Remarkable weakness against cleavage stress for YBCO-coated conductors and its effect on the YBCO coil performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagisawa, Y.; Nakagome, H.; Takematsu, T.; Takao, T.; Sato, N.; Takahashi, M.; Maeda, H.

2011-01-01

Cleavage strength for YBCO-coated conductor is extremely low, typically 0.5 MPa. The remarkable weakness is due to cracks on the slit edge of the conductor. The cleavage stress appears on YBCO double pancake coils impregnated with epoxy. The cleavage stress should be avoided in the coil winding. Cleavage strength for an YBCO-coated conductor at 77 K was investigated with a model experiment. The nominal cleavage strength for an YBCO-coated conductor is extremely low, typically 0.5 MPa. This low nominal cleavage strength is due to stress concentration on a small part of the YBCO-coated conductor in cleavage fracture. Debonding by the cleavage stress occurs at the interface between the buffer layer and the Hastelloy substrate. The nominal cleavage strength for a slit edge of the conductor is 2.5-times lower than that for the original edge of the conductor; cracks and micro-peel existing over the slit edge reduce the cleavage strength for the slit edge. Cleavage stress and peel stress should be avoided in coil winding, as they easily delaminate the YBCO-coated conductor, resulting in substantial degradation of coil performance. These problems are especially important for epoxy impregnated YBCO-coated conductor coils. It appears that effect of cleavage stress and peel stress are mostly negligible for paraffin impregnated YBCO-coated conductor coils or dry wound YBCO-coated conductor coils.

Welcome and introductory remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Straalsund, J.L.; Wiley, W.R.; Wagoner, J.D.

1993-01-01

Attendees are welcomed to the conference. The general scope of the problem is touched on, and the driving point is made, that the development of new technology is necessary to meet the environmental restoration goals for the Hanford Reservation with a reasonable expenditure of funds and resources. If present technology in treating radioactive waste has to be applied to the wastes prior to final disposal, then the processing costs, and the resultant disposal costs, because of the volume of material to be disposed of, will be tremendous. This conference brings together researchers from national laboratories, universities, and industry to present the scope of the problem, the present status of separation science, and to encourage new technological development

Probe Techniques. Introductory Remarks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Emeleus, K. G. [School of Physics and Applied Mathematics, Queen' s University, Belfast (United Kingdom)

1968-04-15

In this brief introduction to the session on probes, the history of theii development is first touched on briefly. Reference is then made to the significance of the work to be described by Medicus, for conductivity and recombination calculations, and by Lam and Su, for a wide range of medium and higher pressure plasmas. Finally, a number of other probe topics are mentioned, including multiple probes; probes in electronegative plasmas; resonance probes; probes in noisy discharges; probes as oscillation detectors; use of probes where space-charge is not negligible. (author)

A Modified Approach to the Introductory Economics Course in a School of Business

Science.gov (United States)

Crockett, G. V.

1977-01-01

Describes course format, materials development, and evaluation of an introductory economics course which stressed problem solving techniques and conceptual skills instead of rote memorization of factual content. For journal availability, see SO 506 029. (AV)

Some remarks on the specification of seismic conditions for NPPs, based on the Romanian experience

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sandi, H [INCERC Building Research Inst., Bucharest (Romania)

1993-07-01

Some introductory remarks are devoted to the importance of revising the level of earthquake protection of NPPs, given the new knowledge at hand. Some summary data on the seismicity of Romania are given, with emphasis on the implications of instrumental data obtained during the recent strong intermediate depth earthquake of 1986 and 1990. Some problems raised by the new data in connection with the Cernavoda NPP (currently under construction), from the viewpoint of ground and floor design conditions, are discussed. Some proposals are then presented in connection with the future activities related to the verification of NPPs of the region. (author)

Some remarks on the specification of seismic conditions for NPPs, based on the Romanian experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandi, H.

1993-01-01

Some introductory remarks are devoted to the importance of revising the level of earthquake protection of NPPs, given the new knowledge at hand. Some summary data on the seismicity of Romania are given, with emphasis on the implications of instrumental data obtained during the recent strong intermediate depth earthquake of 1986 and 1990. Some problems raised by the new data in connection with the Cernavoda NPP (currently under construction), from the viewpoint of ground and floor design conditions, are discussed. Some proposals are then presented in connection with the future activities related to the verification of NPPs of the region. (author)

Remarkable resilience of teeth.

Science.gov (United States)

Chai, Herzl; Lee, James J-W; Constantino, Paul J; Lucas, Peter W; Lawn, Brian R

2009-05-05

Tooth enamel is inherently weak, with fracture toughness comparable with glass, yet it is remarkably resilient, surviving millions of functional contacts over a lifetime. We propose a microstructural mechanism of damage resistance, based on observations from ex situ loading of human and sea otter molars (teeth with strikingly similar structural features). Section views of the enamel implicate tufts, hypomineralized crack-like defects at the enamel-dentin junction, as primary fracture sources. We report a stabilization in the evolution of these defects, by "stress shielding" from neighbors, by inhibition of ensuing crack extension from prism interweaving (decussation), and by self-healing. These factors, coupled with the capacity of the tooth configuration to limit the generation of tensile stresses in largely compressive biting, explain how teeth may absorb considerable damage over time without catastrophic failure, an outcome with strong implications concerning the adaptation of animal species to diet.

Introductory remarks of the Panellists

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Repacholi, R.

2008-01-01

It is important that local populations be informed of the Chernobyl Forum results, and this can be done very effectively through health care professionals, who tend to be trusted in the communities that they serve. They should therefore be provided with all the necessary information. As regards future research, the three Governments should cooperate closely with scientists around the world. The aim should be the study of a single large population group covering all three countries, with a single protocol so that we can maximize the statistical power and the sensitivity of the study

Introductory remarks by Augusto Ancarani

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ancarani, Augusto

1989-01-01

The subject proposed for the present roundtable is in the form of a twofold question. To assert that advocates and adversaries of nuclear power are listening to each other will hopefully result from what will be said. But, as far as the chance of a dialogue is concerned, one can answer in the positive from the start. Indeed a dialogue is always possible, even among deaf people, provided they are polite. This has been and still is the situation in many instances. If we consider the politics situation in a worldwide perspective, we hove to acknowledge that the mood is favorable to the dialogue on almost every possible subject. If this is true among the great powers, it will also be the case, at all the Levels, inside our democratic and articulate societies, O rice set in motion the solution of the great problems concerning peace among notions, still remain to be tackled the ones about the welfare of humankind. Such welfare rests heavily on the availability of energy; besides, energy cannot bp produced without some consequences upon the environment. This process will bi a Long and a difficult one; it will be exhausted only through confrontations, exchanges of view, dialogues, discussions - any term that you will care to choose

The Climate Experiences of Students in Introductory Biology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramón S. Barthelemy

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Understanding course climate is important for improving students’ experiences and increasing the likelihood of their persistence in STEM fields. This study presents climate survey results from 523 students taking introductory biology at the University of Michigan. Principal component analysis revealed that a student’s climate experience is comprised of five main elements: comfort, school avoidance, relationship to course, academic stress, and discomfort. Of these climate factors, comfort, school avoidance, and relationship to course were significant predictors of course satisfaction, and academic stress was a significant predictor of persistence. The results indicated the importance of a positive climate that is facilitated by the instructor in order to promote a positive student experience. Climate may be an important metric for institutions to track across time and course.

Mathematical Rigor in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Vandyke, Michael; Bassichis, William

2011-10-01

Calculus-based introductory physics courses intended for future engineers and physicists are often designed and taught in the same fashion as those intended for students of other disciplines. A more mathematically rigorous curriculum should be more appropriate and, ultimately, more beneficial for the student in his or her future coursework. This work investigates the effects of mathematical rigor on student understanding of introductory mechanics. Using a series of diagnostic tools in conjunction with individual student course performance, a statistical analysis will be performed to examine student learning of introductory mechanics and its relation to student understanding of the underlying calculus.

An Empirical Consideration of a Balanced Amalgamation of Learning Strategies in Graduate Introductory Statistics Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughn, Brandon K.

2009-01-01

This study considers the effectiveness of a "balanced amalgamated" approach to teaching graduate level introductory statistics. Although some research stresses replacing traditional lectures with more active learning methods, the approach of this study is to combine effective lecturing with active learning and team projects. The results of this…

A MOOC for Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Schatz, Michael

2014-03-01

We describe an effort to develop and to implement a college-level introductory physics (mechanics) MOOC that offers bona fide laboratory experiences. We also discuss efforts to use MOOC curricular materials to ``flip'' the classroom in a large lecture introductory physics course offered on-campus at Georgia Tech. Preliminary results of assessments and surveys from both MOOC and on-campus students will be presented.

News clippings for introductory astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Bobrowsky, Matthew

1999-09-01

Most students entering our introductory astronomy course for nonscience majors arrive not merely lacking scientific facts-they also have misconceptions about the nature of science, and many have a handicapping ``science anxiety'' (in addition to math anxiety). So I have added a ``current science'' requirement to our introductory course. Each student must compile a file of five astronomy news articles taken from readily available sources.

Psychology Ethics in Introductory Psychology Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Zucchero, Renee' A.

2011-01-01

Previous research revealed that introductory psychology textbooks included limited information about psychology ethics. This study reviewed 48 current introductory psychology textbooks for research and other APA ethics content. These textbooks included slightly more total ethics content and were more thorough in their review of research ethics…

Introductory Guide to European Corporate Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fomcenco, Alex

Introductory Guide to European Corporate Law presents in an easily comprehensible and accessible way the main features and principles that govern European corporate law.......Introductory Guide to European Corporate Law presents in an easily comprehensible and accessible way the main features and principles that govern European corporate law....

The Memorability of Introductory Psychology Revisited

Science.gov (United States)

Landrum, R. Eric; Gurung, Regan A. R.

2013-01-01

Almost 2 million students enroll in introductory psychology each year in the United States, making it the second most popular undergraduate course in the nation. Introductory psychology not only serves as a prerequisite for other courses in the discipline but for some students this course provides their only exposure to psychological science.…

Introductory physics in biological context: An approach to improve introductory physics for life science students

Science.gov (United States)

Crouch, Catherine H.; Heller, Kenneth

2014-05-01

We describe restructuring the introductory physics for life science students (IPLS) course to better support these students in using physics to understand their chosen fields. Our courses teach physics using biologically rich contexts. Specifically, we use examples in which fundamental physics contributes significantly to understanding a biological system to make explicit the value of physics to the life sciences. This requires selecting the course content to reflect the topics most relevant to biology while maintaining the fundamental disciplinary structure of physics. In addition to stressing the importance of the fundamental principles of physics, an important goal is developing students' quantitative and problem solving skills. Our guiding pedagogical framework is the cognitive apprenticeship model, in which learning occurs most effectively when students can articulate why what they are learning matters to them. In this article, we describe our courses, summarize initial assessment data, and identify needs for future research.

Crossword Puzzles as Learning Tools in Introductory Soil Science

Science.gov (United States)

Barbarick, K. A.

2010-01-01

Students in introductory courses generally respond favorably to novel approaches to learning. To this end, I developed and used three crossword puzzles in spring and fall 2009 semesters in Introductory Soil Science Laboratory at Colorado State University. The first hypothesis was that crossword puzzles would improve introductory soil science…

Brief introductory remarks on heterogeneous photocatalysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Serpone, Nick [Laboratory of Pure and Applied Studies in Catalysis, Environment and Materials, Department of Chemistry, Concordia University, Montreal, QU (Canada)

1995-08-01

Special attention is paid to heterogeneous photocatalysis, in particular to photocatalysis utilizing titania (anatase, TiO{sub 2}) since both H{sub 2}O{sub 2} and O{sub 3} absorb no sunlight, while TiO{sub 2} does absorb sunlight, though not extensively. It is also worth noting that many of the pollutants existing in water absorb little of the sunlight, either because their spectral properties do not overlap with the sun`s spectrum (AM1) or because sunlight never reaches the pollutants, particularly when these are adsorbed in sediments in rivers and lakes.

Qualitative Research in Communication. Introductory Remarks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liz Yeomans

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The 20th century’s epistemological turn in social sciences (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994; Punch, 2013 acknowledged the importance of qualitative research methods. The need for this turn was also pointed out by Habermas (1979, who noticed that the way data was collected in social sciences affected the analysis and data interpretation. Research gained a comprehensive character and proposed a phenomenological approach of reality (Guba & Lincoln, 1994; Willig, 2008; Lindlof & Taylor, 2011. Nowadays, we notice a “more confident community of scholars” whose earlier endeavors had “opened up the study of cultures, meanings, symbolic performances, and social practices” (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002, p. xi.

The globalization of epidemiology: introductory remarks.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Neil

2004-10-01

We are all living in the era of globalization, and like it or not, it is going to change the way we practice epidemiology, the kinds of questions we ask, and the methods we use to answer them. Increasingly, pubic health problems are being shifted from rich countries to poor countries and from rich to poor populations within Western countries. There is increasing interest and concern about the situation in non-Western populations on the part of Western epidemiologists, with regards to collaborative research, skills transfer, and 'volunteerism' to enable the 'benefits' of Western approaches to epidemiology to be shared by the non-Western world. However, most existing collaborations benefit Western epidemiologists rather than the countries in which the research is conducted. Even when research in non-Western populations is conducted as a genuine collaboration, it can too often 'export failure' from the West. On the other hand, non-Western epidemiologists are increasingly developing new and innovative approaches to health research that are more appropriate to the global public health issues they are addressing. These include recognition of the importance of context and the importance of diversity and local knowledge, and a problem-based approach to addressing the major public health problems using appropriate technology. These debates formed the background for a plenary session on 'International Epidemiology and International Health' at the recent International Epidemiological Association (IEA) meeting in Montreal, and the papers from this session are presented here. The development of a truly global epidemiology can not only better address the public health problems in non-Western populations, but can shed light on the current limitations of epidemiology in addressing the major public health problems in the West.

Preface: Introductory Remarks: Linear Scaling Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Bowler, D. R.; Fattebert, J.-L.; Gillan, M. J.; Haynes, P. D.; Skylaris, C.-K.

2008-07-01

It has been just over twenty years since the publication of the seminal paper on molecular dynamics with ab initio methods by Car and Parrinello [1], and the contribution of density functional theory (DFT) and the related techniques to physics, chemistry, materials science, earth science and biochemistry has been huge. Nevertheless, significant improvements are still being made to the performance of these standard techniques; recent work suggests that speed improvements of one or even two orders of magnitude are possible [2]. One of the areas where major progress has long been expected is in O(N), or linear scaling, DFT, in which the computer effort is proportional to the number of atoms. Linear scaling DFT methods have been in development for over ten years [3] but we are now in an exciting period where more and more research groups are working on these methods. Naturally there is a strong and continuing effort to improve the efficiency of the methods and to make them more robust. But there is also a growing ambition to apply them to challenging real-life problems. This special issue contains papers submitted following the CECAM Workshop 'Linear-scaling ab initio calculations: applications and future directions', held in Lyon from 3-6 September 2007. A noteworthy feature of the workshop is that it included a significant number of presentations involving real applications of O(N) methods, as well as work to extend O(N) methods into areas of greater accuracy (correlated wavefunction methods, quantum Monte Carlo, TDDFT) and large scale computer architectures. As well as explicitly linear scaling methods, the conference included presentations on techniques designed to accelerate and improve the efficiency of standard (that is non-linear-scaling) methods; this highlights the important question of crossover—that is, at what size of system does it become more efficient to use a linear-scaling method? As well as fundamental algorithmic questions, this brings up implementation questions relating to parallelization (particularly with multi-core processors starting to dominate the market) and inherent scaling and basis sets (in both normal and linear scaling codes). For now, the answer seems to lie between 100-1,000 atoms, though this depends on the type of simulation used among other factors. Basis sets are still a problematic question in the area of electronic structure calculations. The linear scaling community has largely split into two camps: those using relatively small basis sets based on local atomic-like functions (where systematic convergence to the full basis set limit is hard to achieve); and those that use necessarily larger basis sets which allow convergence systematically and therefore are the localised equivalent of plane waves. Related to basis sets is the study of Wannier functions, on which some linear scaling methods are based and which give a good point of contact with traditional techniques; they are particularly interesting for modelling unoccupied states with linear scaling methods. There are, of course, as many approaches to linear scaling solution for the density matrix as there are groups in the area, though there are various broad areas: McWeeny-based methods, fragment-based methods, recursion methods, and combinations of these. While many ideas have been in development for several years, there are still improvements emerging, as shown by the rich variety of the talks below. Applications using O(N) DFT methods are now starting to emerge, though they are still clearly not trivial. Once systems to be simulated cross the 10,000 atom barrier, only linear scaling methods can be applied, even with the most efficient standard techniques. One of the most challenging problems remaining, now that ab initio methods can be applied to large systems, is the long timescale problem. Although much of the work presented was concerned with improving the performance of the codes, and applying them to scientificallyimportant problems, there was another important theme: extending functionality. The search for greater accuracy has given an implementation of density functional designed to model van der Waals interactions accurately as well as local correlation, TDDFT and QMC and GW methods which, while not explicitly O(N), take advantage of localisation. All speakers at the workshop were invited to contribute to this issue, but not all were able to do this. Hence it is useful to give a complete list of the talks presented, with the names of the sessions; however, many talks fell within more than one area. This is an exciting time for linear scaling methods, which are already starting to contribute significantly to important scientific problems. Applications to nanostructures and biomolecules A DFT study on the structural stability of Ge 3D nanostructures on Si(001) using CONQUEST Tsuyoshi Miyazaki, D R Bowler, M J Gillan, T Otsuka and T Ohno Large scale electronic structure calculation theory and several applications Takeo Fujiwara and Takeo Hoshi ONETEP:Linear-scaling DFT with plane waves Chris-Kriton Skylaris, Peter D Haynes, Arash A Mostofi, Mike C Payne Maximally-localised Wannier functions as building blocks for large-scale electronic structure calculations Arash A Mostofi and Nicola Marzari A linear scaling three dimensional fragment method for ab initio calculations Lin-Wang Wang, Zhengji Zhao, Juan Meza Peta-scalable reactive Molecular dynamics simulation of mechanochemical processes Aiichiro Nakano, Rajiv K. Kalia, Ken-ichi Nomura, Fuyuki Shimojo and Priya Vashishta Recent developments and applications of the real-space multigrid (RMG) method Jerzy Bernholc, M Hodak, W Lu, and F Ribeiro Energy minimisation functionals and algorithms CONQUEST: A linear scaling DFT Code David R Bowler, Tsuyoshi Miyazaki, Antonio Torralba, Veronika Brazdova, Milica Todorovic, Takao Otsuka and Mike Gillan Kernel optimisation and the physical significance of optimised local orbitals in the ONETEP code Peter Haynes, Chris-Kriton Skylaris, Arash Mostofi and Mike Payne A miscellaneous overview of SIESTA algorithms Jose M Soler Wavelets as a basis set for electronic structure calculations and electrostatic problems Stefan Goedecker Wavelets as a basis set for linear scaling electronic structure calculationsMark Rayson O(N) Krylov subspace method for large-scale ab initio electronic structure calculations Taisuke Ozaki Linear scaling calculations with the divide-and-conquer approach and with non-orthogonal localized orbitals Weitao Yang Toward efficient wavefunction based linear scaling energy minimization Valery Weber Accurate O(N) first-principles DFT calculations using finite differences and confined orbitals Jean-Luc Fattebert Linear-scaling methods in dynamics simulations or beyond DFT and ground state properties An O(N) time-domain algorithm for TDDFT Guan Hua Chen Local correlation theory and electronic delocalization Joseph Subotnik Ab initio molecular dynamics with linear scaling: foundations and applications Eiji Tsuchida Towards a linear scaling Car-Parrinello-like approach to Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics Thomas Kühne, Michele Ceriotti, Matthias Krack and Michele Parrinello Partial linear scaling for quantum Monte Carlo calculations on condensed matter Mike Gillan Exact embedding of local defects in crystals using maximally localized Wannier functions Eric Cancès Faster GW calculations in larger model structures using ultralocalized nonorthogonal Wannier functions Paolo Umari Other approaches for linear-scaling, including methods formetals Partition-of-unity finite element method for large, accurate electronic-structure calculations of metals John E Pask and Natarajan Sukumar Semiclassical approach to density functional theory Kieron Burke Ab initio transport calculations in defected carbon nanotubes using O(N) techniques Blanca Biel, F J Garcia-Vidal, A Rubio and F Flores Large-scale calculations with the tight-binding (screened) KKR method Rudolf Zeller Acknowledgments We gratefully acknowledge funding for the workshop from the UK CCP9 network, CECAM and the ESF through the PsiK network. DRB, PDH and CKS are funded by the Royal Society. References [1] Car R and Parrinello M 1985 Phys. Rev. Lett. 55 2471 [2] Kühne T D, Krack M, Mohamed F R and Parrinello M 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 066401 [3] Goedecker S 1999 Rev. Mod. Phys. 71 1085

Introductory Punjabi.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahri, Ujjal Singh; Walia, Paramjit Singh

This introductory text in Punjabi (also spelled Panjabi) is intended primarily for those whose mother tongue is not Punjabi but are native speakers of other Indian languages. Some familiarity with the Punjabi cultural items is presupposed. The non-Indian may, however, also be able to use this text with profit since the lessons are graded. The…

Using Isomorphic Problems to Learn Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2011-01-01

In this study, we examine introductory physics students' ability to perform analogical reasoning between two isomorphic problems which employ the same underlying physics principles but have different surface features. Three hundred sixty-two students from a calculus-based and an algebra-based introductory physics course were given a quiz in the…

A Readability Analysis of Selected Introductory Economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallagher, Daniel J.; Thompson, G. Rodney

1981-01-01

To aid secondary school and college level economics teachers as they select textbooks for introductory economics courses, this article recounts how teachers can use the Flesch Reading Ease Test to measure readability. Data are presented on application of the Flesch Reading Ease Test to 15 introductory economics textbooks. (Author/DB)

Technical co-operation for development. Introductory statement to the 4th scientific forum during the 45th session of the General Conference. Vienna, 18 September 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ElBaradei, M.

2001-01-01

Dr. ElBaradei opened the forum on Technical Co-operation for Development with some introductory remarks. He said it was the goal of the forum to raise general awareness of some lesser-known nuclear technologies by presenting a number of highly successful examples of technology transfer activities, food security, water resources management, and human health. He raised key questions for consideration, and introduced the chairperson of the forum

Teaching Introductory Geoscience: A Cutting Edge Workshop Report

Science.gov (United States)

Manduca, C.; Tewksbury, B.; Egger, A.; MacDonald, H.; Kirk, K.

2008-12-01

Introductory undergraduate courses play a pivotal role in the geosciences. They serve as recruiting grounds for majors and future professionals, provide relevant experiences in geoscience for pre-service teachers, and offer opportunities to influence future policy makers, business people, professionals, and citizens. An introductory course is also typically the only course in geoscience that most of our students will ever take. Because the role of introductory courses is pivotal in geoscience education, a workshop on Teaching Introductory Courses in the 21st Century was held in July 2008 as part of the On the Cutting Edge faculty development program. A website was also developed in conjunction with the workshop. One of the central themes of the workshop was the importance of considering the long-term impact a course should have on students. Ideally, courses can be designed with this impact in mind. Approaches include using the local geology to focus the course and illustrate concepts; designing a course for particular audience (such as Geology for Engineers); creating course features that help students understand and interpret geoscience in the news; and developing capstone projects to teach critical thinking and problem solving skills in a geologic context. Workshop participants also explored strategies for designing engaging activities including exploring with Google Earth, using real-world scenarios, connecting with popular media, or making use of campus features on local field trips. In addition, introductory courses can emphasize broad skills such as teaching the process of science, using quantitative reasoning and developing communication skills. Materials from the workshop as well as descriptions of more than 150 introductory courses and 350 introductory-level activities are available on the website: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/intro/index.html.

Beginning Introductory Physics with Two-Dimensional Motion

Science.gov (United States)

Huggins, Elisha

2009-01-01

During the session on "Introductory College Physics Textbooks" at the 2007 Summer Meeting of the AAPT, there was a brief discussion about whether introductory physics should begin with one-dimensional motion or two-dimensional motion. Here we present the case that by starting with two-dimensional motion, we are able to introduce a considerable…

Remark on the gravitational field produced by an infinite straight string

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francisco, G.; Matsas, G.E.A.

1989-01-01

The results predicted by Newtonian gravity and general relativity are compared regarding the field produced by an infinite gauge string with constant density λ. A simple gedankenexperiment is suggested to stress the remarkable differences between these two theories. The existence of the usual Newtonian limit is discussed in this case

Introductory photoemission theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arai, Hiroko; Fujikawa, Takashi

2010-01-01

An introductory review is presented on the basis of many-body scattering theory. Some fundamental aspects of photoemission theory are discussed in detail. A few applications are also discussed; photoelectron diffraction, depth distribution function and multi-atom resonant photoemission are also discussed briefly. (author)

Modern introductory physics

CERN Document Server

Holbrow, Charles H; Amato, Joseph C; Galvez, Enrique; Parks, M. Elizabeth

2010-01-01

Modern Introductory Physics, 2nd Edition, by Charles H. Holbrow, James N. Lloyd, Joseph C. Amato, Enrique Galvez, and Beth Parks, is a successful innovative text for teaching introductory college and university physics. It is thematically organized to emphasize the physics that answers the fundamental question: Why do we believe in atoms and their properties?  The book provides a sound introduction to basic physical concepts with particular attention to the nineteenth- and twentieth-century physics underlying our modern ideas of atoms and their structure.  After a review of basic Newtonian mechanics, the book discusses early physical evidence that matter is made of atoms.  With a simple model of the atom Newtonian mechanics can explain the ideal gas laws, temperature, and viscosity.  Basic concepts of electricity and magnetism are introduced along with a more complicated model of the atom to account for the observed electrical properties of atoms. The physics of waves---particularly light and x-rays---an...

Teaching a Comprehensive Course on Stress and Work

Science.gov (United States)

DeFrank, Richard S.

2012-01-01

Given the growing literature on and documented importance of workplace stress, it is suggested that this topic deserves more than a casual mention in introductory management classes. The current article reviews a comprehensive course dedicated to the phenomenon of stress in the work setting, which addresses issues such as theories, demands and…

Mathematization in introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Brahmia, Suzanne M.

Mathematization is central to STEM disciplines as a cornerstone of the quantitative reasoning that characterizes these fields. Introductory physics is required for most STEM majors in part so that students develop expert-like mathematization. This dissertation describes coordinated research and curriculum development for strengthening mathematization in introductory physics; it blends scholarship in physics and mathematics education in the form of three papers. The first paper explores mathematization in the context of physics, and makes an original contribution to the measurement of physics students' struggle to mathematize. Instructors naturally assume students have a conceptual mastery of algebra before embarking on a college physics course because these students are enrolled in math courses beyond algebra. This paper provides evidence that refutes the validity of this assumption and categorizes some of the barriers students commonly encounter with quantification and representing ideas symbolically. The second paper develops a model of instruction that can help students progress from their starting points to their instructor's desired endpoints. Instructors recognize that the introductory physics course introduces new ideas at an astonishing rate. More than most physicists realize, however, the way that mathematics is used in the course is foreign to a large portion of class. This paper puts forth an instructional model that can move all students toward better quantitative and physical reasoning, despite the substantial variability of those students' initial states. The third paper describes the design and testing of curricular materials that foster mathematical creativity to prepare students to better understand physics reasoning. Few students enter introductory physics with experience generating equations in response to specific challenges involving unfamiliar quantities and units, yet this generative use of mathematics is typical of the thinking involved in

Opening remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kyd, D.R.

1993-11-01

In his opening remarks Mr. David R. Kyd briefly described the IAEA mission. Then he outlined main aim of the seminar which is bring together journalists, educators, officials and other specialists to let them hear and put questions to experts on various aspects of nuclear energy and techniques. Further he analyzed problems and prospects of energy development in Asia and particularly in China, including environmental considerations. The final part of the remarks was devoted comparative evaluation of different energy production technologies

Adding Resistances and Capacitances in Introductory Electricity

Science.gov (United States)

Efthimiou, C. J.; Llewellyn, R. A.

2005-09-01

All introductory physics textbooks, with or without calculus, cover the addition of both resistances and capacitances in series and in parallel as discrete summations. However, none includes problems that involve continuous versions of resistors in parallel or capacitors in series. This paper introduces a method for solving the continuous problems that is logical, straightforward, and within the mathematical preparation of students at the introductory level.

Introductory real analysis

CERN Document Server

Kolmogorov, A N; Silverman, Richard A

1975-01-01

Self-contained and comprehensive, this elementary introduction to real and functional analysis is readily accessible to those with background in advanced calculus. It covers basic concepts and introductory principles in set theory, metric spaces, topological and linear spaces, linear functionals and linear operators, and much more. 350 problems. 1970 edition.

Teaching Electrostatics and Entropy in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Mark

Entropy changes underlie the physics that dominates biological interactions. Indeed, introductory biology courses often begin with an exploration of the qualities of water that are important to living systems. However, one idea that is not explicitly addressed in most introductory physics or biology courses is important contribution of the entropy in driving fundamental biological processes towards equilibrium. I will present material developed to teach electrostatic screening in solutions and the function of nerve cells where entropic effects act to counterbalance electrostatic attraction. These ideas are taught in an introductory, calculus-based physics course to biomedical engineers using SCALEUP pedagogy. Results of student mastering of complex problems that cross disciplinary boundaries between biology and physics, as well as the challenges that they face in learning this material will be presented.

Assessing expertise in introductory physics using categorization task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Mason

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The ability to categorize problems based upon underlying principles, rather than surface features or contexts, is considered one of several proxy predictors of expertise in problem solving. With inspiration from the classic study by Chi, Feltovich, and Glaser, we assess the distribution of expertise among introductory physics students by asking three introductory physics classes, each with more than a hundred students, to categorize mechanics problems based upon similarity of solution. We compare their categorization with those of physics graduate students and faculty members. To evaluate the effect of problem context on students’ ability to categorize, two sets of problems were developed for categorization. Some problems in one set included those available from the prior study by Chi et al. We find a large overlap between calculus-based introductory students and graduate students with regard to their categorizations that were assessed as “good.” Our findings, which contrast with those of Chi et al., suggest that there is a wide distribution of expertise in mechanics among introductory and graduate students. Although the categorization task is conceptual, introductory students in the calculus-based course performed better than those in the algebra-based course. Qualitative trends in categorization of problems are similar between the non-Chi problems and problems available from the Chi study used in our study although the Chi problems used are more difficult on average.

Synthesis of Ibuprofen in the Introductory Organic Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Kjonaas, Richard A.; Williams, Peggy E.; Counce, David A.; Crawley, Lindsey R.

2011-01-01

A method for the synthesis of ibuprofen in introductory organic chemistry laboratory courses is reported. This experiment requires two 3-h lab sessions. All of the reactions and techniques are a standard part of any introductory organic chemistry course. In the first lab session, students reduce p-isobutylacetophenone to an alcohol and then…

Examining issues of underrepresented minority students in introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Watkins, Jessica Ellen

In this dissertation we examine several issues related to the retention of under-represented minority students in physics and science. In the first section, we show that in calculus-based introductory physics courses, the gender gap on the FCI is diminished through the use of interactive techniques, but in lower-level introductory courses, the gap persists, similar to reports published at other institutions. We find that under-represented racial minorities perform similar to their peers with comparable academic preparation on conceptual surveys, but their average exam grades and course grades are lower. We also examine student persistence in science majors; finding a significant relationship between pedagogy in an introductory physics course and persistence in science. In the second section, we look at student end-of-semester evaluations and find that female students rate interactive teaching methods a full point lower than their male peers. Looking more deeply at student interview data, we find that female students report more social issues related to the discussions in class and both male and female students cite feeling pressure to obtain the correct answer to clicker questions. Finally, we take a look an often-cited claim for gender differences in STEM participation: cognitive differences explain achievement differences in physics. We examine specifically the role of mental rotations in physics achievement and problem-solving, viewing mental rotations as a tool that students can use on physics problems. We first look at student survey results for lower-level introductory students, finding a low, but significant correlation between performance on a mental rotations test and performance in introductory physics courses. In contrast, we did not find a significant relationship for students in the upper-level introductory course. We also examine student problem-solving interviews to investigate the role of mental rotations on introductory problems.

Teaching Introductory Business Statistics Using the DCOVA Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, David M.; Stephan, David F.

2011-01-01

Introductory business statistics students often receive little guidance on how to apply the methods they learn to further business objectives they may one day face. And those students may fail to see the continuity among the topics taught in an introductory course if they learn those methods outside a context that provides a unifying framework.…

Using a Common Experience to Teach Introductory Managerial Accounting

Science.gov (United States)

King, Gail Hoover; McConnell, Cheryl

2010-01-01

Teaching introductory accounting courses can be both challenging and rewarding. In introductory financial and managerial accounting, students struggle with the unfamiliar terminology and concepts. However, managerial accounting offers distinct challenges in that managerial accounting reports used for decision-making are not publically available,…

Qualitative Research for Tobacco Control : A How-to Introductory ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Qualitative Research for Tobacco Control : A How-to Introductory Manual for Researchers and Development Practitioners. Couverture du livre Qualitative Research for Tobacco Control : A How-to Introductory Manual for. Auteur(s):. Alison Mathie et Anne Carnozzi. Maison(s) d'édition: CRDI. 15 janvier 2005. ISBN :.

Using isomorphic problems to learn introductory physics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shih-Yin Lin

2011-08-01

Full Text Available In this study, we examine introductory physics students’ ability to perform analogical reasoning between two isomorphic problems which employ the same underlying physics principles but have different surface features. Three hundred sixty-two students from a calculus-based and an algebra-based introductory physics course were given a quiz in the recitation in which they had to first learn from a solved problem provided and take advantage of what they learned from it to solve another problem (which we call the quiz problem which was isomorphic. Previous research suggests that the multiple-concept quiz problem is challenging for introductory students. Students in different recitation classes received different interventions in order to help them discern and exploit the underlying similarities of the isomorphic solved and quiz problems. We also conducted think-aloud interviews with four introductory students in order to understand in depth the difficulties they had and explore strategies to provide better scaffolding. We found that most students were able to learn from the solved problem to some extent with the scaffolding provided and invoke the relevant principles in the quiz problem. However, they were not necessarily able to apply the principles correctly. Research suggests that more scaffolding is needed to help students in applying these principles appropriately. We outline a few possible strategies for future investigation.

Using isomorphic problems to learn introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2011-12-01

In this study, we examine introductory physics students’ ability to perform analogical reasoning between two isomorphic problems which employ the same underlying physics principles but have different surface features. Three hundred sixty-two students from a calculus-based and an algebra-based introductory physics course were given a quiz in the recitation in which they had to first learn from a solved problem provided and take advantage of what they learned from it to solve another problem (which we call the quiz problem) which was isomorphic. Previous research suggests that the multiple-concept quiz problem is challenging for introductory students. Students in different recitation classes received different interventions in order to help them discern and exploit the underlying similarities of the isomorphic solved and quiz problems. We also conducted think-aloud interviews with four introductory students in order to understand in depth the difficulties they had and explore strategies to provide better scaffolding. We found that most students were able to learn from the solved problem to some extent with the scaffolding provided and invoke the relevant principles in the quiz problem. However, they were not necessarily able to apply the principles correctly. Research suggests that more scaffolding is needed to help students in applying these principles appropriately. We outline a few possible strategies for future investigation.

The Greening of Marketing: An Analysis of Introductory Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

DeMoss, Michelle; Nicholson, Carolyn Y.

2005-01-01

In this study, the authors examined whether introductory marketing textbooks contain the information that is needed to educate future business leaders about the important role of environmentally sustainable practices. We content-analyzed the 21 current introductory marketing textbooks for coverage of these practices. The results showed limited,…

A Diagnostic Assessment for Introductory Molecular and Cell Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jia; Wood, William B.; Martin, Jennifer M.; Guild, Nancy A.; Vicens, Quentin; Knight, Jennifer K.

2010-01-01

We have developed and validated a tool for assessing understanding of a selection of fundamental concepts and basic knowledge in undergraduate introductory molecular and cell biology, focusing on areas in which students often have misconceptions. This multiple-choice Introductory Molecular and Cell Biology Assessment (IMCA) instrument is designed…

Introductory remarks about the international fuel cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolfe, B.

1989-01-01

The reason why nuclear power has promise is because of the promise of its fuel cycle. The fuel cycle is in fairly good shape and has demonstrated the characteristics of good economics, good general characterization, and good maintenance of the various parts of the fuel cycle. The thermal recycling of fuel is an area in which the economics have changed to the point that, at least in many parts of the world, it's no longer economical

Routine medicare and radiation exposure. Introductory remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirata, Hideki; Saito, Tsutomu

2013-01-01

As an introduction of the title series, outlines of radiation in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, biological effect and protection are explained from the clinical doctors' aspect of routine medicare, and of radiation exposure in which people's interest is raised after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident in 2011. For physics, ionizing effects of radiation are described in relation to its quantum energy transfer and its medical utilization like imaging and radiotherapy. Then mentioned in brief is the radiation from elements consisting of human body, cosmic ray and background radiation from the earth, with reference to natural and standardized limits of exposure doses. Radiations from 226 Rn and 40 K are explained as an instance of environmental natural sources together with the concepts of radioactive decay series/scheme, of internal exposure, of hazard like double strand break (DSB) and of medical use such as boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). For an artifact radiation source, shown are fission products of 235 U by neutron, first yielded in 1945. Evidence of evolution in biochemical repair mechanisms of DSB is explained with a comparison of irradiated drosophila mutation where linear non-threshold (LNT) hypothesis is proposed, and human non-homologous end joining and homologous recombination. Historical process of occupational, medical, public exposures and their protection is finally described from the discovery of X-ray in 1895 to the first ICRP publication in 1958 via the A-bomb explosion in 1945. (T.T.)

Recent advances in membrane materials: introductory remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayral, A.

2007-01-01

A lot of separation operations are currently performed using membranes both for production processes and for environmental applications. The main part of the used membranes are organic membranes but for specific conditions of utilization inorganic or organic-inorganic membranes have been also developed. Among the applications for gas separation, some examples are the removal of hydrogen from ammonia synthesis gas, the removal of carbon dioxide from natural gas and air separation. Environmental considerations like massive scale air and water pollution and also the gradual rarefaction of fossil energy resources gave rise to the concept of sustainable growth and to related strategies like process intensification, the reuse of water and solvents at their point of use, hydrogen as energy vector (requiring H 2 production...)..Membranes will have a key part to play in the new technologies associated with these strategies. Intensive efforts of research and development are now engaged everywhere in the world to develop high performance membranes for those emerging applications. Membrane science is a multidisciplinary scientific and technological domain covering mainly materials science, physical chemistry, chemical engineering, modeling. This issue (Annales de chimie - Science des materiaux, 2007 Vol.32 N.2) provides a wide review of recent advances in membrane materials. It is based on the contributions of experts in different fields of membrane materials (organic, organic-inorganic hybrid, composite, carbon, metallic, ceramic; dense, porous, surface modified materials). (O.M.)

Introductory quantum mechanics for semiconductor nanotechnology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Dae Mann

2010-01-01

The result of the nano education project run by the Korean Nano Technology Initiative, this has been recommended for use as official textbook by the Korean Nanotechnology Research Society. The author is highly experienced in teaching both physics and engineering in academia and industry, and naturally adopts an interdisciplinary approach here. He is short on formulations but long on applications, allowing students to understand the essential workings of quantum mechanics without spending too much time covering the wide realms of physics. He takes care to provide sufficient technical background and motivation for students to pursue further studies of advanced quantum mechanics and stresses the importance of translating quantum insights into useful and tangible innovations and inventions. As such, this is the only work to cover semiconductor nanotechnology from the perspective of introductory quantum mechanics, with applications including mainstream semiconductor technologies as well as (nano)devices, ranging from photodetectors, laser diodes, and solar cells to transistors and Schottky contacts. Problems are also provided to test the reader's understanding and supplementary material available includes working presentation files, solutions and instructors manuals. (orig.)

Introductory Textbooks and Plagiarism in Higher Education: A Case Study from Economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Paul

2002-01-01

Textbooks are powerful technologies that are foundational to introductory level courses. In the research site of an introductory economic classroom, the textbook is positioned as having status similar to that of a canonical religious text. This study investigated how student reading and writing can be problematic when introductory level courses…

Sensors an introductory course

CERN Document Server

Kalantar-zadeh, Kourosh

2013-01-01

Sensors: An Introductory Course provides an essential reference on the fundamentals of sensors. The book is designed to help readers in developing skills and the understanding required in order to implement a wide range of sensors that are commonly used in our daily lives. This book covers the basic concepts in the sensors field, including definitions and terminologies. The physical sensing effects are described, and devices which utilize these effects are presented. The most frequently used organic and inorganic sensors are introduced and the techniques for implementing them are discussed. This book: Provides a comprehensive representation of the most common sensors and can be used as a reference in relevant fields Presents learning materials in a concise and easy to understand manner Includes examples of how sensors are incorporated in real life measurements Contains detailed figures and schematics to assist in understanding the sensor performance Sensors: An Introductory Course is ideal for university stu...

The Impact of Baby Swimming on Introductory and Elementary Swimming Training

OpenAIRE

Břízová, Gabriela

2007-01-01

THESIS ANNOTATION Title: The Impact of Baby Swimming on Introductory and Elementary Swimming Training Aim: To assess the impact of 'baby swimming' on the successfulness in introductory and partly in elementary swimming training, and to find out whether also other circumstances (for example the length of attendance at 'baby swimming') have some influence on introductory swimming training. Methods: We used a questionnaire method for the parents of children who had attended 'baby swimming' and f...

Redesigning a Large Introductory Course to Incorporate the GAISE Guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Woodard, Roger; McGowan, Herle

2012-01-01

In 2005, the "Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education" (GAISE) college report described several recommendations for teaching introductory statistics. This paper discusses how a large multi-section introductory course was redesigned in order to implement these recommendations. The experience described discusses…

A Citation Analysis of Who's Who in Introductory Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Griggs, Richard A.; Proctor, Derrick L.

2002-01-01

Given the many changes in the introductory psychology textbook market in the past 2 decades and the lack of a recent citation study of introductory texts, we conducted a citation analysis of a stratified random sample of current texts. To provide a more comprehensive picture of current citation emphases, we extended our analysis to the top 60…

Faraday's Principle and Air Travel in the Introductory Labs

Science.gov (United States)

Abdul-Razzaq, Wathiq; Thakur, Saikat Chakraborty

2017-01-01

We all know that we must improve the quality of teaching in science at all levels. Not only physicists but also many students from other areas of study take the introductory physics courses in college. Physics introductory laboratories (labs) can be one of the best tools to help these students understand applications of scientific principles that…

Fish: A New Computer Program for Friendly Introductory Statistics Help

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Gordon P.; Raffle, Holly

2005-01-01

All introductory statistics students must master certain basic descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations and correlations. Students must also gain insight into such complex concepts as the central limit theorem and standard error. This article introduces and describes the Friendly Introductory Statistics Help (FISH) computer…

Introductory Biology Textbooks Under-Represent Scientific Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dara B. Duncan

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Attrition of undergraduates from Biology majors is a long-standing problem. Introductory courses that fail to engage students or spark their curiosity by emphasizing the open-ended and creative nature of biological investigation and discovery could contribute to student detachment from the field. Our hypothesis was that introductory biology books devote relatively few figures to illustration of the design and interpretation of experiments or field studies, thereby de-emphasizing the scientific process.To investigate this possibility, we examined figures in six Introductory Biology textbooks published in 2008. On average, multistep scientific investigations were presented in fewer than 5% of the hundreds of figures in each book. Devoting such a small percentage of figures to the processes by which discoveries are made discourages an emphasis on scientific thinking. We suggest that by increasing significantly the illustration of scientific investigations, textbooks could support undergraduates’ early interest in biology, stimulate the development of design and analytical skills, and inspire some students to participate in investigations of their own.

Remarks on the necessity and uniqueness of the gravitational stress-energy pseudotensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noonan, T.W.

1987-01-01

Two uniqueness theorems are presented. The first one proves that the gravitational stress-energy pseudotensors (with upper indices) whose existence was demonstrated by Chandrasekhar are the only ones which are quadratic in the Christoffel symbols. The second theorem proves that the gravitational stress-energy tensor used recently by the writer is the only solution of its differential equation. Furthermore, arguments are presented here for the appropriateness of the differential equation which is used to define the gravitational stress-energy tensor. 7 references

Introductory Statistics in the Garden

Science.gov (United States)

Wagaman, John C.

2017-01-01

This article describes four semesters of introductory statistics courses that incorporate service learning and gardening into the curriculum with applications of the binomial distribution, least squares regression and hypothesis testing. The activities span multiple semesters and are iterative in nature.

Coverage of the Stanford Prison Experiment in Introductory Psychology Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Bartels, Jared M.; Milovich, Marilyn M.; Moussier, Sabrina

2016-01-01

The present study examined the coverage of Stanford prison experiment (SPE), including criticisms of the study, in introductory psychology courses through an online survey of introductory psychology instructors (N = 117). Results largely paralleled those of the recently published textbook analyses with ethical issues garnering the most coverage,…

Some remarks on the analysis of stress-corrosion cracking of austenitic stainless-steel cladding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kupka, I.; Nrkous, P.

1977-01-01

Stress-corrosion cracking is greatly influenced by tensile stresses in the material. The occurrence of tensile stresses in the material under consideration results from residual stresses brought about during manufacturing processes and from stress caused by operation. In the case of an austenitic steel cladding the residual stresses arise in the course of welding and thermal treatment. The technique of residual stress measurement in austenitic cladding materials is described and the results are given. Both the longitudinal and transverse components of the stresses show in all cases similar behaviour not only prior to, but also after heat treatment. (J.B.)

Plasma medicine: an introductory review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kong, M.G.; Kroesen, G.M.W.; Morfill, G.; Nosenko, T.; Shimizu, T.; Dijk, van J.; Zimmermann, J.L.

2009-01-01

This introductory review on plasma health care is intended to provide the interested reader with a summary of the current status of this emerging field, its scope, and its broad interdisciplinary approach, ranging from plasma physics, chemistry and technology, to microbiology, biochemistry,

Microcomputers in the Introductory Laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bare, John K.

1982-01-01

A microcomputer was used successfully to replicate Sternberg's 1966 study of retrieval from short-term memory and Sperling's 1960 study on sensory or iconic memory. Computers with a capacity for measuring reaction time are useful in the laboratory for introductory psychology courses. (SR)

Student Misconceptions in Introductory Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Kathleen M.; Lipson, Joseph I.

Defining a "misconception" as an error of translation (transformation, correspondence, interpolation, interpretation) between two different kinds of information which causes students to have incorrect expectations, a Taxonomy of Errors has been developed to examine student misconceptions in an introductory biology course for science…

CAS Introductory Course in Italy

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

The CERN Accelerator School’s introductory course is a great success. This year the CERN Accelerator School held its "Introduction to Accelerator Physics" course in Frascati, Italy, from 2-14 November in collaboration with the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and the INFN Frascati National Laboratory. The Introductory level course is particularly important since, for the majority of participants, it is the first opportunity to discover the various aspects of accelerator physics. For this school the programme had been significantly revised in order to take into account the new trends currently being developed in the field, thus putting more emphasis on linacs, synchrotron light sources and free-electron lasers. The school was a resounding success with 115 participants of more than 23 nationalities. Feedback from the students praised the expertise of the lecturers, the high standard of the lectures as well as the excellent organizati...

Topical Coverage in Introductory Textbooks from the 1980s through the 2000s

Science.gov (United States)

Griggs, Richard A.

2014-01-01

To determine how topical coverage in introductory textbooks may have changed from the 1980s to the present, the author examined topic coverage in full-length and brief introductory textbooks from this time period. Because 98% of the teachers use textbooks for the introductory course and the majority do not assign reading beyond the textbook, the…

Engaging Students In Modeling Instruction for Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Brewe, Eric

2016-05-01

Teaching introductory physics is arguably one of the most important things that a physics department does. It is the primary way that students from other science disciplines engage with physics and it is the introduction to physics for majors. Modeling instruction is an active learning strategy for introductory physics built on the premise that science proceeds through the iterative process of model construction, development, deployment, and revision. We describe the role that participating in authentic modeling has in learning and then explore how students engage in this process in the classroom. In this presentation, we provide a theoretical background on models and modeling and describe how these theoretical elements are enacted in the introductory university physics classroom. We provide both quantitative and video data to link the development of a conceptual model to the design of the learning environment and to student outcomes. This work is supported in part by DUE #1140706.

Who's Who in Introductory Psychology Textbooks: A Citation Analysis Redux

Science.gov (United States)

Griggs, Richard A.; Christopher, Andrew N.

2016-01-01

It is important to assess periodically how introductory textbooks portray our discipline because introductory psychology is the most popular psychology course, almost all teachers use textbooks for it, and textbooks play a major role in defining the course for students. To do so, past studies have used textbook citation analyses. We analyzed…

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.

Examining the Gender Gap in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Kost, Lauren; Pollock, Steven; Finkelstein, Noah

2009-05-01

Our previous research[1] showed that despite the use of interactive engagement techniques in the introductory physics course, the gap in performance between males and females on a mechanics conceptual learning survey persisted from pre- to post-test, at our institution. Such findings were counter to previously published work[2]. Follow-up studies[3] identified correlations between student performance on the conceptual learning survey and students' prior physics and math knowledge and their incoming attitudes and beliefs about physics and learning physics. The results indicate that the gender gap at our institution is predominantly associated with differences in males' and females' previous physics and math knowledge, and attitudes and beliefs. Our current work extends these results in two ways: 1) we look at the gender gap in the second semester of the introductory sequence and find results similar to those in the first semester course and 2) we identify ways in which males and females differentially experience several aspects of the introductory course. [1] Pollock, et al, Phys Rev: ST: PER 3, 010107. [2] Lorenzo, et al, Am J Phys 74, 118. [3] Kost, et al, PERC Proceedings 2008.

Toward Publicly Responsive Sociology Curricula: The Role of Introductory Sociology

Science.gov (United States)

Greenwood, Nancy A.

2013-01-01

Introductory sociology casts a wide net with regard to its audience and plays an important role in capturing the public eye as well as helping students to make more informed choices in their lives and communities. I ask six questions that help us as sociologists to think about how introductory sociology can better serve our discipline, our…

Introductory statistical inference

CERN Document Server

Mukhopadhyay, Nitis

2014-01-01

This gracefully organized text reveals the rigorous theory of probability and statistical inference in the style of a tutorial, using worked examples, exercises, figures, tables, and computer simulations to develop and illustrate concepts. Drills and boxed summaries emphasize and reinforce important ideas and special techniques.Beginning with a review of the basic concepts and methods in probability theory, moments, and moment generating functions, the author moves to more intricate topics. Introductory Statistical Inference studies multivariate random variables, exponential families of dist

Introductory graph theory

CERN Document Server

Chartrand, Gary

1984-01-01

Graph theory is used today in the physical sciences, social sciences, computer science, and other areas. Introductory Graph Theory presents a nontechnical introduction to this exciting field in a clear, lively, and informative style. Author Gary Chartrand covers the important elementary topics of graph theory and its applications. In addition, he presents a large variety of proofs designed to strengthen mathematical techniques and offers challenging opportunities to have fun with mathematics. Ten major topics - profusely illustrated - include: Mathematical Models, Elementary Concepts of Grap

Concluding remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nariai, H.

2007-01-01

This document provides the speech presented by Hideki Nariai on May 2007 at the workshop on transparency of nuclear regulatory activities. It aims to propose concluding remarks concerning nuclear safety and the necessity to be transparent to the general public. (A.L.B.)

Strengthening introductory psychology: A new model for teaching the introductory course.

Science.gov (United States)

Gurung, Regan A R; Hackathorn, Jana; Enns, Carolyn; Frantz, Susan; Cacioppo, John T; Loop, Trudy; Freeman, James E

2016-01-01

Introductory psychology (Intro Psych) is one of the most popular and frequently taught courses on college campuses, yet educators in psychology have limited knowledge about what is covered in classes around the nation or the extent to which class content reflects the current scope of the discipline. There is no explicit model to guide course content selection for the intro course, which poses substantial challenges for instructors. This article proposes a new model for teaching the intro course that integrates (a) scientific foundations, (b) 5 major domains or pillars of knowledge (biological, cognitive, developmental, social and personality, and mental and physical health), and (c) cross-cutting themes relevant to all domains (cultural and social diversity, ethics, variations in human functioning, and applications; American Psychological Association, 2014). We advocate for national assessment of the course, a similar introductory course for majors and nonmajors, the inclusion of experiential or laboratory components, and additional training resources for instructors of the intro course. Given the exponential growth of psychological knowledge and applications during the past decades, we caution against attempting to provide exhaustive coverage of all topic areas of psychology in a one-semester course. We conclude by discussing the challenges that lie ahead for the discipline of psychology as it launches this new model for Intro Psych. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Failure Rates in Introductory Programming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bennedsen, Jens; Caspersen, Michael Edelgaard

2007-01-01

It is a common conception that CS1 is a very difficult course and that failure rates are high. However, until now there has only been anecdotal evidence for this claim. This article reports on a survey among institutions around the world regarding failure rates in introductory programming courses...

Teaching abstraction in introductory courses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koppelman, Herman; van Dijk, Betsy

Abstraction is viewed as a key concept in computer science. It is not only an important concept but also one that is difficult to master. This paper focuses on the problems that novices experience when they first encounter this concept. Three assignments from introductory courses are analyzed, to

Future of the Introductory Psychology Textbook: A Survey of College Publishers.

Science.gov (United States)

Buskit, William; Cush, David T.

1997-01-01

Examines aspects of the introductory psychology textbook market through a publishing house survey. Aspects covered are the current and future number of introductory texts, fewer textbook publishers, custom publishing, changing content, and computer technologies. Discusses the results of the publishers' responses and provides statistical tables of…

Remarks on residual stress measurement by hole-drilling and electronic speckle pattern interferometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Barile, Claudia; Casavola, Caterina; Pappalettera, Giovanni; Pappalettere, Carmine

2014-01-01

Hole drilling is the most widespread method for measuring residual stress. It is based on the principle that drilling a hole in the material causes a local stress relaxation; the initial residual stress can be calculated by measuring strain in correspondence with each drill depth. Recently optical techniques were introduced to measure strain; in this case, the accuracy of the final results depends, among other factors, on the proper choice of the area of analysis. Deformations are in fact analyzed within an annulus determined by two parameters: the internal and the external radius. In this paper, the influence of the choice of the area of analysis was analysed. A known stress field was introduced on a Ti grade 5 sample and then the stress was measured in correspondence with different values of the internal and the external radius of analysis; results were finally compared with the expected theoretical value.

Remarks on Residual Stress Measurement by Hole-Drilling and Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Barile

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Hole drilling is the most widespread method for measuring residual stress. It is based on the principle that drilling a hole in the material causes a local stress relaxation; the initial residual stress can be calculated by measuring strain in correspondence with each drill depth. Recently optical techniques were introduced to measure strain; in this case, the accuracy of the final results depends, among other factors, on the proper choice of the area of analysis. Deformations are in fact analyzed within an annulus determined by two parameters: the internal and the external radius. In this paper, the influence of the choice of the area of analysis was analysed. A known stress field was introduced on a Ti grade 5 sample and then the stress was measured in correspondence with different values of the internal and the external radius of analysis; results were finally compared with the expected theoretical value.

Semantics in Teaching Introductory Physics.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, H. Thomas

1999-01-01

Contends that the large vocabulary used for precise purposes in physics contains many words that have related but potentially confusing meanings in everyday usage. Analyzes the treatment of Newton's Laws of Motion in several well-known introductory textbooks for evidence of inconsistent language use. Makes teaching suggestions. (Contains 11…

Computational Inquiry in Introductory Statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Toews, Carl

2017-01-01

Inquiry-based pedagogies have a strong presence in proof-based undergraduate mathematics courses, but can be difficult to implement in courses that are large, procedural, or highly computational. An introductory course in statistics would thus seem an unlikely candidate for an inquiry-based approach, as these courses typically steer well clear of…

MRI Experiments for Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Taghizadeh, Sanaz; Lincoln, James

2018-01-01

The introductory physics classroom has long educated students about the properties of the atom and the nucleus. But absent from these lessons has been an informed discussion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its parent science nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Physics teachers should not miss the opportunity to instruct upon this highly…

Introductory remarks: the importance of the initial response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lincoln, T.A.

1980-01-01

The role of preparedness for a radiation accident and the diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients who have been overexposed will be the basis of this report. Special attention will be given to the effects of delay of initiating appropriate core and the state of ignorance about the management of radiation injuries of most practitioners

Introductory remarks on electron capture by multicharged ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crandall, D.H.

1979-01-01

An overview is presented of applications of multicharged-ion electron capture and, through the qualitative assessment of availability of information, the general status of current understanding of such capture. A chart is given on which the various ion collision processes are related to other pertinent fields of physical research notably fusion, astrophysics, the solar corona, and lasers. The production and transport of ions is also noted. The symposium considers collision velocities less than 4 x 10 8 cm/s, where the capture cross sections are largest and where most of the available results are quite recent

29 CFR 1977.1 - Introductory statement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... AND HEALTH ACT OF 1970 General § 1977.1 Introductory statement. (a) The Occupational Safety and Health... Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR... general application designed to regulate employment conditions relating to occupational safety and health...

Factors associated with the success of first-time African American freshmen taking introductory science lecture courses at a private HBCU

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Kendra Leigh

This study had four purposes: (1) to investigate the relationship between performance in introductory biology or introductory chemistry lecture courses and their accompanying laboratory courses, (2) to investigate the relationship between performance in introductory biology or introductory chemistry lecture courses and a student's gender, (3) to investigate the relationship between performance in introductory biology or introductory chemistry lecture courses and a student's major, and (4) to investigate the relationship between performance in introductory biology or introductory chemistry lecture courses and a student's ACT scores. The sample consisted of 195 first--time freshmen who enrolled in and completed an introductory biology or an introductory chemistry lecture and laboratory courses during the fall semesters of 2007-2012. Of the 195 students, 61 were enrolled in introductory chemistry and 134 were enrolled in introductory biology courses. Logistic regression, via the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), was utilized to analyze several variables as they related to success in the lecture courses. Data were extracted from the university's student information system (BANNER), and analyses were conducted on biology and chemistry separately. The dependent variable for this study was a dichotomous variable for success and nonsuccess in introductory biology or introductory chemistry lecture course. The independent variables analyzed were student's gender, major, final grade in an accompanying biology or chemistry laboratory course, and ACT test scores (composite, mathematics, and science). Results indicate that concurrent enrollment in a biology laboratory course increased the likelihood of success by 15.64 times in the lecture course. Gender was found to not be a significant predictor of success for either introductory biology or introductory chemistry lecture courses. STEM majors were 9.6 times more likely to be successful than non-STEM majors in

Developing and validating a conceptual survey to assess introductory physics students’ understanding of magnetism

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jing; Singh, Chandralekha

2017-03-01

Development of validated physics surveys on various topics is important for investigating the extent to which students master those concepts after traditional instruction and for assessing innovative curricula and pedagogies that can improve student understanding significantly. Here, we discuss the development and validation of a conceptual multiple-choice survey related to magnetism suitable for introductory physics courses. The survey was developed taking into account common students’ difficulties with magnetism concepts covered in introductory physics courses found in our investigation and the incorrect choices to the multiple-choice questions were designed based upon those common student difficulties. After the development and validation of the survey, it was administered to introductory physics students in various classes in paper-pencil format before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts. We compared the performance of students on the survey in the algebra-based and calculus-based introductory physics courses before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant magnetism concepts. We discuss the common difficulties of introductory physics students with magnetism concepts we found via the survey. We also administered the survey to upper-level undergraduates majoring in physics and PhD students to benchmark the survey and compared their performance with those of traditionally taught introductory physics students for whom the survey is intended. A comparison with the base line data on the validated magnetism survey from traditionally taught introductory physics courses and upper-level undergraduate and PhD students discussed in this paper can help instructors assess the effectiveness of curricula and pedagogies which is especially designed to help students integrate conceptual and quantitative understanding and develop a good grasp of the concepts. In particular, if introductory physics students’ average

Developing and validating a conceptual survey to assess introductory physics students’ understanding of magnetism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Jing; Singh, Chandralekha

2017-01-01

Development of validated physics surveys on various topics is important for investigating the extent to which students master those concepts after traditional instruction and for assessing innovative curricula and pedagogies that can improve student understanding significantly. Here, we discuss the development and validation of a conceptual multiple-choice survey related to magnetism suitable for introductory physics courses. The survey was developed taking into account common students’ difficulties with magnetism concepts covered in introductory physics courses found in our investigation and the incorrect choices to the multiple-choice questions were designed based upon those common student difficulties. After the development and validation of the survey, it was administered to introductory physics students in various classes in paper–pencil format before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts. We compared the performance of students on the survey in the algebra-based and calculus-based introductory physics courses before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant magnetism concepts. We discuss the common difficulties of introductory physics students with magnetism concepts we found via the survey. We also administered the survey to upper-level undergraduates majoring in physics and PhD students to benchmark the survey and compared their performance with those of traditionally taught introductory physics students for whom the survey is intended. A comparison with the base line data on the validated magnetism survey from traditionally taught introductory physics courses and upper-level undergraduate and PhD students discussed in this paper can help instructors assess the effectiveness of curricula and pedagogies which is especially designed to help students integrate conceptual and quantitative understanding and develop a good grasp of the concepts. In particular, if introductory physics students’ average

Does Living near Classmates Help Introductory Economics Students Get Better Grades?

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

This article examines whether first-year students in introductory economics courses get better grades if they have other students in their on-campus residential unit who either are taking the same course or have taken the course in the past. The study uses nine years of data for the introductory economics course at Reed College. The author finds…

16 CFR 502.101 - Introductory offers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES, REGULATIONS, STATEMENT OF GENERAL POLICY OR... FAIR PACKAGING AND LABELING ACT Retail Sale Price Representations § 502.101 Introductory offers. (a... retail sale at a price lower than the anticipated ordinary and customary retail sale price. (b) The...

An Analysis of Learning Objectives and Content Coverage in Introductory Psychology Syllabi

Science.gov (United States)

Homa, Natalie; Hackathorn, Jana; Brown, Carrie M.; Garczynski, Amy; Solomon, Erin D.; Tennial, Rachel; Sanborn, Ursula A.; Gurung, Regan A. R.

2013-01-01

Introductory psychology is one of the most popular undergraduate courses and often serves as the gateway to choosing psychology as an academic major. However, little research has examined the typical structure of introductory psychology courses. The current study examined student learning objectives (SLOs) and course content in introductory…

Agricultural In-Service Needs of Introductory Level Career and Technical Education Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Jolene; Warnick, Brian K.; Spielmaker, Debra; Tarpley, Rudy S.; Straquadine, Gary S.

2009-01-01

This study identified and prioritized the agricultural in-service needs of introductory level career and technical education teachers in Utah. The Utah State Board of Education requires that all seventh grade students complete an introductory career and technical education course as their first formal career exploration experience. One component…

Emotion Instruction in Journalism Courses: An Analysis of Introductory News Writing Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Hopper, K. Megan; Huxford, John

2017-01-01

This study explores how introductory news writing textbooks address issues surrounding emotional labor and its consequences, both for journalists and for those they interview. Eighteen of the highest-selling introductory news-writing textbooks were selected for qualitative analysis. Results showed the term and concept of emotional labor--the…

Research and Teaching: Reenvisioning the Introductory Science Course as a Cognitive Apprenticeship

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Meredith M.; Pastorino, Lucia; Lee, Star; Lipton, Paul

2016-01-01

Introductory science courses play a critical role in the recruitment and retention of undergraduate science majors. In particular, first-year courses are opportunities to engage students in scientific practices and motivate them to consider scientific careers. We developed an introductory course using a semester-long series of established…

New Approach to Analyzing Physics Problems: A Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Teodorescu, Raluca E.; Bennhold, Cornelius; Feldman, Gerald; Medsker, Larry

2013-01-01

This paper describes research on a classification of physics problems in the context of introductory physics courses. This classification, called the Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems (TIPP), relates physics problems to the cognitive processes required to solve them. TIPP was created in order to design educational objectives, to develop…

Introductory Comments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jolanta Sujecka

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Introductory Comments The fifth yearly volume of the Colloquia Humanistica comprises a thematic section on Nation, Natsiya, Ethnie. The subject it discusses has thus far received little attention as a research problem in the Slavia Orthodoxa, the Slavia Romana, the Balkans but also in Central and Eastern Europe.   Uwagi wstępne Piąty numer rocznika "Colloquia Humanistica" przedstawia dział tematyczny, poświęcony kategoriom narodu, nacji i etni. Temat ten, w takiej perspektywie, którą proponujemy, nie spotkał się dotąd z należytym namysłem badawczym w sferze Slavia Otrhodoxa, Slavia Romana i na Bałkanach, jak też w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej.

Introductory Astronomy Course at the University of Cape Town: Probing Student Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Rajpaul, Vinesh; Allie, Saalih; Blyth, Sarah-Louise

2014-01-01

We report on research carried out to improve teaching and student engagement in the introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town. This course is taken by a diverse range of students, including many from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. We describe the development of an instrument, the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire…

Item Analysis in Introductory Economics Testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Tinari, Frank D.

1979-01-01

Computerized analysis of multiple choice test items is explained. Examples of item analysis applications in the introductory economics course are discussed with respect to three objectives: to evaluate learning; to improve test items; and to help improve classroom instruction. Problems, costs and benefits of the procedures are identified. (JMD)

The Nature of Introductory Economics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Koscielniak, James

1975-01-01

A questionnaire was developed to determine the content, mode of instruction, approach, and textbook selection of instructors of introductory economics courses. The survey was distributed in 1974 to 143 economics instructors at two- and four-year colleges in Illinois. Results are presented here, and recommendations are made. (Author/NHM)

Learners Programming Language a Helping System for Introductory Programming Courses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MUHAMMAD SHUMAIL NAVEED

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Programming is the core of computer science and due to this momentousness a special care is taken in designing the curriculum of programming courses. A substantial work has been conducted on the definition of programming courses, yet the introductory programming courses are still facing high attrition, low retention and lack of motivation. This paper introduced a tiny pre-programming language called LPL (Learners Programming Language as a ZPL (Zeroth Programming Language to illuminate novice students about elementary concepts of introductory programming before introducing the first imperative programming course. The overall objective and design philosophy of LPL is based on a hypothesis that the soft introduction of a simple and paradigm specific textual programming can increase the motivation level of novice students and reduce the congenital complexities and hardness of the first programming course and eventually improve the retention rate and may be fruitful in reducing the dropout/failure level. LPL also generates the equivalent high level programs from user source program and eventually very fruitful in understanding the syntax of introductory programming languages. To overcome the inherent complexities of unusual and rigid syntax of introductory programming languages, the LPL provide elementary programming concepts in the form of algorithmic and plain natural language based computational statements. The initial results obtained after the introduction of LPL are very encouraging in motivating novice students and improving the retention rate.

Quantifying the Level of Inquiry in a Reformed Introductory Geology Lab Course

Science.gov (United States)

Moss, Elizabeth; Cervato, Cinzia

2016-01-01

As part of a campus-wide effort to transform introductory science courses to be more engaging and more accurately convey the excitement of discovery in science, the curriculum of an introductory physical geology lab course was redesigned. What had been a series of ''cookbook'' lab activities was transformed into a sequence of activities based on…

An Introductory Calculus-Based Mechanics Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Bradley

2017-01-01

One challenge for the introductory physics teacher is incorporating calculus techniques into the laboratory setting. It can be difficult to strike a balance between presenting an experimental task for which calculus is essential and making the mathematics accessible to learners who may be apprehensive about applying it. One-dimensional kinematics…

Macromod: Computer Simulation For Introductory Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Thomas

1977-01-01

The Macroeconomic model (Macromod) is a computer assisted instruction simulation model designed for introductory economics courses. An evaluation of its utilization at a community college indicates that it yielded a 10 percent to 13 percent greater economic comprehension than lecture classes and that it met with high student approval. (DC)

29 CFR 782.0 - Introductory statement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... one place general interpretations of the Administrator which will provide “a practical guide to... CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF MOTOR CARRIERS § 782.0 Introductory statement. (a) Since the enactment of the Fair... seek to apply it.” (Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134) (b) The interpretations contained in this...

29 CFR 531.25 - Introductory statement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... such interpretations of this Act “provide a practical guide to employers and employees as to how the... PAYMENTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938 Interpretations § 531.25 Introductory statement. (a... responsibilities of administration and enforcement (Skidmore v. Swift, 323 U.S. 134). In order that these positions...

Blended Learning Versus Traditional Lecture in Introductory Nursing Pathophysiology Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Blissitt, Andrea Marie

2016-04-01

Currently, many undergraduate nursing courses use blended-learning course formats with success; however, little evidence exists that supports the use of blended formats in introductory pathophysiology courses. The purpose of this study was to compare the scores on pre- and posttests and course satisfaction between traditional and blended course formats in an introductory nursing pathophysiology course. This study used a quantitative, quasi-experimental, nonrandomized control group, pretest-posttest design. Analysis of covariance compared pre- and posttest scores, and a t test for independent samples compared students' reported course satisfaction of the traditional and blended course formats. Results indicated that the differences in posttest scores were not statistically significant between groups. Students in the traditional group reported statistically significantly higher satisfaction ratings than students in the blended group. The results of this study support the need for further research of using blended learning in introductory pathophysiology courses in undergraduate baccalaureate nursing programs. Further investigation into how satisfaction is affected by course formats is needed. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

The Development of a Set of Core Communication Competencies for Introductory Communication Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Engleberg, Isa N.; Ward, Susan M.; Disbrow, Lynn M.; Katt, James A.; Myers, Scott A.; O'Keefe, Patricia

2017-01-01

In most academic disciplines, there is "one" introductory course that presents an overview of the discipline and introduces fundamental, discipline-specific principles and competencies. However, in Communication Studies, the discipline recognizes and offers multiple course options that may serve as the introductory course. This project…

Inference and the Introductory Statistics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Pfannkuch, Maxine; Regan, Matt; Wild, Chris; Budgett, Stephanie; Forbes, Sharleen; Harraway, John; Parsonage, Ross

2011-01-01

This article sets out some of the rationale and arguments for making major changes to the teaching and learning of statistical inference in introductory courses at our universities by changing from a norm-based, mathematical approach to more conceptually accessible computer-based approaches. The core problem of the inferential argument with its…

"World Religions" in Introductory Sociology Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Michael P.

2017-01-01

A section on "world religions" (WRs) is now routinely included in the religion chapters of introductory sociology textbooks. Looking carefully at these WR sections, however, two things seem puzzling. The first is that the criteria for defining a WR varies considerably from textbook to textbook; the second is that these WRs sections…

Making Introductory Quantum Physics Understandable and Interesting

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 10; Issue 1. Making Introductory Quantum Physics Understandable and Interesting. Ranjana Y Abhang. Classroom Volume 10 Issue 1 January 2005 pp 63-73. Fulltext. Click here to view fulltext PDF. Permanent link:

Concluding remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patrick, W.C.

1996-01-01

This section contains the concluding remarks of the workshop on rock mechanics issues in repository design and performance assessment. Technical issues such as spatial variability of rock properties, rock mass strength, measurement of loads, evaluation of long-term seal performance, and integration of data into design were discussed. Programmatic issues such as development of a coherent and consistent design methodology and implementation of that methodology were also reiterated

Analysis of the Impact of Introductory Physics on Engineering Students at Texas A&M University

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, Jonathan; Bassichis, William

Introductory physics forms a major part of the foundational knowledge of engineering majors, independent of discipline and institution. While the content of introductory physics courses is consistent from institution to institution, the manner in which it is taught can vary greatly due to professor, textbook, instructional method, and overall course design. This work attempts to examine variations in student success, as measured by overall academic performance in an engineering major, and matriculation rates, based on the type of introductory physics a student took while enrolled in an engineering degree at Texas A&M University. Specific options for introductory physics at Texas A&M University include two calculus based physics courses, one traditional (UP), and one more mathematically rigorous (DP), transfer credit, and high school (AP or dual) credit. In order to examine the impact of introductory physics on a student's degree progression, data mining analyses are performed on a data set of relatively comprehensive academic records for all students enrolled as an engineering major for a minimum of one academic term. Student data has been collected for years of entering freshman beginning in 1990 and ending in 2010. Correlations will be examined between freshman level courses, including introductory physics, and follow on engineering courses, matriculation rates, and time to graduation.

Transversality of Electromagnetic Waves in the Calculus--Based Introductory Physics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Burko, Lior M.

2009-05-01

Introductory calculus--based physics textbooks state that electromagnetic waves are transverse and list many of their properties, but most such textbooks do not bring forth arguments why this is so. Both physical and theoretical arguments are at a level appropriate for students of courses based on such books, and could be readily used by instructors of such courses. Here, we discuss two physical arguments (based on polarization experiments and on lack of monopole electromagnetic radiation), and the full argument for the transversality of (plane) electromagnetic waves based on the integral Maxwell equations. We also show, at a level appropriate for the introductory course, why the electric and magnetic fields in a wave are in phase and the relation of their magnitudes. We have successfully integrated this approach in the calculus--based introductory physics course at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Enhancing the Teaching of Introductory Economics with a Team-Based, Multi-Section Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Beaudin, Laura; Berdiev, Aziz N.; Kaminaga, Allison Shwachman; Mirmirani, Sam; Tebaldi, Edinaldo

2017-01-01

The authors describe a unique approach to enhancing student learning at the introductory economics level that utilizes a multi-section, team-based competition. The competition is structured to supplement learning throughout the entire introductory course. Student teams are presented with current economic issues, trends, or events, and use economic…

Exploring Urban America: An Introductory Reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Caves, Roger W.

This introductory text presents a collection of articles from urban-studies journals to introduce undergraduate students to the interdisciplinary field of urban studies. The book is divided into 9 parts as follows: Part 1: Cities and Urbanism; part 2: Urban History; part 3: Urban Policy; part 4: Economic Development; part 5: Community Services and…

Teaching Quantum Mechanics on an Introductory Level.

Science.gov (United States)

Muller, Rainer; Wiesner, Hartmut

2002-01-01

Presents a new research-based course on quantum mechanics in which the conceptual issues of quantum mechanics are taught at an introductory level. Involves students in the discovery of how quantum phenomena deviate from classical everyday experiences. (Contains 31 references.) (Author/YDS)

Peer Learning as a Tool to Strengthen Math Skills in Introductory Chemistry Laboratories

Science.gov (United States)

Srougi, Melissa C.; Miller, Heather B.

2018-01-01

Math skills vary greatly among students enrolled in introductory chemistry courses. Students with weak math skills (algebra and below) tend to perform poorly in introductory chemistry courses, which is correlated with increased attrition rates. Previous research has shown that retention of main ideas in a peer learning environment is greater when…

Python and Roles of Variables in Introductory Programming: Experiences from Three Educational Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Nikula, Uolevi; Sajaniemi, Jorma; Tedre, Matti; Wray, Stuart

2007-01-01

Students often find that learning to program is hard. Introductory programming courses have high drop-out rates and students do not learn to program well. This paper presents experiences from three educational institutions where introductory programming courses were improved by adopting Python as the first programming language and roles of…

Behaviorism, latent learning, and cognitive maps: needed revisions in introductory psychology textbooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Robert

2006-01-01

This paper critically assesses the scholarship in introductory psychology textbooks in relation to the topic of latent learning. A review of the treatment of latent learning in 48 introductory psychology textbooks published between 1948 and 2004, with 21 of these texts published since 1999, reveals that the scholarship on the topic of latent learning demonstrated in introductory textbooks warrants improvement. Errors that persist in textbooks include the assertion that the latent learning experiments demonstrate unequivocally that reinforcement was not necessary for learning to occur, that behavioral theories could not account for the results of the latent learning experiments, that B. F. Skinner was an S-R association behaviorist who argued that reinforcement is necessary for learning to occur, and that because behavioral theories (including that of B. F. Skinner) were unable explain the results of the latent learning experiments the cognitive map invoked by Edward Tolman is the only explanation for latent learning. Finally, the validity of the cognitive map is typically accepted without question. Implications of the presence of these errors for students and the discipline are considered. Lastly, remedies are offered to improve the scholarship found in introductory psychology textbooks.

Integrated Circuits in the Introductory Electronics Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

English, Thomas C.; Lind, David A.

1973-01-01

Discusses the use of an integrated circuit operational amplifier in an introductory electronics laboratory course for undergraduate science majors. The advantages of this approach and the implications for scientific instrumentation are identified. Describes a number of experiments suitable for the undergraduate laboratory. (Author/DF)

Barriers to Teaching Introductory Physical Geography Online

Science.gov (United States)

Ritter, Michael E.

2012-01-01

Learning geography online is becoming an option for more students but not without controversy. Issues of faculty resources, logistics, professional recognition, and pedagogical concerns are cited as barriers to teaching online. Offering introductory physical geography online presents special challenges. As a general education course, an…

A 21st century perspective as a primer to introductory physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Curtis, Lorenzo J, E-mail: ljc@physics.utoledo.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606 (United States)

2011-09-15

Much effort over many years has been devoted to the reform of the teaching of physics. This has led to many new and imaginative approaches in the content and delivery of material. Great strides have been made in the delivery, and the content has been continually supplemented. However, attempts to modernize the basic structure of the presentation have faced resistance, and the majority of introductory physics textbooks in wide adoption today have a general structure that has changed little in over 60 years. Thus, in comparison to biology, chemistry, geology, etc, physics is unique in that its introductory course is not a survey of the current status of the field. In an attempt to circumvent this problem in a tractable way, we have developed a qualitative front-end course designed to create a 21st century perspective that can be embedded into the beginning of a standard introductory physics sequence.

A 21st century perspective as a primer to introductory physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curtis, Lorenzo J

2011-01-01

Much effort over many years has been devoted to the reform of the teaching of physics. This has led to many new and imaginative approaches in the content and delivery of material. Great strides have been made in the delivery, and the content has been continually supplemented. However, attempts to modernize the basic structure of the presentation have faced resistance, and the majority of introductory physics textbooks in wide adoption today have a general structure that has changed little in over 60 years. Thus, in comparison to biology, chemistry, geology, etc, physics is unique in that its introductory course is not a survey of the current status of the field. In an attempt to circumvent this problem in a tractable way, we have developed a qualitative front-end course designed to create a 21st century perspective that can be embedded into the beginning of a standard introductory physics sequence.

Just the Facts? Introductory Undergraduate Biology Courses Focus on Low-Level Cognitive Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Momsen, Jennifer L.; Long, Tammy M.; Wyse, Sara A.; Ebert-May, Diane

2010-01-01

Introductory biology courses are widely criticized for overemphasizing details and rote memorization of facts. Data to support such claims, however, are surprisingly scarce. We sought to determine whether this claim was evidence-based. To do so we quantified the cognitive level of learning targeted by faculty in introductory-level biology courses.…

Stimulating Situational Interest and Student Questioning through Three Types of Historical Introductory Texts

Science.gov (United States)

Logtenberg, Albert; van Boxtel, Carla; van Hout-Wolters, Bernadette

2011-01-01

This study investigates questions students ask related to an introductory text about a new topic in the history classroom. The effects of a narrative, problematizing, and expository introductory text on the situational interest of students and the number and type of student-generated questions, are compared. Participants are 174 students in higher…

Theories of superconductivity (a few remarks)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ginzburg, V.L.

1992-01-01

The early history in the development of superconductivity. Idea of pairing, Schafroth and BCS types of theories. Some remarks on present state of the microscopical theory of high-temperature superconductors (HTSC). Mean field macroscopic theory of superconductivity and its specific features in HTSC. About generalized macroscopic theory applicable in critical region. Concluding remarks. (orig.)

An Introductory Interprofessional Exercise for Healthcare Students

Science.gov (United States)

Rege, Saumitra V.; Misto, Kara; Dollase, Richard; George, Paul

2012-01-01

Objective. To evaluate healthcare students’ perceptions of an introductory interprofessional exercise and their team dynamics. Design. A workshop was developed, combining second-year medical students, fourth-year nursing students, and third-year pharmacy students to work as an interdisciplinary team. The teams alternated between working together on patient cases focusing on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, and on the evaluation of standardized pneumonia patients. Teams were given the patients' health information and no other instructions. A faculty member and the standardized patient evaluated the students using a teamwork global rating scale. Assessment. Student survey results showed a positive response to interprofessional teamwork. The faculty members and standardized patients reported that the students worked as a cohesive unit and demonstrated good team communication. Conclusions. This introductory interprofessional experience had a positive impact on the students’ understanding of collaboration and teamwork. This type of experience will help students foster future collaborations as healthcare providers. PMID:23129853

Remarks on stellar clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teller, E.

1985-01-01

In the following, a few simple remarks on the evolution and properties of stellar clusters will be collected. In particular, globular clusters will be considered. Though details of such clusters are often not known, a few questions can be clarified with the help of primitive arguments. These are:- why are spherical clusters spherical, why do they have high densities, why do they consist of approximately a million stars, how may a black hole of great mass form within them, may they be the origin of gamma-ray bursts, may their invisible remnants account for the missing mass of our galaxy. The available data do not warrant a detailed evaluation. However, it is remarkable that exceedingly simple models can shed some light on the questions enumerated above. (author)

Teaching Health Care in Introductory Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Cutler, David M.

2017-01-01

Health care is one of the economy's biggest industries, so it is natural that the health care industry should play some role in the teaching of introductory economics. There are many ways that health care can appear in such a context: in the teaching of microeconomics, as a macroeconomic issue, to learn about social welfare, and even to learn how…

Personality types and student performance in an introductory physics course

Science.gov (United States)

Harlow, Jason J. B.; Harrison, David M.; Justason, Michael; Meyertholen, Andrew; Wilson, Brian

2017-12-01

We measured the personality type of the students in a large introductory physics course of mostly life science students using the True Colors instrument. We found large correlations of personality type with performance on the precourse Force Concept Inventory (FCI), both term tests, the postcourse FCI, and the final examination. We also saw correlations with the normalized gain on the FCI. The personality profile of the students in this course is very different from the profile of the physics faculty and graduate students, and also very different from the profile of students taking the introductory physics course intended for physics majors and specialists.

Improving Introductory Astronomy Education in American Colleges and Universities: A Review of Recent Progress

Science.gov (United States)

Waller, William H.; Slater, Timothy F.

2011-01-01

Over the past 15 years, professional astronomers, their societies, and associated funding agencies have collaborated to improve astronomy teaching and learning at the introductory undergraduate level. Many nonscience majors and preservice teachers enroll in these introductory astronomy courses, thus meriting the focused attention. In this review…

The Lasting Effects of Introductory Economics Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Philip

1980-01-01

Reports research which tests the Stigler Hypothesis. The hypothesis suggests that students who have taken introductory economics courses and those who have not show little difference in test performance five years after completing college. Results of the author's research illustrate that economics students do retain some knowledge of economics…

Beat the Instructor: An Introductory Forecasting Game

Science.gov (United States)

Snider, Brent R.; Eliasson, Janice B.

2013-01-01

This teaching brief describes a 30-minute game where student groups compete in-class in an introductory time-series forecasting exercise. The students are challenged to "beat the instructor" who competes using forecasting techniques that will be subsequently taught. All forecasts are graphed prior to revealing the randomly generated…

Holography and Introductory Science at Hampshire College.

Science.gov (United States)

Wirth, Frederick H.

1991-01-01

An introductory Natural Science course with a focus on the laboratory is described. The main function of the course is getting students prepared for required individual projects in science. A copy of the syllabus, a description of laboratory experiments, and the context of the course are included. (KR)

Teaching assistants’ performance at identifying common introductory student difficulties in mechanics revealed by the Force Concept Inventory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru Maries

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The Force Concept Inventory (FCI has been widely used to assess student understanding of introductory mechanics concepts by a variety of educators and physics education researchers. One reason for this extensive use is that many of the items on the FCI have strong distractor choices which correspond to students’ alternate conceptions in mechanics. Instruction is unlikely to be effective if instructors do not know the common alternate conceptions of introductory physics students and explicitly take into account students’ initial knowledge states in their instructional design. Here, we discuss research involving the FCI to evaluate one aspect of the pedagogical content knowledge of teaching assistants (TAs: knowledge of introductory student alternate conceptions in mechanics as revealed by the FCI. For each item on the FCI, the TAs were asked to identify the most common incorrect answer choice of introductory physics students. This exercise was followed by a class discussion with the TAs related to this task, including the importance of knowing student difficulties in teaching and learning. Then, we used FCI pretest and post-test data from a large population (∼900 of introductory physics students to assess the extent to which TAs were able to identify alternate conceptions of introductory students related to force and motion. In addition, we carried out think-aloud interviews with graduate students who had more than two semesters of teaching experience in recitations to examine how they reason about the task. We find that while the TAs, on average, performed better than random guessing at identifying introductory students’ difficulties with FCI content, they did not identify many common difficulties that introductory physics students have after traditional instruction. We discuss specific alternate conceptions, the extent to which TAs are able to identify them, and results from the think-aloud interviews that provided valuable information

Seven remarkable days

CERN Document Server

This has been a truly remarkable seven days for CERN. Things have moved so fast that it has sometimes been hard to separate fact from fiction – all the more so since facts have often seemed too good to be true. It’s been a week of many firsts. Monday was the first time we’ve had two captured beams in the LHC. It’s the first time the LHC has functioned as a particle accelerator, boosting particles to the highest beam energy so far achieved at CERN. And it’s been a week in which we’ve seen the highest energy proton-proton collisions ever produced at CERN: our last hadron collider, the SPS was a proton-antiproton collider, a technically simpler machine than the LHC. This week’s successes are all the more remarkable precisely because of the complexity of the LHC. Unlike the SPS collider, it is two accelerators not one, making the job of commissioning nearly twice as difficult. I’d like to express my heartfelt thanks and congra...

Comparing Student Success and Understanding in Introductory Statistics under Consensus and Simulation-Based Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Hldreth, Laura A.; Robison-Cox, Jim; Schmidt, Jade

2018-01-01

This study examines the transferability of results from previous studies of simulation-based curriculum in introductory statistics using data from 3,500 students enrolled in an introductory statistics course at Montana State University from fall 2013 through spring 2016. During this time, four different curricula, a traditional curriculum and…

Generating a Gender Balance: making introductory information systems courses a positive experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosemary Stockdale

2007-12-01

Full Text Available There is a growing shortfall of graduates entering the IT profession. The situation is exacerbated by the continuing decline in the number of women undertaking IT related degrees. However, there are an increasing number of students taking business degrees that have a small information systems component, although few students choose to major in IS. Using a qualitative reflective approach we identify the perceptions and experiences of female undergraduates taking introductory IS courses in two universities, one in Australia and one in New Zealand. We discuss ways of improving the delivery of introductory IS courses in order to make information systems more interesting to women undergraduates, thus enhancing their learning experiences and encouraging further uptake of IS majors. The paper concludes with some reflections on other influences that impact on the ability of IS departments to deliver appropriate introductory courses.

Introductory remarks on double beta decay and nuclear physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosen, S.P.

1986-01-01

The particle physics aspects of double beta decay and the theory of the phenomenon are briefly reviewed. The distinction between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos is drawn by comparing the neutrino that accompanies a negatively charged lepton in some hadronic decay process with that which accompanies a positively charged lepton in some other decay process. Two modes of double beta decay are examined - one emitting two neutrinos and the other emitting no neutrinos. What can be learned from the existing data on double beta decay is considered, de-emphasizing the question of bounds on neutrino mass and concentrating on the properties of the phenomenon itself. Possible future experiments are anticipated. 16 refs

2nd Science with Africa Conference Introductory remarks: Workshop ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Fernando Santiago

partager les travaux du CRDI avec l'ample communauté des organisations et ... significantly influence innovation capacity and performance at firm and national levels. ... Whereas research focuses strongly on the debate around the structure of ...

The Case for Infusing Quantitative Literacy into Introductory Geoscience Courses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer M. Wenner

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We present the case for introductory geoscience courses as model venues for increasing the quantitative literacy (QL of large numbers of the college-educated population. The geosciences provide meaningful context for a number of fundamental mathematical concepts that are revisited several times in a single course. Using some best practices from the mathematics education community surrounding problem solving, calculus reform, pre-college mathematics and five geoscience/math workshops, geoscience and mathematics faculty have identified five pedagogical ideas to increase the QL of the students who populate introductory geoscience courses. These five ideas include techniques such as: place mathematical concepts in context, use multiple representations, use technology appropriately, work in groups, and do multiple-day, in-depth problems that place quantitative skills in multiple contexts. We discuss the pedagogical underpinnings of these five ideas and illustrate some ways that the geosciences represent ideal places to use these techniques. However, the inclusion of QL in introductory courses is often met with resistance at all levels. Faculty who wish to include quantitative content must use creative means to break down barriers of public perception of geoscience as qualitative, administrative worry that enrollments will drop and faculty resistance to change. Novel ways to infuse QL into geoscience classrooms include use of web-based resources, shadow courses, setting clear expectations, and promoting quantitative geoscience to the general public. In order to help faculty increase the QL of geoscience students, a community-built faculty-centered web resource (Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences houses multiple examples that implement the five best practices of QL throughout the geoscience curriculum. We direct faculty to three portions of the web resource: Teaching Quantitative Literacy, QL activities, and the 2006 workshop website

The Introductory College Business Course: A New Dimension

Science.gov (United States)

Podell, Joel; And Others

1977-01-01

Describes various methodologies used at the Queensboro Community College, New York, to enrich some of the topics traditionally included in the introductory course such as union management relations, social responsibility and business ethics, internal organization structure, and small business management. (TA)

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…

Pre-Service Physics Teachers' Opinions about the Difficulties in Understanding Introductory Quantum Physics Topics

Science.gov (United States)

Kizilcik, Hasan Sahin; Yavas, Pervin Ünlü

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to identify the opinions of pre-service physics teachers about the difficulties in introductory quantum physics topics. In this study conducted with twenty-five pre-service physics teachers, the case study method was used. The participants were interviewed about introductory quantum physics topics. The interviews were…

Instructional Practices in Introductory Geoscience Courses: Results of a National Faculty Survey

Science.gov (United States)

MacDonald, R.; Manduca, C. A.; Mogk, D. W.; Tewksbury, B. J.

2004-12-01

The NAGT professional development program "On the Cutting Edge" recently surveyed 7000 geoscience faculty in the United States to develop a snapshot of current instructional practices in undergraduate geoscience courses, faculty strategies for learning new content and new teaching approaches, and faculty involvement in the geoscience education community. Over 2200 faculty responded to the survey which was conducted by the American Institute of Physics. Results for introductory courses (814 responses) indicate that lecture is the most common teaching strategy used in courses of all sizes. Many faculty incorporate some interactive activities in their courses. Most commonly, they use questioning, demonstrations, discussions, and in-class exercises. Less common, but not rare, are small group discussion or think-pair-share and classroom debates or role-playing. Activities involving problem solving, using quantitative skills, working with data and primarily literature, and structured collaboration are incorporated by many faculty in introductory courses, suggesting efforts to teach the process of science. Activities in which students address a problem of national or local interest, analyze their own data, or address problems of their own design are less common but not rare. Field experiences are common but not ubiquitous for students in introductory courses. A wide variety of assessment strategies are used in introductory courses of all sizes, including exams, quizzes, problem sets, papers, oral presentations, and portfolios. While papers are used for assessment more extensively in small classes, a significant number of faculty use papers in large classes (greater than 81 students). A majority of faculty use rubrics in grading. Faculty report that in the past two years, approximately one-third have made changes in the content of their introductory courses while just under half have changed the teaching methods they use. While faculty learn about both new content and

NRC closing remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coffman, F.

1994-01-01

This section contains the edited transcript of the NRC closing remarks made by Mr. Franklin Coffman (Chief, Human Factors Branch, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research) and Dr. Cecil Thomas (Deputy Director, Division of Reactor Controls and Human Factors, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation). This editing consisted of minimal editing to correct grammar and remove extraneous references to microphone volume, etc

Evolving Roles For Teaching Assistants In Introductory Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Dunbar, R. W.; Egger, A. E.; Schwartz, J. K.

2008-12-01

As we bring new research-based learning approaches, curricular innovations, and student engagement practices into the introductory science classroom, expectations of teaching assistants (TAs) should have, and have, changed. Similarly, the 21st century teaching assistant has different expectations of us. Maintaining relevance in this context means bringing TAs into an integrated teaching team that supports effective learning for students and provides structured professional development opportunities for TAs. A number of support efforts on our campus, with counterparts at many other universities, seek to optimize the instructional impact of faculty and teaching assistants, thus opening the door to enhanced student engagement (e.g. the quality of effort students put forth, their persistence in science and/or engineering courses, and their perception of scientific relevance in everyday life). Among these efforts, School of Earth Sciences course development TAs work 1:1 in advance of the term with introductory course faculty to design exercises and course materials that meet clearly articulated student learning goals or pedagogical challenges. Throughout the process, TAs are mentored by the faculty as well as science pedagogy experts. Initially funded by a major teaching award, the School is now moving to institutionalize this successful program which has broadened the definition of the TA role. Another area of optimization, reflecting Shulman's concept of pedagogical content knowledge, is our campus mandate that TA development take place within a departmental, as well as general, context. Both Chemistry and Physics expect introductory course TAs to lead interactive, guided-inquiry or tutorial-style sections. Integrating these sections with lecture and positively reinforcing course goals requires TA buy-in and a set of pedagogical facilitation skills cultivated through course-specific training and active mentoring while teaching. To better support the mentoring process

Black Holes and Pulsars in the Introductory Physics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Orear, Jay; Salpeter, E. E.

1973-01-01

Discusses the phenomenon of formation of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes from dying stars for the purpose of providing college teachers with materials usable in the introductory physics course. (CC)

Cultural Diversity in Introductory Psychology Textbook Selection: The Case for Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs)

Science.gov (United States)

Whaley, Arthur L.; Clay, William A. L.; Broussard, Dominique

2017-01-01

The present study describes a culturally relevant approach to introductory psychology textbook selection for students attending a historically Black college/university (HBCU). The following multistage procedure was used: (1) a survey of HBCU psychology departments was conducted to ascertain how they selected their introductory psychology…

Effects of Team Teaching on Students Performance in Introductory ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

FIRST LADY

Students taught. Introductory Technology through team teaching approach performed ... Vocational education differs in both concept and status in different nations of ... completion of the course, can carry out simple daily maintenance of motor.

The Effect of "Clickers" on Attendance in an Introductory Statistics Course: An Action Research Study

Science.gov (United States)

Amstelveen, Raoul H.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to design and implement a Classroom Response System, also known as a "clicker," to increase attendance in introductory statistics courses at an undergraduate university. Since 2010, non-attendance had been prevalent in introductory statistics courses. Moreover, non-attendance created undesirable classrooms…

An Infiltration Exercise for Introductory Soil Science

Science.gov (United States)

Barbarick, K. A.; Ippolito, J. A.; Butters, G.; Sorge, G. M.

2005-01-01

One of the largest challenges in teaching introductory soil science is explaining the dynamics of soil infiltration. To aid students in understanding the concept and to further engage them in active learning in the soils laboratory course, we developed an exercise using Decagon Mini-Disk Infiltrometers with a tension head (h[subscript o]) of 2 cm.…

A Case-Based Curriculum for Introductory Geology

Science.gov (United States)

Goldsmith, David W.

2011-01-01

For the past 5 years I have been teaching my introductory geology class using a case-based method that promotes student engagement and inquiry. This article presents an explanation of how a case-based curriculum differs from a more traditional approach to the material. It also presents a statistical analysis of several years' worth of student…

Contrasting Grading Approaches in Introductory Physics and Quantum Mechanics: The Case of Graduate Teaching Assistants

Science.gov (United States)

Marshman, Emily; Sayer, Ryan; Henderson, Charles; Singh, Chandralekha

2017-01-01

At large research universities, physics graduate teaching assistants (TAs) are often responsible for grading in courses at all levels. However, few studies have focused on TAs' grading practices in introductory and advanced physics courses. This study was designed to investigate whether physics graduate TAs grade students in introductory physics…

Research and Teaching: From Gatekeeper to Gateway: Improving Student Success in an Introductory Biology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Amy N.; McNair, Delores E.; Lucas, Jonathan C.; Land, Kirkwood M.

2017-01-01

Introductory science, math, and engineering courses often have problems related to student engagement, achievement, and course completion. To begin examining these issues in greater depth, this pilot study compared student engagement, achievement, and course completion in a small and large section of an introductory biology class. Results based on…

SIGKit: Software for Introductory Geophysics Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Kruse, S.; Bank, C. G.; Esmaeili, S.; Jazayeri, S.; Liu, S.; Stoikopoulos, N.

2017-12-01

The Software for Introductory Geophysics Toolkit (SIGKit) affords students the opportunity to create model data and perform simple processing of field data for various geophysical methods. SIGkit provides a graphical user interface built with the MATLAB programming language, but can run even without a MATLAB installation. At this time SIGkit allows students to pick first arrivals and match a two-layer model to seismic refraction data; grid total-field magnetic data, extract a profile, and compare this to a synthetic profile; and perform simple processing steps (subtraction of a mean trace, hyperbola fit) to ground-penetrating radar data. We also have preliminary tools for gravity, resistivity, and EM data representation and analysis. SIGkit is being built by students for students, and the intent of the toolkit is to provide an intuitive interface for simple data analysis and understanding of the methods, and act as an entrance to more sophisticated software. The toolkit has been used in introductory courses as well as field courses. First reactions from students are positive. Think-aloud observations of students using the toolkit have helped identify problems and helped shape it. We are planning to compare the learning outcomes of students who have used the toolkit in a field course to students in a previous course to test its effectiveness.

Opening remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Southwood, Richard

1987-01-01

General opening remarks to a conference on the effects of low-level radiation on man, exploring particularly areas where disagreements have most frequently been voiced. The author comments on two approaches: a) the study, stepwise of putative cause and effect chains, using models which are tested by comparing calculated and observed effects. b) the epidemiological approach by extensive correlative study of cause, correlations and effect. Attention is drawn to the confidence to be accorded to any quantitative theory supported by both approaches, and the need for further analysis if the approaches give different indications. (U.K.)

Introductory Life Science Mathematics and Quantitative Neuroscience Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Duffus, Dwight; Olifer, Andrei

2010-01-01

We describe two sets of courses designed to enhance the mathematical, statistical, and computational training of life science undergraduates at Emory College. The first course is an introductory sequence in differential and integral calculus, modeling with differential equations, probability, and inferential statistics. The second is an…

Does the Choice of Introductory Microeconomics Textbook Matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Pyne, Derek

2007-01-01

The author examines the effects of different introductory microeconomics textbooks on student performance in subsequent economics courses (specifically, Intermediate Microeconomics I and Money and Banking). In some cases, the effects are significant and sizeable. There is also evidence of other variables affecting student performance in later…

Introductory Statistics Education and the National Science Foundation

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Megan R.; Rowell, Ginger Holmes

2008-01-01

This paper describes 27 National Science Foundation supported grant projects that have innovations designed to improve teaching and learning in introductory statistics courses. The characteristics of these projects are compared with the six recommendations given in the "Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE)…

Assessment of Factors that Influence the Recruitment of Majors from Introductory Geology Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Hoisch, T. D.; Bowie, J. I.

2009-12-01

In order to guide the formulation of strategies for recruiting undergraduates taking introductory geology courses into the geology program at Northern Arizona University, we surveyed 783 students in introductory geology classes and 23 geology majors in their junior and senior years. Our introductory courses (GLG100, Introduction to Geology; GLG101, Physical Geology; and GLG112, Geologic Disasters) typically enroll ~600 students each semester. The majority of students in these classes are non-majors who take them in order to satisfy a university general education requirement (called “Liberal Studies requirements” at NAU). A large proportion of these students are freshmen (51%) and sophomores (30%), and many have not yet decided on a major or are uncertain about the major they have chosen. Our analysis shows that ~7% of students in the introductory classes are possible candidates for recruitment. Although a small percentage, it represents a large number of individuals, in fact more than could be accommodated were they all to decide to major in geology. Influential factors that weigh in favor of majoring in geology include good employability, good salary potential, and opportunities for working outdoors, field work, observing nature, travel, and environmentally friendly employment. In addition, students view a career as a geologist as potentially the most fulfilling of the different science occupations (biologist, chemist, geologist, environmental scientist, physicist) and among the more environmentally friendly. However, students perceive geology to be the least difficult of the sciences, and geology occupations to be low-paying and low in prestige relative to the other sciences. These negative perceptions could be countered by providing data to introductory students showing the starting salaries of geologists in comparison to other science occupations, and by communicating the rigorous nature of the more advanced classes in the geology degree program. A

Incentive Matters!--The Benefit of Reminding Students about Their Academic Standing in Introductory Economics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Qihui; Okediji, Tade O.

2014-01-01

In this article, the authors illustrate how incentives can improve student performance in introductory economics courses. They implemented a policy experiment in a large introductory economics class in which they reminded students who scored below an announced cutoff score on the midterm exam about the risk of failing the course. The authors…

Student Understanding of Gravity in Introductory College Astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Kathryn E.; Willoughby, Shannon

2012-01-01

Twenty-four free-response questions were developed to explore introductory college astronomy students' understanding of gravity in a variety of contexts, including in and around Earth, throughout the solar system, and in hypothetical situations. Questions were separated into three questionnaires, each of which was given to a section of…

Graphical User Interface Programming in Introductory Computer Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Skolnick, Michael M.; Spooner, David L.

Modern computing systems exploit graphical user interfaces for interaction with users; as a result, introductory computer science courses must begin to teach the principles underlying such interfaces. This paper presents an approach to graphical user interface (GUI) implementation that is simple enough for beginning students to understand, yet…

Introductory Level Problems Illustrating Concepts in Pharmaceutical Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

McIver, Keith; Whitaker, Kathryn; De Delva, Vladimir; Farrell, Stephanie; Savelski, Mariano J.; Slater, C. Stewart

2012-01-01

Textbook style problems including detailed solutions introducing pharmaceutical topics at the level of an introductory chemical engineering course have been created. The problems illustrate and teach subjects which students would learn if they were to pursue a career in pharmaceutical engineering, including the unique terminology of the field,…

Remarks of Joseph Marrone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marrone, J.

1985-01-01

The author's remarks are directed primarily at proposals that have been made that would substantially tort law with respect to radiation claims in order to ease the ability of claimants to recovery damages from defendants. The change would be based upon what had been assumed to be a ''scientific'' means of measuring the ''probability'' that exposure to ionizing radiation was the case of a cancer in a particular claimant. The remarks are divided into three parts: a summary description of the nuclear insurance pools, including the tort radiation claims filed against the pools; and a brief description of claims against the Federal Government and its contractors; an examination of the elementary principles of tort law, and an outline of the threat that has developed that would transform it into a hybrid social benefits program; and comment on the danger to the integrity of science when it is injected into the legislative process

A collaborative learning approach for service-oriented introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Michael R.

1997-03-01

I have taught algebra-based introductory physics for six years to liberal arts students. It was primarily a service course for students majoring in Athletic Training, Physical Therapy, Geology, Biology, and Pre-Med. The typical student was characterized by having a minimal math and problem-solving proficiency. There also was a pattern of students being predisposed to memorizing facts and formulas, and attempting to solve problems by finding the correct formula and "plugging in" numbers to get an answer. The students seemed to have a minimal ability in deductive reasoning and problem solving, starting from basic principles. It is no wonder that they entered the introductory physics service course with extreme trepidation, based upon a strongly perceived physics phobia. A standard lecture format was used for the class size of approximately 25-30 students; and an attempt was always made to engage the students through the Socratic approach, by asking leading questions during the course of the lecture. The students were relatively unprepared and couldn't participate in the class, and often responded antagonistically. They indicated they didn't want to be asked to think about an issue, but would rather just be told the facts so they could take specific notes for subsequent memorization. It was clear from the results of the open book exams given during the semester that the majority of students could not approach problem solving using deductive reasoning based on basic principles, but relied on attempting to force-fit the problem into a worked example in the text (often out of context, with illogical results). The absentee rate in the classroom was usually around 30-40%. The academic administration of my liberal arts university has the policy of formal course evaluations by the students at the end of each semester. The evaluation questionnaire appears to be primarily a measurement of the stress level of the student during the course, and the evaluation score I received

First order error corrections in common introductory physics experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Beckey, Jacob; Baker, Andrew; Aravind, Vasudeva; Clarion Team

As a part of introductory physics courses, students perform different standard lab experiments. Almost all of these experiments are prone to errors owing to factors like friction, misalignment of equipment, air drag, etc. Usually these types of errors are ignored by students and not much thought is paid to the source of these errors. However, paying attention to these factors that give rise to errors help students make better physics models and understand physical phenomena behind experiments in more detail. In this work, we explore common causes of errors in introductory physics experiment and suggest changes that will mitigate the errors, or suggest models that take the sources of these errors into consideration. This work helps students build better and refined physical models and understand physics concepts in greater detail. We thank Clarion University undergraduate student grant for financial support involving this project.

Evolution of Student Knowledge in a Traditional Introductory Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Sayre, Eleanor C.; Heckler, Andrew F.

2008-10-01

In the physics education research community, a common format for evaluation is pre- and post-tests. In this study, we collect student test data many times throughout a course, allowing for the measurement of the changes of student knowledge with a time resolution on the order of a few days. The data cover the first two quarters (mechanics, E&M) of a calculus-based introductory sequence populated primarily by first- and second-year engineering majors. To avoid the possibility of test-retest effects, separate and quasi-random subpopulations of students are evaluated every week of the quarter on a variety of tasks. Unsurprisingly for a traditional introductory course, there is little change on many conceptual questions. However, the data suggest that some student ideas peak and decay rapidly during a quarter, a pattern consistent with memory research yet unmeasurable by pre-/post-testing.

Toward equity through participation in Modeling Instruction in introductory university physics

Science.gov (United States)

Brewe, Eric; Sawtelle, Vashti; Kramer, Laird H.; O'Brien, George E.; Rodriguez, Idaykis; Pamelá, Priscilla

2010-06-01

We report the results of a five year evaluation of the reform of introductory calculus-based physics by implementation of Modeling Instruction (MI) at Florida International University (FIU), a Hispanic-serving institution. MI is described in the context of FIU’s overall effort to enhance student participation in physics and science broadly. Our analysis of MI from a “participationist” perspective on learning identifies aspects of MI including conceptually based instruction, culturally sensitive instruction, and cooperative group learning, which are consistent with research on supporting equitable learning and participation by students historically under-represented in physics (i.e., Black, Hispanic, women). This study uses markers of conceptual understanding as measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and odds of success as measured by the ratio of students completing introductory physics and earning a passing grade (i.e., C- or better) by students historically under-represented in physics to reflect equity and participation in introductory physics. FCI pre and post scores for students in MI are compared with lecture-format taught students. Modeling Instruction students outperform students taught in lecture-format classes on post instruction FCI (61.9% vs 47.9%, p<0.001 ), where these benefits are seen across both ethnic and gender comparisons. In addition, we report that the odds of success in MI are 6.73 times greater than in lecture instruction. Both odds of success and FCI scores within Modeling Instruction are further disaggregated by ethnicity and by gender to address the question of equity within the treatment. The results of this disaggregation indicate that although ethnically under-represented students enter with lower overall conceptual understanding scores, the gap is not widened during introductory physics but instead is maintained, and the odds of success for under-represented students is not different from majority students. Women

Toward equity through participation in Modeling Instruction in introductory university physics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric Brewe

2010-05-01

Full Text Available We report the results of a five year evaluation of the reform of introductory calculus-based physics by implementation of Modeling Instruction (MI at Florida International University (FIU, a Hispanic-serving institution. MI is described in the context of FIU’s overall effort to enhance student participation in physics and science broadly. Our analysis of MI from a “participationist” perspective on learning identifies aspects of MI including conceptually based instruction, culturally sensitive instruction, and cooperative group learning, which are consistent with research on supporting equitable learning and participation by students historically under-represented in physics (i.e., Black, Hispanic, women. This study uses markers of conceptual understanding as measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI and odds of success as measured by the ratio of students completing introductory physics and earning a passing grade (i.e., C− or better by students historically under-represented in physics to reflect equity and participation in introductory physics. FCI pre and post scores for students in MI are compared with lecture-format taught students. Modeling Instruction students outperform students taught in lecture-format classes on post instruction FCI (61.9% vs 47.9%, p<0.001, where these benefits are seen across both ethnic and gender comparisons. In addition, we report that the odds of success in MI are 6.73 times greater than in lecture instruction. Both odds of success and FCI scores within Modeling Instruction are further disaggregated by ethnicity and by gender to address the question of equity within the treatment. The results of this disaggregation indicate that although ethnically under-represented students enter with lower overall conceptual understanding scores, the gap is not widened during introductory physics but instead is maintained, and the odds of success for under-represented students is not different from majority students

Mediating relationship of differential products in understanding integration in introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Amos, Nathaniel; Heckler, Andrew F.

2018-01-01

In the context of introductory physics, we study student conceptual understanding of differentials, differential products, and integrals and possible pathways to understanding these quantities. We developed a multiple choice conceptual assessment employing a variety of physical contexts probing physical understanding of these three quantities and administered the instrument to over 1000 students in first and second semester introductory physics courses. Using a regression-based mediation analysis with conceptual understanding of integration as the dependent variable, we found evidence consistent with a simple mediation model: the relationship between differentials scores and integral scores may be mediated by the understanding of differential products. The indirect effect (a quantifiable metric of mediation) was estimated as a b =0.29 , 95% CI [0.25, 0.33] for N =1102 Physics 1 students, and a b =0.27 , 95% CI [0.14, 0.48] for N =65 Physics 2 students. We also find evidence that the physical context of the questions can be an important factor. These results imply that for introductory physics courses, instructional emphasis first on differentials then on differential products in a variety of contexts may in turn promote better integral understanding.

Measuring the impact of an instructional laboratory on the learning of introductory physics

OpenAIRE

Wieman, Carl; Holmes, N. G.

2015-01-01

We have analyzed the impact of taking an associated lab course on the scores on final exam questions in two large introductory physics courses. Approximately a third of the students who completed each course also took an accompanying instructional lab course. The lab courses were fairly conventional, although they focused on supporting the mastery of a subset of the introductory physics topics covered in the associated course. Performance between students who did and did not take the lab cour...

Just the facts? Introductory undergraduate biology courses focus on low-level cognitive skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Momsen, Jennifer L; Long, Tammy M; Wyse, Sara A; Ebert-May, Diane

2010-01-01

Introductory biology courses are widely criticized for overemphasizing details and rote memorization of facts. Data to support such claims, however, are surprisingly scarce. We sought to determine whether this claim was evidence-based. To do so we quantified the cognitive level of learning targeted by faculty in introductory-level biology courses. We used Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives to assign cognitive learning levels to course goals as articulated on syllabi and individual items on high-stakes assessments (i.e., exams and quizzes). Our investigation revealed the following: 1) assessment items overwhelmingly targeted lower cognitive levels, 2) the cognitive level of articulated course goals was not predictive of the cognitive level of assessment items, and 3) there was no influence of course size or institution type on the cognitive levels of assessments. These results support the claim that introductory biology courses emphasize facts more than higher-order thinking.

The role of applied physics in American introductory physics courses

Science.gov (United States)

Poduska, Ervin L.; Lunetta, Vincent N.

1984-09-01

To what extent should technology and applied physics be included in introductory physics courses? What is the proper balance between pure and applied physics? Should physics teachers devote precious time to socially relevant issues like nuclear power and alternative sources of energy? How much time should be spent, if any, on applications that are more relevant to the student's world like cars, music, television and refrigeration? Does including applications reduce or enhance student understanding of important classical topics? A response to these questions must be based on goals for physics teaching, on knowledge of how students learn and on the nature of the physics discipline. Since there is not enough time to teach everything in an introductory course, priorities must be determined.

Teaching Introductory Weather and Climate Using Popular Movies

Science.gov (United States)

Yow, Donald M.

2014-01-01

Addressing the need for an introductory atmospheric science course for nonscience majors, a course was developed that provides a general understanding of atmospheric processes by examining how meteorological events are portrayed in movies. The course also uses films to study the causes of, impacts associated with, and potential adaptations to…

The Effect of Vocabulary on Introductory Microbiology Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Emily

2011-01-01

This study examines the effect of the translation of traditional scientific vocabulary into plain English, a process referred to as Anglicization, on student learning in the context of introductory microbiology instruction. Data from Anglicized and Classical-vocabulary lab sections were collected. Data included exam scores as well as pre and…

Assessing Expertise in Introductory Physics Using Categorization Task

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Andrew; Singh, Chandralekha

2011-01-01

The ability to categorize problems based upon underlying principles, rather than surface features or contexts, is considered one of several proxy predictors of expertise in problem solving. With inspiration from the classic study by Chi, Feltovich, and Glaser, we assess the distribution of expertise among introductory physics students by asking…

Learning Styles and Student Performance in Introductory Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Brunton, Bruce

2015-01-01

Data from nine introductory microeconomics classes was used to test the effect of student learning style on academic performance. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory was used to assess individual student learning styles. The results indicate that student learning style has no significant effect on performance, undermining the claims of those who…

Computer Self-Efficacy: A Practical Indicator of Student Computer Competency in Introductory IS Courses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rex Karsten

1998-01-01

Full Text Available Students often receive their first college-level computer training in introductory information systems courses. Students and faculty frequently expect this training to develop a level of student computer competence that will support computer use in future courses. In this study, we applied measures of computer self-efficacy to students in a typical introductory IS course. The measures provided useful evidence that student perceptions of their ability to use computers effectively in the future significantly improved as a result of their training experience. The computer self-efficacy measures also provided enhanced insight into course-related factors of practical concern to IS educators. Study results also suggest computer self-efficacy measures may be a practical and informative means of assessing computer-training outcomes in the introductory IS course context

Computer-Tailored Student Support in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Huberth, Madeline; Chen, Patricia; Tritz, Jared; McKay, Timothy A.

2015-01-01

Large introductory courses are at a disadvantage in providing personalized guidance and advice for students during the semester. We introduce E2Coach (an Expert Electronic Coaching system), which allows instructors to personalize their communication with thousands of students. We describe the E2Coach system, the nature of the personalized support it provides, and the features of the students who did (and did not) opt-in to using it during the first three terms of its use in four introductory physics courses at the University of Michigan. Defining a ‘better-than-expected’ measure of performance, we compare outcomes for students who used E2Coach to those who did not. We found that moderate and high E2Coach usage was associated with improved performance. This performance boost was prominent among high users, who improved by 0.18 letter grades on average when compared to nonusers with similar incoming GPAs. This improvement in performance was comparable across both genders. E2Coach represents one way to use technology to personalize education at scale, contributing to the move towards individualized learning that is becoming more attainable in the 21st century. PMID:26352403

Computer-Tailored Student Support in Introductory Physics.

Science.gov (United States)

Huberth, Madeline; Chen, Patricia; Tritz, Jared; McKay, Timothy A

2015-01-01

Large introductory courses are at a disadvantage in providing personalized guidance and advice for students during the semester. We introduce E2Coach (an Expert Electronic Coaching system), which allows instructors to personalize their communication with thousands of students. We describe the E2Coach system, the nature of the personalized support it provides, and the features of the students who did (and did not) opt-in to using it during the first three terms of its use in four introductory physics courses at the University of Michigan. Defining a 'better-than-expected' measure of performance, we compare outcomes for students who used E2Coach to those who did not. We found that moderate and high E2Coach usage was associated with improved performance. This performance boost was prominent among high users, who improved by 0.18 letter grades on average when compared to nonusers with similar incoming GPAs. This improvement in performance was comparable across both genders. E2Coach represents one way to use technology to personalize education at scale, contributing to the move towards individualized learning that is becoming more attainable in the 21st century.

Lecturers' Perspectives on How Introductory Economic Courses Address Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Tom L.

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore sustainability commitments' potential implications for the curriculum of introductory economics courses. Universities have signed the Talloires Declaration, committing themselves to promoting students' environmental literacy and ecological citizenship, thereby creating pressure to integrate…

The Development of Curricular Guidelines for Introductory Microbiology that Focus on Understanding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susan Merkel

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The number of students who leave majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM due to a perception that courses are poorly taught is evidence that education reform in STEM is overdue. Despite decades of research that argues for student-centered teaching approaches, most introductory STEM courses are still taught in the large lecture format, focusing on rote memorization. While individual efforts in STEM educational reform are important, solutions will most certainly need to include institutional and cultural change. In biology, numerous national reports have called for educational reform to better prepare future scientists. We describe here a new, concept-based curriculum for Introductory Microbiology courses, designed to promote deep understanding of core concepts. Supported by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM and based on the overarching concepts and competencies presented in the AAAS/NSF report Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action, we hope it will empower instructors to adapt student-centered approaches so that students in Introductory Microbiology courses can leave the course with a core set of enduring understandings of microbiology.

The Development of Curricular Guidelines for Introductory Microbiology that Focus on Understanding.

Science.gov (United States)

Merkel, Susan

2012-01-01

The number of students who leave majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) due to a perception that courses are poorly taught is evidence that education reform in STEM is overdue. Despite decades of research that argues for student-centered teaching approaches, most introductory STEM courses are still taught in the large lecture format, focusing on rote memorization. While individual efforts in STEM educational reform are important, solutions will most certainly need to include institutional and cultural change. In biology, numerous national reports have called for educational reform to better prepare future scientists. We describe here a new, concept-based curriculum for Introductory Microbiology courses, designed to promote deep understanding of core concepts. Supported by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and based on the overarching concepts and competencies presented in the AAAS/NSF report Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action, we hope it will empower instructors to adapt student-centered approaches so that students in Introductory Microbiology courses can leave the course with a core set of enduring understandings of microbiology.

Fundamentals of Aerospace Engineering: An introductory course to aeronautical engineering

OpenAIRE

Soler, Manuel

2014-01-01

Fundamentals of Aerospace Engineering is a text book that provides an introductory, thorough overview of aeronautical engineering, and it is aimed at serving as reference for an undergraduate course on aerospace engineering.

Introductory Psychology Textbooks: An Objective Analysis and Update.

Science.gov (United States)

Griggs, Richard A.; Jackson, Sherri L.; Christopher, Andrew N.; Marek, Pam

1999-01-01

Explores changes in the introductory psychology textbook market through an analysis of edition, author, length, and content coverage of the volumes that comprise the current market. Finds a higher edition average, a decrease in the number of authors, an increase in text pages, and a focus on developmental psychology and sensation/perception. (CMK)

[Economics] Introductory Lesson (Begin Day One). Lesson Plan.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewin, Roland

This introductory lesson on teaching economics concepts contains sections on the following: purpose; objectives; time; materials needed; and step-by-step classroom procedures. The focus is on the economic problem of scarcity and opportunity costs. Attached is an original skit, "There's no such thing as a free lunch," and a chart that…

Introducing the Cloud in an Introductory IT Course

Science.gov (United States)

Woods, David M.

2018-01-01

Cloud computing is a rapidly emerging topic, but should it be included in an introductory IT course? The magnitude of cloud computing use, especially cloud infrastructure, along with students' limited knowledge of the topic support adding cloud content to the IT curriculum. There are several arguments that support including cloud computing in an…

Using R for introductory statistics

CERN Document Server

Verzani, John

2014-01-01

The second edition of a bestselling textbook, Using R for Introductory Statistics guides students through the basics of R, helping them overcome the sometimes steep learning curve. The author does this by breaking the material down into small, task-oriented steps. The second edition maintains the features that made the first edition so popular, while updating data, examples, and changes to R in line with the current version.See What's New in the Second Edition:Increased emphasis on more idiomatic R provides a grounding in the functionality of base R.Discussions of the use of RStudio helps new

Introductory Physics Gender Gaps: Pre- and Post-Studio Transition

Science.gov (United States)

Kohl, Patrick B.; Kuo, H. Vincent

2009-11-01

Prior work has characterized the gender gaps present in college-level introductory physics courses. Such work has also shown that research-based interactive engagement techniques can reduce or eliminate these gender gaps. In this paper, we study the gender gaps (and lack thereof) in the introductory calculus-based electricity and magnetism course at the Colorado School of Mines. We present eight semesters' worth of data, totaling 2577 students, with four semesters preceding a transition to Studio physics, and four following. We examine gender gaps in course grades, DFW (D grade, fail, or withdrawal) rates, and normalized gains on the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM), and consider factors such as student ACT scores and grades in prior math classes. We find little or no gap in male/female course grades and DFW rates, but substantial gaps in CSEM gains that are reduced somewhat by the transition to Studio physics.

Implementing New Reform Guidelines in Teaching Introductory College Statistics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Everson, Michelle; Zieffler, Andrew; Garfield, Joan

2008-01-01

This article introduces the recently adopted Guidelines for the Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) and provides two examples of introductory statistics courses that have been redesigned to better align with these guidelines.

Concluding remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogt, E.

1989-05-01

The workshop has covered in a very interesting and complete way the basic physics issues to be addressed by the complementary facilities, in Canada and Japan, intended to explore the intensity-frontier of strong-interaction physics. Japan has its new KEK facilities and its future Japanese Hadron Project (JHP): Canada has its present TRIUMF laboratory and its future KAON Factory. Both JHP and KAON appear very near to final construction approval. The possibilities are very great for new joint programs between the two countries which can lead the world in the new strong interaction physics. These concluding remarks describe the general science basis and particularly the models for the internationalization of science needed to make these new collaborations thrive

Unpacking Gender Differences in Students' Perceived Experiences in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Kost, Lauren E.; Pollock, Steven J.; Finkelstein, Noah D.

2009-11-01

Prior research has shown, at our institution: 1) males outperform females on conceptual assessments (a gender gap), 2) the gender gap persists despite the use of research-based reforms, and 3) the gender gap is correlated with students' physics and mathematics background and prior attitudes and beliefs [Kost, et al. PRST-PER, 5, 010101]. Our follow-up work begins to explore how males and females experience the introductory course differently and how these differences relate to the gender gap. We gave a survey to students in the introductory course in which we investigated students' physics identity and self-efficacy. We find there are significant gender differences in each of these three areas, and further find that these measures are weakly correlated with student conceptual performance, and moderately correlated with course grade.

Assessing Factors That Influence the Recruitment of Majors from Introductory Geology Classes at Northern Arizona University

Science.gov (United States)

Hoisch, Thomas D.; Bowie, James I.

2010-01-01

In order to guide the formulation of strategies for recruiting undergraduates into the geology program at Northern Arizona University, we surveyed 783 students in introductory geology classes and 23 geology majors in their junior and senior years. Our analysis shows that ~7% of students in the introductory classes are possible candidates for…

The Write Stuff: Teaching the Introductory Public Relations Writing Course.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Cynthia M.

2001-01-01

Outlines an introductory public relations writing course. Presents course topics and objectives, and assignments designed to meet them. Provides a sample grading rubric and evaluates major public relations writing textbooks. Discusses learning and assessment strategies. (SR)

Women and Minorities in Introductory Economics Textbooks: 1974 to 1984.

Science.gov (United States)

Feiner, Susan F.; Morgan, Barbara A.

1987-01-01

Reviews widely-used introductory economics textbooks, examining how issues relating to race and gender are treated. Suggests how stereotypical roles could be avoided in the future. Includes a table summarizing data from 21 textbooks. (Author/DH)

Topic Order in Introductory Physics and its Impact on the STEM Curricular Ladder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa L Larkin

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Introductory physics courses are an important rung on the curricular ladder in STEM. These courses help to strengthen students critical thinking and problem solving skills while simultaneously introducing them to many topics they will explore in more detail in later courses in physics and engineering. For these reasons, introductory physics is a required element on the curricular ladder. Most often, introductory physics is offered as a two-semester sequence with basic mechanics being taught in the first semester and electricity and magnetism in the second. In fact, this curricular sequence has not been altered in decades. Is there a reason for this? There are many other enduring questions that arise pertaining to these foundation courses in physics. These questions include: Does taking the introductory course sequence “out of order” have an impact on student learning in physics? What topics should be taught? When should these topics be taught? What topics could be left out? The list of questions is essentially endless. This paper will address some of these questions in part, through a brief discussion on student learning in a second-semester algebra-based physics course. Connections will also be made to the broader curricular ladder in STEM. To this end, an illustration that makes connections to an engineering statics course will be presented. This discussion will conclude by presenting some broader implications for the larger STEM communities.

Teaching Introductory Psychology in the Community College Classroom: Enhancing Student Understanding and Retention of Essential Information

Science.gov (United States)

Debb, Scott M.; Debb, Sharon M.

2012-01-01

Enrolling in an introductory course in psychology is a staple of many community college students' core curriculum. For those students who plan to pursue social science and humanities-related majors in particular, introductory psychology helps provide a solid base upon which future coursework at all academic levels will be built. The goal of any…

Humor to the Rescue: How to Make Introductory Economics an Appealing Social Science for Non-Majors

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, George H.

2014-01-01

Despite efforts made over the past few years to improve upon the way introductory economics is taught, these efforts have unfortunately done very little to change student perception of economics as a dry, difficult and boring subject. Since the introductory economics course for many nonmajors may be their only economics course in college, it is…

Introductory analysis of Benard-Marangoni convection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maroto, J A; Perez-Munuzuri, V; Romero-Cano, M S

2007-01-01

We describe experiments on Benard-Marangoni convection which permit a useful understanding of the main concepts involved in this phenomenon such as, for example, Benard cells, aspect ratio, Rayleigh and Marangoni numbers, Crispation number and critical conditions. In spite of the complexity of convection theory, we carry out a simple and introductory analysis which has the additional advantage of providing very suggestive experiments. As a consequence, we recommend our device for use as a laboratory experiment for undergraduate students of the thermodynamics of nonlinear and fluid physics

Introductory analysis of Benard-Marangoni convection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maroto, J A [Group of Physics and Chemistry of Linares, Escuela Politecnica Superior, St Alfonso X El Sabio, 28, University of Jaen, E-23700 Linares, Jaen (Spain); Perez-Munuzuri, V [Group of Nonlinear Physics, University of Santiago de Compostela, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Romero-Cano, M S [Group of Complex Fluids Physics, Department of Applied Physics, University of Almeria, E-04120 Almeria (Spain)

2007-03-15

We describe experiments on Benard-Marangoni convection which permit a useful understanding of the main concepts involved in this phenomenon such as, for example, Benard cells, aspect ratio, Rayleigh and Marangoni numbers, Crispation number and critical conditions. In spite of the complexity of convection theory, we carry out a simple and introductory analysis which has the additional advantage of providing very suggestive experiments. As a consequence, we recommend our device for use as a laboratory experiment for undergraduate students of the thermodynamics of nonlinear and fluid physics.

Introductory statistics for the behavioral sciences

CERN Document Server

Welkowitz, Joan; Cohen, Jacob

1971-01-01

Introductory Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences provides an introduction to statistical concepts and principles. This book emphasizes the robustness of parametric procedures wherein such significant tests as t and F yield accurate results even if such assumptions as equal population variances and normal population distributions are not well met.Organized into three parts encompassing 16 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the rationale upon which much of behavioral science research is based, namely, drawing inferences about a population based on data obtained from a samp

Helping Struggling Students in Introductory Biology: A Peer-Tutoring Approach That Improves Performance, Perception, and Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Batz, Zachary; Olsen, Brian J.; Dumont, Jonathan; Dastoor, Farahad; Smith, Michelle K.

2015-01-01

The high attrition rate among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors has long been an area of concern for institutions and educational researchers. The transition from introductory to advanced courses has been identified as a particularly “leaky” point along the STEM pipeline, and students who struggle early in an introductory STEM course are predominantly at risk. Peer-tutoring programs offered to all students in a course have been widely found to help STEM students during this critical transition, but hiring a sufficient number of tutors may not be an option for some institutions. As an alternative, this study examines the viability of an optional peer-tutoring program offered to students who are struggling in a large-enrollment, introductory biology course. Struggling students who regularly attended peer tutoring increased exam performance, expert-like perceptions of biology, and course persistence relative to their struggling peers who were not attending the peer-tutoring sessions. The results of this study provide information to instructors who want to design targeted academic assistance for students who are struggling in introductory courses. PMID:25976652

Academic Performance in Introductory Accounting: Do Learning Styles Matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Lin Mei; Laswad, Fawzi

2015-01-01

This study examines the impact of learning styles on academic performance using major assessment methods (examinations and assignments including multiple-choice and constructed response questions (CRQs)) in an introductory accounting course. Students' learning styles were assessed using Kolb's Learning Style Inventory Version 3.1. The results…

Characterizing Teaching in Introductory Geology Courses: Measuring Classroom Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Budd, D. A.; van der Hoeven Kraft, K. J.; McConnell, D. A.; Vislova, T.

2013-01-01

Most research about reformed teaching practices in the college science classroom is based on instructor self-report. This research describes what is happening in some introductory geology courses at multiple institutions across the country using external observers. These observations are quantified using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol…

Race, Sex, and Their Influences on Introductory Statistics Education

Science.gov (United States)

van Es, Cindy; Weaver, Michelle M.

2018-01-01

The Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics or SATS was administered for three consecutive years to students in an Introductory Statistics course at Cornell University. Questions requesting demographic information and expected final course grade were added. Responses were analyzed to investigate possible differences between sexes and racial/ethnic…

The Impact of Student-Directed Projects in Introductory Statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Spence, Dianna J.; Bailey, Brad; Sharp, Julia L.

2017-01-01

A multi-year study investigated the impact of incorporating student-directed discovery projects into introductory statistics courses. Pilot instructors at institutions across the United States taught statistics implementing student-directed projects with the help of a common set of instructional materials designed to facilitate such projects.…

Introductory Anatomy and Physiology in an Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, S. J.; White, S.; Power, N.

2017-01-01

Using an educational data mining approach, first-year academic achievement of undergraduate nursing students, which included two compulsory courses in introductory human anatomy and physiology, was compared with achievement in a final semester course that transitioned students into the workplace. We hypothesized that students could be grouped…

Using News Media Databases (LexisNexis) To Identify Relevant Topics For Introductory Earth Science Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Cervato, C.; Jach, J. Y.; Ridky, R.

2003-12-01

Introductory Earth science courses are undergoing pedagogical changes in universities across the country and are focusing more than ever on the non-science majors. Increasing enrollment of non-science majors in these introductory Earth science courses demands a new look at what is being taught and how the content can be objectively chosen. Assessing the content and effectiveness of these courses requires a quantitative investigation of introductory Earth science topics and their relevance to current issues and concerns. Relevance of Earth science topics can be linked to improved students' attitude toward science and a deeper understanding of concepts. We have used the Internet based national news search-engine LexisNexis Academic Universe (http://www.lexisnexis.org/) to select the occurrence of Earth science terms over the last 12 months, five and ten years both regionally and nationally. This database of term occurrences is being used to examine how Earth sciences have evolved in the news through the last 10 years and is also compared with textbook contents and course syllabi from randomly selected introductory earth science courses across the nation. These data constitute the quantitative foundation for this study and are being used to evaluate the relevance of introductory earth science course content. The relevance of introductory course content and current real-world issues to student attitudes is a crucial factor when considering changes in course curricula and pedagogy. We have examined students' conception of the nature of science and attitudes towards science and learning science using a Likert-scale assessment instrument in the fall 2002 Geology 100 classes at Iowa State University. A pre-test and post-test were administered to see if the students' attitudes changed during the semester using as reference a control group comprised of geoscience undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty. The results of the attitude survey have been analyzed in terms

Intuitive introductory statistics

CERN Document Server

Wolfe, Douglas A

2017-01-01

This textbook is designed to give an engaging introduction to statistics and the art of data analysis. The unique scope includes, but also goes beyond, classical methodology associated with the normal distribution. What if the normal model is not valid for a particular data set? This cutting-edge approach provides the alternatives. It is an introduction to the world and possibilities of statistics that uses exercises, computer analyses, and simulations throughout the core lessons. These elementary statistical methods are intuitive. Counting and ranking features prominently in the text. Nonparametric methods, for instance, are often based on counts and ranks and are very easy to integrate into an introductory course. The ease of computation with advanced calculators and statistical software, both of which factor into this text, allows important techniques to be introduced earlier in the study of statistics. This book's novel scope also includes measuring symmetry with Walsh averages, finding a nonp...

Introductory Biology Labs... They Just Aren't Sexy Enough!

Science.gov (United States)

Cotner, Sehoya; Gallup, Gordon G., Jr.

2011-01-01

The typical introductory biology curriculum includes the nature of science, evolution and genetics. Laboratory activities are designed to engage students in typical subject areas ranging from cell biology and physiology, to ecology and evolution. There are few, if any, laboratory classes exploring the biology and evolution of human sexual…

Transversality of electromagnetic waves in the calculus-based introductory physics course

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burko, Lior M

2008-01-01

Introductory calculus-based physics textbooks state that electromagnetic waves are transverse and list many of their properties, but most such textbooks do not bring forth arguments why this is so. Both physical and theoretical arguments are at a level appropriate for students of courses based on such books, and could be readily used by instructors of such courses. Here, we discuss two physical arguments (based on polarization experiments and on lack of monopole electromagnetic radiation) and the full argument for the transversality of (plane) electromagnetic waves based on the integral Maxwell equations. We also show, at a level appropriate for the introductory course, why the electric and magnetic fields in a wave are in phase and the relation of their magnitudes

Transversality of electromagnetic waves in the calculus-based introductory physics course

Science.gov (United States)

Burko, Lior M.

2008-11-01

Introductory calculus-based physics textbooks state that electromagnetic waves are transverse and list many of their properties, but most such textbooks do not bring forth arguments why this is so. Both physical and theoretical arguments are at a level appropriate for students of courses based on such books, and could be readily used by instructors of such courses. Here, we discuss two physical arguments (based on polarization experiments and on lack of monopole electromagnetic radiation) and the full argument for the transversality of (plane) electromagnetic waves based on the integral Maxwell equations. We also show, at a level appropriate for the introductory course, why the electric and magnetic fields in a wave are in phase and the relation of their magnitudes.

Introductory modern algebra a historical approach

CERN Document Server

Stahl, Saul

2013-01-01

Praise for the First Edition ""Stahl offers the solvability of equations from the historical point of view...one of the best books available to support a one-semester introduction to abstract algebra.""-CHOICE Introductory Modern Algebra: A Historical Approach, Second Edition presents the evolution of algebra and provides readers with the opportunity to view modern algebra as a consistent movement from concrete problems to abstract principles. With a few pertinent excerpts from the writings of some of the greatest mathematicians, the Second Edition uniquely facilitates the understanding of pi

Introductory Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences

CERN Document Server

Cohen, Barry H; Lea, R Brooke

2012-01-01

A comprehensive and user-friendly introduction to statistics for behavioral science students-revised and updated Refined over seven editions by master teachers, this book gives instructors and students alike clear examples and carefully crafted exercises to support the teaching and learning of statistics for both manipulating and consuming data. One of the most popular and respected statistics texts in the behavioral sciences, the Seventh Edition of Introductory Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences has been fully revised. The new edition presents all the topics students in the behavioral s

Introductory remarks: diabetes care in America - "a sense of urgency".

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, Jaime A

2006-01-01

To review the status of diabetes care in America and present questions to be addressed in the current consensus conference. Data from recent studies are reviewed, and trends in diabetes care are summarized in an effort to improve interventional strategies and future results. The diabetes epidemic is worsening; more than 20 million Americans have diabetes. Another 42 million Americans have pre-diabetes. Diabetes care in America has deteriorated during the past decade, with fewer patients at target hemoglobin A1c levels. New diabetes-related therapies and technologies are available, but clinicians often fail to intervene early and aggressively to achieve good glycemic control and help avoid complications. Moreover, many patients do not receive education and training in diabetes self-management. Several questions must be addressed in order to develop recommendations for implementing more aggressive treatment strategies in patients with diabetes. Substantial clinical and financial benefits can be gained through better control of diabetes. Finding ways to meet this challenge must be a priority.

Introductory Remarks for ISROMAC-9 Panel on Inducer Design Criteria

Science.gov (United States)

Zoladz, Tom; Turner, Jim (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) High Pressure Oxygen Turbopump (HPOTP) inducer cavitation study was initiated in the mid 1990s to support high synchronous vibrations. A Fastrac 60K Engine Oxygen Turbopump inducer cavitation study was started around the same time to support a blade deformation investigation. Super-synchronous rotating, attached synchronous, and pronounced subsynchronous flow oscillations were evident. Current thrusts in experimental work include characterization of loads induced by the various forms of cavitation inducted stabilities and measurements of cavitating turbopump dynamic transfer functions.

The Structure of the Introductory Economics Course in United States Colleges.

Science.gov (United States)

Sweeney, M. Jane Barr; And Others

1983-01-01

This survey examined class size, teaching methods, and the one-semester/two-semester organization of the introductory economics course. Student satisfaction with respect to their institution was also studied. (Author/RM)

Polymerization Simulator for Introductory Polymer and Material Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Chirdon, William M.

2010-01-01

This work describes how molecular simulation of polymerization reactions can be used to enrich introductory polymer or material science courses to give students a deeper understanding of free-radical chain and stepwise growth polymerization reactions. These simulations have proven to be effective media for instruction that do not require material…

Addressing the Problem of Service Teaching Introductory Economics Subjects

Science.gov (United States)

Barrett, Steven

2005-01-01

Enrolments in undergraduate economics programs have been falling constantly since the early 1990s. This trend coincides with the increasing popularity of business and management degrees. Consequently, the major activity of many, if not most economics departments and schools in Australia is service teaching of introductory economics to first year…

Ecology Content in Introductory Biology Courses: A Comparative Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Pool, Richard F.; Turner, Gregory D.; Böttger, S. Anne

2013-01-01

In recent years the need for ecological literacy and problem solving has increased, but there is no evidence that this need is reflected by increased ecology coverage at institutions of higher education (IHE) across the United States. Because introductory biology courses may serve to direct student interest toward particular biological categories…

Using Data from Climate Science to Teach Introductory Statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Witt, Gary

2013-01-01

This paper shows how the application of simple statistical methods can reveal to students important insights from climate data. While the popular press is filled with contradictory opinions about climate science, teachers can encourage students to use introductory-level statistics to analyze data for themselves on this important issue in public…

Students' Spirituality and "Big Questions" in Introductory Religion Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Walvoord, Barbara E.

2008-01-01

A study of sixty-six highly effective teachers of introductory theology and religion courses in various types of institutions reveals very complex challenges for instructors. The majority of students have as a goal their own religious and spiritual development. Faculty members' most frequent goal is critical thinking. Students much less frequently…

Integrating Symmetry in Stereochemical Analysis in Introductory Organic Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Taagepera, Mare; Arasasingham, Ramesh D.; King, Susan; Potter, Frank; Martorell, Ingrid; Ford, David; Wu, Jason; Kearney, Aaron M.

2011-01-01

We report a comparative study using "knowledge space theory" (KAT) to assess the impact of a hands-on laboratory exercise that used molecular model kits to emphasize the connections between a plane of symmetry, Charity, and isomerism in an introductory organic chemistry course. The experimental design compared three groups of…

Characterizing, modeling, and addressing gender disparities in introductory college physics

Science.gov (United States)

Kost-Smith, Lauren Elizabeth

2011-12-01

The underrepresentation and underperformance of females in physics has been well documented and has long concerned policy-makers, educators, and the physics community. In this thesis, we focus on gender disparities in the first- and second-semester introductory, calculus-based physics courses at the University of Colorado. Success in these courses is critical for future study and careers in physics (and other sciences). Using data gathered from roughly 10,000 undergraduate students, we identify and model gender differences in the introductory physics courses in three areas: student performance, retention, and psychological factors. We observe gender differences on several measures in the introductory physics courses: females are less likely to take a high school physics course than males and have lower standardized mathematics test scores; males outscore females on both pre- and post-course conceptual physics surveys and in-class exams; and males have more expert-like attitudes and beliefs about physics than females. These background differences of males and females account for 60% to 70% of the gender gap that we observe on a post-course survey of conceptual physics understanding. In analyzing underlying psychological factors of learning, we find that female students report lower self-confidence related to succeeding in the introductory courses (self-efficacy) and are less likely to report seeing themselves as a "physics person". Students' self-efficacy beliefs are significant predictors of their performance, even when measures of physics and mathematics background are controlled, and account for an additional 10% of the gender gap. Informed by results from these studies, we implemented and tested a psychological, self-affirmation intervention aimed at enhancing female students' performance in Physics 1. Self-affirmation reduced the gender gap in performance on both in-class exams and the post-course conceptual physics survey. Further, the benefit of the self

Remarks on Correlations and Implications of the Mandibular Structure and Diet in Some Seals (Mammalia, Phocidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koretsky I.A.

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Remarks on Correlations and Implications of the Mandibular Structure and Diet in Some Seals (Mammalia, Phocidae. Koretsky, I. A., Rahmat, S. J., Peters, N. — The diverse representatives of Recent seals within the three extant subfamilies (Cystophorinae, Phocinae, Monachinae of the family Phocidae exhibit dietary variations among species, feeding on invertebrates and a diversity of prey depending on the season and availability. To explain this variability, an introductory morphological examination of the mandibular structure of Recent seals from each subfamily was performed, focusing on: heights of the mandibular ramus and condyloid process; measurements of the masseteric fossa; and attachments of muscles of mastication. After measuring the condyloid angles (the inclination of the condyloid process in relation to the axis of the alveolar row among the examined species, a correlation between the size ofthe angle, function, and diet was recognized. Seals with a tall mandibular ramus and greater condyloid angle (Cystophorinae feed on larger-sized prey, while seals with a shorter ramus and lesser condyloid angle feed on small (Monachinae to medium-sized (Phocinae prey, regardless of the overall size of the seal. This study focused on the mandibular morphology of some living and fossil representatives of Phocidae, providing an association between functional and ecological interpretations of modern seals in general and extrapolating this knowledge for fossil dietary preference.

Catholic/Jesuit Values in an Introductory Religious Studies Course

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, Patrick; S. J.; Mizak, Pat

2012-01-01

A growing interest in the communication to students of the mission and identity of a higher education institution prompted this study about the presence of Catholic, Jesuit values in the introductory religious studies course at a faith-based university. To conduct this study a survey instrument was developed, piloted, further refined, and then…

Student and Professor Gender Effects in Introductory Business Statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Haley, M. Ryan; Johnson, Marianne F.; Kuennen, Eric W.

2007-01-01

Studies have yielded highly mixed results as to differences in male and female student performance in statistics courses; the role that professors play in these differences is even less clear. In this paper, we consider the impact of professor and student gender on student performance in an introductory business statistics course taught by…

The Distribution of Macromolecular Principles throughout Introductory Organic Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Shulman, Joel I.

2017-01-01

Many of the principles of organic polymer chemistry are direct extensions of the information contained in the standard introductory organic chemistry course. Often, however, the discussion of macromolecules is relegated to a chapter at the end of the organic chemistry text and is covered briefly, if at all. Connecting the organic-chemical…

Development and Validation of a Teaching Practice Scale (TISS) for Instructors of Introductory Statistics at the College Level

Science.gov (United States)

Hassad, Rossi A.

2009-01-01

This study examined the teaching practices of 227 college instructors of introductory statistics (from the health and behavioral sciences). Using primarily multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques, a two-dimensional, 10-item teaching practice scale, TISS (Teaching of Introductory Statistics Scale), was developed and validated. The two dimensions…

MRI experiments for introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Taghizadeh, Sanaz; Lincoln, James

2018-04-01

The introductory physics classroom has long educated students about the properties of the atom and the nucleus. But absent from these lessons has been an informed discussion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its parent science nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Physics teachers should not miss the opportunity to instruct upon this highly relevant application of modern physics, especially with so many of our students planning to pursue a career in medicine. This article provides an overview of the physics of MRI and gives advice on how physics teachers can introduce this topic. Also included are some demonstration activities and a discussion of a desktop MRI apparatus that may be used by students in the lab or as a demo.

Special Relativity and Magnetism in an Introductory Physics Course

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Piccioni, R. G.

2007-01-01

Too often, students in introductory courses are left with the impression that Einstein's special theory of relativity comes into play only when the relative speed of two objects is an appreciable fraction of the speed of light ("c"). In fact, relativistic length contraction, along with Coulomb's law, accounts quantitatively for the force on a…

Incorporating Code-Based Software in an Introductory Statistics Course

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Doehler, Kirsten; Taylor, Laura

2015-01-01

This article is based on the experiences of two statistics professors who have taught students to write and effectively utilize code-based software in a college-level introductory statistics course. Advantages of using software and code-based software in this context are discussed. Suggestions are made on how to ease students into using code with…

Student Interpretations of Phylogenetic Trees in an Introductory Biology Course

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Dees, Jonathan; Momsen, Jennifer L.; Niemi, Jarad; Montplaisir, Lisa

2014-01-01

Phylogenetic trees are widely used visual representations in the biological sciences and the most important visual representations in evolutionary biology. Therefore, phylogenetic trees have also become an important component of biology education. We sought to characterize reasoning used by introductory biology students in interpreting taxa…

Using Astrology to Teach Research Methods to Introductory Psychology Students.

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Ward, Roger A.; Grasha, Anthony F.

1986-01-01

Provides a classroom demonstration designed to test an astrological hypothesis and help teach introductory psychology students about research design and data interpretation. Illustrates differences between science and nonscience, the role of theory in developing and testing hypotheses, making comparisons among groups, probability and statistical…

Introductory statistics and analytics a resampling perspective

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Bruce, Peter C

2014-01-01

Concise, thoroughly class-tested primer that features basic statistical concepts in the concepts in the context of analytics, resampling, and the bootstrapA uniquely developed presentation of key statistical topics, Introductory Statistics and Analytics: A Resampling Perspective provides an accessible approach to statistical analytics, resampling, and the bootstrap for readers with various levels of exposure to basic probability and statistics. Originally class-tested at one of the first online learning companies in the discipline, www.statistics.com, the book primarily focuses on application

An introductory course in philosophy of medicine.

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Rudnick, A

2004-06-01

Philosophy of medicine, narrowly defined as ontology and epistemology of medicine, is a well developed research field, yet education in this field is less well developed. The aim of this paper is to present an educational development in philosophy of medicine-an introductory course in philosophy of medicine. Central features of the course are described. Participants (medical undergraduate students) scored high on average. The conclusion is that further such educational ventures in philosophy of medicine should be developed and implemented.

Ancient Indian Astronomy in Introductory Texts

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Narahari Achar, B. N.

1997-10-01

It is customary in introductory survey courses in astronomy to devote some time to the history of astronomy. In the available text books only the Greek contribution receives any attention. Apart from Stonehenge and Chichenitza pictures, contributions from Babylon and China are some times mentioned. Hardly any account is given of ancient Indian astronomy. Even when something is mentioned it is incomplete or incorrect or both. Examples are given from several text books currently available. An attempt is made to correct this situation by sketching the contributions from the earliest astronomy of India, namely Vedaanga Jyotisha.

Concluding Remarks | Ewing | Rwanda Journal

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rwanda Journal. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 2, No 2 (2015) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register. Concluding Remarks. Helen Ewing. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text:.

Cognitive Transfer Outcomes for a Simulation-Based Introductory Statistics Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Backman, Matthew D.; Delmas, Robert C.; Garfield, Joan

2017-01-01

Cognitive transfer is the ability to apply learned skills and knowledge to new applications and contexts. This investigation evaluates cognitive transfer outcomes for a tertiary-level introductory statistics course using the CATALST curriculum, which exclusively used simulation-based methods to develop foundations of statistical inference. A…

Introductory Graduate Research Courses: An Examination of the Knowledge Base.

Science.gov (United States)

Mundfrom, Daniel J.; Shaw, Dale G.; Thomas, Ann; Young, Suzanne; Moore, Alan D.

This study addresses the question, "What should graduate students know about research and statistics after completing an initial course?" Individuals who teach such courses at various Carnegie classifications of institutions were surveyed about the specific characteristics of an introductory graduate research course at their own institutions to…

Python Source Code Plagiarism Attacks on Introductory Programming Course Assignments

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Karnalim, Oscar

2017-01-01

This paper empirically enlists Python plagiarism attacks that have been found on Introductory Programming course assignments for undergraduate students. According to our observation toward 400 plagiarism-suspected cases, there are 35 plagiarism attacks that have been conducted by students. It starts with comment & whitespace modification as…

TEACHING OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING AT THE INTRODUCTORY LEVEL

OpenAIRE

OKUR , Prof.Dr. Mehmet C.

2006-01-01

Teaching object oriented programming has become a rapidly expanding preference at various educational environments. However, teachers usually experience problems when introducing object oriented concepts and programming to beginners. How to teach the fundamentals of object oriented programming at an introductory level course is still a common subject for debate. In this paper, an evaluation of these problems is presented and some possible approaches for improving the quality and success of su...

Critical phenomena and renormalization group transformations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castellani, C.; Castro, C. di

1980-01-01

Our main goal is to guide the reader to find out the common rational behind the various renormalization procedures which have been proposed in the last ten years. In the first part of these lectures old arguments on universality and scaling will be briefly recalled. To our opinion these introductory remarks allow one to stress the physical origin of the two majore renormalization procedures, which have been used in the theory of critical phenomena: the Wilson and the field theoretic approach. All the general properties of a ''good'' renormalization transformation will also come out quite naturally. (author)

Use of AECC Directives and Cooperative Learning Theory in Introductory Accounting Classes.

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Holt, Doris L.; Swanson, Janice Goodnow

1995-01-01

Explores how colleges and universities are responding to the directives of the Accounting Education Change Commission for introductory accounting classes and whether these classrooms use cooperative learning techniques. (Author/JOW)

A comparative study of traditional lecture methods and interactive lecture methods in introductory geology courses for non-science majors at the college level

Science.gov (United States)

Hundley, Stacey A.

In recent years there has been a national call for reform in undergraduate science education. The goal of this reform movement in science education is to develop ways to improve undergraduate student learning with an emphasis on developing more effective teaching practices. Introductory science courses at the college level are generally taught using a traditional lecture format. Recent studies have shown incorporating active learning strategies within the traditional lecture classroom has positive effects on student outcomes. This study focuses on incorporating interactive teaching methods into the traditional lecture classroom to enhance student learning for non-science majors enrolled in introductory geology courses at a private university. Students' experience and instructional preferences regarding introductory geology courses were identified from survey data analysis. The information gained from responses to the questionnaire was utilized to develop an interactive lecture introductory geology course for non-science majors. Student outcomes were examined in introductory geology courses based on two teaching methods: interactive lecture and traditional lecture. There were no significant statistical differences between the groups based on the student outcomes and teaching methods. Incorporating interactive lecture methods did not statistically improve student outcomes when compared to traditional lecture teaching methods. However, the responses to the survey revealed students have a preference for introductory geology courses taught with lecture and instructor-led discussions and students prefer to work independently or in small groups. The results of this study are useful to individuals who teach introductory geology courses and individuals who teach introductory science courses for non-science majors at the college level.

Connecting Symbolic Integrals to Physical Meaning in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Amos, Nathaniel R.

This dissertation presents a series of studies pertaining to introductory physics students' abilities to derive physical meaning from symbolic integrals (e.g., the integral of vdt) and their components, namely differentials and differential products (e.g., dt and vdt, respectively). Our studies focus on physical meaning in the form of interpretations (e.g., "the total displacement of an object") and units (e.g., "meters"). Our first pair of studies independently attempted to identify introductory-level mechanics students' common conceptual difficulties with and unproductive interpretations of physics integrals and their components, as well as to estimate the frequencies of these difficulties. Our results confirmed some previously-observed incorrect interpretations, such as the notion that differentials are physically meaningless; however, we also uncovered two new conceptualizations of differentials, the "rate" (differentials are "rates" or "derivatives") and "instantaneous value" (differentials are values of physical variables "at an instant") interpretations, which were exhibited by more than half of our participants at least once. Our next study used linear regression analysis to estimate the strengths of the inter-connections between the abilities to derive physical meaning from each of differentials, differential products, and integrals in both first- and second-semester, calculus-based introductory physics. As part of this study, we also developed a highly reliable, multiple choice assessment designed to measure students' abilities to connect symbolic differentials, differential products, and integrals with their physical interpretations and units. Findings from this study were consistent with statistical mediation via differential products. In particular, students' abilities to extract physical meaning from differentials were seen to be strongly related to their abilities to derive physical meaning from differential products, and similarly differential

Deep-Elaborative Learning of Introductory Management Accounting for Business Students

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Choo, Freddie; Tan, Kim B.

2005-01-01

Research by Choo and Tan (1990; 1995) suggests that accounting students, who engage in deep-elaborative learning, have a better understanding of the course materials. The purposes of this paper are: (1) to describe a deep-elaborative instructional approach (hereafter DEIA) that promotes deep-elaborative learning of introductory management…

An Open-Ended Investigative Microbial Ecology Laboratory for Introductory Biology

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Jones-Held, Susan; Paoletti, Robert; Glick, David; Held, Michael E.

2010-01-01

In this article we describe a multi-week investigative laboratory in microbial ecology/diversity and nitrogen cycling that we have used in our introductory biology course. This module encourages active student involvement in experimental design, using the scientific literature and quantitative analysis of large data sets. Students analyze soil…

The Importance of Attendance in an Introductory Textile Science Course

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Marcketti, Sara B.; Wang, Xinxin; Greder, Kate

2013-01-01

At Iowa State University, the introductory textile science course is a required 4-credit class for all undergraduate students enrolled in the Apparel, Merchandising, and Design Program. Frustrated by a perceived gap between students who easily comprehended course material and those who complained and struggled, the instructor implemented an…

Public Speaking versus Hybrid Introductory Communication Courses: Exploring Four Outcomes

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Broeckelman-Post, Melissa A.; Pyle, Andrew S.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare student growth in public speaking and hybrid introductory communication skills courses on four outcomes: public speaking anxiety, self-perceived communication competence, intercultural effectiveness, and connected classroom climate. This study also sought to find out whether there were differences in the…

Using Facebook Data to Turn Introductory Statistics Students into Consultants

Science.gov (United States)

Childers, Adam F.

2017-01-01

Facebook provides businesses and organizations with copious data that describe how users are interacting with their page. This data affords an excellent opportunity to turn introductory statistics students into consultants to analyze the Facebook data using descriptive and inferential statistics. This paper details a semester-long project that…

A Pilot Study Teaching Metrology in an Introductory Statistics Course

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Casleton, Emily; Beyler, Amy; Genschel, Ulrike; Wilson, Alyson

2014-01-01

Undergraduate students who have just completed an introductory statistics course often lack deep understanding of variability and enthusiasm for the field of statistics. This paper argues that by introducing the commonly underemphasized concept of measurement error, students will have a better chance of attaining both. We further present lecture…

A Model for Teaching an Introductory Programming Course Using ADRI

Science.gov (United States)

Malik, Sohail Iqbal; Coldwell-Neilson, Jo

2017-01-01

High failure and drop-out rates from introductory programming courses continue to be of significant concern to computer science disciplines despite extensive research attempting to address the issue. In this study, we include the three entities of the didactic triangle, instructors, students and curriculum, to explore the learning difficulties…

Using Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" in Introductory Geography Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Hathaway, James

1993-01-01

Describes use of Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe's novel, "Things Fall Apart," in an introductory geography course at the secondary school or college level. Provides a summary of the book's story, which deals with the impact of colonialism and Christianity on the culture of eastern Nigeria. Includes recommended instructional strategies…

Holistic Approach to Learning and Teaching Introductory Object-Oriented Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Thota, Neena; Whitfield, Richard

2010-01-01

This article describes a holistic approach to designing an introductory, object-oriented programming course. The design is grounded in constructivism and pedagogy of phenomenography. We use constructive alignment as the framework to align assessments, learning, and teaching with planned learning outcomes. We plan learning and teaching activities,…

Equity investigation of attitudinal shifts in introductory physics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrienne Traxler

2015-11-01

Full Text Available We report on seven years of attitudinal data using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey from University Modeling Instruction (UMI sections of introductory physics at Florida International University. University Modeling Instruction is a curricular and pedagogical transformation of introductory university physics that engages students in building and testing conceptual models in an integrated lab and lecture learning environment. This work expands upon previous studies that reported consistently positive attitude shifts in UMI courses; here, we disaggregate the data by gender and ethnicity to look for any disparities in the pattern of favorable shifts. We find that women and students from statistically underrepresented ethnic groups have gains that are comparable to those of men and students from well-represented ethnic groups on this attitudinal measure, and that this result holds even when interaction effects of gender and ethnicity are included. We conclude with suggestions for future work in UMI courses and for attitudinal equity investigations generally. We encourage researchers to expand their scope beyond simple performance gaps when considering equity concerns, and to avoid relying on a single measure to evaluate student success. Finally, we conjecture that students’ social and academic networks are one means by which attitudinal and efficacy beliefs about the course are propagated.

Equity investigation of attitudinal shifts in introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Traxler, Adrienne; Brewe, Eric

2015-12-01

We report on seven years of attitudinal data using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey from University Modeling Instruction (UMI) sections of introductory physics at Florida International University. University Modeling Instruction is a curricular and pedagogical transformation of introductory university physics that engages students in building and testing conceptual models in an integrated lab and lecture learning environment. This work expands upon previous studies that reported consistently positive attitude shifts in UMI courses; here, we disaggregate the data by gender and ethnicity to look for any disparities in the pattern of favorable shifts. We find that women and students from statistically underrepresented ethnic groups have gains that are comparable to those of men and students from well-represented ethnic groups on this attitudinal measure, and that this result holds even when interaction effects of gender and ethnicity are included. We conclude with suggestions for future work in UMI courses and for attitudinal equity investigations generally. We encourage researchers to expand their scope beyond simple performance gaps when considering equity concerns, and to avoid relying on a single measure to evaluate student success. Finally, we conjecture that students' social and academic networks are one means by which attitudinal and efficacy beliefs about the course are propagated.

Themes of nanoscience for the introductory physics course

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Planinsic, Gorazd; Lindell, Anssi; Remskar, Maja

2009-01-01

We present three experimental themes and one discussion theme that proved to be suitable for introducing nanoscience through topics that can be integrated into the existing introductory physics or teacher training courses. The experimental themes include two teaching models of an atomic force microscope (AFM) and an experiment with an elastic optical grating. They are all based on simple experiments that give also quantitative results and can be explained using basic physics theory.

Themes of nanoscience for the introductory physics course

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Planinsic, Gorazd [Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia); Lindell, Anssi [Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyvaskyla (Finland); Remskar, Maja [Josef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia)

2009-07-15

We present three experimental themes and one discussion theme that proved to be suitable for introducing nanoscience through topics that can be integrated into the existing introductory physics or teacher training courses. The experimental themes include two teaching models of an atomic force microscope (AFM) and an experiment with an elastic optical grating. They are all based on simple experiments that give also quantitative results and can be explained using basic physics theory.

Python for teaching introductory programming: A quantitative evaluation

OpenAIRE

Jayal, A; Lauria, S; Tucker, A; Swift, S

2011-01-01

This paper compares two different approaches of teaching introductory programming by quantitatively analysing the student assessments in a real classroom. The first approach is to emphasise the principles of object-oriented programming and design using Java from the very beginning. The second approach is to first teach the basic programming concepts (loops, branch, and use of libraries) using Python and then move on to oriented programming using Java. Each approach was adopted for one academi...

Perceived Relevance of an Introductory Information Systems Course to Prospective Business Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irene Govender

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The study is designed to examine students’ perceptions of the introductory Information Systems (IS course. It was an exploratory study in which 67 students participated. A quantitative approach was followed making use of questionnaires for the collection of data. Using the theory of reasoned action as a framework, the study explores the factors that influence non-IS major students’ perceived relevance of the IS introductory course. The analysis of collected data included descriptive and inferential statistics. Using multiple regression analysis, the results suggest that overall, the independent variables, relevance of the content, previous IT knowledge, relevance for professional practice, IT preference in courses and peers’ influence may account for 72% of the explanatory power for the dependent variable, perceived relevance of the IS course. In addition, the results have shown some strong predictors (IT preference and peers’ influence that influence students’ perceived relevance of the IS course. Practical work was found to be a strong mediating variable toward positive perceptions of IS. The results of this study suggest that students do indeed perceive the introductory IS course to be relevant and match their professional needs, but more practical work would enhance their learning. Implications for theory and practice are discussed as a result of the behavioural intention to perceive the IS course to be relevant and eventually to recruit more IS students.

Understanding Computational Thinking before Programming: Developing Guidelines for the Design of Games to Learn Introductory Programming through Game-Play

Science.gov (United States)

Kazimoglu, Cagin; Kiernan, Mary; Bacon, Liz; MacKinnon, Lachlan

2011-01-01

This paper outlines an innovative game-based approach to learning introductory programming that is grounded in the development of computational thinking at an abstract conceptual level, but also provides a direct contextual relationship between game-play and learning traditional introductory programming. The paper proposes a possible model for,…

First-Day Strategies for Millennial Students in Introductory Accounting Courses: It's All Fun and Games until Something Gets Learned

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Mastilak, Christian

2012-01-01

Millennial students often possess characteristics at odds with typical lecture-based approaches to introductory accounting courses. The author introduces an approach for reaching millennial students early in introductory accounting courses in ways that fit millennials' characteristics. This article describes the use of the board game Monopoly[R]…

The Role of the Introductory Matter in Bilingual Dictionaries of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

rbr

learner's dictionaries and bilingual English–Arabic dictionaries, and to determine to what ... Here, one has to differentiate between an introduction in a book and one in a .... study will analyze, compare and criticize the introductory matter in a set of .... designed for native speakers of English, especially for comprehension and.

Class Size and Academic Achievement in Introductory Political Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Towner, Terri L.

2016-01-01

Research on the influence of class size on student academic achievement is important for university instructors, administrators, and students. The article examines the influence of class size--a small section versus a large section--in introductory political science courses on student grades in two comparable semesters. It is expected that…

A Proposal for More Sophisticated Normative Principles in Introductory Economics

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Schmidt, Stephen

2017-01-01

Introductory textbooks teach a simple normative story about the importance of maximizing economic surplus that supports common policy claims. There is little defense of the claim that maximizing surplus is normatively important, which is not obvious to non-economists. Difficulties with the claim that society should maximize surplus are generally…

A One-Year Introductory Robotics Curriculum for Computer Science Upperclassmen

Science.gov (United States)

Correll, N.; Wing, R.; Coleman, D.

2013-01-01

This paper describes a one-year introductory robotics course sequence focusing on computational aspects of robotics for third- and fourth-year students. The key challenges this curriculum addresses are "scalability," i.e., how to teach a robotics class with a limited amount of hardware to a large audience, "student assessment,"…

A Critical Understanding and Transformation of an Introductory Statistics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Magalhães, Marcos Nascimento; Magalhães, Maria Cecilia Camargo

2014-01-01

In this paper, we report on the impact of four activities and two interviews on the organization of an introductory statistics course attended by future mathematics teachers at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The activities were designed to enhance students' learning and collaborative knowledge construction, based on Vygotsky's…

Exploring Foundation Concepts in Introductory Statistics Using Dynamic Data Points

Science.gov (United States)

Ekol, George

2015-01-01

This paper analyses introductory statistics students' verbal and gestural expressions as they interacted with a dynamic sketch (DS) designed using "Sketchpad" software. The DS involved numeric data points built on the number line whose values changed as the points were dragged along the number line. The study is framed on aggregate…

A Simulation Game for an Introductory Course in International Business

Science.gov (United States)

McGuinness, Michael J.

2004-01-01

An international business simulation game designed for an introductory International Business course. The simulation game allows for student decision making and allows for the ready introduction of many topics which are covered in an International Business course. The simulation game has continued to be improved with student suggestions and has…

Pedagogic discourse in introductory classes: Multi-dimensional analysis of textbooks and lectures in biology and macroeconomics

Science.gov (United States)

Carkin, Susan

The broad goal of this study is to represent the linguistic variation of textbooks and lectures, the primary input for student learning---and sometimes the sole input in the large introductory classes which characterize General Education at many state universities. Computer techniques are used to analyze a corpus of textbooks and lectures from first-year university classes in macroeconomics and biology. These spoken and written variants are compared to each other as well as to benchmark texts from other multi-dimensional studies in order to examine their patterns, relations, and functions. A corpus consisting of 147,000 words was created from macroeconomics and biology lectures at a medium-large state university and from a set of nationally "best-selling" textbooks used in these same introductory survey courses. The corpus was analyzed using multi-dimensional methodology (Biber, 1988). The analysis consists of both empirical and qualitative phases. Quantitative analyses are undertaken on the linguistic features, their patterns of co-occurrence, and on the contextual elements of classrooms and textbooks. The contextual analysis is used to functionally interpret the statistical patterns of co-occurrence along five dimensions of textual variation, demonstrating patterns of difference and similarity with reference to text excerpts. Results of the analysis suggest that academic discourse is far from monolithic. Pedagogic discourse in introductory classes varies by modality and discipline, but not always in the directions expected. In the present study the most abstract texts were biology lectures---more abstract than written genres of academic prose and more abstract than introductory textbooks. Academic lectures in both disciplines, monologues which carry a heavy informational load, were extremely interactive, more like conversation than academic prose. A third finding suggests that introductory survey textbooks differ from those used in upper division classes by being

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.

Cognitive development in introductory physics: A research-based approach to curriculum reform

Science.gov (United States)

Teodorescu, Raluca Elena

This project describes the research on a classification of physics problems in the context of introductory physics courses. This classification, called the Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems (TIPP), relates physics problems to the cognitive processes required to solve them. TIPP was created for designing and clarifying educational objectives, for developing assessments that can evaluate individual component processes of the problem-solving process, and for guiding curriculum design in introductory physics courses, specifically within the context of a "thinking-skills" curriculum. TIPP relies on the following resources: (1) cognitive research findings adopted by physics education research, (2) expert-novice research discoveries acknowledged by physics education research, (3) an educational psychology taxonomy for educational objectives, and (4) various collections of physics problems created by physics education researchers or developed by textbook authors. TIPP was used in the years 2006--2008 to reform the first semester of the introductory algebra-based physics course (called Phys 11) at The George Washington University. The reform sought to transform our curriculum into a "thinking-skills" curriculum that trades "breadth for depth" by focusing on fewer topics while targeting the students' cognitive development. We employed existing research on the physics problem-solving expert-novice behavior, cognitive science and behavioral science findings, and educational psychology recommendations. Our pedagogy relies on didactic constructs such as the GW-ACCESS problem-solving protocol, learning progressions and concept maps that we have developed and implemented in our introductory physics course. These tools were designed based on TIPP. Their purpose is: (1) to help students build local and global coherent knowledge structures, (2) to develop more context-independent problem-solving abilities, (3) to gain confidence in problem solving, and (4) to establish

The Introductory Psychology Textbook Market: Perceptions of Authors and Editors.

Science.gov (United States)

Griggs, Richard A.; Jackson, Sherri L.

1989-01-01

Surveys psychology textbook authors and editors on their perceptions of the introductory psychology textbook market. Finds that the textbook market is divided into three levels according to quality, and that authors and editors are not familiar with most textbooks. Notes that the growth of used book companies has adversely affected the market.…

An Engineering-Oriented Approach to the Introductory Differential Equations Course

Science.gov (United States)

Pennell, S.; Avitabile, P.; White, J.

2009-01-01

The introductory differential equations course can be made more relevant to engineering students by including more of the engineering viewpoint, in which differential equations are regarded as systems with inputs and outputs. This can be done without sacrificing any of the usual topical coverage. This point of view is conducive to student…

Core References in Introductory Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Whitehead, George I., III; Smith, Stephanie H.; Losonczy-Marshall, Marta

2017-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to identify the core references in introductory textbooks in two sub-disciplines of psychology: social psychology and developmental psychology. One research question was the extent to which the common references in these textbooks present the trends in contemporary research in each sub-discipline. An analysis…

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-…

Eating Competence of College Students in an Introductory Nutrition Course

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Lora Beth; Larsen, Katrina J.; Nyland, Nora K.; Eggett, Dennis L.

2013-01-01

Objective: Describe eating competence, a positive and flexible way of conceptualizing eating attitudes and behaviors, in students enrolled in an introductory nutrition course. Methods: Online completion of the Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI) and self-assessment of eating disorder status by 557 students (343 ages 18-20 years and 180 ages…

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

Oxidative Stress and Anesthesia in Diabetic Patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peivandi Yazdi A

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Free radical and peroxide production lead to intracellular damage. On the other hand, free radicals are used by the human immune system to defend against pathogens. The aging process could be limited by oxidative stress in the short term. Chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus (DM are full-stress conditions in which remarkable metabolic functional destructions might happen. There is strong evidence regarding antioxidant impairment in diabetes. Performing a particular method for anesthesia in diabetic patients might prevent or modify excessive free radical formation and oxidative stress. It seems that prescribing antioxidant drugs could promote wound healing in diabetics.  

Lowering stress while teaching research: a creative arts intervention in the classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Sandra M; Chang, Catharina Y; Schmidt, Lee A; Yoepp, Jan H

2005-07-01

Undergraduate students often request "hands-on" research experience but seldom have the time and opportunity during a one-semester introductory course to participate in such a project. The purposes of this educational approach, implemented during a beginning research class for baccalaureate nursing students, were to provide an opportunity for students to participate in an experimental research study, and test the effect of a creative arts intervention on students' stress, anxiety, and emotions. Students designed, participated in, and analyzed the results of the project. The intervention significantly reduced stress and anxiety and increased positive emotions in this student population, while providing a creative research experience. For future use, the intervention may be helpful with a variety of vulnerable groups.

REMARKS ON NEUROCONTROL OF THE HAND AND SIGNIFICANCE OF AFFERENT INPUT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nejc Sarabon

2004-12-01

Full Text Available This paper outlines some remarks on our understanding of motor control of the hand. It begins with current knowledge about motor behavior of prehension movements. It further highlights the distributed nature of the control system that integrates sensory information from the periphery, existing motor memory from subcortical centers, and information from diverse primary and secondary motor as well as sensory areas. It further explains the sequential nature of the processes like decision, planning, computing, and execution involved in neurocontrol of a purposeful hand motor task. In the successive part it stresses the importance of sensory input, in particular proprioceptive, for movement setting and guidance. It concludes by pointing out research concepts used to study roles of sensory information for modulating states of neurobiological systems. Finally, a novel method of whole hand electrical stimulation, which seems promising as a tool for studying sensory-motor integration mechanisms in human’s hand, is explained and recent experimental data are provided.

Remarks on superconductive networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dominguez, D.; Lopez, A.R.N.; Simonin, J.M.

1989-01-01

Some remarks on the determination of the normal-superconductor phase boundary in random superconductive networks are made. A recently reported work by Soukoulis, Grest and Li which introduces weak links between nodes as these are removed in the site percolation problem is discussed. By the analysis of two simple geometries, it is shown that this procedure introduces spurious effects which mask the physical properties of the system. These affect in particular the field slope critical index and the sharpness of the normal-superconductor boundary. (Author)

The Appropriateness of Scratch and App Inventor as Educational Environments for Teaching Introductory Programming in Primary and Secondary Education

Science.gov (United States)

Papadakis, Stamatios; Kalogiannakis, Michail; Orfanakis, Vasileios; Zaranis, Nicholas

2017-01-01

Teaching programming is a complex task. The task is even more challenging for introductory modules. There is an ongoing debate in the teaching community over the best approach to teaching introductory programming. Visual block-based programming environments allow school students to create their own programs in ways that are more accessible than in…

Introductory life science mathematics and quantitative neuroscience courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffus, Dwight; Olifer, Andrei

2010-01-01

We describe two sets of courses designed to enhance the mathematical, statistical, and computational training of life science undergraduates at Emory College. The first course is an introductory sequence in differential and integral calculus, modeling with differential equations, probability, and inferential statistics. The second is an upper-division course in computational neuroscience. We provide a description of each course, detailed syllabi, examples of content, and a brief discussion of the main issues encountered in developing and offering the courses.

Mediating Relationship of Differential Products in Understanding Integration in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Amos, Nathaniel; Heckler, Andrew F.

2018-01-01

In the context of introductory physics, we study student conceptual understanding of differentials, differential products, and integrals and possible pathways to understanding these quantities. We developed a multiple choice conceptual assessment employing a variety of physical contexts probing physical understanding of these three quantities and…

Beyond Euler's Method: Implicit Finite Differences in an Introductory ODE Course

Science.gov (United States)

Kull, Trent C.

2011-01-01

A typical introductory course in ordinary differential equations (ODEs) exposes students to exact solution methods. However, many differential equations must be approximated with numerical methods. Textbooks commonly include explicit methods such as Euler's and Improved Euler's. Implicit methods are typically introduced in more advanced courses…

Quantitative Activities for Introductory Astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Keohane, Jonathan W.; Bartlett, J. L.; Foy, J. P.

2010-01-01

We present a collection of short lecture-tutorial (or homework) activities, designed to be both quantitative and accessible to the introductory astronomy student. Each of these involves interpreting some real data, solving a problem using ratios and proportionalities, and making a conclusion based on the calculation. Selected titles include: "The Mass of Neptune” "The Temperature on Titan” "Rocks in the Early Solar System” "Comets Hitting Planets” "Ages of Meteorites” "How Flat are Saturn's Rings?” "Tides of the Sun and Moon on the Earth” "The Gliese 581 Solar System"; "Buckets in the Rain” "How Hot, Bright and Big is Betelgeuse?” "Bombs and the Sun” "What Forms Stars?” "Lifetimes of Cars and Stars” "The Mass of the Milky” "How Old is the Universe?” "Is The Universe Speeding up or Slowing Down?"

The Effects of Different Teaching Approaches in Introductory Financial Accounting

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, Bea; Nouri, Hossein; Samanta, Subarna

2014-01-01

The purpose of the research is to examine the effect of the two different teaching approaches in the first accounting course on student performance in a subsequent finance course. The study compares 128 accounting and finance students who took introductory financial accounting by either a user approach or a traditional preparer approach to examine…

Basic Math Skills and Performance in an Introductory Economics Class

Science.gov (United States)

Ballard, Charles L.; Johnson, Marianne F.

2004-01-01

The authors measure math skills with a broader set of explanatory variables than have been used in previous studies. To identify what math skills are important for student success in introductory microeconomics, they examine (1) the student's score on the mathematics portion of the ACT Assessment Test, (2) whether the student has taken calculus,…

OkCupid Data for Introductory Statistics and Data Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Albert Y.; Escobedo-Land, Adriana

2015-01-01

We present a data set consisting of user profile data for 59,946 San Francisco OkCupid users (a free online dating website) from June 2012. The data set includes typical user information, lifestyle variables, and text responses to 10 essay questions. We present four example analyses suitable for use in undergraduate introductory probability and…

Teaching an Introductory Programming Language in a General Education Course

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Azad; Smith, David

2014-01-01

A department of computer science (CS) has faced a peculiar situation regarding their selection of introductory programming course. This course is a required course for the students enrolled in the CS program and is a prerequisite to their other advanced programming courses. At the same time, the course can be considered a general education course…

A Tutorial Design Process Applied to an Introductory Materials Engineering Course

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenblatt, Rebecca; Heckler, Andrew F.; Flores, Katharine

2013-01-01

We apply a "tutorial design process", which has proven to be successful for a number of physics topics, to design curricular materials or "tutorials" aimed at improving student understanding of important concepts in a university-level introductory materials science and engineering course. The process involves the identification…

Accounting History in Undergraduate Introductory Financial Accounting Courses: An Exploratory Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Satina V.; Schwartz, Bill N.

2002-01-01

Accounting faculty surveyed (n=45) did not overwhelmingly support incorporating accounting history into introductory courses, despite Accounting Education Change Commission recommendations. They did not support a separate course or believe history would attract more students. Attitudes of those already including history did not differ greatly from…

How We Teach Introductory Bible Courses: A Comparative and Historical Sampling

Science.gov (United States)

Cornell, Collin; LeMon, Joel M.

2016-01-01

This study identifies the dominant modes of biblical interpretation being taught in introductory Bible courses through a qualitative analysis of course syllabi from three institutional contexts: evangelical Christian colleges, private colleges, and public universities. Despite a proliferation of methods and scholarly approaches to the Bible, this…

Preliminary Investigation of Instructor Effects on Gender Gap in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Kreutzer, Kimberley; Boudreaux, Andrew

2012-01-01

Gender differences in student learning in the introductory, calculus-based electricity and magnetism course were assessed by administering the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism pre- and postcourse. As expected, male students outgained females in traditionally taught sections as well as sections that incorporated interactive engagement…

Clinical Application Projects (CAPs) for Health Science Students in Introductory Microbiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Halyard, Rebecca A.

Clinical Application Projects (CAPs) have been developed that allow dental hygiene and nursing students to apply introductory microbiology principles and skills learned in lecture and laboratory to a problem in an appropriate clinical situation. CAPs therefore substitute for the traditional study of "unknowns". Principles and processes emphasized…

Activating Theory in the Introductory Classroom: Erving Goffman Visits Wisteria Lane

Science.gov (United States)

Melander, Lisa A.; Wortmann, Susan L.

2011-01-01

Instructors of large, general education lecture courses face a number of student engagement and learning challenges. In this article, we develop and assess an interactive lecture that introduces a theoretical perspective and three related concepts to two introductory sociology general education classrooms (n = 433). This interactive lecture…

The Stanford Prison Experiment in Introductory Psychology Textbooks: A Content Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bartels, Jared M.

2015-01-01

The present content analysis examines the coverage of theoretical and methodological problems with the Stanford prison experiment (SPE) in a sample of introductory psychology textbooks. Categories included the interpretation and replication of the study, variance in guard behavior, participant selection bias, the presence of demand characteristics…

Effectively Using Discussion Boards to Engage Students in Introductory Leadership Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Deborah N.

2015-01-01

This article discusses the use of online asynchronous discussion boards as a valuable tool for connecting students to leadership concepts, theories, and models in introductory leadership survey courses. Recommendations are given for designing effective discussion boards that engage students and enhance their learning. Student outcomes include…

Influence of Course Delivery Method and Proctoring on Performance in Introductory Economics

OpenAIRE

Wachenheim, Cheryl J.

2011-01-01

This work was published in the Review of Agricultural Economics. See Wachenheim, C.J. 2009. Final Exam Scores in Introductory Economics Courses: Effect of Course Delivery Method and Proctoring. Review of Agricultural Economics 31(3), pp. 640-652.

The Approaches to Studying of Portuguese Students of Introductory Accounting

Science.gov (United States)

Teixeira, Cláudia; Gomes, Delfina; Borges, Janete

2013-01-01

The focus of this paper is an investigation into the approaches to studying of Portuguese students of introductory accounting using the short version of the ASSIST instrument. In doing so, it also examined the impact upon the strategy adopted of the discipline area of students and gender. The results validate the use of the inventory with students…

The Effect of Stereotype Threat on Undergraduates in AN Introductory Astronomy Class

Science.gov (United States)

Hufnagel, Beth; Deming, Grace L.; Landato, Janet M.; Hodari, Apriel K.

This quantitative study tests the hypothesis that undergraduates taking an introductory astronomy class for nonscience majors are susceptible to stereotype threat (ST). The Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT), a conceptual survey designed for introductory astronomy classes, was administered pre- and postcourse to two pairs (control and threatened) of the same class taught by the same professors, one pair at a public, suburban community college and the other pair at a large, state research university. One class of each pair was threatened postcourse by telling the students that their gender mattered on the ADT. The results showed no ST effect on the women in the university class. The college women underperformed and the men overperformed at a low statistical significance. The authors infer that Steele's requirement for domain identification as a condition is also required to strongly invoke ST for this sample of nonscience students.

Introductory lectures on Chern-Simons theories

Science.gov (United States)

Zanelli, Jorge

2012-02-01

The Chern-Simons (CS) form evolved from an obstruction in mathematics into an important object in theoretical physics. In fact, the presence of CS terms in physics is more common than one may think. They are found in the studies of anomalies in quantum field theories and as Lagrangians for gauge fields, including gravity and supergravity. They seem to play an important role in high Tc superconductivity and in recently discovered topological insulators. CS forms are also the natural generalization of the minimal coupling between the electromagnetic field and a point charge when the source is not point-like but an extended fundamental object, a membrane. A cursory review of these ideas is presented at an introductory level.

Concluding Remarks: Experiment from a materials perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fisk, Z

2011-01-01

The author provides some remarks regarding the current status of experiments in strongly correlated electron systems. By construction, they are biased by the author's perspectives at the time of writing.

Using an Isomorphic Problem Pair to Learn Introductory Physics: Transferring from a Two-Step Problem to a Three-Step Problem

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2013-01-01

In this study, we examine introductory physics students' ability to perform analogical reasoning between two isomorphic problems which employ the same underlying physics principles but have different surface features. 382 students from a calculus-based and an algebra-based introductory physics course were administered a quiz in the recitation…

The Socratic Method in the Introductory PR Course: An Alternative Pedagogy.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkinson, Michael G.; Ekachai, Daradirek

2002-01-01

Presents the results of a study comparing student reactions to and perceptions of learning in introductory public relations courses using a traditional lecture format and a Socratic approach. Finds significant differences in the two groups showing that students who received the Socratic instruction reported more opportunities in practicing their…

An Alternative to the Problematic Macro-Micro Structure of Introductory Economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Tinari, Frank D.

The paper explains an alternative structure to teaching micro and macroeconomic theory and describes the characteristics that make it an effective framework for introductory and principles courses. The teaching of economics principles typically proceeds by separating macroeconomic theory and microeconomic theory. But the use of the macro-micro…

Explaining Electromagnetic Plane Waves in a Vacuum at the Introductory Level

Science.gov (United States)

Allred, Clark L.; Della-Rose, Devin J.; Flusche, Brian M.; Kiziah, Rex R.; Lee, David J.

2010-01-01

A typical introduction to electromagnetic waves in vacuum is illustrated by the following quote from an introductory physics text: "Maxwell's equations predict that an electromagnetic wave consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. The changing fields induce each other, which maintains the propagation of the wave; a changing electric…

"Big Questions" in the Introductory Religion Classroom: Expanding the Integrative Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Deffenbaugh, Daniel G.

2011-01-01

Recent research by Barbara Walvoord suggests a perceived disparity between faculty learning objectives and students' desire to engage "big questions" in the introductory religion classroom. Faculty opinions of such questions are varied, ranging from a refusal to employ any approach that diverts attention away from critical thinking, to a…

Teaching Critical Thinking: An Investigation of a Task in Introductory Macroeconomics

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Anna

2004-01-01

This paper is an investigation of understandings of critical thinking from two teaching perspectives: academic staff and tutors. It explores critical thinking as situated within an assessment task in introductory macroeconomics. This study found that while the two academic staff conceptualized critical thinking as a set of concrete cognitive…

Effects of salt stress on tillering nodes to the growth of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiong, Y.; Yuan, G.; Zhixia, X.; Xiaojing, L.

2016-01-01

In monsoon climate regions, the tillering nodes of winter wheat can be stressed by high salt accumulation on the soil surface in spring, thereby leading to salt-induced damage. To understand whether tillering nodes could be stressed by salinity and to estimate its effects on the growth of winter wheat under salt stress, the tillering nodes of two wheat cultivars, H-4589 (salt-sensitive) and J-32 (salt-tolerant), were treated with salinity to investigate the physiological and biochemical changes in seedling growth. The results indicated that salt stress on tillering nodes significantly reduced plant height and shoot dry weight; increased Na+ accumulation, soluble sugar and proline in both H-4589 and J-32; which demonstrated remarkable effects on the growth of winter wheat when the tillering nodes were under salt stress. Furthermore, equivalent Na+ accumulations were discovered in two cultivars when tillering nodes were under salt stress, while remarkably different Na+ accumulations were discovered in two cultivars when roots were under salt stress. Based on the results from anatomic analyses, we speculated that no anatomic differences in tillering nodes between two cultivars could give reason to the equivalent Na+ accumulations in two cultivars when tillering nodes were under salt stress; and more lignified endodermis in primary roots as well as larger reduction of lateral root number in salt-tolerant cultivars which contributed to preventing Na+ influx could explain the remarkably lower Na+ accumulation in salt-tolerant cultivar when roots were under salt stress. All of these results indicated that the tillering nodes could mediate Na+ influx from the environment leading to salt-induced damage to the growth of winter wheat. (author)

Helping struggling students in introductory biology: a peer-tutoring approach that improves performance, perception, and retention.

Science.gov (United States)

Batz, Zachary; Olsen, Brian J; Dumont, Jonathan; Dastoor, Farahad; Smith, Michelle K

2015-01-01

The high attrition rate among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors has long been an area of concern for institutions and educational researchers. The transition from introductory to advanced courses has been identified as a particularly "leaky" point along the STEM pipeline, and students who struggle early in an introductory STEM course are predominantly at risk. Peer-tutoring programs offered to all students in a course have been widely found to help STEM students during this critical transition, but hiring a sufficient number of tutors may not be an option for some institutions. As an alternative, this study examines the viability of an optional peer-tutoring program offered to students who are struggling in a large-enrollment, introductory biology course. Struggling students who regularly attended peer tutoring increased exam performance, expert-like perceptions of biology, and course persistence relative to their struggling peers who were not attending the peer-tutoring sessions. The results of this study provide information to instructors who want to design targeted academic assistance for students who are struggling in introductory courses. © 2015 Z. Batz et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Instructional strategies for online introductory college physics based on learning styles

Science.gov (United States)

Ekwue, Eleazer U.

The practical nature of physics and its reliance on mathematical presentations and problem solving pose a challenge toward presentation of the course in an online environment for effective learning experience. Most first-time introductory college physics students fail to grasp the basic concepts of the course and the problem solving skills if the instructional strategy used to deliver the course is not compatible with the learners' preferred learning styles. This study investigates the effect of four instructional strategies based on four learning styles (listening, reading, iconic, and direct-experience) to improve learning for introductory college physics in an online environment. Learning styles of 146 participants were determined with Canfield Learning Style inventory. Of the 85 learners who completed the study, research results showed a statistically significant increase in learning performance following the online instruction in all four learning style groups. No statistically significant differences in learning were found among the four groups. However, greater significant academic improvement was found among learners with iconic and direct-experience modes of learning. Learners in all four groups expressed that the design of the unit presentation to match their individual learning styles contributed most to their learning experience. They were satisfied with learning a new physics concept online that, in their opinion, is either comparable or better than an instructor-led classroom experience. Findings from this study suggest that learners' performance and satisfaction in an online introductory physics course could be improved by using instructional designs that are tailored to learners' preferred ways of learning. It could contribute toward the challenge of providing viable online physics instruction in colleges and universities.

Understanding the elementary considerations in a network warfare environment: an introductory framework

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Veerasamy, N

2008-07-01

Full Text Available . It seeks to offer a better introductory understanding to the field of network warfare. This paper addresses the requirements for a network warfare capability and will look at the high-level approach, constraints, focus areas, levels, techniques...

Surface stress-based biosensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Sang, Shengbo; Zhao, Yuan; Zhang, Wendong; Li, Pengwei; Hu, Jie; Li, Gang

2014-01-15

Surface stress-based biosensors, as one kind of label-free biosensors, have attracted lots of attention in the process of information gathering and measurement for the biological, chemical and medical application with the development of technology and society. This kind of biosensors offers many advantages such as short response time (less than milliseconds) and a typical sensitivity at nanogram, picoliter, femtojoule and attomolar level. Furthermore, it simplifies sample preparation and testing procedures. In this work, progress made towards the use of surface stress-based biosensors for achieving better performance is critically reviewed, including our recent achievement, the optimally circular membrane-based biosensors and biosensor array. The further scientific and technological challenges in this field are also summarized. Critical remark and future steps towards the ultimate surface stress-based biosensors are addressed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Management of Personal Information in Clinical Laboratory Medicine:--Chairmen's Introductory Remarks].

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Hiroshi; Shimetani, Naoto

2014-11-01

The Japanese Society of Laboratory Medicine has been running its own Medical Safety Committee, and holding a symposium on medical safety during the annual meeting. The medical world is filled with a considerable amount of personal information, including genetic information, the ultimate personal information. We, as medical staff, have to manage such personal information not only in times of peace but also during disasters or emergency situations. In Japan, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information is currently being implemented, but a number of problems remain. Human beings have entered the information technology era, including electrical medical record systems, which is useful for research and education besides medical practice. This is why personal information must be more effectively protected from leakage, misconception, and abuse. We should create a sound system to manage personal information, with the spirit of protecting patient information that originated from the Oath of Hippocrates.

Teaching Historical Theology at the University of Pretoria - Some introductory remarks

OpenAIRE

Dreyer, Wim A.

2017-01-01

The Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria went through a process of restructuring, resulting in the amalgamation of Dogmatics, Christian Ethics, Church History and Church Polity into one department under the name ‘Systematic and Historical Theology’. This contribution reflects only on the one aspect, namely Historical Theology. The point is made that a name change could not mean ‘business as usual’, but should be regarded as an opportunity to re-imagine the content and structure o...

2011 Asia Pacific Few-Body Conference Summary Remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibson, B. F.

2013-01-01

These remarks represent the author’s personal perspective regarding ideas presented at this fifth Asia Pacific Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics. They are not intended as a comprehensive summary of what we witnessed during this week of stimulating presentations and intense discussions. However, these remarks do characterize some of the physics we heard and some of the key questions raised. The ideas presented will hopefully outlive the rapporteurs who brought their work and that of others to our attention here in the International Hall of the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Republic of Korea. (author)

The Application of VARK Learning Styles in Introductory Level Economics Units

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Sarah; Stokes, Anthony

2015-01-01

The issues of developing strategies and approaches to teaching introductory level economics courses at university have been long standing. With the development of economics learning standards in Australia, this is a time to consider teaching and learning approaches to engage students and develop skills in economics. This paper considers that to…

Analyzing Conceptual Gains in Introductory Calculus with Interactively-Engaged Teaching Styles

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Matthew

2013-01-01

This dissertation examines the relationship between an instructional style called Interactive-Engagement (IE) and gains on a measure of conceptual knowledge called the Calculus Concept Inventory (CCI). The data comes from two semesters of introductory calculus courses (Fall 2010 and Spring 2011), consisting of a total of 482 students from the…

Exploring the Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Retention in Introductory Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Sawtelle, Vashti; Brewe, Eric; Kramer, Laird H.

2012-01-01

The quantitative results of Sources of Self-Efficacy in Science Courses-Physics (SOSESC-P) are presented as a logistic regression predicting the passing of students in introductory Physics with Calculus I, overall as well as disaggregated by gender. Self-efficacy as a theory to explain human behavior change [Bandura [1977] "Psychological…

Development and Assessment of a Preliminary Randomization-Based Introductory Statistics Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Tintle, Nathan; VanderStoep, Jill; Holmes, Vicki-Lynn; Quisenberry, Brooke; Swanson, Todd

2011-01-01

The algebra-based introductory statistics course is the most popular undergraduate course in statistics. While there is a general consensus for the content of the curriculum, the recent Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) have challenged the pedagogy of this course. Additionally, some arguments have been made…

Effect of Task Presentation on Students' Performances in Introductory Statistics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Tomasetto, Carlo; Matteucci, Maria Cristina; Carugati, Felice; Selleri, Patrizia

2009-01-01

Research on academic learning indicates that many students experience major difficulties with introductory statistics and methodology courses. We hypothesized that students' difficulties may depend in part on the fact that statistics tasks are commonly viewed as related to the threatening domain of math. In two field experiments which we carried…

Understanding and Affecting Science Teacher Candidates' Scientific Reasoning in Introductory Astrophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, Richard; Cormier, Sebastien

2013-01-01

This study reports on a content course for science immersion teacher candidates that emphasized authentic practice of science and thinking scientifically in the context of introductory astrophysics. We explore how 122 science teacher candidates spanning three cohorts did and did not reason scientifically and how this evolved in our program. Our…

The physical basis of electronics an introductory course

CERN Document Server

Harris, D J; Hammond, P

1975-01-01

The Physical Basis of Electronics: An Introductory Course, Second Edition is an 11-chapter text that discusses the physical concepts of electronic devices. This edition deals with the considerable advances in electronic techniques, from the introduction of field effect transistors to the development of integrated circuits. The opening chapters discuss the fundamentals of vacuum electronics and solid-state electronics. The subsequent chapters deal with the other components of electronic devices and their functions, including semiconductor diode and transistor as an amplifier and a switch. The d

Using Visual Analogies To Teach Introductory Statistical Concepts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica S. Ancker

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Introductory statistical concepts are some of the most challenging to convey in quantitative literacy courses. Analogies supplemented by visual illustrations can be highly effective teaching tools. This literature review shows that to exploit the power of analogies, teachers must select analogies familiar to the audience, explicitly link the analog with the target concept, and avert misconceptions by explaining where the analogy fails. We provide guidance for instructors and a series of visual analogies for use in teaching medical and health statistics.

Geology in the Movies: Using Hollywood Films as a Teaching Tool in Introductory Geosciences Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, K. T.; Malinconico, L. L.

2008-12-01

A common challenge in introductory Geoscience courses is engaging students who often do not have a long- standing interest in science. In recent years Hollywood has produced a number of geoscience-themed films (Dante's Peak, Deep Impact, Day After Tomorrow, Inconvenient Truth), most of which contain kernels of scientific truth as well as gross misrepresentations of scientific reality. In our introductory courses (Geological Disasters: Agents of Chaos and Earth's Climate: Past Present and Future) we have had great success using these films as a way of both engaging students and accomplishing many of our course goals. Even though most of the students in these courses will not become geoscience majors, it is important for them to realize that they can make informed judgments about concepts portrayed in the popular media. We have incorporated short written movie critiques into our suite of introductory course laboratory exercises. Through these movie-critique labs, students have an opportunity to apply their new geoscience expertise to examining the validity of the scientific concepts presented in the film. Along the way, students start to see the relevance of course materials to their everyday lives, think more critically about how science is portrayed by non-scientists, synthesize what they have learned by applying their knowledge to a new problem, and improve their ability to communicate what they have learned. Despite the fact that these movie-critique labs require significantly more out-of-lab effort that our other introductory lab assignments, in our course evaluations many students rate the movie critiques as not only one of the most interesting lab exercises of the semester, but also the lab exercise containing the most educational value.

Remarks on the clump theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krommes, J.A.

1986-07-01

Further details are provided of a soon-to-be published dialog [Phys. Fluids 29 (July, 1986)] which discussed the role of the small scales in fluid clump theory. It is argued that the approximation of the clump lifetime which is compatible with exponentially rapid separation of adjacent orbits is inappropriate for the description of the dynamically important large scales. Various other remarks are made relating to the analytic treatment of strong drift-wave-like turbulence

Remarks on the clump theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krommes, J.A.

1986-01-01

Further details are provided of a recently published dialog [Phys. Fluids 29 (July, 1986)] which discussed the role of the small scales in fluid clump theory. It is argued that the approximation of the clump lifetime which is compatible with exponentially rapid separation of adjacent orbits is inappropriate for the description of the dynamically important large scales. Various other remarks are made relating to the analytic treatment of strong drift-wave-like turbulence. (author)

Remarks on High Energy Evolution

OpenAIRE

Kovner, Alex; Lublinsky, Michael

2005-01-01

We make several remarks on the B-JIMWLK hierarchy. First, we present a simple and instructive derivation of this equation by considering an arbitrary projectile wave function with small number of valence gluons. We also generalize the equation by including corrections which incorporate effects of high density in the projectile wave function. Second, we systematically derive the dipole model approximation to the hierarchy. We show that in the dipole approximation the hierarchy has a simplifyin...

Food Preparation and Service. An Introductory Course for Food Services Careers.

Science.gov (United States)

Douma, Elaine L.

Intended for use in a comprehensive senior high school, this curriculum guide for an introductory laboratory course focuses on the development of abilities, attitudes, and personal qualities which would lead to job success at the entry level in the food service industry, including in the areas of cooking, waitressing, supermarkets, and similar…

Instructional Strategies for Online Introductory College Physics Based on Learning Styles

Science.gov (United States)

Ekwue, Eleazer U.

2013-01-01

The practical nature of physics and its reliance on mathematical presentations and problem solving pose a challenge toward presentation of the course in an online environment for effective learning experience. Most first-time introductory college physics students fail to grasp the basic concepts of the course and the problem solving skills if the…

Success in Introductory College Physics: The Role of High School Preparation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadler, Philip M.; Tai, Robert H.

2001-01-01

Examines the extent to which a high school physics course prepares students for college physics success. In this study of 1,933 introductory college physics students, demographic and schooling factors account for a large fraction of the variation in college physics grades at 18 colleges and universities from around the nation. (Author/SAH)

Content Analysis of Introductory Interior Design College Textbooks: A Study Revisited

Science.gov (United States)

Temple, Julie A.; Potthoff, Joy K.

2013-01-01

Introductory interior design texts adopted by design educators present information relevant to both historical and contemporary issues in interior design. According to one author, they provide a "survey of the field of interior design as it now exists" (Pile, 2007). A comparison of the content of contemporary texts with those of more…

Do Introductory Statistics Courses in the United States Improve Students' Attitudes?

Science.gov (United States)

Schau, Candace; Emmioglu, Esma

2012-01-01

We examined the attitudes of about 2200 students enrolled in 101 sections of post-secondary introductory statistics service courses located across the United States. Using the "Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36," we assessed students' attitudes when they entered and left their courses, as well as changes in attitudes across their courses.…

The joy of stats a short guide to introductory statistics in the social sciences

CERN Document Server

Garner, Roberta

2010-01-01

"This is a great book for social science students. Clearly written, with many examples, Garner certainly makes learning and teaching introductory statistics a joy!" - Nikolaos Liodakis, Wilfrid Laurier University.

A Theory Based Introductory Programming Course

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Michael Reichhardt; Kristensen, Jens Thyge; Rischel, Hans

1999-01-01

This paper presents an introductory programming course designed to teach programming as an intellectual activity. The course emphasizes understandable concepts which can be useful in designing programs, while the oddities of today's technology are considered of secondary importance. An important...... goal is to fight the trial-and-error approach to programming which is a result of the students battles with horribly designed and documented systems and languages prior to their studies at university. Instead, the authors strive for giving the students a good experience of programming as a systematic......, intellectual activity where the solution of a programming problem can be described in an understandable way. The approach is illustrated by an example which is a commented solution of a problem posed to the students in the course....

Use of a Laboratory Field Project in an Introductory Crop Science Course.

Science.gov (United States)

Lane, Robert A.

1986-01-01

Assesses the benefits resulting from a laboratory field project and report for agricultural students in an introductory crop science course. Student responses to evaluation statements indicated that the project helped them identify crops, understand cultural and management practices, and recognize environmental influences that affect crop…

A Cost-Effective Two-Part Experiment for Teaching Introductory Organic Chemistry Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Sadek, Christopher M.; Brown, Brenna A.; Wan, Hayley

2011-01-01

This two-part laboratory experiment is designed to be a cost-effective method for teaching basic organic laboratory techniques (recrystallization, thin-layer chromatography, column chromatography, vacuum filtration, and melting point determination) to large classes of introductory organic chemistry students. Students are exposed to different…

Active and Collaborative Learning in an Introductory Electrical and Computer Engineering Course

Science.gov (United States)

Kotru, Sushma; Burkett, Susan L.; Jackson, David Jeff

2010-01-01

Active and collaborative learning instruments were introduced into an introductory electrical and computer engineering course. These instruments were designed to assess specific learning objectives and program outcomes. Results show that students developed an understanding comparable to that of more advanced students assessed later in the…

Measuring the Impact of App Inventor for Android and Studio-Based Learning in an Introductory Computer Science Course for Non-Majors

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Khuloud Nasser

2012-01-01

A reexamination of the traditional instruction of introductory computer science (CS) courses is becoming a necessity. Introductory CS courses tend to have high attrition rates and low success rates. In many universities, the CS department suffered from low enrollment for several years compared to other majors. Multiple studies have linked these…

Are Bank Employees Stressed? Job Perception and Positivity in the Banking Sector: An Italian Observational Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mannocci, Alice; Marchini, Laura; Scognamiglio, Alfredo; Sinopoli, Alessandra; De Sio, Simone; Sernia, Sabina; La Torre, Giuseppe

2018-04-10

Background : The epidemiology of stress on bank workers in Europe is only at the introductory stages. This study investigated for the first time the association between occupational stress level in bank-employees using the BEST8, Karasek-Model and socio-demographic and working factors in Italy. Methods : The observational pilot study involved 384 employees. Three questionnaires were adopted to collect data: Karasek-Model, BEST8 ( p banking sector involves many aspects: gender, type of bank, role, personal morals, high job-demands, low level of decision-making. This study recommended that banks should implement strategic interventions for well-being of employees, and consequently for their productivity.

Students' conceptions of evidence during a university introductory forensic science course

Science.gov (United States)

Yeshion, Theodore Elliot

Students' Conceptions of Science, Scientific Evidence, and Forensic Evidence during a University Introductory Forensic Science Course This study was designed to examine and understand what conceptions undergraduate students taking an introductory forensic science course had about scientific evidence. Because the relationships between the nature of science, the nature of evidence, and the nature of forensic evidence are not well understood in the science education literature, this study sought to understand how these concepts interact and affect students' understanding of scientific evidence. Four participants were purposefully selected for this study from among 89 students enrolled in two sections of an introductory forensic science course taught during the fall 2005 semester. Of the 89 students, 84 were criminal justice majors with minimal science background and five were chemistry majors with academic backgrounds in the natural and physical sciences. All 89 students completed a biographical data sheet and a pre-instruction Likert scale survey consisting of twenty questions relating to the nature of scientific evidence. An evaluation of these two documents resulted in a purposeful selection of four varied student participants, each of whom was interviewed three times throughout the semester about the nature of science, the nature of evidence, and the nature of forensic evidence. The same survey was administered to the participants again at the end of the semester-long course. This study examined students' assumptions, prior knowledge, their understanding of scientific inference, scientific theory, and methodology. Examination of the data found few differences with regard to how the criminal justice majors and the chemistry majors responded to interview questions about forensic evidence. There were qualitative differences, however, when the same participants answered interview questions relating to traditional scientific evidence. Furthermore, suggestions are

Student Selection of the Textbook for an Introductory Physics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Dake, L. S.

2007-01-01

Several years ago I had to select a new textbook for my calculus-based introductory physics class. I subscribe to Just-in-Time Teaching methods,1 which require students to read the book before the material is covered in class. Thus, the readability of the text by the students is critical. However, I did not feel that I was the best judge of this…

Java vs. Python Coverage of Introductory Programming Concepts: A Textbook Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

McMaster, Kirby; Sambasivam, Samuel; Rague, Brian; Wolthuis, Stuart

2017-01-01

In this research, we compare two languages, Java and Python, by performing a content analysis of words in textbooks that describe important programming concepts. Our goal is to determine which language has better textbook support for teaching introductory programming courses. We used the TextSTAT program to count how often our list of concept…

The Importance of Mathematics as a Prerequisite to Introductory Financial Accounting

Science.gov (United States)

McCarron, Karen B.; Burstein, Alan N.

2017-01-01

Mathematics has long served as a prerequisite to introductory financial accounting in the 4-year college business curriculum. However, 2-year colleges have been slower to adopt math as a prerequisite. Its usefulness in relation to achieving successful completion of accounting has not been demonstrated at either a 2-year or 4-year college. Using…

The Kitty Genovese Story in Introductory Psychology Textbooks: Fifty Years Later

Science.gov (United States)

Griggs, Richard A.

2015-01-01

Given the many inaccuracies in the original "New York Times" 38-witnesses version of the Kitty Genovese story, this study examined the accuracy of this story in current introductory psychology textbooks, 50 years later. Recent studies have shown that there is no evidence for the following three key features of the original story: (1)…

Transversality of Electromagnetic Waves in the Calculus-Based Introductory Physics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Burko, Lior M.

2008-01-01

Introductory calculus-based physics textbooks state that electromagnetic waves are transverse and list many of their properties, but most such textbooks do not bring forth arguments why this is so. Both physical and theoretical arguments are at a level appropriate for students of courses based on such books, and could be readily used by…

Course Format Effects on Learning Outcomes in an Introductory Statistics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Sami, Fary

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if course format significantly impacted student learning and course completion rates in an introductory statistics course taught at Harford Community College. In addition to the traditional lecture format, the College offers an online, and a hybrid (blend of traditional and online) version of this class.…

A Reactive Blended Learning Proposal for an Introductory Control Engineering Course

Science.gov (United States)

Mendez, Juan A.; Gonzalez, Evelio J.

2010-01-01

As it happens in other fields of engineering, blended learning is widely used to teach process control topics. In this paper, the inclusion of a reactive element--a Fuzzy Logic based controller--is proposed for a blended learning approach in an introductory control engineering course. This controller has been designed in order to regulate the…

Exact renormalization group equations: an introductory review

Science.gov (United States)

Bagnuls, C.; Bervillier, C.

2001-07-01

We critically review the use of the exact renormalization group equations (ERGE) in the framework of the scalar theory. We lay emphasis on the existence of different versions of the ERGE and on an approximation method to solve it: the derivative expansion. The leading order of this expansion appears as an excellent textbook example to underline the nonperturbative features of the Wilson renormalization group theory. We limit ourselves to the consideration of the scalar field (this is why it is an introductory review) but the reader will find (at the end of the review) a set of references to existing studies on more complex systems.

Introductory course on differential equations

CERN Document Server

Gorain, Ganesh C

2014-01-01

Introductory Course on DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS provides an excellent exposition of the fundamentals of ordinary and partial differential equations and is ideally suited for a first course of undergraduate students of mathematics, physics and engineering. The aim of this book is to present the elementary theories of differential equations in the forms suitable for use of those students whose main interest in the subject are based on simple mathematical ideas. KEY FEATURES: Discusses the subject in a systematic manner without sacrificing mathematical rigour. A variety of exercises drill the students in problem solving in view of the mathematical theories explained in the book. Worked out examples illustrated according to the theories developed in the book with possible alternatives. Exhaustive collection of problems and the simplicity of presentation differentiate this book from several others. Material contained will help teachers as well as aspiring students of different competitive examinations.

High School Pedagogy: The Influence of High School In-class Activities and Events On Introductory College Physics Success

OpenAIRE

Carter, Brooke

2014-01-01

This study explores how students’ grades in introductory college physics are influenced by the pedagogy used in their high school physics classes. The success of college science professors is often judged on the basis of the success of their students. This disregards the 18+ years of experiences with which students come into their physics classroom. This study aims to answer the question of what pedagogy best prepares students for introductory college physics. This quantitative study analyzes...

Evaluating multiple-choice exams in large introductory physics courses

OpenAIRE

Gary Gladding; Tim Stelzer; Michael Scott

2006-01-01

The reliability and validity of professionally written multiple-choice exams have been extensively studied for exams such as the SAT, graduate record examination, and the force concept inventory. Much of the success of these multiple-choice exams is attributed to the careful construction of each question, as well as each response. In this study, the reliability and validity of scores from multiple-choice exams written for and administered in the large introductory physics courses at the Unive...

Investigating and improving introductory physics students’ understanding of symmetry and Gauss’s law

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jing; Singh, Chandralekha

2018-01-01

We discuss an investigation of student difficulties with symmetry and Gauss’s law and how the research on students’ difficulties was used as a guide to develop a tutorial related to these topics to help students in the calculus-based introductory physics courses learn these concepts. During the development of the tutorial, we interviewed students individually at various stages of development and administered written tests in the free-response and multiple-choice formats on these concepts to learn about common student difficulties. We also obtained feedback from physics instructors who teach introductory physics courses regularly in which these concepts were covered. The students in several ‘equivalent’ sections worked on the tutorial after traditional lecture-based instruction. We discuss the performance of students on the written pre-test (administered after lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts) and post-test given after students worked on the tutorial. We find that on the pre-test, all sections of the course performed comparably regardless of the instructor. Also, on average, student performance on the post-test after working on the tutorial is significantly better than on the pre-test after lecture-based instruction. We also compare the post-test performance of introductory students in sections of the course in which the tutorial was used versus not used and find that sections in which students engaged with the tutorial outperformed those in which students did not engage with it.

Curriculum Currency: Integrating Direct and Interactive Marketing Content in Introductory Marketing Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Spiller, Lisa D.; Scovotti, Carol

2008-01-01

This study investigates the extent to which educators address direct and interactive marketing concepts in undergraduate introductory marketing courses. As practitioners seek more accountability from their marketing efforts, so too must academia respond with more relevant content. Results from textbook content analysis suggest that direct and…

Correlates of Success in Introductory Programming: A Study with Middle School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Yizhou; Lehman, James D.

2016-01-01

The demand for computing professionals in the workplace has led to increased attention to computer science education, and introductory computer science courses have been introduced at different levels of education. This study investigated the relationship between gender, academic performance in non-programming subjects, and programming learning…

Some remarks on the Bonnor-Swaminarayan solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berezdivin, R.; Herrera, L.

1976-01-01

The letter re-examines the Bonnor-Swaminarayan solution with the aim to try a clarification of its physical interpretation. The radiative nature of the solution as suggested by Bicak is questioned and some remarks on this topic are given

Introductory Comments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jolanta Sujecka

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Introductory Comments The sixth issue (not just in the Thematic Section is devoted to the borders of civilization in our memory, in culture, in art, in literature, in the arrangement of political objectives. Both their demarcation and their crossing is a matter of the objectives we can and want to set ourselves in the context of the order that exists and into which we try to fit, transforming it or levelling. The value of this survey of  “images of borders” is its setting in such varied material, owing to which the theoretical speculations gain a representative illustration and, at the same time, a guarantee of being rooted, even if it is only a “contact zone”.   Wprowadzenie Szósty numer (nie tylko sekcja tematyczna jest poświęcony kwestii granic cywilizacji w naszej pamięci, kulturze, sztuce, literaturze, w definiowaniu celów politycznych. Zarówno ich wyznaczanie, jak i przekraczanie, jest kwestią celów, jakie możemy i chcemy postawić sobie w kontekście istniejącego ładu, w który staramy się wpisać, przekształcając go lub dostosowując się do niego. Wartością niniejszego przeglądu "obrazów granic" jest przedstawienie ich poprzez tak zróżnicowany materiał, dzięki czemu rozważania teoretyczne zyskują reprezentatywną ilustrację, a zarazem gwarancję zakorzenienia, nawet jeśli będzie to tylko "sfera kontaktu".

Impacts of curricular change: Implications from 8 years of data in introductory physics

Science.gov (United States)

Pollock, Steven J.; Finkelstein, Noah

2013-01-01

Introductory calculus-based physics classes at the University of Colorado Boulder were significantly transformed beginning in 2004. They now regularly include: interactive engagement using clickers in large lecture settings, Tutorials in Introductory Physics with use of undergraduate Learning Assistants in recitation sections, and a staffed help-room setting where students work on personalized CAPA homework. We compile and summarize conceptual (FMCE and BEMA) pre- and post-data from over 9,000 unique students after 16 semesters of both Physics 1 and 2. Within a single institution with stable pre-test scores, we reproduce results of Hake's 1998 study that demonstrate the positive impacts of interactive engagement on student performance. We link the degree of faculty's use of interactive engagement techniques and their experience levels on student outcomes, and argue for the role of such systematic data collection in sustained course and institutional transformations.

Introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town: Probing student perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vinesh Rajpaul

2014-11-01

Full Text Available We report on research carried out to improve teaching and student engagement in the introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town. This course is taken by a diverse range of students, including many from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. We describe the development of an instrument, the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire (IAQ, which we administered as pre- and posttests to students enrolled in the course. The instrument comprised a small number of questions which probed three areas of interest: student motivation and expectations, astronomy content, and worldview. Amongst our findings were that learning gains were made in several conceptual areas, and that students appeared to develop a more nuanced view of the nature of astronomy. There was some evidence that the course had a positive impact on students’ worldviews, particularly their attitudes towards science. We also identified a promising predictor of course success that could in the future be used to identify students requiring special teaching intervention.

Textbook Readability and Student Performance in Online Introductory Corporate Finance Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Chien-Chih

2015-01-01

This paper examines whether the choice of a more readable textbook can improve student performance in online introductory corporate finance classes. The ordinary least squares regression model is employed to analyze a sample of 206 students during the period from 2008 to 2012. The results of this study show that the student's age, student's major,…

Using a Movie as a Capstone Activity for the Introductory Course

Science.gov (United States)

Blessing, Stephen B.; Blessing, Jennifer S.

2015-01-01

A capstone experience serves as a culminating exercise for students to assimilate the information learned in a course and to realize how to use the material and skills in different contexts. Both majors and nonmajors benefit from having the material in the introductory course consolidated in such a way, for later study in the field and to more…

77 FR 47814 - Sunshine Act Notice

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-10

... Birmingham Hotel, Birmingham Ballroom, 21010 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. N., Birmingham, AL 35203. Briefing... Immigration Laws. I. Introductory Remarks by Chairman II. Panel I: Speakers' Remarks III. Panel I: Questions... Pamela Dunston at (202) 376-8105 or at [email protected] at least seven business days before the...

Tale of Two Curricula: The Performance of 2000 Students in Introductory Electromagnetism

Science.gov (United States)

Kohlmyer, Matthew A.; Caballero, Marcos D.; Catrambone, Richard; Chabay, Ruth W.; Ding, Lin; Haugan, Mark P.; Marr, M. Jackson; Sherwood, Bruce A.; Schatz, Michael F.

2009-01-01

The performance of over 2000 students in introductory calculus-based electromagnetism (E&M) courses at four large research universities was measured using the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA). Two different curricula were used at these universities: a traditional E&M curriculum and the Matter & Interactions (M&I)…

Ditching the Script: Moving beyond "Automatic Thinking" in Introductory Political Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Glover, Robert W.; Tagliarina, Daniel

2011-01-01

Political science is a challenging field, particularly when it comes to undergraduate teaching. If we are to engage in something more than uncritical ideological instruction, it demands from the student a willingness to approach alien political ideas with intellectual generosity. Yet, students within introductory classes often harbor inherited…

"Economics with Training Wheels": Using Blogs in Teaching and Assessing Introductory Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, Michael P.

2012-01-01

Blogs provide a dynamic interactive medium for online discussion, consistent with communal constructivist pedagogy. The author of this article describes and evaluates a blog assignment used in the teaching and assessment of a small (40-60 students) introductory economics course. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected across four…

Student Performance in an Introductory Business Statistics Course: Does Delivery Mode Matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Haughton, Jonathan; Kelly, Alison

2015-01-01

Approximately 600 undergraduates completed an introductory business statistics course in 2013 in one of two learning environments at Suffolk University, a mid-sized private university in Boston, Massachusetts. The comparison group completed the course in a traditional classroom-based environment, whereas the treatment group completed the course in…

Using R in Introductory Statistics Courses with the pmg Graphical User Interface

Science.gov (United States)

Verzani, John

2008-01-01

The pmg add-on package for the open source statistics software R is described. This package provides a simple to use graphical user interface (GUI) that allows introductory statistics students, without advanced computing skills, to quickly create the graphical and numeric summaries expected of them. (Contains 9 figures.)

Computer-Automated Approach for Scoring Short Essays in an Introductory Statistics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Whitney Alicia; Kang, Hyun Bin; Kim, Kyung; Gao, Mengzhao; Johnson, Glenn; Clariana, Roy; Zhang, Fan

2018-01-01

Over two semesters short essay prompts were developed for use with the Graphical Interface for Knowledge Structure (GIKS), an automated essay scoring system. Participants were students in an undergraduate-level online introductory statistics course. The GIKS compares students' writing samples with an expert's to produce keyword occurrence and…

Remarks about the hypothesis of limiting fragmentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chou, T.T.; Yang, C.N.

1987-01-01

Remarks are made about the hypothesis of limiting fragmentation. In particular, the concept of favored and disfavored fragment distribution is introduced. Also, a sum rule is proved leading to a useful quantity called energy-fragmentation fraction. (author). 11 refs, 1 fig., 2 tabs

Welding residual stress improvement in internal components by water jet peening

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Enomoto, K.; Hirano, K.; Hayashi, M.; Hayashi, E.

1996-01-01

Cavitations are generated when highly pressurized water is jetted in water. Surface residual stress is improved remarkably due to the peening effect of extremely high pressure caused by the collapse of cavitation bubbles. This technique is called water jet peening (WJP). WJP is expected to be an effective maintenance technique for the prevention of stress corrosion cracking caused by residual stress in various components of power generating plants. Various kinds of specimens were water jet peened to evaluate the fundamental characteristics of WJP and to select the most appropriate conditions for the residual stress improvement. Test results showed that WJP markedly improved the tensile residual stress caused by welding and grinding to the high compressive residual stress and seems to prevent the stress corrosion cracking

Gender differences in introductory university physics performance: The influence of high school physics preparation and affect

Science.gov (United States)

Hazari, Zahra Sana

The attrition of females studying physics after high school is a concern to the science education community. Most undergraduate science programs require introductory physics coursework. Thus, success in introductory physics is necessary for students to progress to higher levels of science study. Success also influences attitudes; if females are well-prepared, feel confident, and do well in introductory physics, they may be inclined to study physics further. This quantitative study using multilevel modeling focused on determining factors from high school physics preparation (content, pedagogy, and assessment) and the affective domain that influenced female and male performance in introductory university physics. The study controlled for some university/course level characteristics as well as student demographic and academic background characteristics. The data consisted of 1973 surveys from 54 introductory physics courses within 35 universities across the US. The results highlight high school physics and affective experiences that differentially influenced female and male performance. These experiences include: learning requirements, computer graphing/analysis, long written problems, everyday world examples, community projects, cumulative tests/quizzes, father's encouragement, family's belief that science leads to a better career, and the length of time students believed that high school physics would help in university physics. There were also experiences that had a similar influence on female and male performance. Positively related to performance were: covering fewer topics for longer periods of time, the history of physics as a recurring topic, physics-related videos, and test/quiz questions that involved calculations and/or were drawn from standardized tests. Negatively related to performance were: student-designed projects, reading/discussing labs the day before performing them, microcomputer based laboratories, discussion after demonstrations, and family

Polypyridyl iron(II) complexes showing remarkable photocytotoxicity ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

aditya

Polypyridyl iron(II) complexes showing remarkable photocytotoxicity in visible light. ADITYA GARAI a. , UTTARA BASU a. , ILA PANT b. , PATURU KONDAIAH*. ,b. AND. AKHIL R. CHAKRAVARTY*. ,a a. Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. 560012, India. E-mail: ...

Particle in a Box: An Experiential Environment for Learning Introductory Quantum Mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Anupam, Aditya; Gupta, Ridhima; Naeemi, Azad; JafariNaimi, Nassim

2018-01-01

Quantum mechanics (QMs) is a foundational subject in many science and engineering fields. It is difficult to teach, however, as it requires a fundamental revision of the assumptions and laws of classical physics and probability. Furthermore, introductory QM courses and texts predominantly focus on the mathematical formulations of the subject and…

Operant Conditioning Concepts in Introductory Psychology Textbooks and Their Companion Web Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Sheldon, Jane P.

2002-01-01

Psychology instructors and textbook authors rate operant conditioning as one of the most essential concepts for students to learn, yet textbook writers, as well as students, can fall prey to misconceptions. This study is a content analysis of the presentation of operant conditioning in introductory psychology textbooks and their companion Web…

Retention of Statistical Concepts in a Preliminary Randomization-Based Introductory Statistics Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Tintle, Nathan; Topliff, Kylie; VanderStoep, Jill; Holmes, Vicki-Lynn; Swanson, Todd

2012-01-01

Previous research suggests that a randomization-based introductory statistics course may improve student learning compared to the consensus curriculum. However, it is unclear whether these gains are retained by students post-course. We compared the conceptual understanding of a cohort of students who took a randomization-based curriculum (n = 76)…

Portrayals of Wundt and Titchener in Introductory Psychology Texts: A Content Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zehr, David

2000-01-01

Examines the content of introductory psychology books by performing a content analysis on texts from the 1970s and 1990s to determine whether the books incorporated recent historical scholarship in discussions of Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. Finds that some texts still misrepresent the relation between Wundt and Titchener. (CMK)

Introductory Psychology: How Student Experiences Relate to Their Understanding of Psychological Science

Science.gov (United States)

Toomey, Thomas; Richardson, Deborah; Hammock, Georgina

2017-01-01

Many students who declare a psychology major are unaware that they are studying a scientific discipline, precipitating a need for exercises and experiences that help students understand the scientific nature of the discipline. The present study explores aspects of an introductory psychology class that may contribute to students' understanding of…

The Proposed Model of Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment for Introductory Programming Course

Science.gov (United States)

Othman, Mahfudzah; Othman, Muhaini

2012-01-01

This paper discusses the proposed model of the collaborative virtual learning system for the introductory computer programming course which uses one of the collaborative learning techniques known as the "Think-Pair-Share". The main objective of this study is to design a model for an online learning system that facilitates the…

Earthquake effects on groundwater systems: an introductory review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-09-01

This report presents an introductory review of the potential effects of earthquakes on groundwater systems with respect to the performance of underground repositories for radioactive waste in Britain. An approach to modelling these effects within the scope of general environmental simulation codes is presented. The relevant literature is reviewed and it is concluded that, although pertinent information exists, no clear relationship between seismic intensity and the degree of fracturing has been established. Recommendations are made for further work on fracture development to complement existing research into the effects of long-term changes on the integrity of radioactive waste disposal facilities. (author)

Implementing Recommendations for Introductory Biology by Writing a New Textbook

Science.gov (United States)

Barsoum, Mark J.; Sellers, Patrick J.; Campbell, A. Malcolm; Heyer, Laurie J.; Paradise, Christopher J.

2013-01-01

We redesigned the undergraduate introductory biology course by writing a new textbook (Integrating Concepts in Biology [ICB]) that follows first principles of learning. Our approach emphasizes primary data interpretation and the utility of mathematics in biology, while de-emphasizing memorization. This redesign divides biology into five big ideas (information, evolution, cells, emergent properties, homeostasis), addressing each at five levels of organization (molecules, cells, organisms, populations, ecological systems). We compared our course outcomes with two sections that used a traditional textbook and were taught by different instructors. On data interpretation assessments administered periodically during the semester, our students performed better than students in the traditional sections (p = 0.046) and exhibited greater improvement over the course of the semester (p = 0.015). On factual content assessments, our students performed similarly to students in the other sections (p = 0.737). Pre- and postsemester assessment of disciplinary perceptions and self-appraisal indicate that our students acquired a more accurate perception of biology as a discipline and may have developed a more realistic evaluation of their scientific abilities than did the control students (p < 0.05). We conclude that ICB improves critical thinking, metacognition, and disciplinary perceptions without compromising content knowledge in introductory biology. PMID:23463233

Two-Language, Two-Paradigm Introductory Computing Curriculum Model and its Implementation

OpenAIRE

Zanev, Vladimir; Radenski, Atanas

2011-01-01

This paper analyzes difficulties with the introduction of object-oriented concepts in introductory computing education and then proposes a two-language, two-paradigm curriculum model that alleviates such difficulties. Our two-language, two-paradigm curriculum model begins with teaching imperative programming using Python programming language, continues with teaching object-oriented computing using Java, and concludes with teaching object-oriented data structures with Java.

Introductory statement to the administrative and budgetary committee, 4 May 1998

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ElBaradei, M.

1998-01-01

The document represents the Introductory Statement made by the Director General of the IAEA on 4 May 1998 to the Administrative and Budgetary Committee of the IAEA who met at the Agency's Headquarters in Vienna. The Director General comments on the Agency's programme and budget proposals for 1999 and 2000, the framework for further reform, staffing of the Secretariat, and current resource situation

Connecting biology and organic chemistry introductory laboratory courses through a collaborative research project.

Science.gov (United States)

Boltax, Ariana L; Armanious, Stephanie; Kosinski-Collins, Melissa S; Pontrello, Jason K

2015-01-01

Modern research often requires collaboration of experts in fields, such as math, chemistry, biology, physics, and computer science to develop unique solutions to common problems. Traditional introductory undergraduate laboratory curricula in the sciences often do not emphasize connections possible between the various disciplines. We designed an interdisciplinary, medically relevant, project intended to help students see connections between chemistry and biology. Second term organic chemistry laboratory students designed and synthesized potential polymer inhibitors or inducers of polyglutamine protein aggregation. The use of novel target compounds added the uncertainty of scientific research to the project. Biology laboratory students then tested the novel potential pharmaceuticals in Huntington's disease model assays, using in vitro polyglutamine peptide aggregation and in vivo lethality studies in Drosophila. Students read articles from the primary literature describing the system from both chemical and biological perspectives. Assessment revealed that students emerged from both courses with a deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of biology and chemistry and a heightened interest in basic research. The design of this collaborative project for introductory biology and organic chemistry labs demonstrated how the local interests and expertise at a university can be drawn from to create an effective way to integrate these introductory courses. Rather than simply presenting a series of experiments to be replicated, we hope that our efforts will inspire other scientists to think about how some aspect of authentic work can be brought into their own courses, and we also welcome additional collaborations to extend the scope of the scientific exploration. © 2015 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Examining students' views about validity of experiments: From introductory to Ph.D. students

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Dehui; Zwickl, Benjamin M.

2018-06-01

We investigated physics students' epistemological views on measurements and validity of experimental results. The roles of experiments in physics have been underemphasized in previous research on students' personal epistemology, and there is a need for a broader view of personal epistemology that incorporates experiments. An epistemological framework incorporating the structure, methodology, and validity of scientific knowledge guided the development of an open-ended survey. The survey was administered to students in algebra-based and calculus-based introductory physics courses, upper-division physics labs, and physics Ph.D. students. Within our sample, we identified several differences in students' ideas about validity and uncertainty in measurement. The majority of introductory students justified the validity of results through agreement with theory or with results from others. Alternatively, Ph.D. students frequently justified the validity of results based on the quality of the experimental process and repeatability of results. When asked about the role of uncertainty analysis, introductory students tended to focus on the representational roles (e.g., describing imperfections, data variability, and human mistakes). However, advanced students focused on the inferential roles of uncertainty analysis (e.g., quantifying reliability, making comparisons, and guiding refinements). The findings suggest that lab courses could emphasize a variety of approaches to establish validity, such as by valuing documentation of the experimental process when evaluating the quality of student work. In order to emphasize the role of uncertainty in an authentic way, labs could provide opportunities to iterate, make repeated comparisons, and make decisions based on those comparisons.

Effects of Day Care and Maternal Employment: Views from Introductory Psychology Textbooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Etaugh, Claire; Cohen, Joseph; Cummings-Hill, Myra; Massey, Michelle; Detweiler, Kelly Selchow

1999-01-01

Examines the treatment of day care and maternal employment in introductory psychology textbooks between 1970 and 1997. Finds that the coverage of day care and maternal employment increased over the 28 year span, while 95% of the later textbooks presented views ranging from positive to balanced in the mid-1990s. (CMK)

Spanish Is Foreign: Heritage Speakers' Interpretations of the Introductory Spanish Language Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

DeFeo, Dayna Jean

2015-01-01

This article presents a case study of the perceptions of Spanish heritage speakers enrolled in introductory-level Spanish foreign language courses. Despite their own identities that were linked to the United States and Spanish of the Borderlands, the participants felt that the curriculum acknowledged the Spanish of Spain and foreign countries but…

Primarily Statistics: Developing an Introductory Statistics Course for Pre-Service Elementary Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Jennifer L.; Blankenship, Erin E.

2013-01-01

We developed an introductory statistics course for pre-service elementary teachers. In this paper, we describe the goals and structure of the course, as well as the assessments we implemented. Additionally, we use example course work to demonstrate pre-service teachers' progress both in learning statistics and as novice teachers. Overall, the…

Evaluating Two Models of Collaborative Tests in an Online Introductory Statistics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Björnsdóttir, Auðbjörg; Garfield, Joan; Everson, Michelle

2015-01-01

This study explored the use of two different types of collaborative tests in an online introductory statistics course. A study was designed and carried out to investigate three research questions: (1) What is the difference in students' learning between using consensus and non-consensus collaborative tests in the online environment?, (2) What is…

Using Performance Tasks to Improve Quantitative Reasoning in an Introductory Mathematics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Kruse, Gerald; Drews, David

2013-01-01

A full-cycle assessment of our efforts to improve quantitative reasoning in an introductory math course is described. Our initial iteration substituted more open-ended performance tasks for the active learning projects than had been used. Using a quasi-experimental design, we compared multiple sections of the same course and found non-significant…

Closing remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reig, J.

2007-01-01

Good afternoon. Before providing the closing remarks on behalf of the NEA, I would like to take this opportunity and make some personal reflections, if you allow me Mr. Chairman. I have had the opportunity to take part in the three workshops on public communication organised by the NEA. In the first one in Paris in 2000, representing my country, Spain, and in the two last ones in Ottawa in 2004 and Tokyo today, on behalf of the NEA. The topics for the three workshops follow a logical order, first the focus was on investing in trust in a time when public communication was becoming a big challenge for the regulators. Second, maintaining and measuring public confidence to assess how credible regulators are in front of the public; and finally here in Tokyo, transparency, which is a basic element to achieve trust and credibility. In my view, a regulatory decision has three main components, it has to be technically sound. legally correct and well communicated. The emphasis in the early years was in the technical matters, till legal issues became a key element to achieve the political acceptance from governments and local authorities. Finally the public communication aspects resulted into a major effort and challenge to achieve social acceptance. (author)

The Symbolic Dimension of Gender Violence: an introductory discussion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romeu Gomes

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to support a positive campaign against gender violence, or violence against women, by offering an introductory account of its symbolism. First, I set out the case for taking gender and masculinity to be the keys to understanding the symbolism of violence in the conetxt of gender relations. I then use that analysis to bring into focus those cases of violence which are otherwise hidden or unrecognised. Lastly, I offer suggestions as to how the debate may be continued.

Concluding theoretical remarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellis, J.

1986-01-01

My task in this talk is to review the happenings of this workshop from a theoretical perspective, and to emphasize lines for possible future research. My remarks are organized into a theoretical overview of the what, why, (mainly the hierarchy problem) how, (supersymmetry must be broken: softly or spontaneously, and if the latter, by means of a new U tilde(1) gauge group or through the chiral superfields) when (how heavy are supersymmetric partner particles in different types of theories) and where (can one find evidence for) supersymmetry. In the last part are discussed various ongoing and future searches for photinos γ tilde, gravitinos G tilde, the U vector boson, shiggses H tilde, squarks q tilde and sleptons l tilde, gluinos g tilde, winos W tilde and other gauginos, as well as hunts for indirect effects of supersymmetry, such as for example in baryon decay. Finally there is a little message of encouragement to our experimental colleagues, based on historical precedent. (orig.)

Differential participation in formative assessment and achievement in introductory calculus

OpenAIRE

Dibbs, Rebecca-Anne

2015-01-01

International audience; Prior formative assessment research has shown positive achievement gains when classes using formative assessment are compared to classes that do not. However, little is known about what, if any, benefits of formative assessment occur within a class. The purpose of this study was to investigate the achievement of the students in introductory calculus using formative assessment at the two different participation levels observed in class. Although there was no significant...

On Taylor-Series Approximations of Residual Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Pruett, C. David

1999-01-01

Although subgrid-scale models of similarity type are insufficiently dissipative for practical applications to large-eddy simulation, in recently published a priori analyses, they perform remarkably well in the sense of correlating highly against exact residual stresses. Here, Taylor-series expansions of residual stress are exploited to explain the observed behavior and "success" of similarity models. Until very recently, little attention has been given to issues related to the convergence of such expansions. Here, we re-express the convergence criterion of Vasilyev [J. Comput. Phys., 146 (1998)] in terms of the transfer function and the wavenumber cutoff of the grid filter.

Gender Gaps in Achievement and Participation in Multiple Introductory Biology Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Brownell, Sara E.; Wenderoth, Mary Pat

2014-01-01

Although gender gaps have been a major concern in male-dominated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines such as physics and engineering, the numerical dominance of female students in biology has supported the assumption that gender disparities do not exist at the undergraduate level in life sciences. Using data from 23 large introductory biology classes for majors, we examine two measures of gender disparity in biology: academic achievement and participation in whole-class discussions. We found that females consistently underperform on exams compared with males with similar overall college grade point averages. In addition, although females on average represent 60% of the students in these courses, their voices make up less than 40% of those heard responding to instructor-posed questions to the class, one of the most common ways of engaging students in large lectures. Based on these data, we propose that, despite numerical dominance of females, gender disparities remain an issue in introductory biology classrooms. For student retention and achievement in biology to be truly merit based, we need to develop strategies to equalize the opportunities for students of different genders to practice the skills they need to excel. PMID:25185231

Remarks on the elaboration of an English–Spanish ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Spanish word-combination dictionary examined here, some concluding remarks are made with regard to the educational implications of this kind of dictionary primarily aimed at intermediate- to advanced-level Spanish-speaking EFL learners.

Comparing Linear and Nonlinear Delivery of Introductory Psychology Lectures: Improving Student Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Cramer, Kenneth M.; Sands, Mandy

2016-01-01

As in most disciplines, the typical introductory class presents topics to students in a linear fashion, beginning (to use psychology as an example) with the history of the field, research methods, brain and neurons, sensation and perception, and so on. This study examined the impact of topic sequence on student achievement. The same professor…

Incorporating a Watershed-Based Summary Field Exercise into an Introductory Hydrogeology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Fryar, Alan E.; Thompson, Karen E.; Hendricks, Susan P.; White, David S.

2010-01-01

We have developed and implemented a summary field exercise for an introductory hydrogeology course without a laboratory section. This exercise builds on lectures and problem sets that use pre-existing field data. During one day in April, students measure hydraulic heads, stream and spring flow, and stream-bed seepage within the rural watershed of…

From Research to Practice: Basic Mathematics Skills and Success in Introductory Statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Lunsford, M. Leigh; Poplin, Phillip

2011-01-01

Based on previous research of Johnson and Kuennen (2006), we conducted a study to determine factors that would possibly predict student success in an introductory statistics course. Our results were similar to Johnson and Kuennen in that we found students' basic mathematical skills, as measured on a test created by Johnson and Kuennen, were a…

Teaching of the International Component in the Introductory Marketing Course: A Replication Study

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmer, Robert; Koernig, Stephen K.; Greene, Scott

2004-01-01

For almost three decades, the AACSB and business leaders have sought increased emphasis on internationalizing students' perspectives. Recent studies demonstrate mixed results in the extent to which business schools have globalized their curricula. With decreasing student interest in the marketing major, Introductory Marketing emerges as a critical…

The Role of an Actuarial Director in the Development of an Introductory Program

Science.gov (United States)

Staples, Susan G.

2014-01-01

We describe the roles and duties of a director in developing an introductory actuarial program. Degree plan design, specialized exam courses, internship classes, coordination of efforts with Economics and Finance Departments, opportunities for creating a minor in actuarial mathematics, actuarial clubs, career advice, and interaction with actuarial…

Connecting Biology and Organic Chemistry Introductory Laboratory Courses through a Collaborative Research Project

Science.gov (United States)

Boltax, Ariana L.; Armanious, Stephanie; Kosinski-Collins, Melissa S.; Pontrello, Jason K.

2015-01-01

Modern research often requires collaboration of experts in fields, such as math, chemistry, biology, physics, and computer science to develop unique solutions to common problems. Traditional introductory undergraduate laboratory curricula in the sciences often do not emphasize connections possible between the various disciplines. We designed an…

Chemical Structure and Properties: A Modified Atoms-First, One-Semester Introductory Chemistry Course

Science.gov (United States)

Schaller, Chris P.; Graham, Kate J.; Johnson, Brian J.; Jakubowski, Henry V.; McKenna, Anna G.; McIntee, Edward J.; Jones, T. Nicholas; Fazal, M. A.; Peterson, Alicia A.

2015-01-01

A one-semester, introductory chemistry course is described that develops a primarily qualitative understanding of structure-property relationships. Starting from an atoms-first approach, the course examines the properties and three-dimensional structure of metallic and ionic solids before expanding into a thorough investigation of molecules. In…

The Impact of the Supplemental Instruction Leader on Student Performance in Introductory Accounting

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Jefferson P.

2013-01-01

This study explores the association between a supplemental instruction (SI) program and student performance in an introductory accounting course. SI is a proactive academic support program that is aimed at improving student learning in traditionally "high-risk" college courses by integrating learning and critical thinking strategies with…

Terrorism, post-traumatic stress, coping strategies, and spiritual outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Meisenhelder, Janice Bell; Marcum, John P

2009-03-01

This mail survey measured post-traumatic stress symptoms, spiritual and non-spiritual coping strategies, and positive spiritual outcomes following the tragedies of 9/11/01 in a national, random sample of 1,056 Presbyterians. Respondents reported mild to moderate degrees of re-experiencing and hyper-arousal symptoms of post-traumatic stress, unrelated to location or knowing someone involved. People experiencing high stress used greater frequency and variety of both spiritual and non-spiritual types of coping strategies. Positive spiritual outcomes were remarkably related to positive spiritual coping strategies, in contrast to no association with negative coping. This study illustrates the significant degree of post-traumatic stress experienced with vicarious exposure and a wide spectrum of coping strategies used following the major terrorist attacks.

Non-linear elastic thermal stress analysis with phase changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amada, S.; Yang, W.H.

1978-01-01

The non-linear elastic, thermal stress analysis with temperature induced phase changes in the materials is presented. An infinite plate (or body) with a circular hole (or tunnel) is subjected to a thermal loading on its inner surface. The peak temperature around the hole reaches beyond the melting point of the material. The non-linear diffusion equation is solved numerically using the finite difference method. The material properties change rapidly at temperatures where the change of crystal structures and solid-liquid transition occur. The elastic stresses induced by the transient non-homogeneous temperature distribution are calculated. The stresses change remarkably when the phase changes occur and there are residual stresses remaining in the plate after one cycle of thermal loading. (Auth.)

Intrinsic stress evolution during amorphous oxide film growth on Al surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flötotto, D.; Wang, Z. M.; Jeurgens, L. P. H.; Mittemeijer, E. J.

2014-01-01

The intrinsic stress evolution during formation of ultrathin amorphous oxide films on Al(111) and Al(100) surfaces by thermal oxidation at room temperature was investigated in real-time by in-situ substrate curvature measurements and detailed atomic-scale microstructural analyses. During thickening of the oxide a considerable amount of growth stresses is generated in, remarkably even amorphous, ultrathin Al 2 O 3 films. The surface orientation-dependent stress evolutions during O adsorption on the bare Al surfaces and during subsequent oxide-film growth can be interpreted as a result of (i) adsorption-induced surface stress changes and (ii) competing processes of free volume generation and structural relaxation, respectively

Measuring and Advancing Experimental Design Ability in an Introductory Course without Altering Existing Lab Curriculum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryan A. Shanks

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Introductory biology courses provide an important opportunity to prepare students for future courses, yet existing cookbook labs, although important in their own way, fail to provide many of the advantages of semester-long research experiences. Engaging, authentic research experiences aid biology students in meeting many learning goals. Therefore, overlaying a research experience onto the existing lab structure allows faculty to overcome barriers involving curricular change. Here we propose a working model for this overlay design in an introductory biology course and detail a means to conduct this lab with minimal increases in student and faculty workloads. Furthermore, we conducted exploratory factor analysis of the Experimental Design Ability Test (EDAT and uncovered two latent factors which provide valid means to assess this overlay model’s ability to increase advanced experimental design abilities. In a pre-test/post-test design, we demonstrate significant increases in both basic and advanced experimental design abilities in an experimental and comparison group. We measured significantly higher gains in advanced experimental design understanding in students in the experimental group. We believe this overlay model and EDAT factor analysis contribute a novel means to conduct and assess the effectiveness of authentic research experiences in an introductory course without major changes to the course curriculum and with minimal increases in faculty and student workloads.

Interactive Lecture Experiments in Large Introductory Physics Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Milner-Bolotin, Marina M.; Kotlicki, A.; Rieger, G.; Bates, F.; Moll, R.; McPhee, K.; Nashon, S.

2006-12-01

We describe Interactive Lecture Experiments (ILE), which build on Interactive Lecture Demonstrations proposed by Sokoloff and Thornton (2004) and extends it by providing students with the opportunity to analyze experiments demonstrated in the lecture outside of the classroom. Real time experimental data is collected, using Logger Pro combined with the digital video technology. This data is uploaded to the Internet and made available to the students for further analysis. Student learning is assessed in the following lecture using conceptual questions (clickers). The goal of this project is to use ILE to make large lectures more interactive and promote student interest in science, critical thinking and data analysis skills. We report on the systematic study conducted using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey, Force Concept Inventory, open-ended physics problems and focus group interviews to determine the impact of ILE on student academic achievement, motivation and attitudes towards physics. Three sections of students (750 students) experienced four ILE experiments. The surveys were administered twice and academic results for students who experienced the ILE for a particular topic were compared to the students, from a different section, who did not complete the ILE for that topic. Additional qualitative data on students’ attitudes was collected using open ended survey questions and interviews. We will present preliminary conclusions about the role of ILEs as an effective pedagogy in large introductory physics courses. Sokoloff, D.R. and R.K. Thornton (2004). Interactive Lecture Demonstrations: Active Learning in Introductory Physics, J.Wiley & Sons, INC. Interactive Lecture Experiments: http://www.physics.ubc.ca/ year1lab/p100/LectureLabs/lectureLabs.html

Using RSpec in an introductory bright star spectroscopy lab activity

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, James; Sitar, David J.

2018-01-01

After presenting at the North Carolina Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers during the fall 2016 meeting, we were encouraged to turn our poster into a paper. This article describes the strengthening of a bright star spectroscopy lab activity for introductory astronomy lab students (AST1002) at Appalachian State University. Explanations of the tools and methods used in the activity are included, particularly the preparation of additional materials using RSpec and calibrated instrument response curves.

The Face of Society: Gender and Race in Introductory Sociology Books Revisited

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Roger; Nunes, Alex

2008-01-01

We have updated Ferree and Hall's (1990) study of the way gender and race are constructed through pictures in introductory sociology textbooks. Ferree and Hall looked at 33 textbooks published between 1982 and 1988. We replicated their study by examining 3,085 illustrations in a sample of 27 textbooks, most of which were published between 2002 and…

Looking for Work: The Coverage of Work in Canadian Introductory Sociology Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Shane Michael; Quirke, Linda

2014-01-01

This paper examines the textual coverage of the topic of work in Canadian English--language introductory sociology textbooks. Our findings are based on a content analysis of 21 Canadian texts published between 2008 and 2012. We found that only 12 of 21 textbooks included a chapter on work, suggesting that work occupies a peripheral position in…

Managing stress in a crisis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright-Reid, Alison

2018-01-01

Crisis situations are inherently uncertain and threatening. Although the primal stress reactions they provoke deliver some advantages, they so severely restrict intellect and behaviour that consultants observe crisis teams making the same mistakes over and again. Stress risks can be managed before, during and after a crisis. Crisis planning can select the right people, control the crisis team environment, and mitigate fatigue risks and memory demands. Because stress reactions are primitive, stress can be manipulated at a remarkably primitive level and teams can increase their resilience through such basics as sleep and breathing skills. Teams can learn to manipulate perceptions of danger, to tolerate uncertainty and to become comfortable making decisions which were reasonable at the time. Crisis leaders can frame the crisis as a challenge and options as gains, and can ensure the team avoids groupthink and challenges the paradigm. Where individuals are trained to apply critical thinking processes, intuitive decision-making is not only fast, but also accurate, and helps to challenge assumptions, predictions and groupthink. Crises are more easily recognised and managed where training has covered critical decision methods.

Which Introductory Programming Approach Is Most Suitable for Students: Procedural or Visual Programming?

Science.gov (United States)

Eid, Chaker; Millham, Richard

2012-01-01

In this paper, we discuss the visual programming approach to teaching introductory programming courses and then compare this approach with that of procedural programming. The involved cognitive levels of students, as beginning students are introduced to different types of programming concepts, are correlated to the learning processes of…

Measuring the Effects of Virtual Pair Programming in an Introductory Programming Java Course

Science.gov (United States)

Zacharis, N. Z.

2011-01-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of virtual pair programming (VPP) on student performance and satisfaction in an introductory Java course. Students used online tools that integrated desktop sharing and real-time communication, and the metrics examined showed that VPP is an acceptable alternative to individual programming experience.…

Teaching Quantum Interpretations: Revisiting the Goals and Practices of Introductory Quantum Physics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Baily, Charles; Finkelstein, Noah D.

2015-01-01

Most introductory quantum physics instructors would agree that transitioning students from classical to quantum thinking is an important learning goal, but may disagree on whether or how this can be accomplished. Although (and perhaps because) physicists have long debated the physical interpretation of quantum theory, many instructors choose to…

Data analysis and graphing in an introductory physics laboratory: spreadsheet versus statistics suite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterlin, Primoz

2010-01-01

Two methods of data analysis are compared: spreadsheet software and a statistics software suite. Their use is compared analysing data collected in three selected experiments taken from an introductory physics laboratory, which include a linear dependence, a nonlinear dependence and a histogram. The merits of each method are compared.

Mainstreaming Remedial Mathematics Students in Introductory Statistics: Results Using a Randomized Controlled Trial

Science.gov (United States)

Logue, Alexandra W.; Watanabe-Rose, Mari

2014-01-01

This study used a randomized controlled trial to determine whether students, assessed by their community colleges as needing an elementary algebra (remedial) mathematics course, could instead succeed at least as well in a college-level, credit-bearing introductory statistics course with extra support (a weekly workshop). Researchers randomly…

Prism Foil from an LCD Monitor as a Tool for Teaching Introductory Optics

Science.gov (United States)

Planinsic, Gorazd; Gojkosek, Mihael

2011-01-01

Transparent prism foil is part of a backlight system in LCD monitors that are widely used today. This paper describes the optical properties of the prism foil and several pedagogical applications suitable for undergraduate introductory physics level. Examples include experiments that employ refraction, total internal reflection, diffraction and…

Student Performance in Introductory Psychology Following Termination of the Programmed Achievement Contingency at Mid-Semester

Science.gov (United States)

Nation, Jack R.; And Others

1977-01-01

Discusses the Programmed Achievement learning system in an introductory psychology course. This system is based on an instructional system of motivation and reward in which a crucial ingredient is the testing procedure. (Author/JR)

Focused bedside ultrasonography by clinicians: experiences with a basic introductory course

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hillingso, J.G.; Nielsen, M.B.; Svendsen, Lars Bo

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Ultrasonography (US) performed by clinicians might shorten workout time and diminish the workload of simple diagnostic procedures for physicians specialized in US. The purpose of this follow-up study was to evaluate the effect of an introductory course in US on participants' clinical...... to be introduced for gastroenterologists and surgeons or the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology Guidelines should be implemented Udgivelsesdato: 2008...

Mathematical model to determine the surface stress acting on the tooth of gear

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hinojosa-Torres J.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Surface stress on the surface contact of gear tooth calculated by the Buckingham equation constitutes the basis for The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA pitting resistance formula, which is based on a normal stress that does not cause failure since the yielding in contact problems is caused by shear stresses. An alternative expression based on the maximum-shear-stress is proposed in this paper. The new expression is obtained by using the maximum-shear-stress distribution and the Tresca failure criteria in order to know the maximum-shear-stress value and its location beneath the contact surface. Remarkable differences between the results using the proposed equation and those when the AGMA equation is applied are found.

Helping When They Are Listening: A Midterm Study Skills Intervention for "Introductory Psychology"

Science.gov (United States)

Cathey, Christie L.; Visio, Michelle E; Whisenhunt, Brooke L.; Hudson, Danae L.; Shoptaugh, Carol F.

2016-01-01

This study examined the effectiveness of a study skills training session offered at midterm to students enrolled in a large section of "Introductory Psychology." In the training session, students watched a series of five, short videos on effective learning and answered related clicker questions that encouraged them to reflect their own…

Introductory Accounting Students' Motives, Expectations and Preparedness for Higher Education: Some Portuguese Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Teixeira, Cláudia; Gomes, Delfina; Borges, Janete

2015-01-01

In Portugal, the massive expansion and diversification of higher education has led to a large and diverse student population. This has impacted on the complexity of the higher education learning environment and has implications for the teaching and learning activities. Thus, the current study examines Portuguese introductory accounting students'…

A Hybrid and Flipped Version of an Introductory Mathematics Course for Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Salinas Martínez, N. Patricia; Quintero Rodríguez, Eliud

2018-01-01

This in practice paper describes the experience of seven lecturers in a hybrid and flipped version of an introductory mathematics course for higher education. In a Mexican university, lecturers adapted to this innovation supported by an adjusted Massive Open Online Course. The experience revealed the relevance of leaving conventional assessment…

A Comparison of Traditional and Blended Learning in Introductory Principles of Accounting Course

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Chan

2011-01-01

This paper examines whether a blended course that introduces lower-level education online learned by students before they come into class and after class online assignments and online discussions enhances student performance for an introductory principles of accounting course over the period 2009-2010. The blended course design includes (1)…

Statistics Graduate Teaching Assistants' Beliefs, Practices and Preparation for Teaching Introductory Statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Justice, Nicola; Zieffler, Andrew; Garfield, Joan

2017-01-01

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are responsible for the instruction of many statistics courses offered at the university level, yet little is known about these students' preparation for teaching, their beliefs about how introductory statistics should be taught, or the pedagogical practices of the courses they teach. An online survey to examine…

Exploring Factors Related to Completion of an Online Undergraduate-Level Introductory Statistics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Whitney Alicia; Johnson, Glenn

2017-01-01

Data were collected from 353 online undergraduate introductory statistics students at the beginning of a semester using the Goals and Outcomes Associated with Learning Statistics (GOALS) instrument and an abbreviated form of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS). Data included a survey of expected grade, expected time commitment, and the…

Evaluating an Active Learning Approach to Teaching Introductory Statistics: A Classroom Workbook Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Kieth A.; Winquist, Jennifer R.

2011-01-01

The study evaluates a semester-long workbook curriculum approach to teaching a college level introductory statistics course. The workbook curriculum required students to read content before and during class and then work in groups to complete problems and answer conceptual questions pertaining to the material they read. Instructors spent class…

How Are Non-Geography Majors Motivated in a Large Introductory World Geography Course?

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Seung Won; Huynh, Niem Tu

2015-01-01

University students who do not declare geography as their major are at risk of poor motivation to learn in an introductory geography class. However, research exploring the role of non-majors' motivation is lacking. This study examines motivational factors impacting non-geography students' engagement and performance. The findings suggest that…

Developing and Implementing a Simple, Affordable Hydrogen Fuel Cell Laboratory in Introductory Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Klara, Kristina; Hou, Ning; Lawman, Allison; Wu, Liheng; Morrill, Drew; Tente, Alfred; Wang, Li-Qiong

2014-01-01

A simple, affordable hydrogen proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell laboratory was developed through a collaborative effort between faculty and undergraduate students at Brown University. It has been incorporated into the introductory chemistry curriculum and successfully implemented in a class of over 500 students per academic year for over 3…

Students' attitudes towards use of COMPUSTAT in teaching an introductory course in business finance.

Science.gov (United States)

Sachdeva, Darshan

2007-10-01

This paper describes the use of the COMPUSTAT database in teaching an introductory course in business finance at a large College of Business Administration. To understand students' attitudes towards this innovative method of instruction in business finance, a simple one-page questionnaire of 10 attitudinal statements was used. Responses of 148 students, analyzed by chi square, indicated students were unanimous in their opinion that the World Wide Web greatly paved the way in data retrieval from the COMPUSTAT database. They further reported that this interface facilitated analyses for the course. Also their understanding of finance was enhanced, and they were motivated to learn more. They seem to be highly in favor of using COMPUSTAT database in the introductory courses in business finance and expressed this view by suggesting that this financial database should be made an integral part of teaching other courses in finance.

Daphnia as a model organism in limnology and aquatic biology: introductory remarks

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Seďa, Jaromír; Petrusek, A.

2011-01-01

Roč. 70, č. 2 (2011), s. 337-344 ISSN 1129-5767. [International Conference on Invertebrate Reproduction and Development in the Age of Genetic Modifications. Praha, 16.08.2010-20.08.2010] R&D Projects: GA AV ČR(CZ) 1QS600170504 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60170517 Keywords : Daphnia * senescence * cyanobacteria * inducible defences * flood impact * egg banks * fish predation Subject RIV: DA - Hydrology ; Limnology Impact factor: 1.207, year: 2011

TU-EF-207-01: Introductory Remarks on Recent Advances in Breast Imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karellas, A. [University of Massachusetts Medical School (United States)

2015-06-15

Breast imaging technology is advancing on several fronts. In digital mammography, the major technological trend has been on optimization of approaches for performing combined mammography and tomosynthesis using the same system. In parallel, photon-counting slot-scan mammography is now in clinical use and more efforts are directed towards further development of this approach for spectral imaging. Spectral imaging refers to simultaneous acquisition of two or more energy-windowed images. Depending on the detector and associated electronics, there are a number of ways this can be accomplished. Spectral mammography using photon-counting detectors can suppress electronic noise and importantly, it enables decomposition of the image into various material compositions of interest facilitating quantitative imaging. Spectral imaging can be particularly important in intravenously injected contrast mammography and eventually tomosynthesis. The various approaches and applications of spectral mammography are discussed. Digital breast tomosynthesis relies on the mechanical movement of the x-ray tube to acquire a number of projections in a predefined arc, typically from 9 to 25 projections over a scan angle of +/−7.5 to 25 degrees depending on the particular system. The mechanical x-ray tube motion requires relatively long acquisition time, typically between 3.7 to 25 seconds depending on the system. Moreover, mechanical scanning may have an effect on the spatial resolution due to internal x-ray filament or external mechanical vibrations. New x-ray source arrays have been developed and they are aimed at replacing the scanned x-ray tube for improved acquisition time and potentially for higher spatial resolution. The potential advantages and challenges of this approach are described. Combination of digital mammography and tomosynthesis in a single system places increased demands on certain functional aspects of the detector and overall performance, particularly in the tomosynthesis mode due to lower photon fluence per projection. This may require fast-frame acquisition and symmetric or asymmetric pixel binning in some systems. Recent studies investigated the performance of increased conversion layer thickness for contrast-enhanced imaging of the breast in dual-energy acquisition mode. In other direct conversion detectors operating in the avalanche mode, sensitivities close to the single photon response are also explored for mammography and breast tomosynthesis. The potential advantages and challenges of this approach are described. Dedicated breast CT brings x-ray imaging of the breast to true tomographic 3D imaging. It can eliminate the tissue superposition problem and does not require physical compression of the breast. Using cone beam geometry and a flat-panel detector, several hundred projections are acquired and reconstructed to near isotropic voxels. Multiplanar reconstruction facilitates viewing the breast volume in any desired orientation. Ongoing clinical studies, the current state-of-the art, and research to advance the technology are described. Learning Objectives: To understand the ongoing developments in x-ray imaging of the breast To understand the approaches and applications of spectral mammography To understand the potential advantages of distributed x-ray source arrays for digital breast tomosynthesis To understand the ongoing developments in detector technology for digital mammography and breast tomosynthesis To understand the current state-of-the-art for dedicated cone-beam breast CT and research to advance the technology. Research collaboration with Koning Corporation.

Teaching Historical Theology at the University of Pretoria – Some introductory remarks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wim A. Dreyer

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria went through a process of restructuring, resulting in the amalgamation of Dogmatics, Christian Ethics, Church History and Church Polity into one department under the name ‘Systematic and Historical Theology’. This contribution reflects only on the one aspect, namely Historical Theology. The point is made that a name change could not mean ‘business as usual’, but should be regarded as an opportunity to re-imagine the content and structure of Historical Theology. This is not an easy task. This contribution reflects on Historical Theology as theological discipline, the teaching content and how it could be relevant in Africa in the 21st century. It also has implications for restructuring the curriculum.

TU-EF-207-01: Introductory Remarks on Recent Advances in Breast Imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karellas, A.

2015-01-01

Breast imaging technology is advancing on several fronts. In digital mammography, the major technological trend has been on optimization of approaches for performing combined mammography and tomosynthesis using the same system. In parallel, photon-counting slot-scan mammography is now in clinical use and more efforts are directed towards further development of this approach for spectral imaging. Spectral imaging refers to simultaneous acquisition of two or more energy-windowed images. Depending on the detector and associated electronics, there are a number of ways this can be accomplished. Spectral mammography using photon-counting detectors can suppress electronic noise and importantly, it enables decomposition of the image into various material compositions of interest facilitating quantitative imaging. Spectral imaging can be particularly important in intravenously injected contrast mammography and eventually tomosynthesis. The various approaches and applications of spectral mammography are discussed. Digital breast tomosynthesis relies on the mechanical movement of the x-ray tube to acquire a number of projections in a predefined arc, typically from 9 to 25 projections over a scan angle of +/−7.5 to 25 degrees depending on the particular system. The mechanical x-ray tube motion requires relatively long acquisition time, typically between 3.7 to 25 seconds depending on the system. Moreover, mechanical scanning may have an effect on the spatial resolution due to internal x-ray filament or external mechanical vibrations. New x-ray source arrays have been developed and they are aimed at replacing the scanned x-ray tube for improved acquisition time and potentially for higher spatial resolution. The potential advantages and challenges of this approach are described. Combination of digital mammography and tomosynthesis in a single system places increased demands on certain functional aspects of the detector and overall performance, particularly in the tomosynthesis mode due to lower photon fluence per projection. This may require fast-frame acquisition and symmetric or asymmetric pixel binning in some systems. Recent studies investigated the performance of increased conversion layer thickness for contrast-enhanced imaging of the breast in dual-energy acquisition mode. In other direct conversion detectors operating in the avalanche mode, sensitivities close to the single photon response are also explored for mammography and breast tomosynthesis. The potential advantages and challenges of this approach are described. Dedicated breast CT brings x-ray imaging of the breast to true tomographic 3D imaging. It can eliminate the tissue superposition problem and does not require physical compression of the breast. Using cone beam geometry and a flat-panel detector, several hundred projections are acquired and reconstructed to near isotropic voxels. Multiplanar reconstruction facilitates viewing the breast volume in any desired orientation. Ongoing clinical studies, the current state-of-the art, and research to advance the technology are described. Learning Objectives: To understand the ongoing developments in x-ray imaging of the breast To understand the approaches and applications of spectral mammography To understand the potential advantages of distributed x-ray source arrays for digital breast tomosynthesis To understand the ongoing developments in detector technology for digital mammography and breast tomosynthesis To understand the current state-of-the-art for dedicated cone-beam breast CT and research to advance the technology. Research collaboration with Koning Corporation

Introductory Physics Experiments Using the Wiimote

Science.gov (United States)

Somers, William; Rooney, Frank; Ochoa, Romulo

2009-03-01

The Wii, a video game console, is a very popular device with millions of units sold worldwide over the past two years. Although computationally it is not a powerful machine, to a physics educator its most important components can be its controllers. The Wiimote (or remote) controller contains three accelerometers, an infrared detector, and Bluetooth connectivity at a relatively low price. Thanks to available open source code, any PC with Bluetooth capability can detect the information sent out by the Wiimote. We have designed several experiments for introductory physics courses that make use of the accelerometers and Bluetooth connectivity. We have adapted the Wiimote to measure the: variable acceleration in simple harmonic motion, centripetal and tangential accelerations in circular motion, and the accelerations generated when students lift weights. We present the results of our experiments and compare them with those obtained when using motion and/or force sensors.

Introductory quantum mechanics for applied nanotechnology

CERN Document Server

Kim, Dae Mann

2015-01-01

This introductory textbook covers fundamental quantum mechanics from an application perspective, considering optoelectronic devices, biological sensors and molecular imagers as well as solar cells and field effect transistors. The book provides a brief review of classical and statistical mechanics and electromagnetism, and then turns to the quantum treatment of atoms, molecules, and chemical bonds. Aiming at senior undergraduate and graduate students in nanotechnology related areas like physics, materials science, and engineering, the book could be used at schools that offer interdisciplinary but focused training for future workers in the semiconductor industry and for the increasing number of related nanotechnology firms, and even practicing people could use it when they need to learn related concepts. The author is Professor Dae Mann Kim from the Korea Institute for Advanced Study who has been teaching Quantum Mechanics to engineering, material science and physics students for over 25 years in USA and Asia.

Introduction to neutron scattering. Lecture notes of the introductory course

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furrer, A.

1996-01-01

These proceedings enclose ten papers presented at the 1. European Conference on Neutron scattering (ECNS '96). The aim of the Introductory Course was fourfold: - to learn the basic principles of neutron scattering, - to get introduced into the most important classes of neutron scattering instruments, -to learn concepts and their transformation into neutron scattering experiments in various fields of condensed matter research, - to recognize the limitations of the neutron scattering technique as well as to the complementarity of other methods. figs., tabs., refs

A Survey of Introductory Statistics Courses at University Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsumura, Mina; Nakayama, Takuto; Sozu, Takashi

2016-01-01

A survey of introductory statistics courses at Japanese medical schools was published as a report in 2014. To obtain a complete understanding of the way in which statistics is taught at the university level in Japan, it is important to extend this survey to related fields, including pharmacy, dentistry, and nursing. The current study investigates the introductory statistics courses offered by faculties of pharmaceutical sciences (six-year programs) at Japanese universities, comparing the features of these courses with those studied in the survey of medical schools. We collected relevant data from the online syllabi of statistics courses published on the websites of 71 universities. The survey items included basic course information (for example, the course names, the targeted student grades, the number of credits, and course classification), textbooks, handouts, the doctoral subject and employment status of each lecturer, and course contents. The period surveyed was July-September 2015. We found that these 71 universities offered a total of 128 statistics courses. There were 67 course names, the most common of which was "biostatistics (iryou toukeigaku)." About half of the courses were designed for first- or second-year students. Students earned fewer than two credits. There were 62 different types of textbooks. The lecturers held doctoral degrees in 18 different subjects, the most common being a doctorate in pharmacy or science. Some course content differed, reflecting the lecturers' academic specialties. The content of introductory statistics courses taught in pharmaceutical science programs also differed slightly from the equivalent content taught in medical schools.

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.

Investigating the use of mastery-style online homework exercises in introductory algebra-based mechanics in a controlled clinical study

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, William R.; Selen, Mats A.

2017-12-01

Homework in introductory physics represents an important part of a student's learning experience; therefore, choosing the manner in which homework is presented merits investigation. We performed three rounds of clinical trials comparing the effects of mastery-style homework vs traditional-style homework with students in both algebra-based and calculus-based introductory mechanics. Results indicate a benefit from mastery-style over traditional-style homework, principally for weaker students who are less familiar with the material being covered and on questions that are nearer transfer to the study materials.

78 FR 928 - Sunshine Act Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-07

... in the Military I. Introductory Remarks by Chairman II. Panel I--9:30 a.m.-10:55 a.m.: Perspective of.... Panel III--1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m.: Military Panel Speakers' Remarks and Questions from Commissioners VI... a sign language interpreter should contact Pamela Dunston at (202) 376-8105 or at [email protected

Lessons learned: A case study of an integrated way of teaching introductory physics to at-risk students at Rutgers University

Science.gov (United States)

Etkina, E.; Gibbons, K.; Holton, B. L.; Horton, G. K.

1999-09-01

In order to provide a physics instructional environment in which at-risk students (particularly women and minorities) can successfully learn and enjoy introductory physics, we have introduced Extended General Physics as an option for science, science teaching, and pre-health professions majors at Rutgers University. We have taught the course for the last five years. In this new course, we have used many elements that have been proven to be successful in physics instruction. We have added a new component, the minilab, stressing qualitative experiments performed by the students. By integrating all the elements, and structuring the time the students invest in the course, we have created a successful program for students-at-risk, indeed for all students. Our aim was not only to foster successful mastery of the traditional physics syllabus by the students, but to create a sense of community through the cooperation of students with each other and their instructors. We present a template for implementation of our program elsewhere.

Introducing Chemical Biology Applications to Introductory Organic Chemistry Students Using Series of Weekly Assignments

Science.gov (United States)

Kanin, Maralee R.; Pontrello, Jason K.

2016-01-01

Calls to bring interdisciplinary content and examples into introductory science courses have increased, yet strategies that involve course restructuring often suffer from the need for a significant faculty commitment to motivate change. Minimizing the need for dramatic course reorganization, the structure, reactivity, and chemical biology…

An Analysis of Economic Learning among Undergraduates in Introductory Economics Courses in Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Happ, Roland; Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Olga; Schmidt, Susanne

2016-01-01

In this article, the authors present the findings of a pretest-posttest measurement of the economic knowledge of students in introductory economics courses in undergraduate study programs in Germany. The responses of 403 students to 14 items selected from the "Test of Economic Literacy" (Soper and Walstad 1987) were analyzed to identify…

Understanding Factors Leading to Participation in Supplemental Instruction Programs in Introductory Accounting Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Goldstein, James; Sauer, Paul; O'Donnell, Joseph

2014-01-01

Although studies have shown that supplemental instruction (SI) programs can have positive effects in introductory accounting courses, these programs experience low participation rates. Thus, our study is the first to examine the factors leading to student participation in SI programs. We do this through a survey instrument based on the Theory of…

The Use of Facebook in an Introductory MIS Course: Social Constructivist Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Ractham, Peter; Kaewkitipong, Laddawan; Firpo, Daniel

2012-01-01

The major objective of this article is to evaluate via a Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) the implementation of a Social Constructivist learning framework for an introductory Management Information System (MIS) course. Facebook was used as a learning artifact to build and foster a learning environment, and a series of features and…

Assessing Outcomes of a Realistic Major Preview in an Introductory Sport Management Course

Science.gov (United States)

Pierce, David; Wanless, Elizabeth; Johnson, James

2014-01-01

This paper assessed the outcomes of a field experience assignment (FEA) in an introductory sport management course designed as a realistic major preview. Student learning outcomes assessed were commitment to the major, intent to pursue the major, expectation of a career in sports, and perceived preparation for a career in sports. A…

Data Analysis and Graphing in an Introductory Physics Laboratory: Spreadsheet versus Statistics Suite

Science.gov (United States)

Peterlin, Primoz

2010-01-01

Two methods of data analysis are compared: spreadsheet software and a statistics software suite. Their use is compared analysing data collected in three selected experiments taken from an introductory physics laboratory, which include a linear dependence, a nonlinear dependence and a histogram. The merits of each method are compared. (Contains 7…

Scientific thinking employed in tasks of introductory physics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre Fagundes Faria

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In Science Education, notably in Physics Teaching, there are research based instructional strategies that are renown by their potential to promote conceptual development. It is likely that many of these strategies lead to more elaborate learning; promoting, for instance, scientific thinking development. Scientific thinking might be construed as the sum of domain-specific knowledge and domain-general strategies. Here is reported an investigation of domain-general strategies used by students on tasks proposed in a Newtonian Dynamics activity inspired by “Tutorials in Introductory Physics”. Nineteen volunteers, aged 15-17, participated; all were students in electronics or computer science from a Brazilian vocational high school. The school activities proposed to the students have been regularly used in the Physics course for seven years. Therefore, there was no special interventions prepared with research purposes. Data collection involved audio and video recordings of students’ teamwork; field notes; and photographs of student’s notebooks and of posters teams presented in classes. Data analysis was based on categorization of domain-general strategies used by students. We found that students used four domain-general strategies on the proposed tasks: evidence-based reasoning, assessment of the reasoning line, reason based on operational definition and hypothetic-deductive reasoning. These findings suggest that activities inspired by the “Tutorials in Introductory Physics” favor the learning of scientific concepts plus further – and yet more elaborate – learning. These results place a demand on the field of Science Education to refine the strategies of data collection and data analysis as a way to identify the use of other domain-general strategies by students in similar contexts, as well as the expansion of research to other schools contexts.

Incorporating Geoethics in Introductory Earth System Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, J.

2014-12-01

The integrative nature of Earth System Science courses provides extensive opportunities to introduce students to geoethical inquiry focused on globally significant societal issues. Geoscience education has traditionally lagged in its efforts to increase student awareness of the significance of geologic knowledge to understanding and responsibly confronting causes and possible solutions for emergent, newly emerging, and future problems of anthropogenic cause and consequence. Developing an understanding of the human impact on the earth system requires early (lower division) and for geoscience majors, repeated (upper division) curricular emphasis on the interactions of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and pedosphere across space and through time. Capturing the interest of university students in globally relevant earth system issues and their ethical dimensions while first learning about the earth system is an important initial step in bringing geoethical deliberation and awareness to the next generation of geoscientists. Development of a new introductory Earth System Science course replacing a traditional introductory Physical Geology course at Montana State University has involved abandonment of concept-based content organization in favor of a place-based approach incorporating examination of the complex interactions of earth system components and emergent issues and dilemmas deriving from the unique component interactions that characterize each locale. Thirteen different place-based week-long modules (using web- and classroom-based instruction) were developed to ensure cumulative broad coverage across the earth geographically and earth system components conceptually. Each place-based instructional module contains content of societal relevance requiring synthesis, critical evaluation, and reflection by students. Examples include making linkages between deforestation driven by economics and increased seismicity in Haiti, agriculture and development

Sex and Gender in the Social Sciences: Reassessing the Introductory Course, Principles in Microeconomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Gappa, Judith M.; Pearce, Janice

Developed to help faculty teaching introductory courses in microeconomics, psychology, and sociology in colleges and universities incorporate existing knowledge about women into their course content and teaching practices, this report is organized into two sets of guidelines. The first, "Content Guidelines: Sex and Gender in the Introductory…

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"…

Off to the (Earthworm) Races: A Quick and Flexible Lab Experiment for Introductory Zoology Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Switzer, Paul V.; Fritz, Ann H.

2001-01-01

Presents a hands-on, investigative lab activity for use in an introductory zoology course. Tests the behavioral hypothesis that substrate texture affects earthworm locomotor ability. Provides background information on earthworm locomotion followed by details of the lab exercise. (NB)

Coursera's Introductory Human Physiology Course: Factors That Characterize Successful Completion of a MOOC

Science.gov (United States)

Engle, Deborah; Mankoff, Chris; Carbrey, Jennifer

2015-01-01

Since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are accessible by anyone in the world at no cost, they have large enrollments that are conducive to educational research. This study examines students in the Coursera MOOC, Introductory Human Physiology. Of the 33,378 students who accessed the course, around 15,000 students responded to items on the…

Remarks concerning two sympatric seedeaters Poliospiza spp. in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Turner, D.A., Finch, B.F, & Hunter, N.D. Remarks concerning the all-black coastal boubous. (Laniarius ... Currently, however, there is little evidence to support such a theory, and it is .... twigs with its beak in order to increase the size of the hole.

Fuzzy logic an introductory course for engineering students

CERN Document Server

Trillas, Enric

2015-01-01

  This book introduces readers to fundamental concepts in fuzzy logic. It describes the necessary theoretical background and a number of basic mathematical models. Moreover, it makes them familiar with fuzzy control, an important topic in the engineering field. The book offers an unconventional introductory textbook on fuzzy logic, presenting theory together with examples and not always following the typical mathematical style of theorem-corollaries. Primarily intended to support engineers during their university studies, and to spark their curiosity about fuzzy logic and its applications, the book is also suitable for self-study, providing a valuable resource for engineers and professionals who deal with imprecision and non-random uncertainty in real-world applications.  

A Comparative Study Between Strain And Stress Based Forming Limit Analysis By Applying Several Phenomenological Yield Criteria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butuc, Marilena C.; Vincze, Gabriela T.; Gracio, Jose J.; Barata da Rocha, A.

2005-01-01

The present work aims at analyzing a comparative study between the strain-based forming limit criterion (FLD) and the stress-based forming limit criterion (FLSD), under linear and complex strain paths. The selected material is an AA5182-0 aluminium alloy. Some relevant remarks about stress-based forming limit criterion concept are presented

Solar heating and cooling systems: operational results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-01-01

Forty-six papers are included. One paper was abstracted previously. Separate abstracts were prepared for each paper. Summary reviews of each session and the introductory remarks were not abstracted. (MHR)

Teaching introductory game development with unreal engine: Challenges, strategies, and experiences

Science.gov (United States)

Head, Nicholas A.

From the days of Pong to 100 million dollar projects such as the Grand Theft Auto franchise, video games have evolved significantly over the years. This evolution has also changed the way game development is viewed as a career. Today, video games are one of the most profitable forms of entertainment, and game development courses are appearing at universities around the world. Even with this growth, a degree from a university has yet to be an important factor in finding a job in game development (Owen, 2013). This thesis examines a method of creating and implementing an introductory gaming course and recommends ways to improve the curriculum. The main focus of the course was to introduce game development to the students. Each week, they were given an exercise that covered a different topic. Students also took part in a team project in which they were tasked with creating a complete game. The goal of the team projects was to expand the student's basic knowledge given to them from the exercises. Data was gathered on the students' subjective experiences with the class. This data and the class's overall performance were compared with past iterations of the course. New to the course was the Unreal Engine. Students used the latest version of the engine, Unreal Engine 4, to complete exercises. Not all students chose to use this engine for the team project. Instructor and students experiences with the engine were also recorded. While there were some problems implementing the engine within our lab environment, we were still able to execute the overall lesson plan. Even with the engine issues, the course had overall good performance. CGT 241, Introduction to 3D Animation, was shown to help the students to complete the course while CGT 215, Computer Graphics Programming I, did not provide enough information on game programming. Exercises were found to be helpful but students wanted a better understanding of how these skills can be applied to game development. Team projects

Assessment of Student Learning Associated with Tree Thinking in an Undergraduate Introductory Organismal Biology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, James J.; Cheruvelil, Kendra Spence; Auvenshine, Stacie

2013-01-01

Phylogenetic trees provide visual representations of ancestor-descendant relationships, a core concept of evolutionary theory. We introduced "tree thinking" into our introductory organismal biology course (freshman/sophomore majors) to help teach organismal diversity within an evolutionary framework. Our instructional strategy consisted…

Cultivating the Capacity for Formal Reasoning: Objectives and Procedures in an Introductory Physical Science Course

Science.gov (United States)

Arons, A. B.

1976-01-01

Describes special factors and procedures which are utilized in an introductory physical science course for nonscience majors. It is designed to enable students who are at a concrete or transitional stage to attain the formal operational level of development. (Author/SL)

Chemical physics of electroactive materials: concluding remarks.

Science.gov (United States)

Rutland, Mark W

2017-07-01

It is an honour to be charged with providing the concluding remarks for a Faraday Discussion. As many have remarked before, it is nonetheless a prodigious task, and what follows is necessarily a personal, and probably perverse, view of a watershed event in the Chemical Physics of Electroactive materials. The spirit of the conference was captured in a single sentence during the meeting itself."It is the nexus between rheology, electrochemistry, colloid science and energy storage". The current scientific climate is increasingly dominated by a limited number of global challenges, and there is thus a tendency for research to resemble a football match played by 6 year olds, where everyone on the field chases the (funding) ball instead of playing to their "discipline". It is thus reassuring to see how the application of rigorous chemical physics is leading to ingenious new solutions for both energy storage and harvesting, via, for example, nanoactuation, electrowetting, ionic materials and nanoplasmonics. In fact, the same language of chemical physics allows seamless transition between applications as diverse as mechano-electric energy generation, active moisture transport and plasmonic shutters - even the origins of life were addressed in the context of electro-autocatalysis!

Interactive Computer Lessons for Introductory Economics: Guided Inquiry-From Supply and Demand to Women in the Economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, John; Weil, Gordon

1986-01-01

The interactive feature of computers is used to incorporate a guided inquiry method of learning introductory economics, extending the Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) method beyond drills. (Author/JDH)

Development and evaluation of clicker methodology for introductory physics courses

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Albert H.

Many educators understand that lectures are cost effective but not learning efficient, so continue to search for ways to increase active student participation in this traditionally passive learning environment. In-class polling systems, or "clickers", are inexpensive and reliable tools allowing students to actively participate in lectures by answering multiple-choice questions. Students assess their learning in real time by observing instant polling summaries displayed in front of them. This in turn motivates additional discussions which increase the opportunity for active learning. We wanted to develop a comprehensive clicker methodology that creates an active lecture environment for a broad spectrum of students taking introductory physics courses. We wanted our methodology to incorporate many findings of contemporary learning science. It is recognized that learning requires active construction; students need to be actively involved in their own learning process. Learning also depends on preexisting knowledge; students construct new knowledge and understandings based on what they already know and believe. Learning is context dependent; students who have learned to apply a concept in one context may not be able to recognize and apply the same concept in a different context, even when both contexts are considered to be isomorphic by experts. On this basis, we developed question sequences, each involving the same concept but having different contexts. Answer choices are designed to address students preexisting knowledge. These sequences are used with the clickers to promote active discussions and multiple assessments. We have created, validated, and evaluated sequences sufficient in number to populate all of introductory physics courses. Our research has found that using clickers with our question sequences significantly improved student conceptual understanding. Our research has also found how to best measure student conceptual gain using research-based instruments

Learning from the Starry Message: Using Galileo's "Sidereus Nuncius" in Introductory Astronomy Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Wiesner, Matthew P.

2015-01-01

Every introductory astronomy class encounters Galileo during the course as the first man to systematically study the sky with a telescope. Every Astronomy 101 student meets Galileo as one of the major catalysts behind the shift from the Ptolemaic to the Copernican system and as one of the great minds behind the scientific method. But most of the…

Remarkable long-range-systematic in the binding energies of α-nuclei. II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gross, D.H.E.

2003-01-01

In this Letter I present further data that show the remarkable evidence for the existence of an α-cluster structure in the ground states of even-even N=Z nuclei. Such a remarkable systematic was observed 20 years ago Gross and Nemes [Phys. Lett. B 130 (1983) 131] for these nuclei at A≤72 and is extended here up to A=100

Development of REI meetings (concluding remarks)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roessler, K.

1988-01-01

It is an honour and a pleasure to deliver the concluding remarks of this Fourth International Conference on Radiation Effects in Insulators. After commenting upon the present meeting, the genesis of REI conferences, their aims and position relative to related meetings in radiation and ion implantation research will be treated, particularly in order to inform new-comers. The development of the last four REI meetings will be discussed on the base of a statistical analysis. Some recommendations and an outlook of future trends will be given. (orig.)

Environmental aspects: - Atmospheric, - aquatic, - terrestrial dispersion of radionuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirchmann, R.

1982-01-01

After general introductory remarks the paper deals with the dispersion of radionuclides in the atmosphere and in the aquatic environment as well as with the transfer through the terrestrial environment. (RW)

Frontiers of quantum Monte Carlo workshop: preface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gubernatis, J.E.

1985-01-01

The introductory remarks, table of contents, and list of attendees are presented from the proceedings of the conference, Frontiers of Quantum Monte Carlo, which appeared in the Journal of Statistical Physics