Answering (VQA). There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the basic questions of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization problem, and also propose a criterion about how to exploit these basic questions to help answer main question. Our method is evaluated on the challenging VQA dataset and yields state-of-the-art accuracy, 60.34% in open-ended task.

  9. VQABQ: Visual Question Answering by Basic Questions

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Jia-Hong; Alfadly, Modar; Ghanem, Bernard

    2017-01-01

    Taking an image and question as the input of our method, it can output the text-based answer of the query question about the given image, so called Visual Question Answering (VQA). There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the basic questions of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization problem, and also propose a criterion about how to exploit these basic questions to help answer main question. Our method is evaluated on the challenging VQA dataset and yields state-of-the-art accuracy, 60.34% in open-ended task.

  10. A Novel Multiple Choice Question Generation Strategy: Alternative Uses for Controlled Vocabulary Thesauri in Biomedical-Sciences Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopetegui, Marcelo A; Lara, Barbara A; Yen, Po-Yin; Çatalyürek, Ümit V; Payne, Philip R O

    2015-01-01

    Multiple choice questions play an important role in training and evaluating biomedical science students. However, the resource intensive nature of question generation limits their open availability, reducing their contribution to evaluation purposes mainly. Although applied-knowledge questions require a complex formulation process, the creation of concrete-knowledge questions (i.e., definitions, associations) could be assisted by the use of informatics methods. We envisioned a novel and simple algorithm that exploits validated knowledge repositories and generates concrete-knowledge questions by leveraging concepts' relationships. In this manuscript we present the development and validation of a prototype which successfully produced meaningful concrete-knowledge questions, opening new applications for existing knowledge repositories, potentially benefiting students of all biomedical sciences disciplines.

  11. Academic Self-Concept, Gender and Single-Sex Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Alice

    2009-01-01

    This article assesses gender differences in academic self-concept for a cohort of children born in 1958 (the National Child Development Study). It addresses the question of whether attending single-sex or co-educational schools affected students' perceptions of their own academic abilities (academic self-concept). Academic self-concept was found…

  12. Development and Validation of the Homeostasis Concept Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    McFarland, Jenny L.; Price, Rebecca M.; Wenderoth, Mary Pat; Martinková, Patrícia; Cliff, William; Michael, Joel; Modell, Harold; Wright, Ann

    2017-01-01

    We present the Homeostasis Concept Inventory (HCI), a 20-item multiple-choice instrument that assesses how well undergraduates understand this critical physiological concept. We used an iterative process to develop a set of questions based on elements in the Homeostasis Concept Framework. This process involved faculty experts and undergraduate…

  13. Simulation Modeling of a Facility Layout in Operations Management Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yazici, Hulya Julie

    2006-01-01

    Teaching quantitative courses can be challenging. Similarly, layout modeling and lean production concepts can be difficult to grasp in an introductory OM (operations management) class. This article describes a simulation model developed in PROMODEL to facilitate the learning of layout modeling and lean manufacturing. Simulation allows for the…

  14. Positive versus Negative. A cognitive perspective on wording effects for contrastive questions in attitude surveys

    OpenAIRE

    Kamoen, N.

    2012-01-01

    Standardized surveys are used in many contexts to measure people’s opinions and attitudes. Although it is widely assumed that survey answers represent the ‘true values’ of the concepts measured, a large body of research has shown that seemingly irrelevant question characteristics influence how respondents report their attitudes. The research presented in this dissertation revolved around on one of these characteristics: whether the question is worded positively (This is an interesting book. Y...

  15. Student Conceptions about Energy Transformations: Progression from General Chemistry to Biochemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfson, Adele J.; Rowland, Susan L.; Lawrie, Gwendolyn A.; Wright, Anthony H.

    2014-01-01

    Students commencing studies in biochemistry must transfer and build on concepts they learned in chemistry and biology classes. It is well established, however, that students have difficulties in transferring critical concepts from general chemistry courses; one key concept is "energy." Most previous work on students' conception of energy…

  16. Work–life balance/imbalance: the dominance of the middle class and the neglect of the working class

    OpenAIRE

    Warren, Tracey

    2015-01-01

    The paper was stimulated by the question of class in work-life debates. The common conclusion from work-life studies is that work-life imbalance is largely a middle class problem. It is argued here that this assertion is a direct outcome of a particular and narrow interpretation of work-life imbalance in which time is seen to be the major cause of difficulty. Labour market time, and too much of it, dominates the conceptualisation of work-life and its measurement too. This heavy focus on a cer...

  17. Using the Genetics Concept Assessment to document persistent conceptual difficulties in undergraduate genetics courses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Michelle K; Knight, Jennifer K

    2012-05-01

    To help genetics instructors become aware of fundamental concepts that are persistently difficult for students, we have analyzed the evolution of student responses to multiple-choice questions from the Genetics Concept Assessment. In total, we examined pretest (before instruction) and posttest (after instruction) responses from 751 students enrolled in six genetics courses for either majors or nonmajors. Students improved on all 25 questions after instruction, but to varying degrees. Notably, there was a subgroup of nine questions for which a single incorrect answer, called the most common incorrect answer, was chosen by >20% of students on the posttest. To explore response patterns to these nine questions, we tracked individual student answers before and after instruction and found that particular conceptual difficulties about genetics are both more likely to persist and more likely to distract students than other incorrect ideas. Here we present an analysis of the evolution of these incorrect ideas to encourage instructor awareness of these genetics concepts and provide advice on how to address common conceptual difficulties in the classroom.

  18. Using Laboratory Activities Enhanced with Concept Cartoons to Support Progression in Students' Understanding of Acid-Base Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozmen, Haluk; Demircioglu, Gokhan; Burhan, Yasemin; Naseriazar, Akbar; Demircioglu, Hulya

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of an intervention based on a series of laboratory activities enhanced with concept cartoons. The purpose of the intervention was to enhance students' understanding of acid-base chemistry for eight grade students' from two classes in a Turkish primary school. A pretest-posttest non-equivalent…

  19. Questioning Questions: Elementary Teachers' Adaptations of Investigation Questions Across the Inquiry Continuum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biggers, Mandy

    2018-02-01

    Questioning is a central practice in science classrooms. However, not every question translates into a "good" science investigation. Questions that drive science investigations can be provided by many sources including the teacher, the curriculum, or the student. The variations in the source of investigation questions were explored in this study. A dataset of 120 elementary science classroom videos and associated lesson plans from 40 elementary teachers (K-5) across 21 elementary school campuses were scored on an instrument measuring the amount of teacher-direction or student-direction of the lessons' investigation questions. Results indicated that the investigation questions were overwhelmingly teacher directed in nature, with no opportunities for students to develop their own questions for investigation. This study has implications for researchers and practitioners alike, calling attention to the teacher-directed nature of investigation questions in existing science curriculum materials, and the need for teacher training in instructional strategies to adapt their existing curriculum materials across the continuum of teacher-directed and student-directed investigation questions. Teachers need strategies for adapting the teacher-directed questions provided in their existing curriculum materials in order to allow students the opportunity to engage in this essential scientific practice.

  20. ALIENATION AND CLASS IDENTITY OF TEACHERS

    OpenAIRE

    Borges, Kamylla Pereira Borges

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this article is to discuss the issue of teachers’ class identity in the present context of the professionalization of teaching, from the point of view of the concepts of alienation in work and the Marxist theory of social classes. So, the study started from the reality lived out and thought by these teachers, by collecting empirical data using a questionnaire with primary school teachers in Jaraguá, in the State of Goiás. Through this data an attempt was made to get to know their c...

  1. An American instructor in an upper-level Italian physics class

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feldman, Gerald

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, I report on my experience in teaching a 3rd-year undergraduate physics class at the University of Trento during the Spring 2014 semester. I address questions relating to the application of active-learning techniques, usage of English language in the classroom, and student reactions to an innovative style of pedagogy.

  2. Class-Wide Access to a Commercial Step 1 Question Bank During Preclinical Organ-Based Modules: A Pilot Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baños, James H; Pepin, Mark E; Van Wagoner, Nicholas

    2018-03-01

    The authors examined the usefulness of a commercially available Step 1 question bank as a formative academic support tool throughout organ-based modules in an integrated preclinical medical curriculum. The authors also determined the extent to which correlation between question bank utilization and academic metrics varied with Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores. In 2015, a cohort of 185 first-year medical students at University of Alabama School of Medicine were provided with 18-month full access to a commercially available Step 1 question bank of over 2,100 items throughout organ-based modules, although there were no requirements for use. Data on student use of the question bank were collected via an online administrative portal. Relationships between question bank utilization and academic outcomes including exams, module grades, and United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 were determined using multiple linear regression. MCAT scores and number of items attempted in the question bank significantly predicted all academic measures, with question bank utilization as the stronger predictor. The association between question bank utilization and academic outcome was stronger for individuals with lower MCAT scores. The findings elucidate a novel academic support mechanism that, for some programs, may help bridge the gap between holistic and mission-based admissions practices and a residency match process that places a premium on USMLE exam scores. Distributed formative use of USMLE Step 1 practice questions may be of value as an academic support tool that benefits all students, but particularly those entering with lower MCAT scores.

  3. How are Concepts of Infinity Acquired?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trzęsicki Kazimierz

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Concepts of infinity have been subjects of dispute since antiquity. The main problems of this paper are: is the mind able to acquire a concept of infinity? and: how are concepts of infinity acquired? The aim of this paper is neither to say what the meanings of the word “infinity” are nor what infinity is and whether it exists. However, those questions will be mentioned, but only in necessary extent.

  4. Students concept understanding of fluid static based on the types of teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahmawati, I. D.; Suparmi; Sunarno, W.

    2018-03-01

    This research aims to know the concept understanding of student are taught by guided inquiry based learning and conventional based learning. Subjects in this study are high school students as much as 2 classes and each class consists of 32 students, both classes are homogen. The data was collected by conceptual test in the multiple choice form with the students argumentation of the answer. The data analysis used is qualitative descriptive method. The results of the study showed that the average of class that was using guided inquiry based learning is 78.44 while the class with use conventional based learning is 65.16. Based on these data, the guided inquiry model is an effective learning model used to improve students concept understanding.

  5. A case study of a vocabulary strategy in a high school class of special education students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prevost, Jill K.

    In the United States, almost 7000 students drop out of high school every day and the most common reason is academic failure. The economic, social, and emotional cost of dropping out of high school are enormous. Vocabulary knowledge is essential for students to grasp the concepts of a content area and there has been little research reported for scaffolding vocabulary learning in content classes. The purpose of this study was to investigate a vocabulary instructional strategy in a high school biology class. The research questions focused on understanding the vocabulary instructional strategy and student perception of the strategy. This was an evaluative case study using a convenience sample of a college preparatory biology class of special education students. Participants included eight males and two females who were identified as having learning, emotional or health disabilities with average to low average intelligence. Informal interviews, observations, school records, student and teacher artifacts and rich description were used for data triangulation. Analysis involved coding and grouping data by category, and identification of relationships between categories. Three themes emerged from this study: Students believed the strategy helped them to learn vocabulary, the strategy gave direction to instruction, and the strategy can be difficult to implement. The skill level of our future work force and the health of our society is linked to our nation's high school graduation rate. Development of instructional strategies that result in student academic success will improve our high school graduation rate which will result in positive social change.

  6. Reflections on the value concept in accounting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Buys

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available The recent meltdown in global finances and the reasons for it may make people doubtful about the stewardship function of accounting. In the global financial markets, there is a great fascination with the reality that accounting values intend to reflect. However, what many people considered valuable is now suddenly of no value. The question can therefore be asked what is meant by the value concept as a foundation to modern-day accountancy. “Value” is a concept that is open to different interpretations, based on the needs, perspectives and personal values of the interpreter. This article aims to reflect on the value concept from an accounting perspective in analysing the fundamental quali-tative perspectives and how these perspectives might affect the quantitative value measurements, as reported in the financial statements. From a quantitative perspective, accounttancy aims to measure and report the monetary values of items. However, there is a move towards a mixed valuation model with many financial statements, including both historical cost and value-based accounting information. The article concludes that this questionable development opens up many additional and subjective interpretations of accounting value measurement and reporting. Both valuation measurement methods have merit when considered in the overall purpose of accounting information. However, subjective value-based mea-surements may cast a shadow of doubt on the reliability and comparability requirements of accounting value information.

  7. Social Class and Belonging: Implications for Graduate Students' Career Aspirations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ostrove, Joan M.; Stewart, Abigail J.; Curtin, Nicola L.

    2011-01-01

    We examined the role that social class background plays in graduate students' career goals. Class background was significantly related to the extent to which students struggled financially in graduate school, which related to their sense of belonging in graduate school. Sense of belonging related to academic self-concept, which predicted students'…

  8. Assessing the psychometric questioner for students rating teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Razaghi Reza Sharif

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Educational institutions use different ways to evaluate their teachers. Asking students to rate their teachers is common practice. The purpose of this research was to examine the reliability of the instruments used to evaluate the instructors in a college of medicine. This cross-sectional descriptive research used questioners that evaluated instructors. The questioner was targeting different dimensions of instructors. Item analysis in addition to exploratory factor analysis was performed on 1040questioners answered by the students of the College of Medicine of Kashan University of Medical Sciences. SPSS software was used to perform the analysis. The psychometric properties of questionnaires including Cronbach alpha was determined. The result of exploratory factor analysis and item analysis indicated that three of the subscales of the questioner showed sufficient reliability to evaluate the instructors and two subscales needed further examination. This type of evaluations is necessary to ensure quality of instructors working in an institution as well as providing reliable feedback to the instructors. The result showed that while some subscales of the questioner seems to target the concept of interest; a re-evaluation of the instrument would be valuable to increase its reliability for the administrators in the colleges.

  9. Hong kong working class and union organization: A historical glimpse

    OpenAIRE

    Ng, Sek Hong; Ip, Olivia

    2008-01-01

    This paper attempts to sketch a longitudinal profile on the evolution of a working class in Hong Kong context in light of the thesis of embourgeoisement. The increasing economic affluence in the 1980s and early 1990s appeared to have bred an optimism in society that the members of the working class were converging in life-style and consumption behaviour with the middle class in a process of embourgeoisement. However, the thesis of embourgeoisement comes under question again around the turn of...

  10. Focusing on Concepts by Covering Them Simultaneously

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shwartz, Pete

    2017-01-01

    "Parallel" pedagogy covers the four mechanics concepts of momentum, energy, forces, and kinematics simultaneously instead of building each concept on an understanding of the previous one. Course content is delivered through interactive videos, allowing class time for group work and student-centered activities. We start with simple…

  11. Phase transition universality classes of classical, nonequilibrium systems

    CERN Document Server

    Ódor, G

    2004-01-01

    In the first chapter I summarize the most important critical exponents and relations used in this work. In the second chapter I briefly address the question of scaling behavior at first order phase transitions.In chapter three I review dynamical extensions of basic static classes, show the effect of mixing dynamics and percolation behavior. The main body of this work is given in chapter four where genuine, dynamical universality classes specific to nonequilibrium systems are introduced. In chapter five I continue overviewing such nonequilibrium classes but in coupled, multi-component systems. Most of known transitions in low dimensional systems are between active and absorbing states of reaction-diffusion type systems, but I briefly introduce related classes that appear in interface growth models in chapter six. Some of them are related to critical behavior of coupled, multi-component systems. Finally in chapter seven I summarize families of absorbing state system classes, mean-field classes and the most freq...

  12. Calculus in physics classes at UFRGS: an exploratory study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Cecilia Pereira Santarosa

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available This study is part f a larger one whose general objective is to investigate and to develop a new strategy for teaching Differential and Integral Calculus I, specifically for physics majors, through a possible integration with the teaching of General and Experimental Physics I. With the specific objective of identifying physics problem-situations that may help in making sense of the mathematical concepts used in Calculus I, and languages and notations that might be used in the teaching of Calculus to favor physics learning, it was investigates, through an ethnographic study, the may mathematics is transposed to classes of General and Experimental Physics I, in classes of physics courses at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS. Some findings of this study confirmed those reported in the literature regarding the teaching and learning process in introductory college physics courses. These findings will subsidize the preparation of potentially meaningful instructional materials that will be used in a second stage of the research designed to investigate the learning of declarative and procedural knowledge in basic college physics under an approach that integrates problem-situation in physics and calculus mathematical concepts.

  13. Trick questions: cosmopolitan hospitality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleanor Byrne

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Byrne’s paper consists of two parallel texts. The first explores the limits of cosmopolitanism in practice, taking as its subject the Life in the UK Citizenship Test, inaugurated under the Labour Government in 2005. It argues that the test exemplifies the predicament of all attempts at cosmopolitan hospitality as unconditional welcoming, through a discussion of the relation between questioning and welcoming the stranger. Establishing the relationship between cosmopolitanism and hospitality as envisaged in Derrida’s reading of Kant it asks what kind of cosmopolitan hospitality is either possible or desirable by exploring what Derrida calls the ‘perversions’ inherent in the structures of hospitality. It focuses on the concept of the ‘trick questions’ that the state asks the foreigner observed by Derrida in his reading of The Apology of Socrates; questions that seem to invite answers but foreclose the possibilities of a free response. The second text asks how this logic that Derrida identifies can be pushed or coaxed into new ways of addressing the perceived threats of ‘unconditional’ hospitality through a reading of ‘unconditional hospitality’ as queer in the work of Tove Jansson.

  14. On the Use of the Guild Concept in Plant Ecology

    OpenAIRE

    Kroon, Hans de; Olff, Han

    1995-01-01

    The original defmition of the guild is reiterated and the concept discussed and placed in the context of related concepts such as resources and competition. From this conceptual framework the current use of guilds in studies of plant community ecology is evaluated. We discuss the criteria with which species are assigned to guilds, the association of guilds with specific communities, the resource classes on which guilds are based, and the competitive relationships between species of a guild. W...

  15. UEP Concepts in Modulation and Coding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Werner Henkel

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available First unequal error protection (UEP proposals date back to the 1960's (Masnick and Wolf; 1967, but now with the introduction of scalable video, UEP develops to a key concept for the transport of multimedia data. The paper presents an overview of some new approaches realizing UEP properties in physical transport, especially multicarrier modulation, or with LDPC and Turbo codes. For multicarrier modulation, UEP bit-loading together with hierarchical modulation is described allowing for an arbitrary number of classes, arbitrary SNR margins between the classes, and arbitrary number of bits per class. In Turbo coding, pruning, as a counterpart of puncturing is presented for flexible bit-rate adaptations, including tables with optimized pruning patterns. Bit- and/or check-irregular LDPC codes may be designed to provide UEP to its code bits. However, irregular degree distributions alone do not ensure UEP, and other necessary properties of the parity-check matrix for providing UEP are also pointed out. Pruning is also the means for constructing variable-rate LDPC codes for UEP, especially controlling the check-node profile.

  16. Transition between Swedish Preschool and Preschool Class: A Question about Interweaving Care and Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alatalo, Tarja; Meier, Joanna; Frank, Elisabeth

    2016-01-01

    This study highlights teachers' experiences with transition from Swedish preschool to preschool class, i.e. from the daycare centre to the formal school. One assumption was that transition activities, to favour continuity in the long-term, need to focus on children's learning within the target areas that the policy documents specify for preschool.…

  17. Revisiting the Concept and Implementation of Defense-in-Depth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Youngsung

    2013-01-01

    The subsequent tsunami, with its maximum wave height greater than the design basis, invalidated all layers of the Fukushima NPP. This raises the question on which of the philosophy or the implementation of DID fell short at Fukushima. This paper suggests several complements necessary to the concept of DID and new application practice in a wide variety of safety related objectives/areas/events. Since its conception, DID appears to have been successfully applied to the design and operation but less to the site, external events, resource requirements, the unexpected impacts of organization, etc. Thus, the horizontal as well as vertical application of DID is suggested. Here, the latter application means repeated questions of 'What if this fails?' and the former one means the application of DID to all the applicable objectives, which can be a real defense-in-width. It is widely accepted that defense-in-depth (DID) has been the core of safety philosophy in nuclear safety regulation. Its concept has been developed and refined over many years to go beyond physical barriers and design practices. The historical development of the concept led to a general structure of four physical barriers and five successive levels of defense. The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) showed that multiple levels of defense could fail at the same time, demonstrated how these could work and how some were challenged, and gave the chance of the concept and implementation being improved. This paper examines the traditional concept and implementation strategies of DID, identifies some weaknesses in that, and suggest some complements and new approach to improving the application of DID

  18. Concept-guided development of classroom use of ICT : Concept-specific types of ICT use and their integration into teachers’ practices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Koster, S.

    2017-01-01

    Does a concept-guided approach in schools with either a ‘traditional’ or an ‘innovative’ educational concept contribute to the development of ICT use that becomes integrated in the teachers’ classroom practices? In order to answer this question we performed four, mainly qualitative, studies in five

  19. The effect of high school chemistry instruction on students' academic self-concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Peter Wallace

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of extended instruction in high school chemistry on the academic self-concept of students and determine what parts of the learning experience need to be addressed to make the interaction a more positive one. Fifty-seven students from three metropolitan public schools, who were enrolled in college preparatory chemistry classes, were asked to complete a written instrument, before and after extended chemistry instruction, that measures academic self-concept. Twenty-one of the students who took part in the written task volunteered to answer some in-depth interview questions concerning their academic self-concept and its relationship to chemistry instruction. Student responses, instrument scores, and student chemistry grades were analyzed for a variety of chemistry learning--academic self-concept connections and interactions. Results showed that there was a positive interaction for less than half of the students involved in the interview sessions. The results from the written instrument showed similar findings. Comparing chemistry grades and academic self-concept revealed an uncertain connection between the two, especially for students with strong academic self-concepts. Students felt that the laboratory experience was often disconnected from the remainder of chemistry instruction and recommended that the laboratory experience be integrated with classroom work. Students also expressed concerns regarding the volume of algorithmic mathematical calculations associated with college preparatory chemistry instruction. Results of this study suggest that secondary chemistry instruction must become more aware of the affective domain of learning and develop a mindful awareness of its connection to the cognitive domain if chemistry teaching and learning is going to better facilitate the intellectual growth of secondary students.

  20. A Campus-Wide Investigation of Clicker Implementation: The Status of Peer Discussion in STEM Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewin, Justin D.; Vinson, Erin L.; Stetzer, MacKenzie R.; Smith, Michelle K.

    2016-01-01

    At the University of Maine, middle and high school teachers observed more than 250 university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes and collected information on the nature of instruction, including how clickers were being used. Comparisons of classes taught with (n = 80) and without (n = 184) clickers show that, while instructional behaviors differ, the use of clickers alone does not significantly impact the time instructors spend lecturing. One possible explanation stems from the observation of three distinct modes of clicker use: peer discussion, in which students had the opportunity to talk with one another during clicker questions; individual thinking, in which no peer discussion was observed; and alternative collaboration, in which students had time for discussion, but it was not paired with clicker questions. Investigation of these modes revealed differences in the range of behaviors, the amount of time instructors lecture, and how challenging the clicker questions were to answer. Because instructors can vary their instructional style from one clicker question to the next, we also explored differences in how individual instructors incorporated peer discussion during clicker questions. These findings provide new insights into the range of clicker implementation at a campus-wide level and how such findings can be used to inform targeted professional development for faculty. PMID:26931397

  1. RESOLVING THE QUESTION OF DOUBT: GEOMETRICAL DEMONSTRATION IN THE MEDITATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven BURGESS

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The question of what Descartes did and did not doubt in the Meditations has received a significant amount of scholarly attention in recent years. The process of doubt in Meditation I gives one the impression of a rather extreme form of skepticism, while the responses Descartes offers in the Objections and Replies make it clear that there is in fact a whole background of presuppositions that are never doubted, including many that are never even entertained as possible candidates of doubt. This paper resolves the question of this undoubted background of rationality by taking seriously Descartes’ claim that he is carrying out demonstrations modeled after the great geometers. The rational order of geometrical demonstration demands that we first clear away previous demonstrations not proven with the certainty necessary for genuine science. This is accomplished by the method of doubt, which is only applied to the results of possible demonstrations. What cannot be doubted are the very concepts and principles employed in carrying out geometrical demonstration, which enable it to take place. It would be senseless to ask whether we can doubt the essential components of the structure through which questioning, doubting, and demonstration are made possible.

  2. Assessing self-reported use of new psychoactive substances: The impact of gate questions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palamar, Joseph J; Acosta, Patricia; Calderón, Fermín Fernández; Sherman, Scott; Cleland, Charles M

    2017-09-01

    New psychoactive substances (NPS) continue to emerge; however, few surveys of substance use ask about NPS use. Research is needed to determine how to most effectively query use of NPS and other uncommon drugs. To determine whether prevalence of self-reported lifetime and past-year use differs depending on whether or not queries about NPS use are preceded by "gate questions." Gate questions utilize skip-logic, such that only a "yes" response to the use of specific drug class is followed by more extensive queries of drug use in that drug class. We surveyed 1,048 nightclub and dance festival attendees (42.6% female) entering randomly selected venues in New York City in 2016. Participants were randomized to gate vs. no gate question before each drug category. Analyses focus on eight categories classifying 145 compounds: NBOMe, 2C, DOx, "bath salts" (synthetic cathinones), other stimulants, tryptamines, dissociatives, and non-phenethylamine psychedelics. Participants, however, were asked about specific "bath salts" regardless of their response to the gate question to test reliability. We examined whether prevalence of use of each category differed by gate condition and whether gate effects were moderated by participant demographics. Prevalence of use of DOx, other stimulants, and non-phenethylamine psychedelics was higher without a gate question. Gate effects for other stimulants and non-phenethylamine psychedelics were larger among white participants and those attending parties less frequently. Almost one in ten (9.3%) participants reporting no "bath salt" use via the gate question later reported use of a "bath salt" such as mephedrone, methedrone, or methylone. Omitting gate questions may improve accuracy of data collected via self-report.

  3. The Teaching with Research Experience in a Necessary Revisiting of Unversity Class (Room Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana Mareto Silva

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The study deals with the contemporary concept of the classroom, based on the end of the school verticalization and the student view as an important part in the process of teaching and learning, as well as the expansion of classroom concept in the teaching and learning model that would conducive to the development of critical knowledge and the formation of the reflective practitioner. It shows how teaching with research was used to extend the classroom and develop autonomy and reflection on the student and what results were obtained with the strategy to expand the classroom in other disciplines.

  4. Ten questions about systems biology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Joyner, Michael J; Pedersen, Bente K

    2011-01-01

    to understand how whole animals adapt to the real world. We argue that a lack of fluency in these concepts is a major stumbling block for what has been narrowly defined as 'systems biology' by some of its leading advocates. We also point out that it is a failure of regulation at multiple levels that causes many......In this paper we raise 'ten questions' broadly related to 'omics', the term systems biology, and why the new biology has failed to deliver major therapeutic advances for many common diseases, especially diabetes and cardiovascular disease. We argue that a fundamentally narrow and reductionist...

  5. Ten questions about systems biology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Joyner, Michael J; Pedersen, Bente K

    2011-01-01

    In this paper we raise 'ten questions' broadly related to 'omics', the term systems biology, and why the new biology has failed to deliver major therapeutic advances for many common diseases, especially diabetes and cardiovascular disease. We argue that a fundamentally narrow and reductionist...... to understand how whole animals adapt to the real world. We argue that a lack of fluency in these concepts is a major stumbling block for what has been narrowly defined as 'systems biology' by some of its leading advocates. We also point out that it is a failure of regulation at multiple levels that causes many...

  6. The Character Strengths of Class Clowns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Willibald F. Ruch

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Class clowns traditionally were studied as a type concept and identified via sociometric procedures. In the present study a variable-centered approach was favored and class clown behaviors were studied in the context of character strengths, orientations to happiness and satisfaction with life. A sample of 672 Swiss children and adolescents filled in an 18 item self-report instrument depicting class clown behaviors. A hierarchical model of class clown behaviors was developed distinguishing a general factor and the four positively correlated dimensions of identified as a class clown, comic talent, disruptive rule-breaker, and subversive joker. Analysis of the general factor showed that class clowns were primarily male, and tended to be seen as class clowns by the teacher. Analyses of the 24 character strengths of the VIA-Youth (Park & Peterson, 2006 showed that class clowns were high in humor and leadership, and low in strengths like prudence, self-regulation, modesty, honesty, fairness, perseverance, and love of learning. An inspection of signature strengths revealed that 75% of class clowns had humor as a signature strength. Furthermore, generally class clown behaviors were shown by students indulging in a life of pleasure, but low life of engagement. The four dimensions yielded different character strengths profiles. While all dimensions of class clowns behaviors were low in temperance strengths, the factors identified as the class clown and comic talent were correlated with leadership strengths and the two negative factors (disruptive rule-breaker, subversive joker were low in other directed strengths. The disruptive rule breaking class clown was additionally low in intellectual strengths. While humor predicted life satisfaction, class clowning tended to go along with diminished satisfaction with life. It is concluded that different types of class clowns need to be kept apart and need different attention by teachers.

  7. The character strengths of class clowns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruch, Willibald; Platt, Tracey; Hofmann, Jennifer

    2014-01-01

    Class clowns traditionally were studied as a type concept and identified via sociometric procedures. In the present study a variable-centered approach was favored and class clown behaviors were studied in the context of character strengths, orientations to happiness and satisfaction with life. A sample of 672 Swiss children and adolescents filled in an 18 item self-report instrument depicting class clown behaviors. A hierarchical model of class clown behaviors was developed distinguishing a general factor and the four positively correlated dimensions of "identified as a class clown," "comic talent," "disruptive rule-breaker," and "subversive joker." Analysis of the general factor showed that class clowns were primarily male, and tended to be seen as class clowns by the teacher. Analyses of the 24 character strengths of the VIA-Youth (Park and Peterson, 2006) showed that class clowns were high in humor and leadership, and low in strengths like prudence, self-regulation, modesty, honesty, fairness, perseverance, and love of learning. An inspection of signature strengths revealed that 75% of class clowns had humor as a signature strength. Furthermore, class clown behaviors were generally shown by students indulging in a life of pleasure, but low life of engagement. The four dimensions yielded different character strengths profiles. While all dimensions of class clowns behaviors were low in temperance strengths, the factors "identified as the class clown" and "comic talent" were correlated with leadership strengths and the two negative factors ("disruptive rule-breaker," "subversive joker") were low in other directed strengths. The disruptive rule breaking class clown was additionally low in intellectual strengths. While humor predicted life satisfaction, class clowning tended to go along with diminished satisfaction with life. It is concluded that different types of class clowns need to be kept apart and need different attention by teachers.

  8. Class effect of pharmacotherapy in bipolar disorder: fact or misbelief?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vieta Eduard

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Anecdotal reports suggests that most clinicians treat medications as belonging to a class with regard to all therapeutic indications; this means that the whole 'class' of drugs is considered to possesses a specific therapeutic action. The present article explores the possible existence of a true 'class effect' for agents available for the treatment of bipolar disorder. Methods We reviewed the available treatment data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs and explored 16 'agent class'/'treatment issue' cases for bipolar disorder. Four classes of agents were examined: first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs, second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs, antiepileptics and antidepressants, with respect to their efficacy on four treatment issues of bipolar disorder (BD (acute mania, acute bipolar depression, maintenance against mania, maintenance against depression. Results From the 16 'agent class'/' treatment issue' cases, only 3 possible class effects were detected, and they all concerned acute mania and antipsychotics. Four effect cases have not been adequately studied (FGAs against acute bipolar depression and in maintenance protection from depression, and antidepressants against acute mania and protection from mania and they all concern treatment cases with a high risk of switching to the opposite pole, thus research in these areas is poor. There is no 'class effect' at all concerning antiepileptics. Conclusions The available data suggest that a 'class effect' is the exception rather than the rule in the treatment of BD. However, the possible presence of a 'class effect' concept discourages clinicians from continued scientific training and reading. Focused educational intervention might be necessary to change this attitude.

  9. Revisiting the issue of class structure in Labor and Monopoly Capital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Tinel

    Full Text Available The application by the capitalists of the Taylorian principles of management on a large scale leads to a separation of conception from execution. According to Braverman, the main effect of this propagation is to polarize class structure. Nevertheless, he also identified several counter-tendencies. The process involves both deskilling and reskilling movements and it is not fully convincing to say that there for sure is a class polarization. The counter-tendencies can therefore not be taken as minor nor as necessarily dominated by the class polarization tendency. Therefore, the global outcome is likely to be more indeterminate and unstable than suggested by Braverman.

  10. Students as Rational Decision-Makers: The Question of Beliefs and Attitudes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Alice

    2006-01-01

    Rational choice theorists have analysed rates of participation in post-compulsory education, and, in particular, class differentials in these rates. Various claims have been made about the motivations of student decision-makers, but these claims have not been grounded empirically. This paper will assess the question of whether students' attitudes…

  11. ANALYSIS LEARNING MODEL OF DISCOVERY AND UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT PRELIMINARY TO PHYSICS LEARNING OUTCOMES SMA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sri Rosepda Sebayang

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims: 1 to determine whether the student learning outcomes using discovery learning is better than conventional learning 2 To determine whether the learning outcomes of students who have a high initial concept understanding better then of low initial concept understanding, and 3 to determine the effect of interaction discovery learning and understanding of the initial concept of the learning outcomes of students. The samples in this study was taken by cluster random sampling two classes where class X PIA 3 as a class experiment with applying discovery learning and class X PIA 2 as a control class by applying conventional learning. The instrument used in this study is a test of learning outcomes in the form of multiple-choice comprehension test initial concept description form. The results of research are: 1 learning outcomes of students who were taught with discovery learning is better than the learning outcomes of students who are taught by conventional learning, 2 student learning outcomes with high initial conceptual understanding better than the learning outcomes of students with low initial conceptual understanding, and 3 there was no interaction between discovery learning and understanding of initial concepts for the student learning outcomes.

  12. Analyzing force concept inventory with item response theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jing; Bao, Lei

    2010-10-01

    Item response theory is a popular assessment method used in education. It rests on the assumption of a probability framework that relates students' innate ability and their performance on test questions. Item response theory transforms students' raw test scores into a scaled proficiency score, which can be used to compare results obtained with different test questions. The scaled score also addresses the issues of ceiling effects and guessing, which commonly exist in quantitative assessment. We used item response theory to analyze the force concept inventory (FCI). Our results show that item response theory can be useful for analyzing physics concept surveys such as the FCI and produces results about the individual questions and student performance that are beyond the capability of classical statistics. The theory yields detailed measurement parameters regarding the difficulty, discrimination features, and probability of correct guess for each of the FCI questions.

  13. Construction and decoding of a class of algebraic geometry codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Justesen, Jørn; Larsen, Knud J.; Jensen, Helge Elbrønd

    1989-01-01

    A class of codes derived from algebraic plane curves is constructed. The concepts and results from algebraic geometry that were used are explained in detail; no further knowledge of algebraic geometry is needed. Parameters, generator and parity-check matrices are given. The main result is a decod...... is a decoding algorithm which turns out to be a generalization of the Peterson algorithm for decoding BCH decoder codes......A class of codes derived from algebraic plane curves is constructed. The concepts and results from algebraic geometry that were used are explained in detail; no further knowledge of algebraic geometry is needed. Parameters, generator and parity-check matrices are given. The main result...

  14. Axotomy induces MHC class I antigen expression on rat nerve cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maehlen, J; Schröder, H D; Klareskog, L

    1988-01-01

    Immunomorphological staining demonstrates that class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-coded antigen expression can be selectively induced on otherwise class I-negative rat nerve cells by peripheral axotomy. Induction of class I as well as class II antigen expression was simultaneously seen...... on non-neural cells in the immediate vicinity of the injured nerve cells. As nerve regeneration after axotomy includes growth of new nerve cell processes and formation of new nerve cell contacts, the present findings raise the question of a role for MHC-coded molecules in cell-cell interactions during...... nerve cell growth....

  15. Flaw evaluation methodology for class 2, 3 components in light water reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miura, Naoki; Kashima, Koichi; Miyazaki, Katsumasa; Hasegawa, Kunio; Oritani, Naohiko

    2006-01-01

    It is quite important to validate the structural integrity of operating plant components as aged LWR plants are gradually increasing in Japan. The rules on fitness-for-service for nuclear power plants constituted by the JSME provides flaw evaluation methodology. They are mainly focused on Class 1 components, while flaw evaluation criteria for Class 2, 3 components are not consolidated. As such, they also required from the viewpoints of in-service inspection request, reduction of operating cost and systematization of consistent code/standard. In this study, basic concept of flaw evaluation for Class 2, 3 piping was considered, and it is concluded that the same evaluation procedure as Class 1 piping in the current rules is applicable. Some technical issues on practical flaw evaluation for Class 2, 3 piping were listed up, and a countermeasure for each issue was devised. Especially, both allowable flaw sizes in acceptance standards and critical flaw sizes in acceptance criteria have to be determined in consideration of degraded fracture toughness. (author)

  16. The Concept of

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANCA VELICU

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The active publics issue and the question of the construction of publics are relatively recent in communication studies. After an initial period, when mass communication was seen as aiming at a holistic public, massified and passive and, thus, supposedly influenced via "targeted" messages, now the views on what "publics" mean is becoming diversified and nuanced under the influence of literary theories, cultural studies and what was later called "reception studies". Thus, from the "mass public" we got to the concept of "publics". However, in some recent studies, the mere existence of these publics is being questioned.In this paper, we detail the history of theories on the "public" - from the perspective of the public-as-spectator which later became public-as-audience and public-as-actor - and we set ourselves to show how, from theories on the re-active publics, we arrived, through the transformation of television and the emergence of the new IT&C, to the concept of publics as pro-active as a result of media efforts to build this activism.

  17. Effects of Different Forms of Concept-Map Representation on Nursing Students’ Critical Thinking Performances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chin-Yuan Lai

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Representation is important for problem solving. This study examined the effects of different forms of concept maps on nursing students’ performances of conceptualizing psychiatric patients’ problems. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted to investigate the effects. The participants were two classes of fourth-year students who were enrolled in a psychiatric nursing course in a nursing college. One class with 48 students served as the experimental group, and used web-based concepts map to represent patients’ problem. The other class with 50 students served as the control group, and used the traditional hierarchical concept mapping method. The results indicated that the concept maps drawn by the experimental group showed more nursing problem, supporting evidence, and relationships between nursing problems than those drawn by the control group. The web-based concept maps helped expand students’ thinking and promoted their causality reasoning. Different concept-map representation tools affected the process of students’ problem solving. The experimental learning activities promoted students’ understanding of concepts and ways of psychiatric patients’ care taking. To understand the effects of other types of concept maps, future research may guide students in using different forms of concept maps throughout the stages of nursing process.

  18. PENINGKATAN AKTIVITAS DAN HASIL BELAJAR BIOLOGI MELALUI PENERAPAN STRATEGI PQ4R (PREVIEW, QUESTION, READ, REFLECT, RECITE, AND REVIEW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hidayathuz Zahra

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Students achievement in Biology Class XI IPA1 SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Metro is still low, in learning process students participant is low so learning process is not active. From that coundition the researcher aplly PQ4R Strategy (Preview, Question, Read, Relfect, Recite, and Review. This strategy can help students to remember in reading comprehension, asking question and answering question that given by the teacher. In this reseach is Class Room Active Reseach (CAR. This reseach is purpose to increase the activity and students result of the study of XI IPA1 SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Metro. Data of students activities in the class are: students who give attention to the teacher explanation is 87,7%, reading activity is 81,5%, asking question activity 21%, doing an examination is 84,2%, and activity make outhine is 75,4%. The result study of the students in Pra-CAR in cycle II is increasing to be 24,5%, on the Pra-CAR 46,5% to be 71%. While the increasing of cycle I to cycle II is 58% from cycle I from 13% to be 71% to cycle II.A. Kata kunci: PQ4R aktivitas belajar, hasil belajar

  19. Using Structured Examples and Prompting Reflective Questions to Correct Misconceptions about Thermodynamic Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olakanmi, E. O.; Doyoyo, M.

    2014-01-01

    This paper explores the effectiveness of using "structured examples in concert with prompting reflective questions" to address misconceptions held by mechanical engineering students about thermodynamic principles by employing pre-test and post-test design, a structured questionnaire, lecture room observation, and participants'…

  20. Countering the Cuts: The Class Politics of Austerity

    OpenAIRE

    Nunn, A

    2010-01-01

    The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in the UK is pursuing a class politics of austerity through a proposed radical reduction in public spending. This paper questions the assumptions underlying the logic of austerity and reveals it to be based on class politics designed to redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich. It also suggests that the crisis which is being used as a catalyst for reform is actually a product of the particular form of capitalism pursued in the UK...

  1. Instruction sequence based non-uniform complexity classes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bergstra, J.A.; Middelburg, C.A.

    2013-01-01

    We present an approach to non-uniform complexity in which single-pass instruction sequences play a key part, and answer various questions that arise from this approach. We introduce several kinds of non-uniform complexity classes. One kind includes a counterpart of the well-known non-uniform

  2. Asking Questions in Academia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Annette Skovsted

    2014-01-01

    Motivation for the activity In academia the most important skill is to ask academically relevant and sound questions. This is not easy and students need to practice asking questions orally and in writing before they write research papers.......Motivation for the activity In academia the most important skill is to ask academically relevant and sound questions. This is not easy and students need to practice asking questions orally and in writing before they write research papers....

  3. Trouble in the second year: three questions about family interaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belsky, J; Woodworth, S; Crnic, K

    1996-04-01

    3 questions regarding family interaction in the second year of life are addressed in this report on 69 families rearing firstborn sons. Question 1 concerns the identification, via cluster analysis, of families having difficulty managing their child, using codings of narrative records of family interaction when children were 15 and 21 months of age. Parents in families identified as "troubled" at each age tried to control their toddlers most often, were least likely to rely upon control-plus-guidance management strategies, had children who defied them most frequently, and experienced the greatest escalation of negative affect in these control encounters. Families identified as "troubled" at both 15 and 21 months had children who received the highest "externalizing" problem scores at 18 months and mothers who experienced the most daily hassles during the second year. Question 2 concerns the antecedents of "trouble in the second year." Discriminant function analyses indicated that membership in the groups of families that appeared troubled at both ages of measurement (n = 15), at only one age (n = 28), or never (n = 26) could be reliably predicted (hit rate = 71%) using a set of 9 measurements of parent personality, child emotionality/temperament, marital quality, work-family relations, and social support, suggested by Belsky's model of the determinants of parenting, and social class. Question 3 concerns the proposition that extensive nonmaternal care in the first year is a risk factor for troubled family functioning in the second year. As hypothesized, prediction analysis showed that families at moderate and high contextual risk (based on 10 antecedent variables pertaining to Question 2), were significantly more likely to experience trouble in the second year when children experienced 20 or more hours per week of nonmaternal care in their first year, and these results could not be attributed to "selection effects."

  4. Deep Understanding of Electromagnetism Using Crosscutting Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Poorter, John; De Lange, Jan; Devoldere, Lies; Van Landeghem, Jouri; Strubbe, Katrien

    2017-01-01

    Crosscutting concepts like patterns and models are fundamental parts in both the American framework of science education (from the AAAS) and our proposals for a new science education framework in Flanders. These concepts deepen the insight of both students and teachers. They help students to ask relevant questions during an inquiry and they give…

  5. A Study on Contingency Learning in Introductory Physics Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scaife, Thomas M.

    Instructors of physics often use examples to illustrate new or complex physical concepts to students. For any particular concept, there are an infinite number of examples, thus presenting instructors with a difficult question whenever they wish to use one in their teaching: which example will most effectively illustrate the concept so that student learning is maximized? The choice is typically made by an intuitive assumption about which exact example will result in the most lucid illustration and the greatest student improvement. By questioning 583 students in four experiments, I examined a more principled approach to example selection. By controlling the manner in which physical dimensions vary, the parameter space of each concept can be divided into a discrete number of example categories. The effects of training with members of each of category was explored in two different physical contexts: projectile motion and torque. In the first context, students were shown two trajectories and asked to determine which represented the longer time of flight. Height, range, and time of flight were the physical dimensions that were used to categorize the examples. In the second context, students were shown a balance-scale with loads of differing masses placed at differing positions along either side of the balance-arm. Mass, lever-arm length, and torque were the physical dimensions used to categorize these examples. For both contexts, examples were chosen so that one or two independent dimensions were varied. After receiving training with examples from specific categories, students were tested with questions from all question categories. Successful training or instruction can be measured either as producing correct, expert-like behavior (as observed through answers to the questions) or as explicitly instilling an understanding of the underlying rule that governs a physical phenomenon. A student's behavior might not be consistent with their explicit rule, so following the

  6. Dual Character Concepts and the Normative Dimension of Conceptual Representation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knobe, Joshua; Prasada, Sandeep; Newman, George E.

    2013-01-01

    Five experiments provide evidence for a class of "dual character concepts." Dual character concepts characterize their members in terms of both (a) a set of concrete features and (b) the abstract values that these features serve to realize. As such, these concepts provide two bases for evaluating category members and two different criteria for…

  7. Questioning Questions: Elementary Teachers' Adaptations of Investigation Questions across the Inquiry Continuum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biggers, Mandy

    2018-01-01

    Questioning is a central practice in science classrooms. However, not every question translates into a "good" science investigation. Questions that drive science investigations can be provided by many sources including the teacher, the curriculum, or the student. The variations in the source of investigation questions were explored in…

  8. Kant's answer to the question 'what is man?' and its implications for anthropology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Alix A

    2008-12-01

    This paper examines Kant's anthropological project and its relationship to his conception of 'man' in order to show that Kant's answer to the question 'what is man?' entails a decisive re-evaluation of traditional conceptions of human nature. I argue that Kant redirects the question 'what is man?' away from defining man in terms of what he is, and towards defining him in terms of what he does, in particular through the distinction between three levels of what I will call 'man's praxis': the levels of technicality, prudence, and morality. As soon as man is understood in terms of what he makes of himself rather than in terms of what he is, two crucial issues arise: what is the purpose of his making? And how can he reach this destination? My claim is that whilst the first question is answered by ethics and a doctrine of prudence, the second question is answered by anthropology. In this sense, anthropology plays the crucial role of identifying the worldly helps and hindrances to the realisation of man's purposes--and this is the reason why it should be understood as a 'pragmatic' discipline.

  9. Reinventing oversight in the twenty-first century: the question of capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bosso, Christopher; DeLeo, Rob A.; Kay, W. D.

    2011-01-01

    This article addresses a key question emerging from this project based at the University of Minnesota: the fundamental capacity of government to engage in “dynamic oversight” of emergent technologies. This conception of oversight requires additional or new types of capacity for government agencies that must arbitrate conflicts and endow any outcomes with necessary democratic legitimacy. Rethinking oversight thus also requires consideration of the fundamental design and organizational capacity of the regulatory regime in the democratic state.

  10. What Do Pre-Service Physics Teachers Know and Think about Concept Mapping?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Didis, Nilüfer; Özcan, Özgür; Azar, Ali

    2014-01-01

    In order to use concept maps in physics classes effectively, teachers' knowledge and ideas about concept mapping are as important as the physics knowledge used in mapping. For this reason, we aimed to examine pre-service physics teachers' knowledge on concept mapping, their ideas about the implementation of concept mapping in physics…

  11. Investigation of Academic Success, Self-Esteem and Academic Self-Concept in 4th Class Primary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çetinkaya, Seher

    2017-01-01

    In Turkey due to changes in the age starting school implemented during the 2012-2013 academic year, children ages from 60 months to 84 months were subject to the same educational program in the same class. By the 2015-2016 academic year these children were at the end of 4th class. This research aimed to investigate the Turkish and mathematic…

  12. The Grapes of Class: Teaching Chemistry Concepts at a Winery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luck, Linda A.; Blondo, Ryan M.

    2012-01-01

    Nonscience majors often believe that the concepts and techniques in chemistry have little relevance to someone outside the "ivy-covered walls of academia". The challenge for science instructors is to develop and implement lessons that present science in a way that will capture the interest of the nonscience major, while remaining rigorous enough…

  13. Business transactions and standards. Towards a system of concepts and a method for early problem identification in standard implementation projects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rukanova, B.D.

    2005-01-01

    To summarize, with respect to research question one we constructed a system of concepts, while in answer to research question two we proposed a method of how to apply this system of concepts in practice in order to identify potential problems in early stages of standard implementation projects.

  14. Answering Key Fuel Cycle Questions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piet, S.J.; Dixon, B.W.; Bennett, R.G.; Smith, J.D.; Hill, R.N.

    2004-01-01

    Given the range of fuel cycle goals and criteria, and the wide range of fuel cycle options, how can the set of options eventually be narrowed in a transparent and justifiable fashion? It is impractical to develop all options. We suggest an approach that starts by considering a range of goals for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) and then posits seven questions, such as whether Cs and Sr isotopes should be separated from spent fuel and, if so, what should be done with them. For each question, we consider which of the goals may be relevant to eventually providing answers. The AFCI program has both ''outcome'' and ''process'' goals because it must address both waste already accumulating as well as completing the fuel cycle in connection with advanced nuclear power plant concepts. The outcome objectives are waste geologic repository capacity and cost, energy security and sustainability, proliferation resistance, fuel cycle economics, and safety. The process objectives are rea diness to proceed and adaptability and robustness in the face of uncertainties

  15. Positive versus Negative. A cognitive perspective on wording effects for contrastive questions in attitude surveys

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kamoen, N.

    2012-01-01

    Standardized surveys are used in many contexts to measure people’s opinions and attitudes. Although it is widely assumed that survey answers represent the ‘true values’ of the concepts measured, a large body of research has shown that seemingly irrelevant question characteristics influence how

  16. Virtual Class Support at the Virtual Machine Level

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Anders Bach; Ernst, Erik

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes how virtual classes can be supported in a virtual machine.  Main-stream virtual machines such as the Java Virtual Machine and the .NET platform dominate the world today, and many languages are being executed on these virtual machines even though their embodied design choices...... conflict with the design choices of the virtual machine.  For instance, there is a non-trivial mismatch between the main-stream virtual machines mentioned above and dynamically typed languages.  One language concept that creates an even greater mismatch is virtual classes, in particular because fully...... general support for virtual classes requires generation of new classes at run-time by mixin composition.  Languages like CaesarJ and ObjectTeams can express virtual classes restricted to the subset that does not require run-time generation of classes, because of the restrictions imposed by the Java...

  17. Examining student-generated questions in an elementary science classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz, Juan Francisco, Jr.

    This study was conducted to better understand how teachers use an argument-based inquiry technique known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach to address issues on teaching, learning, negotiation, argumentation, and elaboration in an elementary science classroom. Within the SWH framework, this study traced the progress of promoting argumentation and negotiation (which led to student-generated questions) during a discussion in an elementary science classroom. Speech patterns during various classroom scenarios were analyzed to understand how teacher--student interactions influence learning. This study uses a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative aspect of the study is an analysis of teacher--student interactions in the classroom using video recordings. The quantitative aspect uses descriptive statistics, tables, and plots to analyze the data. The subjects in this study were fifth grade students and teachers from an elementary school in the Midwest, during the academic years 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. The three teachers selected for this study teach at the same Midwestern elementary school. These teachers were purposely selected because they were using the SWH approach during the two years of the study. The results of this study suggest that all three teachers moved from using teacher-generated questions to student-generated questions as they became more familiar with the SWH approach. In addition, all three promoted the use of the components of arguments in their dialogs and discussions and encouraged students to elaborate, challenge, and rebut each other's ideas in a non-threatening environment. This research suggests that even young students, when actively participating in class discussions, are capable of connecting their claims and evidence and generating questions of a higher-order cognitive level. These findings demand the implementation of more professional development programs and the improvement in teacher education to help

  18. Review Studi Literatur untuk Metode Pendeteksian God Class

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Divi Galih Prasetyo Putri

    2016-12-01

    Code smell referring to the concept about a pattern or design aspects on a software system that can make a problem in the process of development, using, or maintenance as the impact of bad implementation of software design. Code smell can lower software understandability and maintainability. A software that containing god class will be more difficult to maintain compared with a same software but doesn’t have a god class. God class, also called blob is a class that has too many functionality. A god class process and access a lot of information. On this research will be discussed methods to detect a god class. We also compared the advantage and disadvantage about analysed method. From the literature we search, there are 3 methods, first method using detection with a rule card, the second method using rule card and history changes of a software, and the third method is detection by examples classes that detected manually as a software defect. And our research result is the third method is the best method based on its precision and recall. Keywords: Blob, God Class

  19. Self-Concept of Children with Intellectual Disability in Mainstream Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huck, Sally; Kemp, Coral; Carter, Mark

    2010-01-01

    Background: Positive self-concept is an important educational outcome for individuals with disability. Method: Perceived competence and acceptance of 17 children with intellectual disability, included in mainstream classes, were assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA) and…

  20. Studying Information Needs as Question-Negotiations in an Educational Context: A Methodological Comment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundh, Anna

    2010-01-01

    Introduction: The concept of information needs is significant within the field of Information Needs Seeking and Use. "How" information needs can be studied empirically is however something that has been called into question. The main aim of this paper is to explore the methodological consequences of discursively oriented theories when…

  1. Science education in a bilingual class: problematising a translational practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ünsal, Zeynep; Jakobson, Britt; Molander, Bengt-Olov; Wickman, Per-Olof

    2016-10-01

    In this article we examine how bilingual students construe relations between everyday language and the language of science. Studies concerning bilingual students language use in science class have mainly been conducted in settings where both the teacher and the students speak the same minority language. In this study data was collected in a class consisting of students aged 13-14. All students had Turkish as their minority language, whereas the teacher's minority language was Bosnian. The class was observed when they were working with acids and bases. In addition, the students were interviewed in groups. They were asked about how they use their languages during science lessons and then asked to describe and explain scientific phenomena and processes that had been a part of the observed lessons. For the analysis, practical epistemology analysis and the theory of translanguaging were used. The results show how the students' everyday language repertoire may limit their possibilities to make meaning of science. In particular, the teacher's practice of facilitating and supporting students' understanding of science content by relating it to concrete examples took another direction since the everyday words he used were not a part of the students' language repertoire. The study also shows how the students used their minority language as a resource to translate words from Swedish to Turkish in order to proceed with the science activities. However, translating scientific concepts was problematic and led to the students' descriptions of the concepts not being in line with how they are viewed in science. Finally, the study also demonstrates how monolingual exams may limit bilingual students' achievements in science. The study contributes by presenting and discussing circumstances that need to be taken into consideration when planning and conducting science lessons in classes where the teacher and the student do not share the same minority language.

  2. Peeling or not peeling—is that the question?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedrich, Helmut

    2018-04-01

    The concepts of isolated self-gravitating system, asymptotic flatness and asymptotic simplicity are reconsidered; various related results are discussed and put into perspective; basic open questions are discussed. Extended version of a talk given at the symposium honoring Piotr T Chruściel on the occasion of his 60th birthday, 17–18 August 2017.

  3. A Working Class Girl Re-searching “Going Home” - Growing up Working Class Becoming a Research Scholar

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lippke, Lena

    trajectory. A social trajectory crossing social classes. Traveling back and forth between the social field of the blacksmiths and the social field within academia confronts me with a feeling of being an insider and outsider in both social contexts simultaneously. During the process I become aware of how...... the concept of upward mobility (which my trajectory would be defined as) provokes and makes me ask: Was what I came from something bad? Something I had to move away/escape from? How does a possible social class inferiority inform my observations and analysis? And what does it mean for my future moves within...

  4. Consumption Patterns of Nightlife Attendees in Munich: A Latent-Class Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannemann, Tessa-Virginia; Kraus, Ludwig; Piontek, Daniela

    2017-09-19

    The affinity for substance use among patrons of nightclubs has been well established. With novel psychoactive substances (NPS) quickly emerging on the European drug market, trends, and patterns of use are potentially changing. (1) The detection of subgroups of consumers in the electronic dance music scene of a major German metropolitan city, (2) describing the consumption patterns of these subgroups, (3) exploring the prevalence and type of NPS consumption in this population at nightlife events in Munich. A total of 1571 patrons answered questions regarding their own substance use and the emergence of NPS as well as their experience with these substances. A latent class analysis was employed to detect consumption patterns within the sample. A four class model was determined reflecting different consumption patterns: the conservative class (34.9%) whose substance was limited to cannabis; the traditional class (36.6%) which especially consumed traditional club drugs; the psychedelic class (17.5%) which, in addition to traditional club drugs also consumed psychedelic drugs; and an unselective class (10.9%) which displayed the greatest likelihood of consumption of all assessed drugs. "Smoking mixtures" and methylone were the new substances mentioned most often, the number of substances mentioned differed between latent classes. Specific strategies are needed to reduce harm in those displaying the riskiest substance use. Although NPS use is still a fringe phenomenon its prevalence is greater in this subpopulation than in the general population, especially among users in the high-risk unselective class.

  5. The Questions of the Beginning and the End of Human Life

    OpenAIRE

    ČADOVÁ, Marie

    2011-01-01

    This work deals with the problems of conception, gravidity and abortion in the first part and in the second part than deals with problems of death and dying. It concerns two cut-off points, which are component parts of human life. The first part surveis the biginning of human life and tries to find answers for questions, which have a connection with the conception, artifical insemination, surrogative maternity and abortion. It describes paradoxes, which comes from such situations. It apprecia...

  6. Is case-based learning an effective teaching strategy to challenge students' alternative conceptions regarding chemical kinetics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yalçınkaya, Eylem; Taştan-Kırık, Özgecan; Boz, Yezdan; Yıldıran, Demet

    2012-07-01

    Background: Case-based learning (CBL) is simply teaching the concept to the students based on the cases. CBL involves a case, which is a scenario based on daily life, and study questions related to the case, which allows students to discuss their ideas. Chemical kinetics is one of the most difficult concepts for students in chemistry. Students have generally low levels of conceptual understanding and many alternative conceptions regarding it. Purpose: This study aimed to explore the effect of CBL on dealing with students' alternative conceptions about chemical kinetics. Sample: The sample consists of 53 high school students from one public high school in Turkey. Design and methods : Nonequivalent pre-test and post-test control group design was used. Reaction Rate Concept Test and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Convenience sampling technique was followed. For data analysis, the independent samples t-test and ANOVA was performed. Results : Both concept test and interview results showed that students instructed with cases had better understanding of core concepts of chemical kinetics and had less alternative conceptions related to the subject matter compared to the control group students, despite the fact that it was impossible to challenge all the alternative conceptions in the experimental group. Conclusions: CBL is an effective teaching method for challenging students' alternative conceptions in the context of chemical kinetics. Since using cases in small groups and whole class discussions has been found to be an effective way to cope with the alternative conceptions, it can be applied to other subjects and grade levels in high schools with a higher sample size. Furthermore, the effect of this method on academic achievement, motivation and critical thinking skills are other variables that can be investigated for future studies in the subject area of chemistry.

  7. Relativistic jets in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. New discoveries and open questions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D’Ammando F.

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Before the launch of the Fermi satellite only two classes of AGNs were known to produce relativistic jets and thus emit up to the γ-ray energy range: blazars and radio galaxies, both hosted in giant elliptical galaxies. The first four years of observations by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi confirmed that these two are the most numerous classes of identified sources in the extragalactic γ-ray sky, but the discovery of γ-ray emission from 5 radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies revealed the presence of a possible emerging third class of AGNs with relativistic jets. Considering that narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies seem to be typically hosted in spiral galaxy, this finding poses intriguing questions about the nature of these objects, the onset of production of relativistic jets, and the cosmological evolution of radio-loud AGN. Here, we discuss the radio-to-γ-rays properties of the γ-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, also in comparison with the blazar scenario.

  8. Distinct Classes of Negative Alcohol-Related Consequences in a National Sample of Incoming First-Year College Students: A Latent Class Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rinker, Dipali Venkataraman; Diamond, Pamela M; Walters, Scott T; Wyatt, Todd M; DeJong, William

    2016-09-01

    : First-year college students are at particular risk for experiencing negative alcohol-related consequences that may set the stage for experiencing such consequences in later life. Latent class analysis is a person-centered approach that, based on observable indicator variables, divides a population into mutually exclusive and exhaustive groups ('classes'). To date, no studies have examined the latent class structure of negative alcohol-related consequences experienced by first-year college students just before entering college. The aims of this study were to (a) identify classes of first-year college students based on the patterns of negative alcohol-related consequences they experienced just before entering college, and (b) determine whether specific covariates were associated with class membership. Incoming freshmen from 148 colleges and universities (N = 54,435) completed a baseline questionnaire as part of an alcohol education program they completed just prior to their first year of college. Participants answered questions regarding demographics and other personal characteristics, their alcohol use in the past 2 weeks, and the negative alcohol-related consequences they had experienced during that time. Four distinct classes of students emerged: (a) No Problems, (b) Academic Problems, (c) Injured Self and (d) Severe Problems. Average number of drinks per drinking day, total number of drinking days, age of drinking initiation, intention to join a fraternity or sorority and family history of alcohol problems were associated with membership in all of the problem classes relative to the No Problems class. These results can inform future campus-based prevention efforts. © The Author 2016. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

  9. Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding of Photosynthesis Using Diagnostic Question Clusters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Joyce M.; Anderson, Charles W.; Heidemann, Merle; Merrill, John; Merritt, Brett; Richmond, Gail; Urban-Lurain, Mark

    2012-01-01

    We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific…

  10. Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Špago Džemal

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to explore whether some rhetorical questions contain certain linguistic elements or forms which would differentiate them from answer-eliciting and action-eliciting questions, and thereby hint at their rhetorical nature even outside the context. Namely, despite the fact that the same questions can be rhetorical in one context, and answer-eliciting in another, some of them are more likely to be associated with rhetorical or non-rhetorical use. The analysis is based on extensive data (over 1200 examples of rhetorical questions taken from 30 plays by two British and two American writers, and the results are expected to give an insight into whether we can talk about rhetorical questions or just a rhetorical use of questions.

  11. Novamene: A new class of carbon allotropes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Larry A Burchfield

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available We announce a new class of carbon allotropes. The basis of this new classification resides on the concept of combining hexagonal diamond (sp3 bonded carbon − lonsdaleite and ring carbon (sp2 bonded carbon − graphene. Since hexagonal diamond acts as an insulator and sp2 bonded rings act as conductors, these predicted materials have potential applications for transistors and other electronic components. We describe the structure of a proposed series of carbon allotropes, novamene, and carry out a detailed computational analysis of the structural and electronic properties of the simplest compound in this class: the single-ring novamene. In addition, we suggest how hundreds of different allotropes of carbon could be constructed within this class.

  12. Basic concepts in physics. From the cosmos to quarks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaichian, M.; Tureanu, A.; Perez Rojas, H.

    2014-01-01

    A clear, concise and beautifully written presentation of modern physics. Readers will not only learn physics, they will learn to enjoy it. Self-contained and comprehensive History, concepts and formal treatment go hand-in-hand. Suppresses mathematical technicalities in favor of a wide scope of topics. Suited for class use, e.g. as a textbook for the course ''Modern Physics'', but also ideal for ''lone explorers'' and other newcomers to physics. ''Basic Concepts in Physics: From the Cosmos to Quarks'' is the outcome of the authors' long and varied teaching experience in different countries and for different audiences, and gives an accessible and eminently readable introduction to all the main ideas of modern physics. The book's fresh approach, using a novel combination of historical and conceptual viewpoints, makes it ideal complementary reading to more standard textbooks. The first five chapters are devoted to classical physics, from planetary motion to special relativity, always keeping in mind its relevance to questions of contemporary interest. The next six chapters deal mainly with newer developments in physics, from quantum theory and general relativity to grand unified theories, and the book concludes by discussing the role of physics in living systems. A basic grounding in mathematics is required of the reader, but technicalities are avoided as far as possible; thus complex calculations are omitted so long as the essential ideas remain clear. The book is addressed to undergraduate and graduate students in physics and will also be appreciated by many professional physicists. It will likewise be of interest to students, researchers and teachers of other natural sciences, as well as to engineers, high-school teachers and the curious general reader, who will come to understand what physics is about and how it describes the different phenomena of Nature. Not only will readers of this book learn much about physics, they will also learn to love it.

  13. Democracy and Power in Greenland - the Appearance of a New Class?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winther, Gorm

    the end of the Second World War. As pointed out by Jens Dahl such comparisons raise another question. Could it be that the radicalised Greenland elite constitutes a new class despite the fact that it was the elite that originally was the backbone of the Home Rule movement (Dahl, 1986)? Fifteen years after......Still, twenty-three years after the inception of Home Rule the Greenland society has remnants from Danish colonialism, at the same time however, a new society is on its way. In a power perspective this lead to the presence of a new ruling class as seen in other post-colonial social formations since...

  14. What is a Natural Conception of the World?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Philipse, H.

    2001-01-01

    Examines competing intellectual strategies used by analytic and Continental philosophers to answer questions pertaining to a natural conception of the world. Natural versus naturalist conception of the world; Transcendental strategy of Martin Heidegger's 'Sein und Zeit'; Aspect of abstraction

  15. Do We (Still) Need the Concept of "Bildung"?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masschelein, Jan; Ricken, Norbert

    2003-01-01

    In this article, the authors deal with the question whether the concept of "Bildung" or "cultivation/edification" is still a concept which one can use to analyse and criticise actual developments in the field of education (both in thought/discourse and in action/technique) which are themselves related to broader social transformations often…

  16. Matching biomedical ontologies based on formal concept analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Mengyi; Zhang, Songmao; Li, Weizhuo; Chen, Guowei

    2018-03-19

    The goal of ontology matching is to identify correspondences between entities from different yet overlapping ontologies so as to facilitate semantic integration, reuse and interoperability. As a well developed mathematical model for analyzing individuals and structuring concepts, Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) has been applied to ontology matching (OM) tasks since the beginning of OM research, whereas ontological knowledge exploited in FCA-based methods is limited. This motivates the study in this paper, i.e., to empower FCA with as much as ontological knowledge as possible for identifying mappings across ontologies. We propose a method based on Formal Concept Analysis to identify and validate mappings across ontologies, including one-to-one mappings, complex mappings and correspondences between object properties. Our method, called FCA-Map, incrementally generates a total of five types of formal contexts and extracts mappings from the lattices derived. First, the token-based formal context describes how class names, labels and synonyms share lexical tokens, leading to lexical mappings (anchors) across ontologies. Second, the relation-based formal context describes how classes are in taxonomic, partonomic and disjoint relationships with the anchors, leading to positive and negative structural evidence for validating the lexical matching. Third, the positive relation-based context can be used to discover structural mappings. Afterwards, the property-based formal context describes how object properties are used in axioms to connect anchor classes across ontologies, leading to property mappings. Last, the restriction-based formal context describes co-occurrence of classes across ontologies in anonymous ancestors of anchors, from which extended structural mappings and complex mappings can be identified. Evaluation on the Anatomy, the Large Biomedical Ontologies, and the Disease and Phenotype track of the 2016 Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative campaign

  17. Assessment of non-backfittable concepts to improve PWR uranium utilization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    LaBelle, D.W.; Sankovich, M.F.; Spetz, S.W.; Uotinen, V.O.

    1980-12-01

    Seven non-backfittable improvements to light water reactors were assessed for Batelle/Pacific Northwest Laboratories in support of the Department of Energy's program on Advanced Reactor Studies. The objective was to provide industrial perspective as to which concepts have the best potential for development to improve fuel utilization. The concepts were rated against the assessment criteria while considering the key questions identified for each concept, and recommendations were made for further action on unresolved key questions. The concepts were subjectively ranked against each other in terms of relative investment potential. The ranking considered all criteria but, for example, weighted fuel utilization savings more heavily than development costs. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for future action were determined. The reference design for this study was the NASAP Composite Improved PWR

  18. Evaluating the Intervention of an Ethics Class in Students' Ethical Decision-Making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Marquita

    2011-01-01

    In this pilot study, the author evaluated the impact of an ethics class in terms of students' ethical decision-making. The research compares aggregate responses from scenario-based pre- and post-survey open-ended survey questions designed to elicit changes in ethical decision-making by comparing students' cognitive and affective perceptions about…

  19. The concept of behavioural needs in contemporary fur science

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kornum, A.L.; Röcklinsberg, H.; Gjerris, Mickey

    2017-01-01

    show that mink place high value on swimming water, whereas other studies indicate the opposite, which has led scientists to question whether this preference constitutes a genuine behavioural need. In this paper, we take a methodological turn and discuss whether the oft-used concept of behavioural needs......This paper discusses the ethical implications of applying the concept of behavioural needs to captive animals. This is done on the basis of analysing the scientific literature on farmed mink and their possible need for swimming. In the wild, American mink (Mustela vison) are semi-aquatic predators...

  20. Discourse as mediator in environmental education in a natural science class: a case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Massa

    2004-08-01

    Full Text Available Discourse is an educational practice through which students and teachers are related by a sequence of meanings that are expressed, interchanged, negociated and constructed in the dynamic of a class. In this article, we analize the discursive practices and the arguments that are stated during a Science class when the teacher and her students discuss about the concepts “drinkable water – pollute water” when they are dealing with Environmental Education contents. A qualitative research within the perspective of a case study, centred on discourse analysis, was performed. We examine the content, the resources and the structural features that are used by the teacher and the students in order to construct the arguments and to establish the ideas. Two different templates were detected: the teacher’s, is based on perceptions and operative concepts, while the student’s one is organized in order to seek a microscopic explanation. Nevertheless, negotiation between these two perspectives fails during the dialogic interaction.

  1. The trajectories of the concept of Life in Judith Butler’s thought

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana Zaharijević

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we propose to look into different meanings of livability and life in Judith butler’s thought. Although crucial for her early work (she points to it in her 1999 Introduction to Gender Trouble, the concept of livability as such emerges more often and in a more pronounced manner in her later books (from Undoing Gender and Precarious life to Towards a Performative Theory of Assembly. Our main question is: what is the thread that runs through different concepts of life in butler’s work? What are the links between abject, unlivable, precarious, ungrievable, jettisoned and dispossessed life? this raises further questions: the question of gradation of livability (which life matters and ‘how much’, and how to think this quantifiability of something so unquantifiable; and the question of universality (all lives matter. these questions obviously need to take into account the terms under which a life is qualified and counted as livable. such conditions encompass the norms that organize the possibility of recognition and the orders of recognizability and differential allocation of humanness. they encompass the ways in which we are constituted politically, but also in which this ‘we’ is social and bodily. the question of livable life is thus very much entangled with the issue of (individual agency, but also with what we as agents require “in order to maintain and reproduce the conditions of (our own livability” (Undoing Gender 2004: 39.

  2. Megawatt-class free electron laser concept for shipboard self-defense

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Todd, Alan M.M.; Colson, William B.; Neil, George

    1997-01-01

    An efficient MW-class free electron laser (FEL) directed energy weapon (DEW) system holds promise for satisfying shipboard self-defense (SSD) requirements on future generations of Navy vessels because of the potential for high-power operation and the accessibility to all IR wavelengths. In order to meet shipboard packaging and prime power constraints, the power efficiency and high real-estate gradient achievable in an FEL driven by a superconducting RF accelerator is attractive. Configuration options and the key development issues for such a system are described

  3. The role of normative aspects in questions of justice and equity in radioactive waste governance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kruetli, P.

    2005-01-01

    Until now the nuclear waste problem has not been solved and the issue is still contentious in most societies. Up to the 1990s research focused mainly on technical aspects. In the meanwhile there is international consensus that an extended multidimensional approach is needed, e. g., based on the concept of sustainability. Radioactive waste is characterised by technical and institutional longevity. The associated risks may have consequences far into the future. With respect to future generations both precautionary and responsibility principles are crucial. There is an asymmetry of benefits and burdens within our generation as well as between our and the following generations. This issue of justice and equity might not be solved in the case of future generations. Along with distributional questions procedural questions are part of the problem. There is a severe lack of concise research activities in this field even though there exist ethical concepts and theories which - in general - are broadly accepted as guidelines or principles. Their concrete application, however, is methodically delicate and demanding. To develop a normative framework including a set of specific and assessable criteria will be the focus of further research activities. (orig.)

  4. Value concepts and value based collaboration in building projects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Per Anker

    2005-01-01

    Value has in recent years become a popular term in management theory and practice in general as well as in economic theory and architectural management. This paper attempts to clarify the various uses and meanings of concepts of value/values. Six different value concepts are identified. The ori......-gin and use of value concepts in classic and modern economic theory and in management theory is outlined. The question of objectivity and subjectivity is discussed in relation to economic value and customer value. Value creation is put in relation to development in products and processes and a number...... of design strategies are identified. The concept and methods of value based management and collaboration is discussed in this context. The paper is mainly theoretical and based on work during a MBA study in 2002-04 as well as many years of experience as building client and facilities manager....

  5. Pharmacology Goes Concept-Based: Course Design, Implementation, and Evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lanz, Amelia; Davis, Rebecca G

    Although concept-based curricula are frequently discussed in the nursing education literature, little information exists to guide the development of a concept-based pharmacology course. Traditionally, nursing pharmacology courses are taught with an emphasis on drug class where a prototype drug serves as an exemplar. When transitioning pharmacology to a concept-based course, special considerations are in order. How can educators successfully integrate essential pharmacological content into a curriculum structured around nursing concepts? This article presents one approach to the design and implementation of a concept-based undergraduate pharmacology course. Planning methods, supportive teaching strategies, and course evaluation procedures are discussed.

  6. The use of the life-style concept in travel demand models

    OpenAIRE

    I Salomon; M Ben-Akiva

    1983-01-01

    The concept of life-style is becoming a major differentiating trait between population groups substituting for economic and social classes. This paper describes the utilization of the concept of life-style in the context of travel demand models. Life-style is defined as a pattern of behavior under constrained resources which conforms to the orientations an individual has toward three major `life decisions' he or she must make: (a) formation of a household (of any type), (b) participation in t...

  7. Energy, Entropy and Exergy Concepts and Their Roles in Thermal Engineering

    OpenAIRE

    Dincer, Ibrahim; Cengel, Yunus A.

    2001-01-01

    Abstract: Energy, entropy and exergy concepts come from thermodynamics and are applicable to all fields of science and engineering. Therefore, this article intends to provide background for better understanding of these concepts and their differences among various classes of life support systems with a diverse coverage. It also covers the basic principles, general definitions and practical applications and implications. Some illustrative examples are presented to highlight the importance of t...

  8. A Conception of Hellenisation of Christianity in the History of Theology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikhailov Petr

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article offers an analytical outline of historical and theological conception of “Hellenisation of Christianity”. It covers the period from the 16th to the 21st centuries and discusses the following: 1 establishment of the conception during confessional controversy between Catholics and Protestants (from the beginning of the Reformation till the beginning of the 19th century; 2 conceptualisation of the problem in German Protestant theology of the 19th century; 3 attempts of its solution in confessional studies of the 20th century. The paper proposes some generalisations as to the division into periods, which are polemical, critical and apologetical; it also proposes the typology of the main versions of the conception in question, namely the “theory of convergence”, “theory of dеsintegration”, “theory of accommodation”, “theory of succession”. The main figures in the history of the conception are J. L. Moscheim, F. Baur, A. Harnack, R. Seeberg, G. Florovsky. The Hellenisation of Christianity as a historical phenomenon is considered from different points of view. These are: 1 the language and formation of the basic corpus of Christian texts; 2 ancient metaphysics and use of its philosophical tools for theological work; 3 classical culture, i. e. Paideia. The main question is the following: has the Christian tradition of late Antiquity, of Byzantine and Medieval periods as well as that of Modernity saved the identity with the fi rst Christian community, or has it been lost as a result of the all-pervading synthesis with the Greek culture and civilisation that took place during late Antiquity? The paper attempts to suggest an answer to these questions.

  9. The YouTube Makeup Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haase, David G.

    2009-05-01

    When a college instructor goes out of town and must miss a lecture, the standard options are to cancel the class meeting or to enlist a colleague to fill in. In the former case a teaching opportunity is lost; in the latter the substitute may not lead the class in the same way as the instructor. Some students routinely skip lectures by a guest instructor, in the belief that the material in the substitute lecture will not be covered on the exam. There are other makeup options such as a directed study assignment. For instance, a missed class is sometimes a good opportunity to require students to investigate web-based simulations such as Physlets® that illustrate the class topics. These are most effective if the students are given a clear structure and if there are questions that the students must answer from their investigations with the Physlets. But many students are more comfortable with the audio and visual communication that occurs in the classroom. Web 2.0 technology, e.g., YouTube (http://www.youtube.com), makes it convenient for faculty to upload videos of lectures and demonstrations that can be used for makeup classes. College students already use YouTube for entertainment, and the YouTube format is simple to view on any web-connected computer. Although some universities have highly developed media delivery systems, YouTube is extremely convenient and accessible by anyone. This paper discusses how a YouTube makeup class can be efficiently produced and structured to be an effective learning experience.

  10. Tonal Scales and Minimal Simple Pitch Class Cycles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meredith, David

    2011-01-01

    Numerous studies have explored the special mathematical properties of the diatonic set. However, much less attention has been paid to the sets associated with the other scales that play an important rôle in Western tonal music, such as the harmonic minor scale and ascending melodic minor scale....... This paper focuses on the special properties of the class, T, of sets associated with the major and minor scales (including the harmonic major scale). It is observed that T is the set of pitch class sets associated with the shortest simple pitch class cycles in which every interval between consecutive pitch...... classes is either a major or a minor third, and at least one of each type of third appears in the cycle. Employing Rothenberg’s definition of stability and propriety, T is also the union of the three most stable inversional equivalence classes of proper 7-note sets. Following Clough and Douthett’s concept...

  11. The Relationship of Deep and Surface Study Approaches on Factual and Applied Test-Bank Multiple-Choice Question Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yonker, Julie E.

    2011-01-01

    With the advent of online test banks and large introductory classes, instructors have often turned to textbook publisher-generated multiple-choice question (MCQ) exams in their courses. Multiple-choice questions are often divided into categories of factual or applied, thereby implicating levels of cognitive processing. This investigation examined…

  12. Development of the Central Dogma Concept Inventory (CDCI) Assessment Tool

    OpenAIRE

    Newman, Dina L.; Snyder, Christopher W.; Fisk, J. Nick; Wright, L. Kate

    2016-01-01

    Scientific teaching requires scientifically constructed, field-tested instruments to accurately evaluate student thinking and gauge teacher effectiveness. We have developed a 23-question, multiple select?format assessment of student understanding of the essential concepts of the central dogma of molecular biology that is appropriate for all levels of undergraduate biology. Questions for the Central Dogma Concept Inventory (CDCI) tool were developed and iteratively revised based on student lan...

  13. To The Question Of The Concepts "National Security", "Information Security", "National Information Security" Meanings

    OpenAIRE

    Alexander A. Galushkin

    2015-01-01

    In the present article author analyzes value of the concepts "national security", "information security", "national information security". Author gives opinions of scientists-jurists, definitions given by legislators and normotvorets in various regulations.

  14. Using Concept Maps to Teach a Nanotechnology Survey Short Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moyses, David D.; Rivet, Jennifer L.; Fahlman, Bradley D.

    2010-01-01

    We describe the use of concept maps within a 4-week nanotechnology survey course, designed for first-year undergraduate students. Because of the extremely short time frame of the class, students would be inundated with an overwhelming number of new concepts and definitions. Hence, we employed concept mapping to increase student retention and…

  15. Ability grouping of gifted students: effects on academic self-concept and boredom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preckel, Franzis; Götz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne

    2010-09-01

    Securing appropriate challenge or preventing boredom is one of the reasons frequently used to justify ability grouping of gifted students, which has been shown to have beneficial effects for achievement. On the other hand, critics stress psychosocial costs, such as detrimental effects on academic self-concept (contrast or big-fish-little-pond effect). The effects of full-time ability grouping in special classrooms for the gifted on students' academic self-concept and their experience of boredom in mathematics classes were investigated. The sample comprised 186 ninth-grade students (106 male) from eight classes at one Austrian high school. Four of these classes were part of a gifted track beginning from school year 9 on (N=93). Students were assessed repeatedly within the first half of the school year, three times via self-report questionnaires and once by applying a standardized IQ-test. Students in gifted classes reported a decrease in maths academic self-concept which was most pronounced early in the academic year. Interventions to counterbalance the negative effect of exposure to a high-ability reference group should therefore be implemented when ability grouping begins. No evidence for the boredom hypothesis was found (higher levels of boredom among gifted students in regular classes). However, students clearly differed in the reasons they stated for experiencing boredom. Boredom attributions changed over time and supported the assumption that gifted classes provide more appropriate levels of challenge.

  16. Evolution of systems concepts for a 100 kWe class space nuclear power system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katucki, R.; Josloff, A.; Kirpich, A.; Florio, F.

    1985-01-01

    Conceptual designs for the SP-100 space nuclear power system have been prepared that meet baseline, backup and growth program scenarios. Near-term advancement in technology was considered in the design of the baseline concept. An improved silicon-germanium thermoelectric technique is used to convert the heat from a fast-spectrum, liquid lithium cooled reactor. This system produces a net power of 100 kWe with a 10-year end of life, under the specific constraints of area and volume. Output of the backup concept is estimated to be 60 kWe for a 10-year end of life. This system differs from the naseline concept because currently available thermoelectric conversion is used from energy supplied by a liquid sodium cooled reactor. The growth concept uses Stirling engine conversion to produce 100 kWe within the constraints of mass and volume. The growth concept can be scaled up to produce a 1 MWe output that uses the same type reactor developed for the baseline concept. Assessments made for each of the program scenarios indicate the key development efforts needed to initiate detailed design and hardware program phases. Development plans were prepared for each scenario that detail the work elements and show the program activities leading to a state of flight readiness

  17. Evolution of systems concepts for a 100 kWe class Space Nuclear Power System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katucki, R.; Josloff, A.; Kirpich, A.; Florio, F.

    1985-01-01

    Conceptual designs for the SP-100 Space Nuclear Power System have been prepared that meet baseline, backup and growth program scenarios. Near-term advancement in technology was considered in the design of the Baseline Concept. An improved silicon-germanium thermoelectric technique is used to convert the heat from a fast-spectrum, liquid lithium cooled reactor. This system produces a net power of 100 kWe with a 10-year end of life, under the specific constraints of area and volume. Output of the Backup Concept is estimated to be 60 kWe for a 10-year end of life. This system differs from the Baseline Concept because currently available thermoelectric conversion is used from energy supplied by a liquid sodium cooled reactor. The Growth Concept uses Stirling engine conversion to produce 100 kWe within the constraints of mass and volume. The Growth Concept can be scaled up to produce a 1 MWe output that uses the same type reactor developed for the Baseline Concept. Assessments made for each of the program scenarios indicate the key development efforts needed to initiate detailed design and hardware program phases. Development plans were prepared for each scenario that detail the work elements and show the program activities leading to a state of flight readiness.

  18. SLS Launched Missions Concept Studies for LUVOIR Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.

    2015-01-01

    NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-meter Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-meter class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. The multi-center ATLAST Team is working to meet these needs. The MSFC Team is examining potential concepts that leverage the advantages of the SLS (Space Launch System). A key challenge is how to affordably get a large telescope into space. The JWST design was severely constrained by the mass and volume capacities of its launch vehicle. This problem is solved by using an SLS Block II-B rocket with its 10-m diameter x 30-m tall fairing and 45 mt payload to SE-L2. Previously, two development study cycles produced a detailed concept called ATLAST-8. Using ATLAST-8 as a point of departure, this paper reports on a new ATLAST-12 concept. ATLAST-12 is a 12-meter class segmented aperture LUVOIR with an 8-m class center segment. Thus, ATLAST-8 is now a de-scope option.

  19. SLS launched missions concept studies for LUVOIR mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.

    2015-09-01

    NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. The multi-center ATLAST Team is working to meet these needs. The MSFC Team is examining potential concepts that leverage the advantages of the SLS (Space Launch System). A key challenge is how to affordably get a large telescope into space. The JWST design was severely constrained by the mass and volume capacities of its launch vehicle. This problem is solved by using an SLS Block II-B rocket with its 10-m diameter x 30-m tall fairing and estimated 45 mt payload to SE-L2. Previously, two development study cycles produced a detailed concept called ATLAST-8. Using ATLAST-8 as a point of departure, this paper reports on a new ATLAST-12 concept. ATLAST-12 is a 12-m class segmented aperture LUVOIR with an 8-m class center segment. Thus, ATLAST-8 is now a de-scope option.

  20. Enhancing the Dialogue in Simultaneous Class-Based and Live Video-Streamed Teaching

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jelsbak, Vibe Alopaeus; Bendsen, Thomas; Thorsen, Jonas

    Abstract: The bachelor programme in biomedical laboratory analysis at VIA University College in Aarhus has established a blended class concept which combines traditional and live broadcast teaching. 1-2 days a week students have the choice either to attend teaching sessions in the traditional way...... or to work from home via the Internet. In live video-streamed teaching classes teachers tend to choose one-way communication instead of dialogue. We know from our early findings that technology issues are one of the main reasons for this, since the same teachers use dialogue and discussions in traditional...

  1. The Energy Efficiency of High Intensity Proton Driver Concepts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yakovlev, Vyacheslav [Fermilab; Grillenberger, Joachim [PSI, Villigen; Kim, Sang-Ho [ORNL, Oak Ridge (main); Seidel, Mike [PSI, Villigen; Yoshii, Masahito [JAEA, Ibaraki

    2017-05-01

    For MW class proton driver accelerators the energy efficiency is an important aspect; the talk reviews the efficiency of different accelerator concepts including s.c./n.c. linac, rapid cycling synchrotron, cyclotron; the potential of these concepts for very high beam power is discussed.

  2. Exercise Concepts for Individuals with Syringomyelia

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Center Research Great Expectations Post navigation ← Previous Next → Exercise Concepts for Individuals with Syringomyelia Posted on November ... related duties? 3. Do you have questions about exercise? Do you exercise regularly? Are you involved in ...

  3. Concepts and Contexts – Argumentative Forms of Framing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gabrielsen, Jonas; Nørholm Just, Sine; Bengtsson, Mette

    2011-01-01

    this argument we combine theories of framing with the classical rhetorical theory of the stases, more precisely status definitio and status translatio. Our focus is primarily theoretical, but we illustrate our points by means of examples taken from public debates on the value of real estate.......The notion of framing has become central in the field of argumentation. The question is, however, what we gain from studying the process of argumentation through framing, since framing is itself a broad concept in need of specification. Different traditions understand the term differently......, and it is necessary to determine what argumentative forms the concept of framing actually covers. In this paper we argue that framing refers to at least two different argumentative forms. One is an internal definition of the concepts in question; the other is an external shift in the context of the case. In making...

  4. Tensions between genders among the working class: a debate with the holistic paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tania Salem

    Full Text Available This article questions one of the main hierarchical paradigm assumptions, the reciprocity principle configuring working class men and women relationships. In contrast, it suggests that structural tension pervades their relationship synthetically denoted as an opposition: female bonding vs. male circulation. Proposing that these disparate symbolic dispositions are inherent to each gender construction within this particular moral context, it implies ingrained system tension. Using Bateson's complementary schismogenesis concept, the article unveils potential escalating dynamics of this tension and speculates on internal/external factors in the conjugal arena maintaining it in a contained equilibrium state. Special attention is conferred upon mother/her adult son dyad to illustrate the ability of other family pacts, alternative to the conjugal to elucidate persistence of the value allocated to family/men in contexts where male impermanence repeatedly infringes the gender reciprocity principle. The article equally considers possible impacts the strength of the mother-son relationship on the sons' conjugal relationships.

  5. Implementation of cooperative learning model type STAD with RME approach to understanding of mathematical concept student state junior high school in Pekanbaru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nurhayati, Dian Mita; Hartono

    2017-05-01

    This study aims to determine whether there is a difference in the ability of understanding the concept of mathematics between students who use cooperative learning model Student Teams Achievement Division type with Realistic Mathematic Education approach and students who use regular learning in seventh grade SMPN 35 Pekanbaru. This study was quasi experiments with Posttest-only Control Design. The populations in this research were all the seventh grade students in one of state junior high school in Pekanbaru. The samples were a class that is used as the experimental class and one other as the control class. The process of sampling is using purposive sampling technique. Retrieval of data in this study using the documentation, observation sheets, and test. The test use t-test formula to determine whether there is a difference in student's understanding of mathematical concepts. Before the t-test, should be used to test the homogeneity and normality. Based in the analysis of these data with t0 = 2.9 there is a difference in student's understanding of mathematical concepts between experimental and control class. Percentage of students experimental class with score more than 65 was 76.9% and 56.4% of students control class. Thus be concluded, the ability of understanding mathematical concepts students who use the cooperative learning model type STAD with RME approach better than students using the regular learning. So that cooperative learning model type STAD with RME approach is well used in learning process.

  6. Identifying Threshold Concepts for Information Literacy: A Delphi Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lori Townsend

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This study used the Delphi method to engage expert practitioners on the topic of threshold concepts for information literacy. A panel of experts considered two questions. First, is the threshold concept approach useful for information literacy instruction? The panel unanimously agreed that the threshold concept approach holds potential for information literacy instruction. Second, what are the threshold concepts for information literacy instruction? The panel proposed and discussed over fifty potential threshold concepts, finally settling on six information literacy threshold concepts.

  7. Using the Elements of Cooperative Learning in School Band Classes in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitener, John L.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to answer the question of how we might use the elements of cooperative learning in school band classes in the United States. Current school band programs use age-old traditions that overemphasize group and individual competitiveness, stress large ensemble performance at the expense of all other activities, are…

  8. Competencies, Roles and Effective Academic Leadership in World Class University

    OpenAIRE

    Elham Shahmandi; Abu Daud Silong; Ismi Arif Ismail; Bahaman Bin Abu Samah; Jamilah Othman

    2011-01-01

    How an academic leader can become more effective? This research question is examined in the context of middle level leadership in research universities that includes the Deans and Head of Departments. It is based on a review of literature that focuses on the investigation of effective academic leadership. In the present situation of globalization, academic excellence is often related to being World Class University. Leadership effectiveness is more related to situational leadership style in r...

  9. TOWARDS THE CONCEPT OF GLOBULAR PEARLITE

    OpenAIRE

    A. G. Anisovich; M. K. Stepankova; A. A. Andrushevich

    2016-01-01

    Explanatory imprecisions of concept of globular pearlite and ferrite-carbide-mixture are considered. The need of concept binding of globular pearlite to specific grain with 0.8% carbon content is explained with the assistance of exemplary data obtained at the present metallographic equipment. The question of educational material presentation concerning the process of teaching of discipline «Materials and construction materials technology» is discussed in relation to the educational process of...

  10. Positions in doctors' questions during psychiatric interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziółkowska, Justyna

    2009-11-01

    In this article I apply the concept of positioning to the analysis of 15 initial psychiatric interviews. I argue that through their questions the psychiatrists-in-training impose positions requiring the patients to gaze at themselves and their actual problems from particular perspectives. I point to three such positions: (a) the position of the observing assessor, from which it is expected that the patients will make a detached assessment of themselves or their problems, (b) the position of the informing witness, which requires the patients only to verify the information about themselves, and (c) the marginal one, the position of the experiencing narrator, from which talk about experiences and problems is expected. I explore the roots and consequences of the positions, with particular attention toward objectivization of the patients' experiences in the dominant witness and assessor positions. I conclude with a discussion about the medical model in psychiatry.

  11. Intermediality in early cinema studies: An interrogation of a widely used concept for research practice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dellmann, S.; Ruppin, D.; de Zwaan, K.

    2012-01-01

    The authors discuss the concept of intermediality for research in early cinema. After a general introduction to intermediality as research problem in media studies, the question is raised whether the concept of intermediality can be used in diachronic research designs and for media studies that deal

  12. The Meritocratic Conception of Educational Equality: Ideal Theory Run Amuck

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Kenneth R.

    2015-01-01

    The dominant conception of educational equality in the United States is meritocratic: an individual's chances of educational achievements should track only (natural) talent and effort, not social class or other morally irrelevant factors. The meritocratic conception must presuppose that natural talent and effort can be isolated from social…

  13. Management of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) questions ampersand answers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-11-01

    This open-quotes Management of PCBs Questions and Answersclose quotes has been developed from a presentation given by Dr. John Smith of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the transcribed question and answer session which followed the presentation. Dr. Smith was featured at the first DOE complex-wide PCB Focus Group meeting held in San Francisco, California in December 1992. The meeting was attended by representatives from field elements who were actively involved in the management of PCBs. The meeting served as a forum for the exchange of information and discussion of PCB management issues. This document has been prepared as one of several guidance documents developed by the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance (EH-41) (formerly the Office of Environmental Guidance, EH-23) to assist DOE elements in their PCB management programs. This document is organized into three parts: (1) an introduction describing the conception and development of this document, (2) a summary of Dr. Smith's presentation, and (3) the question and answer session

  14. Retrievability - A too simple answer to a difficult question?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Odhnoff, C.

    2002-01-01

    Near to Stockholm in October, 1999, KASAM and IAEA held a joint seminar on Retrievability. There were some 40 participants from about ten countries. Consensus was not the objective, moreover, the discussions were conducted in a friendly spirit of respect and wish to understand different opinions. The retrievability option was incorporated into into broader concepts by a stepwise procedure designed to allow the possibility of steps being reversed, thereby reducing the dramatic difference between open and closed repositories. Each step would give you time to consider and best if the repository concept so far was up to expectations. Retrievability is not a simple answer, but it helps to make this question less complicated. (author)

  15. Donor's understanding of the definition of sex as applied to predonation screening questions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Brien, S F; Ram, S S; Yi, Q-L; Goldman, M

    2008-05-01

    Predonation screening questions about sexual risk factors should provide an extra layer of safety from recently acquired infections that may be too early to be detected by testing. Donors are required to read a definition of sex as it applies to predonation screening questions each time they come to donate, but how well donors apply such definitions has not been evaluated. We aimed to determine how donors define sex when answering screening questions. In total, 1297 whole blood donors were asked in a private interview to select from a list of sexual activities which ones they believed were being asked about in sexual background questions. Donors' definitions were coded as under-inclusive, correct or over-inclusive in relation to the blood services' definition. Qualitative interviews were carried out with 21 donors to understand reasoning behind definitions. Most donors had an over-inclusive definition (58.7%) or the correct definition (31.9%). Of the 9.4% of donors who had an under-inclusive definition, 95% included both vaginal and anal sex, but not oral sex. About 9% in each group were first-time donors (P > 0.05) who had never read the definition. The qualitative interviews indicated that donors reason their definition based on their own concept of transmissible disease risk. Donors apply a range of definitions of sex when answering questions about their sexual background. This may be due to different concepts of risk activities, and required reading of the definition has little impact.

  16. Biodegradation: Updating the Concepts of Control for Microbial Cleanup in Contaminated Aquifers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meckenstock, Rainer U.; Elsner, Martin; Griebler, Christian

    2015-01-01

    Biodegradation is one of the most favored and sustainable means of removing organic pollutants from contaminated aquifers but the major steering factors are still surprisingly poorly understood. Growing evidence questions some of the established concepts for control of biodegradation. Here, we...... on the controls of biodegradation in contaminant plumes. These include the plume fringe concept, transport limitations, and transient conditions as currently underestimated processes affecting biodegradation....

  17. Social question and social work: contemporary challenges facing the profession in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo José Teixeira

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article offers an analysis of the intrinsic relationship between the social question and Social Work. The analysis of the social question starts from the meticulous and rigorous reading of the labor theory of value and the Critique of Political Economy written by Karl Marx. It is from this analysis that we try to justify the genesis of the profession linked to the role of the state and the bourgeoisie in the consolidation of monopoly capitalism. It starts from the analysis of Social Work as a profession inserted in the social and technical division of labor that by its own action, in the contradictory movement of the capitalist reality, defends the interests of capital and labor. In addition, the article presents, in a succinct way, the trajectory of Social Work in Brazil and its ethical and political project in relation to the working class challenges to guarantee this direction in times of dismantling social policies and financial capitalism. 

  18. The research of the test-class method based on interface object in the software integration test of the large container inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Shaohua; Chen Zhiqiang; Zhang Li; Gao Wenhuan; Kang Kejun

    2000-01-01

    Software test is the important stage in software process. The has been mature theory, method and model for unit test in practice. But for integration test, there is not regular method to adhere to. The author presents a new method, developed during the development of the large container inspection system, named test class method based on interface object. In this method a set of basic test-class based on the concept of class in the object-oriented method is established and the method of combining the interface graph and the class set is used to describe the test process. So the strict control and the scientific management for the test process are achieved. The conception of test database is introduced in this method, thus the traceability and the repeatability of test process are improved

  19. Coding interview questions concepts, problems, interview questions

    CERN Document Server

    Karumanchi, Narasimha

    2016-01-01

    Peeling Data Structures and Algorithms: * Programming puzzles for interviews * Campus Preparation * Degree/Masters Course Preparation * Instructor’s * GATE Preparation * Big job hunters: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Flip Kart, Adobe, IBM Labs, Citrix, Mentor Graphics, NetApp, Oracle, Webaroo, De-Shaw, Success Factors, Face book, McAfee and many more * Reference Manual for working people

  20. Invariant class operators in the decoherent histories analysis of timeless quantum theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Halliwell, J. J.; Wallden, P.

    2006-01-01

    The decoherent histories approach to quantum theory is applied to a class of reparametrization-invariant models whose state is an energy eigenstate. A key step in this approach is the construction of class operators characterizing the questions of physical interest, such as the probability of the system entering a given region of configuration space without regard to time. In nonrelativistic quantum mechanics these class operators are given by time-ordered products of projection operators. But in reparametrization-invariant models, where there is no time, the construction of the class operators is more complicated, the main difficulty being to find operators which commute with the Hamiltonian constraint (and so respect the invariance of the theory). Here, inspired by classical considerations, we put forward a proposal for the construction of such class operators for a class of reparametrization-invariant systems. They consist of continuous infinite temporal products of Heisenberg picture projection operators. We investigate the consequences of this proposal in a number of simple models and also compare with the evolving constants method. The formalism developed here is ultimately aimed at cosmological models described by a Wheeler-DeWitt equation, but the specific features of such models are left to future papers

  1. On the Concept of Information and Its Role in Nature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan G. Roederer

    2003-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: In this article we address some fundamental questions concerning information: Can the existing laws of physics adequately deal with the most striking property of information, namely to cause specific changes in the structure and energy flows of a complex system, without the information in itself representing fields, forces or energy in any of their characteristic forms? Or is information irreducible to the laws of physics and chemistry? Are information and complexity related concepts? Does the Universe, in its evolution, constantly generate new information? Or are information and information-processing exclusive attributes of living systems, related to the very definition of life? If that were the case, what happens with the physical meanings of entropy in statistical mechanics or wave function in quantum mechanics? How many distinct classes of information and information processing do exist in the biological world? How does information appear in Darwinian evolution? Does the human brain have unique properties or capabilities in terms of information processing? In what ways does information processing bring about human self-consciousness? We shall introduce the meaning of "information" in a way that is detached from human technological systems and related algorithms and semantics, and that is not based on any mathematical formula. To accomplish this we turn to the concept of interaction as the basic departing point, and identify two fundamentally different classes, with information and information-processing appearing as the key discriminator: force-field driven interactions between elementary particles and ensembles of particles in the macroscopic physical domain, and information-based interactions between certain kinds of complex systems that form the biological domain. We shall show that in an abiotic world, information plays no role; physical interactions just happen, they are driven by energy exchange between the interacting parts

  2. On the Concept of Information and Its Role in Nature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roederer, Juan G.

    2003-03-01

    In this article we address some fundamental questions concerning information: Can the existing laws of physics adequately deal with the most striking property of information, namely to cause specific changes in the structure and energy flows of a complex system, without the information in itself representing fields, forces or energy in any of their characteristic forms? Or is information irreducible to the laws of physics and chemistry? Are information and complexity related concepts? Does the Universe, in its evolution, constantly generate new information? Or are information and information-processing exclusive attributes of living systems, related to the very definition of life? If that were the case, what happens with the physical meanings of entropy in statistical mechanics or wave function in quantum mechanics? How many distinct classes of information and information processing do exist in the biological world? How does information appear in Darwinian evolution? Does the human brain have unique properties or capabilities in terms of information processing? In what ways does information processing bring about human self-consciousness? We shall introduce the meaning of "information" in a way that is detached from human technological systems and related algorithms and semantics, and that is not based on any mathematical formula. To accomplish this we turn to the concept of interaction as the basic departing point, and identify two fundamentally different classes, with information and information-processing appearing as the key discriminator: force-field driven interactions between elementary particles and ensembles of particles in the macroscopic physical domain, and information-based interactions between certain kinds of complex systems that form the biological domain. We shall show that in an abiotic world, information plays no role; physical interactions just happen, they are driven by energy exchange between the interacting parts and do not require any

  3. On the concept of information and its role in nature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roederer, Juan G.

    2002-09-01

    In this article we address some fundamental questions concerning information: Can the existing laws of physics adequately deal with the most striking property of information, namely to cause specific changes in the structure and energy flows of a complex system, without the information in itself representing fields, forces or energy in any of their characteristic forms? Or is information irreducible to the laws of physics and chemistry? Are information and complexity related concepts? Does the Universe, in its evolution, constantly generate new information? Or are information and information-processing exclusive attributes of living systems, related to the very definition of life? If that were the case, what happens with the physical meanings of entropy in statistical mechanics or wave function in quantum mechanics? How many distinct classes of information and information processing do exist in the biological world? How does information appear in Darwinian evolution? Does the human brain have unique properties or capabilities in terms of information processing? In what ways does information processing bring about human self- consciousness? We shall introduce the meaning of 'information' in a way that is detached from human technological systems and related algorithms and semantics, and that is not based on any mathematical formula. To accomplish this we turn to the concept of interaction as the basic departing point, and identify two fundamentally different classes, with information and information-processing appearing as the key discriminator: force-field driven interactions between elementary particles and ensembles of particles in the macroscopic physical domain, and information-based interactions between certain kinds of complex systems that form the biological domain. We shall show that in an abiotic world, information plays no role: physical interactions just happen and do not require any operations of information processing. Information only enters the non

  4. The research of the test-class method based on interface object in the software integration test of the large container inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Shaohua; Chen Zhiqiang; Zhang Li; Gao Wenhuan; Kang Kejun

    2001-01-01

    Software test is the important stage in software process. There has been mature theory, method and model for unit test in practice. But for integration test, there is not regular method to adhere to. The author presents a new method, developed during the development of the large container inspection system, named test-class method based on interface object. A set of basis test-class based on the concept of class in the object-oriented method is established and the method of combining the interface graph and the class set is used to describe the test process. So the strict control and the scientific management for the test process are achieved. The conception of test database is introduced in this method, thus the traceability and the repeatability of test process are improved

  5. Preservice Elementary Mathematics Teachers' Level of Relating Mathematical Concepts in Daily Life Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akkus, Oylum

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice elementary mathematics teachers' ability of relating mathematical concepts and daily life context. Two research questions were set; what is the preservice elementary mathematics teachers' level of relating mathematical concepts and daily life context regarding to their education year and…

  6. Revitalizing Traditional Chinese Concepts in the Modern Ecological Civilization Debate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arler, Finn

    2018-01-01

    The subject of this paper is the question of China’s contribution to the establishment of an association of ecological civilizations—as seen from the perspective of a European—given the growing economic, political, and ecological influence that China has in the world today. The question is which...... worldviews? The paper discusses a number of modern interpretations that have argued that some basic concepts in the Chinese tradition are not only congenial with, but even provide fruitful additions to the modern debate about the establishment of cooperative ecological civilizations. In the final part...

  7. The question of authorship in the era of cyberculture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raquel Yukie Murakami

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims at analyzing a number of consequences of the concept of authorship in the contemporary debate. Therefore, two objects, representing current tendencies, where chosen, both marked by the dynamics of cyberculture: Facebook and fandom. The first, a social network widely used in Brazil, does not require introductions. The latter is less known by general public, because it refers to a space used by fans to discuss the works they love. Through the analysis of these two virtual spaces, this paper is going to show how the authorship is called into question nowadays. It is going to describe the attempts of authors hedging their symbolic space and the readers’ strategies to conquer the authorship field.

  8. Changing Concepts of Equity in Transforming UK Higher Education: Implications for Future Pedagogies and Practices in Global Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    David, Miriam E.

    2011-01-01

    This paper is about changing concepts of equity in UK higher education. In particular, it charts the moves from concepts about gender equality as about women's education as a key issue in twentieth century higher education to questions of men's education in the twenty-first century. These changing concepts of equity are linked to wider social and…

  9. Class relations and all-cause mortality: a test of Wright's social class scheme using the Barcelona 2000 Health Interview Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muntaner, Carles; Borrell, Carme; Solà, Judit; Marí-Dell'Olmo, Marc; Chung, Haejoo; Rodríguez-Sanz, Maica; Benach, Joan; Rocha, Kátia B; Ng, Edwin

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study is to test the effects of neo-Marxian social class and potential mediators such as labor market position, work organization, material deprivation, and health behaviors on all-cause mortality. The authors use longitudinal data from the Barcelona 2000 Health Interview Survey (N=7526), with follow-up interviews through the municipal census in 2008 (95.97% response rate). Using data on relations of property, organizational power, and education, the study groups social classes according to Wright's scheme: capitalists, petit bourgeoisie, managers, supervisors, and skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers. Findings indicate that social class, measured as relations of control over productive assets, is an important predictor of mortality among working-class men but not women. Workers (hazard ratio = 1.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-2.35) but also managers and small employers had a higher risk of death compared with capitalists. The extensive use of conventional gradient measures of social stratification has neglected sociological measures of social class conceptualized as relations of control over productive assets. This concept is capable of explaining how social inequalities are generated. To confirm the protective effect of the capitalist class position and the "contradictory class location hypothesis," additional efforts are needed to properly measure class among low-level supervisors, capitalists, managers, and small employers.

  10. Analysis of strategies for teaching and learning of concepts related to Astronomy in the Elementary School II

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Moraes E Poffo, Roberta Izabella

    2011-12-01

    The curricular proposed of the State of Sao Paulo, in the discipline of physical and biological sciences, has a content related to Earth and Universe, that are approached by Astronomy, in Elementary Education I, II and high school. Despite the importance of Astronomy and the public acceptance, it is notable that they have difficulties in this discipline. During the school year 2010 in a public school in Santo Andre, Sao Paulo, 89 students of three different classes in a sixth year of an elementary school II, responded to a questionnaire prepared and applied by the teacher based on the required contents of the curricular proposed by the State of Sao Paulo with ten essay questions related to Astronomy, with the propose to examine the previous knowledge. Only 19% of students hit 50% or more of the issues, the required content considered as the last satisfactory note. During the same year it was presented, but in each class a different strategy as applied. In the first class, an expositive class with audiovisual aids atrategy was used, in the second class an expositive class dialoged strategy and in the third class a textbook research. It was observed that after applying the same questionnaire, there was an improvement on the questions hit. The class where the expositive class dialoged strategy was used improved from 3% to 63% of hits, the class with audiovisual aids improved from 23% to 80% of hits and the class that used research on textbooks strategy improved from 31% to 76%. Thus, it was considered that after the application of the strategies there was a significant improvement in the student performance comparing to the required content. The expositive class dialoged strategy was considered as the most effective.

  11. A Latent Class Regression Analysis of Men's Conformity to Masculine Norms and Psychological Distress

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Y. Joel; Owen, Jesse; Shea, Munyi

    2012-01-01

    How are specific dimensions of masculinity related to psychological distress in specific groups of men? To address this question, the authors used latent class regression to assess the optimal number of latent classes that explained differential relationships between conformity to masculine norms and psychological distress in a racially diverse…

  12. Social affiliation in same-class and cross-class interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Côté, Stéphane; Kraus, Michael W; Carpenter, Nichelle C; Piff, Paul K; Beermann, Ursula; Keltner, Dacher

    2017-02-01

    Historically high levels of economic inequality likely have important consequences for relationships between people of the same and different social class backgrounds. Here, we test the prediction that social affiliation among same-class partners is stronger at the extremes of the class spectrum, given that these groups are highly distinctive and most separated from others by institutional and economic forces. An internal meta-analysis of 4 studies (N = 723) provided support for this hypothesis. Participant and partner social class were interactively, rather than additively, associated with social affiliation, indexed by affiliative behaviors and emotions during structured laboratory interactions and in daily life. Further, response surface analyses revealed that paired upper or lower class partners generally affiliated more than average-class pairs. Analyses with separate class indices suggested that these patterns are driven more by parental income and subjective social class than by parental education. The findings illuminate the dynamics of same- and cross-class interactions, revealing that not all same-class interactions feature the same degree of affiliation. They also reveal the importance of studying social class from an intergroup perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  13. Economic struggle and the class culture of workers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Branko Bembič

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Economic struggles are usually linked to the spontaneous working class ideology of fighting for a mere improvement in wages and working conditions. However, they often transcend their meagre economic results as they are indispensable in the construction of the working class culture of solidarity. Far from being spontaneous, the process of transforming the trade union orientation from class unionism to business unionism in the USA and to social partnership in Europe had to be imposed through social struggles in which capital forced upon workers a pacified form of economic struggle that was required by post-war Keynesianism. The ruling perception of twentieth-century economic struggles was thus shaped by references to the Gramscian concept of hegemony, in which marginal concessions to labour are essential for its successful subordination to capital. However, the intensification of economic struggles in the 1960s and 1970s showed that the hope of integrating labour into capitalist society by marginal concessions underestimated the economic conditions of capitalist discipline. Thus, the neoliberal restoration was primarily concerned with the imposition of capitalist discipline in the “Factory,” which had severe cultural consequences in the sphere of “School and Family.” However, while American neoliberalism orchestrated a frontal attack on organised labour, in Europe the system of industrial relations was preserved, but with disastrous effects on the culture of labour. I grasp these cultural aspects of the neoliberal attack on European labour with the concept of community in resignation, which, unlike the concept of hegemony, explains labour’s subordination in terms of workers’ renouncement of certain rights in the process of forging competitive alliances with capital.

  14. Investigating Turkish Primary School Students' Interest in Science by Using Their Self-Generated Questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cakmakci, Gultekin; Sevindik, Hatice; Pektas, Meryem; Uysal, Asli; Kole, Fatma; Kavak, Gamze

    2012-06-01

    This paper reports on an attempt to investigate Turkish primary school students' interest in science by using their self-generated questions. We investigated students' interest in science by analyzing 1704 self-generated science-related questions. Among them, 826 questions were submitted to a popular science magazine called Science and Children. Such a self-selected sample may represent a group of students who have a higher level of motivation to seek sources of information outside their formal education and have more access to resources than the students of low social classes. To overcome this problem, 739 students were asked to write a question that they wanted to learn from a scientist and as a result 878 questions were gathered. Those students were selected from 13 different schools at 9 cities in Turkey. These schools were selected to represent a mixture of socioeconomic areas and also to cover different students' profile. Students' questions were classified into two main categories: the field of interest and the cognitive level of the question. The results point to the popularity of biology, astrophysics, nature of scientific inquiry, technology and physics over other science areas, as well as indicating a difference in interest according to gender, grade level and the setting in which the questions were asked. However, our study suggests that only considering questions submitted to informal learning environments, such as popular science magazines or Ask-A-Scientist Internet sites has limitations and deficiencies. Other methodologies of data collection also need to be considered in designing teaching and school science curriculum to meet students' needs and interest. The findings from our study tend to challenge existing thinking from other studies. Our results show that self-generated questions asked in an informal and a formal setting have different patterns. Some aspects of students' self-generated questions and their implications for policy, science

  15. THE CONCEPT OF MARKET in Russian media, and the question of modernization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katja Lehtisaari

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The word “market” is at the core of the process of modernization in Russia, especially in regard to the economic aspects of modernization. This article analyzes the usage of the word “market” (rynok in Russian in the metropolitan and provincial press in the Soviet Union and in post-Soviet Russia from 1990 to 2010. “Market” has been a keyword — in the dictionary sense of a word, expression, or concept of particular importance or significance — in the Russian press over the past twenty years: this is evident in its frequency and in the range of contexts in which it is used. In this article, I analyze the relationship of language and society by studying the usage of the word “market” (rynok in the late Soviet and post-Soviet Russian press since 1990. I examine how the word takes on new meanings, and how its changing usage is related to the changing social and political roles of print media in a modernizing environment. The material studied consists of newspaper and magazine texts collected by a search of the Integrum database. The examples are taken from ten selected publications: the nationally distributed magazines Vokrug sveta, Ogonek, Kommersant-Weekly, and Kommersant Dengi; the nationally distributed newspapers Nezavisimaia gazeta, Rossii- skaia gazeta, and Vedomosti; and the regional newspapers Delovoi Peterburg, Nizhegor-odskie novosti, and Cheliabinskii rabochii

  16. Two Conceptions of Virtue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Thomas E., Jr.

    2013-01-01

    The general questions are: what is virtue and how can it be cultivated? The specific focus is on the conceptions of virtue in the works of Immanuel Kant and John Rawls. Kant regarded virtue as a good will that is also strong enough to resist contrary passions, impulses, and inclinations. Childhood training can prepare children for virtue, but…

  17. Who is More Responsible? Preparatory Class Students’ Perceptions of Responsibility

    OpenAIRE

    Cesur, Kürşat; Ertaş, Abdullah

    2014-01-01

     The main aim of this study is to explore learners’ perceptions of their own responsibility in learning English. The question of whether our learners in Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University (hereafter COMU) Compulsory and Voluntary English Language Prep Classes are responsible enough for their own learning or not is the main focus of this study. Whether some variables like gender, the type of the prep class education (compulsory or voluntary) and the students’ departments will affect their perce...

  18. Identifying Threshold Concepts for Information Literacy: A Delphi Study

    OpenAIRE

    Lori Townsend; Amy R. Hofer; Silvia Lin Hanick; Korey Brunetti

    2016-01-01

    This study used the Delphi method to engage expert practitioners on the topic of threshold concepts for information literacy. A panel of experts considered two questions. First, is the threshold concept approach useful for information literacy instruction? The panel unanimously agreed that the threshold concept approach holds potential for information literacy instruction. Second, what are the threshold concepts for information literacy instruction? The panel proposed and discussed over fift...

  19. Development of the Biological Experimental Design Concept Inventory (BEDCI)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deane, Thomas; Nomme, Kathy; Jeffery, Erica; Pollock, Carol; Birol, Gulnur

    2014-01-01

    Interest in student conception of experimentation inspired the development of a fully validated 14-question inventory on experimental design in biology (BEDCI) by following established best practices in concept inventory (CI) design. This CI can be used to diagnose specific examples of non-expert-like thinking in students and to evaluate the…

  20. Effectiveness of the use of question-driven levels of inquiry based instruction (QD-LOIBI) assisted visual multimedia supported teaching material on enhancing scientific explanation ability senior high school students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhandi, A.; Muslim; Samsudin, A.; Hermita, N.; Supriyatman

    2018-05-01

    In this study, the effectiveness of the use of Question-Driven Levels of Inquiry Based Instruction (QD-LOIBI) assisted visual multimedia supported teaching materials on enhancing senior high school students scientific explanation ability has been studied. QD-LOIBI was designed by following five-levels of inquiry proposed by Wenning. Visual multimedia used in teaching materials included image (photo), virtual simulation and video phenomena. QD-LOIBI assisted teaching materials supported by visual multimedia were tried out on senior high school students at one high school in one district in West Java. A quasi-experiment method with design one experiment group (n = 31) and one control group (n = 32) were used. Experimental group were given QD-LOIBI assisted teaching material supported by visual multimedia, whereas the control group were given QD-LOIBI assisted teaching materials not supported visual multimedia. Data on the ability of scientific explanation in both groups were collected by scientific explanation ability test in essay form concerning kinetic gas theory concept. The results showed that the number of students in the experimental class that has increased the category and quality of scientific explanation is greater than in the control class. These results indicate that the use of multimedia supported instructional materials developed for implementation of QD-LOIBI can improve students’ ability to provide explanations supported by scientific evidence gained from practicum activities and applicable concepts, laws, principles or theories.

  1. High-Ability Grouping: Benefits for Gifted Students' Achievement Development Without Costs in Academic Self-Concept.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preckel, Franzis; Schmidt, Isabelle; Stumpf, Eva; Motschenbacher, Monika; Vogl, Katharina; Scherrer, Vsevolod; Schneider, Wolfgang

    2017-11-23

    Effects of full-time ability grouping on students' academic self-concept (ASC) and mathematics achievement were investigated in the first 3 years of secondary school (four waves of measurement; students' average age at first wave: 10.5 years). Students were primarily from middle and upper class families living in southern Germany. The study sample comprised 148 (60% male) students from 14 gifted classes and 148 (57% male) students from 25 regular classes (matched by propensity score matching). Data analyses involved multilevel and latent growth curve analyses. Findings revealed no evidence for contrast effects of class-average achievement or assimilation effects of class type on students' ASC. ASC remained stable over time. Students in gifted classes showed higher achievement gains than students in regular classes. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  2. Reflected Brownian motions in the KPZ universality class

    CERN Document Server

    Weiss, Thomas; Spohn, Herbert

    2017-01-01

    This book presents a detailed study of a system of interacting Brownian motions in one dimension. The interaction is point-like such that the n-th Brownian motion is reflected from the Brownian motion with label n-1. This model belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. In fact, because of the singular interaction, many universal properties can be established with rigor. They depend on the choice of initial conditions. Discussion addresses packed and periodic initial conditions (Chapter 5), stationary initial conditions (Chapter 6), and mixtures thereof (Chapter 7). The suitably scaled spatial process will be proven to converge to an Airy process in the long time limit. A chapter on determinantal random fields and another one on Airy processes are added to have the notes self-contained. These notes serve as an introduction to the KPZ universality class, illustrating the main concepts by means of a single model only. The notes will be of interest to readers from interacting diffusion processe...

  3. The Discovery of a Class of High-Temperature Superconductors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muller, K. Alex; Bednorz, J. Georg

    1987-01-01

    Describes the new class of oxide superconductors, the importance of these materials, and the concepts that led to its discovery. Summarizes the discovery itself and its early confirmation. Discusses the observation of a superconductive glass state in percolative samples. (TW)

  4. Narrative and epistemology: Georges Canguilhem's concept of scientific ideology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chimisso, Cristina

    2015-12-01

    In the late 1960s, Georges Canguilhem introduced the concept of 'scientific ideology'. This concept had not played any role in his previous work, so why introduce it at all? This is the central question of my paper. Although it may seem a rather modest question, its answer in fact uncovers hidden tensions in the tradition of historical epistemology, in particular between its normative and descriptive aspects. The term ideology suggests the influence of Althusser's and Foucault's philosophies. However, I show the differences between Canguilhem's concept of scientific ideology and Althusser's and Foucault's respective concepts of ideology. I argue that Canguilhem was in fact attempting to solve long-standing problems in the tradition of historical epistemology, rather than following the lead of his younger colleagues. I argue that Canguilhem's 'refurbishment without rejection' of Bachelard's epistemology, which the concept of scientific ideology was aimed to implement, was necessary to justify the historical narratives that Canguilhem had constructed in his own work as a historian of concepts. A strict acceptance of Bachelard's epistemology would have made it impossible to justify them. Canguilhem's concept of scientific ideology therefore served as a theoretical justification of his practice as a historian. I maintain that the concept of scientific ideology was needed to reconcile Bachelard's normative epistemology with Canguilhem's view of the history of science and its aims, which differed from Bachelard's more than it is generally acknowledged. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Personal concepts of stability in the second half of life

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Steverink, N; Stevens, N; Dittmann-Kohli, F

    The study contributes to the conceptualization of stability in the development of later life by answering four questions: Are there certain concepts of no-change in the population of aging adults? What are the issues that people combine with the idea of no-change? Are the issues of different

  6. Personal concepts of stability in the second half of life

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Timmer, E.M.G.; Steverink, N.; Stevens, N.L.; Dittmann-Kohli, F.

    2003-01-01

    The study contributes to the conceptualization of stability in the development of later life by answering four questions: Are there certain concepts of no-change in the population of aging adults? What are the issues that people combine with the idea of no-change? Are the issues of different

  7. Prospective Mathematics Teachers' Understanding of the Base Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horzum, Tugba; Ertekin, Erhan

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to analyze what kind of conceptions prospective mathematics teachers (PMTs) have about the base concept (BC). One-hundred and thirty-nine PMTs participated in the study. In this qualitative research, data were obtained through open-ended questions, the semi-structured interviews and pictures of geometric figures drawn…

  8. The Effectiveness of Using Interactive Multimedia Based on Motion Graphic in Concept Mastering Enhancement and Fashion Designing Skill in Digital Format

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Winwin Wiana

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This research is related to the effort to design a more representative learning system to improve the learning result of digital fashion design, through the development of interactive multimedia based on motion graphic. This research is aimed to know the effect of interactive multimedia application based on motion graphic to increase the mastery of the concept and skill of the students to making fashion designing in digital format. The research method used is quasi experiment with research design of Nonequivalent Control Group Design. The lectures are conducted in two different classes, namely class A as the Experimental Class and class B as the Control Class. From the calculation result after interpreted using Normalize Gain, there is an increase of higher learning result in student with interactive learning based on motion graphic, compared with student achievement on conventional learning. In this research, interactive multimedia learning based on motion graphic is effective toward the improvement of student learning in concept mastering indicator and on the aspect of making fashion design in digital format.

  9. How Do Parenting Concepts Vary within and between the Families?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roskam, Isabelle; Meunier, Jean Christophe

    2009-01-01

    How do parenting concepts vary within and between the families? The present study regards parenting as a complex family process by considering three concepts of parenting: styles, differential treatment and coparenting consistency. A main question was addressed: whether and how these parenting concepts vary within the families towards siblings or…

  10. Negotiating Middle-class Respectable Femininity: Bangladeshi Women and their Families

    OpenAIRE

    Hussein, Nazia

    2017-01-01

    Using qualitative data, this article explains how affluent urban and new middle-class women in Bangladesh reconstruct the notion of respectable femininity within the family. The normative conception of middle-class women’s respectability is measured against women prioritizing family above work by performing their domestic, care, and socializing roles and by maintaining moral propriety. Using Bourdieu’s theory of capitals and Lamont’s formulation of boundary work, I demonstrate that by reinsta...

  11. An Examination of Cross Sectional Change in Student's Metaphorical Perceptions towards Heat, Temperature and Energy Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celik, Harun

    2016-01-01

    In science teaching, metaphors are important tools for understanding meaningful learning and conceptual formation by the help of daily life language. This study aims to evaluate how the concepts of heat, temperature and energy are perceived by students in secondary school science classes and how the perceptions of these concepts vary in terms of…

  12. Questioning and metacognitive thinking: On-line and off-line assessments in understanding the role of prompting/questioning and metacognitive thinking in a digital learning environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schroeder, Mubina Khan

    In science education, the use of digital technology-based learning can help students struggling with difficult concepts such as the movement of molecules. While digital learning tools hold much promise for science education, the question arises as to whether or not such technology can serve as an adequate surrogate for the teacher-student interactions that theorists like Lev Vygotsky (1978) underscored as being critical to learning. In response to such concerns, designers of digital curricula often utilize scaffolds to help students as they learn from such programs. Using a simulation designed to teach students about the concept of diffusion as an example, I examine the effect of including prompting language in the learning sequence of the simulation. The use of prompting language in digital curriculum appears to be successful because it elicits science students to reflect and metacognise about their learning, lending support to Vygotsky's (1978) ideas of teaching and learning involving outer and inner dialog. However, findings from think aloud data continue to underscore the importance of human linguistic exchange as a preferable learning paradigm.

  13. Teacher Guidance of Algebraic Formula Building: Functional Grammatical Analysis of a Whole-Class Conversation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zolkower, Betina; Shreyar, Sam; Pérez, Silvia

    2015-01-01

    How does teacher-guided whole-class interaction contribute to expanding students' potential for making and exchanging mathematical meanings? We address this question through an interpretative analysis of a whole-group conversation in a sixth grade class taught by an experienced teacher in a school in Southern Argentina. The extended interaction…

  14. LOFT blowdown loop piping thermal analysis Class I review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kinnaman, T.L.

    1978-01-01

    In accordance with ASME Code, Section III requirements, all analyses of Class I components must be independently reviewed. Since the LOFT blowdown loop piping up through the blowdown valve is a Class I piping system, the thermal analyses are reviewed. The Thermal Analysis Branch comments to this review are also included. It is the opinion of the Thermal Analysis Branch that these comments satisfy all of the reviewers questions and that the analyses should stand as is, without additional considerations in meeting the ASME Code requirements and ANC Specification 60139

  15. The effects of question-generation training on metacognitive knowledge, self regulation and learning approaches in science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cano García, Francisco; García, Ángela; Berbén, A B G; Pichardo, M C; Justicia, Fernando

    2014-01-01

    Although much research has examined the impact of question generation on students' reading comprehension and learning from lectures, far less research has analysed its influence on how students learn and study science. The present study aims to bridge this knowledge gap. Using a quasi-experimental design, three complete ninth-grade science classes, with a total of 72 students, were randomly assigned to three conditions (groups): (G1) questioning-training by providing prompts; (G2) question-generation without any explicit instruction; and (G3) no question control. Participants' pre-test and post-test self-reported measures of metacognitive knowledge, self-regulation and learning approaches were collected and data analysed with multivariate and univariate analyses of covariance. (a) MANCOVA revealed a significant effect for group; (b) ANCOVAs showed the highest average gains for G1 and statistically significant between-group differences in the two components of metacognition: metacognitive knowledge and self-regulation; and (c) the direction of these differences seemed to vary in each of these components. Question-generation training influenced how students learned and studied, specifically their metacognition, and it had a medium to large effect size, which was somewhat related to the prompts used.

  16. Hinduism: A Unit for Junior High and Middle School Social Studies Classes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galloway, Louis J.

    As an introduction and explanation of the historical development, major concepts, beliefs, practices, and traditions of Hinduism, this teaching unit provides a course outline for class discussion and activities for reading the classic epic, "The Ramayana." The unit requires 10 class sessions and utilizes slides, historical readings,…

  17. Alternative conceptions, memory, & mental models in physics education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Gyoungho; Shin, Jongho; Park, Jiyeon; Song, Sangho; Kim, Yeounsoo; Bao, Lei

    2005-09-01

    There are two somewhat independent research traditions, which converge to suggest a form of students' knowledge: alternative conceptions and mental models. However we have little literature that explains what they are different from each other and from memory. This study tried to describe these issues with some thoughts about how cognitive psychology and science education approaches can be best synthesized in order to approach these questions.

  18. Developing skills versus reinforcing concepts in physics labs: Insight from a survey of students' beliefs about experimental physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilcox, Bethany R.; Lewandowski, H. J.

    2017-06-01

    Physics laboratory courses have been generally acknowledged as an important component of the undergraduate curriculum, particularly with respect to developing students' interest in, and understanding of, experimental physics. There are a number of possible learning goals for these courses including reinforcing physics concepts, developing laboratory skills, and promoting expertlike beliefs about the nature of experimental physics. However, there is little consensus among instructors and researchers interested in the laboratory learning environment as to the relative importance of these various learning goals. Here, we contribute data to this debate through the analysis of students' responses to the laboratory-focused assessment known as the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS). Using a large, national data set of students' responses, we compare students' E-CLASS performance in classes in which the instructor self-reported focusing on developing skills, reinforcing concepts, or both. As the classification of courses was based on instructor self-report, we also provide additional description of these courses with respect to how often students engage in particular activities in the lab. We find that courses that focus specifically on developing lab skills have more expertlike postinstruction E-CLASS responses than courses that focus either on reinforcing physics concepts or on both goals. Within first-year courses, this effect is larger for women. Moreover, these findings hold when controlling for the variance in postinstruction scores that is associated with preinstruction E-CLASS scores, student major, and student gender.

  19. Improving the Development of Student's Research Questions and Hypotheses in an Introductory Business Research Methods Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strangman, Lauria; Knowles, Elizabeth

    2012-01-01

    In an introductory research methods course, students often develop research questions and hypotheses that are vague or confusing, do not contain measurable concepts, and are too narrow in scope or vision. Because of this, the final research projects often fail to provide useful information or address the overall research problem. A Lesson Study…

  20. Factors Related to In-Class Spiritual Experience: Relationship between Pre-Class Scripture Reading, In-Class Note-Taking, and Perceived In-Class Spiritual Experiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hilton, John, III; Sweat, Anthony R.; Plummer, Kenneth

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between student in-class note-taking and pre-class reading with perceived in-class spiritual and religious outcomes. This study surveyed 620 students enrolled in six different sections of an introductory religion course at a private religious university. Full-time religious faculty members…

  1. CH Stands for Cheese, Right? A Swiss Culture Class and the National Standards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seidlitz, Lisa

    2012-01-01

    Culture has always been a part of foreign language learning. However, in recent years, more and more language professors advocate placing culture at the center of our classes. The question of just how to teach culture remains a topic of debate. This paper describes the reworking of a traditional German grammar and reading course into a class that…

  2. Using "Monopoly" to Introduce Concepts of Race and Ethnic Relations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waren, Warren

    2011-01-01

    In this paper I suggest a technique which uses the familiar Parker Brother's game "Monopoly" to introduce core concepts of race and ethnic relations. I offer anecdotes from my classes where an abbreviated version of the game is used as an analog to highlight the sociological concepts of direct institutional discrimination, the legacy of…

  3. Arts and Crafts Classes in Years I–III, Based on Methods Featuring Pupils’ Practical Activities

    OpenAIRE

    Piwowarska, Ewa

    2016-01-01

    The issue to be analysed here concerns teachers’ planning of arts and crafts classes in Years I–III, with specific reference to methods featuring pupils’ practical activities. A theoretical part briefly presents the concepts involved in teaching a subject that was initially defined as drawing, then as arts and crafts education, and finally as arts and crafts classes. It points out the factors that influence the process of stimulating pupils’ artistic activities. The technique used in the cour...

  4. Family Ambiguity and Domestic Violence in Asia: Concept, Law and Process

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mohamad, M.; Wieringa, S.E.

    2013-01-01

    This book revisits the issue of Domestic Violence (DV) in Asia by exploring the question of family ambiguity, and interrogating DV’s relationship between concept, law and strategy. Comparative experiences in the Asian context enable an examination of the effectiveness of family regulations and laws

  5. Are Chicken Embryos Endotherms or Ectotherms? A Laboratory Exercise Integrating Concepts in Thermoregulation and Metabolism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hiebert, Sara M; Noveral, Jocelyne

    2007-01-01

    This investigative laboratory exercise uses the different relations between ambient temperature and metabolic rate in endotherms and ectotherms as a core concept to answer the following question: What thermoregulatory mode is employed by chicken embryos? Emphasis is placed on the physiological concepts that can be taught with this exercise,…

  6. It Takes One to Know One: A Class Exercise in Mental Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Theresa

    2014-01-01

    An active learning class exercise is presented that gives students the personal experience of the decision-making limitations of mental models. This innovative exercise was shown to increase student learning through greater understanding of the concept and higher retention of knowledge. The results suggest that student critical thinking skills…

  7. Social class, leaders and leadership: a critical review and suggestions for development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Sean R; Innis, Benjamin D; Ward, Ray G

    2017-12-01

    The consideration of social class in leadership research presents many exciting directions for research. In this review, we describe and summarize how social class research has been applied to the study of leaders and the leadership process, noting that while evidence suggests those from higher social classes are more likely to occupy formal leader roles in organizations, there is little evidence suggesting that they are more effective in these roles than those from lower social classes. We conclude with a discussion of important, unanswered theoretical questions about how social class relates to the process of leadership-most notably, whether those from different classes internalize different beliefs and expectations about how people in leader and follower roles should act, and how matches or mismatches in those beliefs and expectations shape leader-follower interactions and outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Approaches to Exploring Category Information for Question Retrieval in Community Question-Answer Archives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cao, Xin; Cong, Gao; Cui, Bin

    2012-01-01

    , and it applies these approaches to existing question retrieval models, including a state-of-the-art question retrieval model. Experiments conducted on real CQA data demonstrate that the proposed techniques are effective and efficient and are capable of outperforming a variety of baseline methods significantly......Community Question Answering (CQA) is a popular type of service where users ask questions and where answers are obtained from other users or from historical question-answer pairs. CQA archives contain large volumes of questions organized into a hierarchy of categories. As an essential function...

  9. Questions and Questioning Techniques: A View of Indonesian Students’ Preferences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Debora Tri Ragawanti

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated students’ preference on teacher’s questions and questionings techniques and more importantly on how they could facilitate or impede their learning. The results on teacher’s questioning techniques showed that random nomination was more preferred than pre-arranged format nomination. In addition, techniques of nominating volunteering students and of giving wait-time were disliked by most student-respondents. As for types of question, the yes/no question was favored by most of the respondents. Different from the yes/no question, the number of respondents leaning forward to the analysis question, questions about fact of life, and questions to state opinion did not show a significant difference from the number of those leaning against the same questions.

  10. Argumentation in Science Class: Its Planning, Practice, and Effect on Student Motivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taneja, Anju

    Studies have shown an association between argumentative discourse in science class, better understanding of science concepts, and improved academic performance. However, there is lack of research on how argumentation can increase student motivation. This mixed methods concurrent nested study uses Bandura's construct of motivation and concepts of argumentation and formative feedback to understand how teachers orchestrate argumentation in science class and how it affects motivation. Qualitative data was collected through interviews of 4 grade-9 science teachers and through observing teacher-directed classroom discourse. Classroom observations allowed the researcher to record the rhythm of discourse by characterizing teacher and student speech as teacher presentation (TP), teacher guided authoritative discussion (AD), teacher guided dialogic discussion (DD), and student initiation (SI). The Student Motivation Towards Science Learning survey was administered to 67 students before and after a class in which argumentation was used. Analysis of interviews showed teachers collaborated to plan argumentation. Analysis of discourse identified the characteristics of argumentation and provided evidence of students' engagement in argumentation in a range of contexts. Student motivation scores were tested using Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests, which showed no significant change. However, one construct of motivation---active learning strategy---significantly increased. Quantitative findings also indicate that teachers' use of multiple methods in teaching science can affect various constructs of students' motivation. This study promotes social change by providing teachers with insight about how to engage all students in argumentation.

  11. Potential of balloon payloads for in flight validation of direct and nulling interferometry concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demangeon, Olivier; Ollivier, Marc; Le Duigou, Jean-Michel; Cassaing, Frédéric; Coudé du Foresto, Vincent; Mourard, Denis; Kern, Pierre; Lam Trong, Tien; Evrard, Jean; Absil, Olivier; Defrere, Denis; Lopez, Bruno

    2010-07-01

    While the question of low cost / low science precursors is raised to validate the concepts of direct and nulling interferometry space missions, balloon payloads offer a real opportunity thanks to their relatively low cost and reduced development plan. Taking into account the flight capabilities of various balloon types, we propose in this paper, several concepts of payloads associated to their flight plan. We also discuss the pros and cons of each concepts in terms of technological and science demonstration power.

  12. TOWARDS THE CONCEPT OF GLOBULAR PEARLITE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. G. Anisovich

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Explanatory imprecisions of concept of globular pearlite and ferrite-carbide-mixture are considered. The need of concept binding of globular pearlite to specific grain with 0.8% carbon content is explained with the assistance of exemplary data obtained at the present metallographic equipment. The question of educational material presentation concerning the process of teaching of discipline «Materials and construction materials technology» is discussed in relation to the educational process of technical universities, in particular, the Belarusian State Agrarian Technical University.

  13. CURBSIDE CONSULTATION OF THE ACL: 49 CLINICAL QUESTIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernard R. Bach

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available DESCRIPTION A unique reference that offers opinions, preferences and expert advice associated with management of ACL injuries in the questions and answers format which enhanced by images, diagrams and references. PURPOSE "Curbside Consultation of the ACL" aims to provide some knowledge more than the basic information in the evaluation and the management of ACL injuries. This information is based on the opinion or the advice of an expert. Quick access of audience to these pearl and pit-falls and evidence-based expert advice for complicated cases in ACL reconstruction in the form of brief answers including current concepts is targeted by the authors. FEATURES 49 Clinical questions are outlined in 5 sections. In the first section is about preoperative questions including indications, diagnostic measures, combined ligament injuries, graft choice, preparation before surgery, avulsion of the eminence, examination in posterolateral corner injury. In the second section is preoperative questions are subjected including dropping the graft to the floor, posterior wall blowout, knees without hamstring tendon, graft amputation by interference screw, to avoid vertical tunnel in tibia, fixation methods of graft, femoral and tibial tunnel positioning. Third section is about postoperative questions including postoperative management, differences in postoperative rehabilitation protocols in different type of grafts, postoperative man-agement of meniscal repair, management in difficulties in gaining extension, infection, patellar pain, timing of reop-eration in motion problems, criteria returning to sports, outcome measures, outcome in using different grafts, role of bracing. The fourth section is about failed ACL recon-struction including causes, indications for revision, ex-panded tunnels, graft choice in revision surgery, contro-lateral patellar tendon graft for revision, rehab protocol after revision surgery, hardware removal, early degenera-tive joint disease

  14. The difficulty of symplectic analysis with second class systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shirzad, A.; Mojiri, M.

    2005-01-01

    Using the basic concepts of the chain by chain method we show that the symplectic analysis, which was claimed to be equivalent to the usual Dirac method, fails when second class constraints are present. We propose a modification in symplectic analysis that solves the problem

  15. The Paradox of Middle-Class Attitudes in China: Democracy, Social Stability, and Reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Miao

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the seemingly paradoxical attitudes of the Chinese middle class towards democracy, social stability, and reform. Using fieldwork data from Ningbo, this article shows that a group of objective, middle-class individuals can concurrently display high levels of support for democratic principles and low levels of participation in real-life socio-political events. Being generally confident in China’s social stability, these individuals have little to no desire for significant democratic reform, or indeed any reform that occurs outside the purview of the state, as it is considered destabilising. By highlighting the distinction between how these members of the middle class respond to generic democratic concepts, real-life socio-political affairs, and the idea of democratic reform, this article argues that the Chinese middle class are aware of what “should be,” what “could be,” and what “is,” which lends their socio-political attitudes a paradoxical appearance.

  16. Analysis of students’ generated questions in laboratory learning environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Antonio Llorens-Molina

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available In order to attain a reliable laboratory work assessment, we argue taking the Learning Environment as a core concept and a research paradigm that considers the factors affecting the laboratory as a particularly complex educational context. With regard to Laboratory Learning Environments (LLEs, a well known approach is the SLEI (Science Laboratory Environment Inventory. The aim of this research is to design and apply an alternative and qualitative assessment tool to characterize Laboratory Learning Environments in an introductory course of organic chemistry. An alternative and qualitative assessment tool would be useful for providing feed-back for experimental learning improvement; serving as a complementary triangulation tool in educational research on LLEs; and generating meaningful categories in order to design quantitative research instruments. Toward this end, spontaneous questions by students have been chosen as a reliable source of information. To process these questions, a methodology based on the Grounded Theory has been developed to provide a framework for characterizing LLEs. This methodology has been applied in two case studies. The conclusions lead us to argue for using more holistic assessment tools in both everyday practice and research. Likewise, a greater attention should be paid to metacognition to achieve suitable self-perception concerning students’ previous knowledge and manipulative skills.

  17. TEACHING AND ASSESSING SKILLS IN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY IN A BILINGUAL CLASS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FLORINA PĂUNESCU

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents my experience in bilingual teaching, an integrated programme for geography and English language learning for upper secondary students. General geographical aspects are connected to the geography of Great Britain and that of the USA, with an attitude of raising students’ awareness on environmental issues. The topics are a framework for the development of (environmental geography-related knowledge and skills, cognitive skills and language aspects. Therefore, the paper presents various methods of teaching and assessing environmental issues in four distinct structured texts, which combine typical geographical skills (like completing a sketch or a mind map with methods used in English classes (like true/false questions. A special accent is on both the use of specific environmental vocabulary – synonyms, false friends, also anticipated grammar mistakes – as well as on discussions in class, based on cause-effect relationships between processes and phenomena.

  18. Greater-than-Class-C low-level radioactive waste management concepts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knecht, M.A.

    1988-01-01

    In 1986, Public Law 99-240, the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 assigned to the Federal Government responsibility for the disposal of commercial greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste (LLW). In 1987, DOE committed to Congress to accept GTCC LLW and provide storage and other waste management as necessary until disposal capacity is available. Current estimates are that about 6,000 m 3 of unpackaged GTCC LLW will be generated to the year 2020. Generators estimate that 100 m 3 of raw GTCC LLW might exceed planned storage capacity to the year 2020. This paper reports the activities of the National Low-Level Waste Program to manage GTCC low-level radioactive waste

  19. Dual coolant blanket concept

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malang, S.; Schleisiek, K.

    1994-11-01

    A self-cooled liquid metal breeder blanket with helium-cooled first wall ('Dual Coolant Blanket Concept') for a fusion DEMO reactor is described. This is one of the four blanket concepts under development in the frame of the European fusion technology program with the aim to select in 1995 the two most promising ones for further development. Described are the design of the blankets including the ancillary loop system and the results of the theoretical and experimental work in the fields of neutronics, magnetohydrodynamics, thermohydraulics, mechanical stresses, compatibility and purification of lead-lithium, tritium control, safety, reliability, and electrically insulating coatings. The remaining open questions and the required R and D programme are identified. (orig.) [de

  20. On the theory of generalized entropy solutions of the Cauchy problem for a class of non-strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Panov, E Yu

    2000-01-01

    Many-dimensional non-strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws with a radially degenerate flux function are considered. For such systems the set of entropies is defined and described, the concept of generalized entropy solution of the Cauchy problem is introduced, and the properties of generalized entropy solutions are studied. The class of strong generalized entropy solutions is distinguished, in which the Cauchy problem in question is uniquely soluble. A condition on the initial data is described that ensures that the generalized entropy solution is strong and therefore unique. Under this condition the convergence of the 'vanishing viscosity' method is established. An example presented in the paper shows that a generalized entropy solution is not necessarily unique in the general case

  1. On Kant’s Conception of Enlightenment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ileana Paola Beade

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyzes Kant’s conception of Enlightenment, as it is presented in the 1784 essay An answer to the question: What is Enlightenment?, and considers the notion of enlightenment of the people, discussed by the philosopher in The contest of the Faculties (1798, by contrasting his position with that of other Enlightened authors. This analysis not only attempts to clarify the reformist premises implicit in Kant’s concept of Enlightenment but also intends to explain the specific role that he assigns to intellectuals in the progress of the Enlightened project.

  2. The Construction of Social Class in Social Work Education: A Study of Introductory Textbooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strier, Roni; Feldman, Guy; Shdaimah, Corey

    2012-01-01

    Social work introductory textbooks reflect myriad practical interests, pedagogical concerns, and theoretical considerations. However, they also present students with accepted views, dominant perspectives, and main discourses of knowledge. In light of this centrality, the present article examines the representation of the concept of "social class"…

  3. A Creative Class Research and its Difficulties – Empirical Evidence from a Southern Hungarian City, Pécs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    KRISZTINA KERESNYEI

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Creative industry, as a concept, first appeared at the beginning of the 21st century and spread worldwide when the American urbanist, Richard Florida, published his book “The Rise of the Creative Class” in 2002. Today, there is no question anymore that the creative industry and creative workers will play a huge part in the European Union’s future economy, and hopefully in Hungary’s economy as well. This article can be divided into three parts. In the first part, it aims to give an overview of the creative class definitions published by Florida, and it also outlines the up and down sides of the theory. Then looking at the problems of the article, a possible alternative is disclosed, which includes not only the occupational-based definition, it but also combines it with the industry-based view. In this way, a complex approach is created, which can be used for further research. As this new approach is based partly on the creative industries classification, the second part of the article aims to shortly summarize the main characteristics of the creative industries definition. The final part focuses on the survey conducted among the creative businesses in Pécs. The survey focuses on the creative class preferences of living. With this analysis, we hope to find the key factors that attracted or kept the members of the creative class in the city and its wider area, an important element in creating long-term development strategies.

  4. An integrative review of in-class activities that enable active learning in college science classroom settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arthurs, Leilani A.; Kreager, Bailey Zo

    2017-10-01

    Engaging students in active learning is linked to positive learning outcomes. This study aims to synthesise the peer-reviewed literature about 'active learning' in college science classroom settings. Using the methodology of an integrative literature review, 337 articles archived in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) are examined. Four categories of in-class activities emerge: (i) individual non-polling activities, (ii) in-class polling activities, (iii) whole-class discussion or activities, and (iv) in-class group activities. Examining the collection of identified in-class activities through the lens of a theoretical framework informed by constructivism and social interdependence theory, we synthesise the reviewed literature to propose the active learning strategies (ALSs) model and the instructional decisions to enable active learning (IDEAL) theory. The ALS model characterises in-class activities in terms of the degrees to which they are designed to promote (i) peer interaction and (ii) social interdependence. The IDEAL theory includes the ALS model and provides a framework for conceptualising different levels of the general concept 'active learning' and how these levels connect to instructional decision-making about using in-class activities. The proposed ALS model and IDEAL theory can be utilised to inform instructional decision-making and future research about active learning in college science courses.

  5. Teacher Openness and Prosocial Motivation: Creating an Environment Where Questions Lead to Engaged Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crane, Bret D.

    2017-01-01

    Evidence suggests that student engagement in the classroom leads to improved learning outcomes. As a result, teachers of management have promoted ways to involve students through Socratic teaching methods, case-based pedagogy, and class discussion. These approaches to learning emphasize the use of questions to stimulate student engagement.…

  6. Exploring undergraduates' understanding of photosynthesis using diagnostic question clusters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Joyce M; Anderson, Charles W; Heidemann, Merle; Merrill, John; Merritt, Brett; Richmond, Gail; Urban-Lurain, Mark

    2012-01-01

    We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific principles: conservation of matter, conservation of energy, and the hierarchical nature of biological systems. Data on students' responses to the cluster items and uses of some of the questions in multiple-choice, multiple-true/false, and essay formats are compared. A cross-over study indicates that the multiple-true/false format shows promise as a machine-gradable format that identifies students who have a mixture of accurate and inaccurate ideas. In addition, interviews with students about their choices on three multiple-choice questions reveal the fragility of students' understanding. Collectively, the data show that many undergraduates lack both a basic understanding of the role of photosynthesis in plant metabolism and the ability to reason with scientific principles when learning new content. Implications for instruction are discussed.

  7. Coming to See Objects of Knowledge: Guiding Student Conceptualization through Teacher Embodied Instruction in a Robotics Programming Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwah, Helen

    2013-01-01

    This thesis explores the questions of how a teacher guides students to see concepts, and the role of gesture and gesture viewpoints in mediating the process of guidance. To examine these questions, two sociocultural theoretical frameworks--Radford's cultural-semiotic theory of knowledge objectification (e.g., 2003), and Goldman's Points of Viewing…

  8. Astrophysical Concepts

    CERN Document Server

    Harwit, Martin

    2006-01-01

    This classic text, aimed at senior undergraduates and beginning graduate students in physics and astronomy, presents a wide range of astrophysical concepts in sufficient depth to give the reader a quantitative understanding of the subject. Emphasizing physical concepts, the book outlines cosmic events but does not portray them in detail: it provides a series of astrophysical sketches. For this fourth edition, nearly every part of the text has been reconsidered and rewritten, new sections have been added to cover recent developments, and others have been extensively revised and brought up to date. The book begins with an outline of the scope of modern astrophysics and enumerates some of the outstanding problems faced in the field today. The basic physics needed to tackle these questions are developed in the next few chapters using specific astronomical processes as examples. The second half of the book enlarges on these topics and shows how we can obtain quantitative insight into the structure and evolution of...

  9. Two-Year-Old Children Differentiate Test Questions from Genuine Questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grosse, Gerlind; Tomasello, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Children are frequently confronted with so-called "test questions". While genuine questions are requests for missing information, test questions ask for information obviously already known to the questioner. In this study we explored whether two-year-old children respond differentially to one and the same question used as either a genuine question…

  10. IFOAM principles in the light of different ethical concepts

    OpenAIRE

    Freyer, B.

    2008-01-01

    The IFOAM principles of health, ecology, fairness and care are a product of debates on ethical values done by the organic movement from the last years. The paper discusses how the values are embedded and linked with ethical concepts. Furthermore, the question of how to transfer these values into practice is reflected.

  11. Teaching L2 Spanish Sociopragmatics through Concepts: A Classroom-Based Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Compernolle, Rémi A.; Gomez-Laich, Maria Pia; Weber, Ashley

    2016-01-01

    This study explores the teaching of second language (L2) Spanish sociopragmatics through concept-based pragmatics instruction (van Compernolle, 2014). The concepts of self-presentation, social distance, and power were the focus of a pedagogical enrichment program in 2 sections of a beginning-level Spanish class at a northeastern U.S. university.…

  12. Delineating Concept Meanings: The Case of Terrorism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kleg, Milton; Mahlios, Marc

    1990-01-01

    Presents a teacher-initiated model for reaching class consensus on the meaning of confusing or interchangeable concepts in social studies classrooms. Illustrates the model by delineating terrorism. Shows procedural steps that involve students in self and small group interviews where definitions are clarified until consensus is reached. Suggests…

  13. Social class, employment status and inequality in psychological well-being in the UK: Cross-sectional and fixed effects analyses over two decades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Lindsay; Paskov, Marii

    2016-10-01

    A body of academic research has shown a social class gradient in psychological well-being. Some recent work has also suggested that the gradient is worsening over time, though the evidence is mixed. We focus on two straightforward research questions: Is there a class gradient in mental health? Has this gradient changed over time? We answer these questions with attention to two specific causal pathways: employment status and unobserved heterogeneity. We use two data sources: repeated cross-sections from the Health Survey of England (HSE) and longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The combination of pooled OLS regression (with HSE) and fixed effects analysis (with BHPS) allows for a robust analysis of the relationship between class and psychological well-being. We argue that employment status is a confounder in the analysis of class inequalities and show that, along with unobserved heterogeneity, these two pathways go a long way to explain the class gradient. The effects of employment status are substantive and, unlike social class, cannot be explained away by unobserved heterogeneity. We conclude that employment status deserves greater prominence in the debate as both a pathway by which the class gradient transpires, and as another 'dimension' of inequality in its own right. Our overtime analysis suggests that skilled and unskilled manual workers had higher psychological well-being in the 1990s but by 2008 were closer to the average. Class inequalities do not appear to be widening. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Genecialist manifesto: overcoming the “class struggle” in medicine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iwata K

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Kentaro Iwata Division of Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Hospital, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan Abstract: Generalists and specialists are often considered two completely distinct species, which culminates in the establishment of a concept of dichotomy. However, these dichotomy can at times fuel tension and even erupt into open conflict. In order to resolve this issue, the author herein proposes the concept of a “genecialist.” The genecialist refers to a hybrid comprising elements inherent to both generalists and specialists. This potentially overcomes the multitude of issues associated with both generalists and specialists in the practical aspects of medicine. The coalescence of these two contrarieties may hold the key to improving the future of health care. Mediating and integrating both categories into one consolidated entity carries the potential to stem the tide of class warfare between generalists and specialists. Keywords: genecialist, aufheben, generalist, specialist, asymmetry

  15. Concept cartoons for diagnosing student’s misconceptions in the topic of buffers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kusumaningrum, I. A.; Ashadi; Indriyanti, N. Y.

    2018-05-01

    Student’s misconceptions have been concerned over twenty years in the chemistry education research. It influences students to learn new knowledge and gain a correct concept. The buffer solution is found as a difficult topic due to student’s misconception. However, the research related this subject are still rare. Concept cartoon has been used as one of the effective tools to diagnose misconceptions. This study aims to identify the effectiveness of concept cartoon to diagnose them. The concept cartoon consists of three concept questions. 98 students of grade 11 as respondents of this research and followed by interview for selected students. The data obtain of the study are analyzed by using a scoring key. The detected misconceptions are about what buffers do, what buffers are, and how buffers are able to do what they do. Concept cartoon is potential as a basic tool for remedial teaching.

  16. The difference a word makes: responding to questions on 'disability' and 'difficulty' in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Marguerite

    2009-01-01

    This article discusses the current efforts to measure disability in a comparable manner internationally, the effects of using different types of wording in questions, and the implications of the approach of asking about 'difficulties' rather than 'disability' on the use of disability statistics. The study design was qualitative. Twenty-one focus groups were run with adults responding for themselves. Nine groups were classified a priori by the author as 'disabled', six as 'unsure', and the last six as 'non-disabled'. The participants completed a questionnaire using the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) Short Set, the South African Census 2001 question, and the question 'Are you disabled?'. This was followed by group discussion on these questions and on how the concept of disability is understood by group participants. Participants understand disability as being a permanent, unchangeable state, mostly physical, and where a person is unable to do anything. The participants in the three groups of allocated disability status (disabled, unsure and non-disabled) provided quite different responses on the three questions. All participants in the 'disabled' and 'unsure' groups reported having 'difficulty' on the WG questions, but the 'unsure' groups did not identify as being 'disabled' on either of the two other questions. Using questions that ask about 'difficulty' rather than 'disability' provides a more comprehensive and inclusive measure of disability with a clearer understanding of what is being measured. Asking about 'difficulty' provides an improved measure of disability status for effective data collection and analysis to promote development, implementation and monitoring of disability-inclusive policies.

  17. Common views of potentially attractive fusion concepts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piet, S.J.

    1986-01-01

    Several innovative fusion concepts have recently been proposed with the intent of improving radically the attractiveness of fusion energy. Before their assessment is complete, however, the question of what constitutes an especially attractive fusion product should be examined from multiple viewpoints. The primary purpose of this paper is to examine views of potentially attractive fusion concepts from three perspectives, trying to determine commonalities. These viewpoints are (a) economics, (b) maintenance and reliability, and (c) safety and environment. The secondary purpose of the paper is to review some innovative concepts from these viewpoints

  18. Astronomy for Astronomical Numbers with Massive Open Online Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Impey, Chris David; Wenger, Matthew; Buxner, Sanlyn; Formanek, Martin

    2017-01-01

    Massive Open Online Classes (MOOCs) have shown their ability to reach missions of adults across the world with science content. We have been experimenting with pedagogy in two MOOCs, provided through Udemy and Coursera, that have reached over 80,000 people. Although the completion rate is low, just under 10%, the cumulative outreach impact of nearly half a million hours of astronomy video watched is substantial. A similar fraction of learners is heavily engaged and participate in online discussions, live question and answer sessions, and social media connected to the class. MOOCs are valuable for testing pedagogy that might later be employed in online for-credit classes, with the caveat that the motivations and modes of engagement of free-choice learners can differ from those of college students.

  19. Hands-on science methods class for pre-service elementary teachers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Manner, B.M. [Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    1994-12-31

    If elementary teachers are to be comfortable teaching science, they must have positive pre-service experiences. A science methods class that is activity-based and student-centered, rather than lecture-based and teacher-centered, peaks their interest in science and alleviates their fears. Activities conducted by the students illustrate science concepts or integrate science with children`s literature books such as The Grouchy Ladybug. These activities are conducted by each student with the rest of the class and the professor acting as an elementary class. Each activity is then evaluated as to the science concept, what was done well, and how it could be improved. The students also relate how the activity would be integrated with other subjects such as social studies, art, math, and language arts. Student feedback indicates this method is enjoyable, educational, and valuable in preparing them to teach science. The {open_quotes}oohs{close_quotes} and {open_quotes}I didn`t know that!{close_quotes} during activities are positives, but students have also learned some science, lost most of their science anxiety, and will teach science with the confidence and enthusiasm that was lacking at the beginning of the course.

  20. Basic concepts in physics. From the cosmos to quarks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chaichian, M.; Tureanu, A. [Helsinki Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Physics; Perez Rojas, H. [ICIMAF, La Habana (Cuba). Dept. of Theoretical Physics

    2014-08-01

    A clear, concise and beautifully written presentation of modern physics. Readers will not only learn physics, they will learn to enjoy it. Self-contained and comprehensive History, concepts and formal treatment go hand-in-hand. Suppresses mathematical technicalities in favor of a wide scope of topics. Suited for class use, e.g. as a textbook for the course ''Modern Physics'', but also ideal for ''lone explorers'' and other newcomers to physics. ''Basic Concepts in Physics: From the Cosmos to Quarks'' is the outcome of the authors' long and varied teaching experience in different countries and for different audiences, and gives an accessible and eminently readable introduction to all the main ideas of modern physics. The book's fresh approach, using a novel combination of historical and conceptual viewpoints, makes it ideal complementary reading to more standard textbooks. The first five chapters are devoted to classical physics, from planetary motion to special relativity, always keeping in mind its relevance to questions of contemporary interest. The next six chapters deal mainly with newer developments in physics, from quantum theory and general relativity to grand unified theories, and the book concludes by discussing the role of physics in living systems. A basic grounding in mathematics is required of the reader, but technicalities are avoided as far as possible; thus complex calculations are omitted so long as the essential ideas remain clear. The book is addressed to undergraduate and graduate students in physics and will also be appreciated by many professional physicists. It will likewise be of interest to students, researchers and teachers of other natural sciences, as well as to engineers, high-school teachers and the curious general reader, who will come to understand what physics is about and how it describes the different phenomena of Nature. Not only will readers of this book learn